Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16
'EFORM IN PRISON
SYSTEM IS URGED
National Society Favors per
-SonaI Reconstruction; Cites
Segregation Need.
BY Consolidated Press.

=
NEW YORK, February 15.-This
weeks report of a national prison sur
vey by the National Society of Penal
Information is the climax of what
probably has been the most exhaustive
and widespread inquiry into prison
problems ever observed in America.
Precipttated by the prison riots start
ing at Auburn, N. Y, last Summer
there was first a clamor of opposed
opinions and then extensive official nd
non-oh1cial research, with at least two
common factors of the discussion COM
ing to the surface as comparatively new
phases of the old controversy.
These are the uniform agreement on
personal reconstruction" as opposed to
the merely punitive conception of Pc
nology and a strongly buttTessed insist
ence on the need for segregation of
prisoners and scientific determination
OF the possibility of restoring to useful
citizenship those who are not congenital
criminals. Both considerations, as put
forth by prison administrators, GRIM
1nologiStS and socioIogists, moved from
the premise that jails are first for the
protection Of society and that they are
secondarIy penal institutions. While
this, OF course, is no novel concept, 1t is
the first time that it has been Endorsed
to any considerable degree by official
opinion and it is observable that the
present discussion is marked by more
scientific detachment than any such
controversy in the past.
Takes Issue With Taft.
This collective opinion is in sharp
disagreement with the judicial pro-
nouncement of former Chief Justice
William Howard Taft, who interpreted
criminal law in its penal rather than
itg CnPiol aCnQrf and .seIa
ment, with its presumption of deterrent
edect, as the primary if not the sole
consideration. Within the last 10 years
psychiatrists have been driving in q
wedge between the hopeleSSly sub
normal or anti-Social who make uD the
bulk of the thousands of recidivistS
who fill the jails and those who are
emotionally and mentally sound and
within reach of re-education and train
ing in social relationships. Their pro-
gram, now receiving serious considera-
ton for the first time, would require
immediate and final segregation of the
former and the reorganization of the
entire prison system, State and Federal,
with view to retaining the latter
This was more or less standing
controversy, with the pSychiatristS de-
ctdedly on the short end, when the rifle
shots in Auburn, Leavenworth Canyon
City and other prisons shocked the
country into realization of several
important facts and trends. It was
reminded that it had a prison popula-
ton of $4,000 steadily growing, with
100000 persons in the country who
had served jail sentences and 10000
600 who had been arrested; that
habitual criminal statutes had not
lesSened the prison census; that Amer
lea still held the world record in
murder and other crimes of violence;
that law enforcement was muddled,
uncertain and devious; that the Ma
tional Crime Commission, after three
years work, was baffied by the lack of
even rudimentary statistics; that pris-
ons were overcrowded and insanitary
and that they served neither the pur-
pose OF Difference from crime or resto-
ration to law-abiding citizenship.
Roosevelt Takes Lead.
Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New
York, in which State the prison problem
Is particularly aggravated, Immediately
launched an enlightened program, TAX
ing into primary consideration methods
OF segregation and re-education, call
ing for an expenditure of $35, 600, 900
by the State in prison extension and
reconstruction. New York City had
under way new prison projects total
ing $13,000,000 in cost and four county
projects will cost $4,000 900, bringing
the total proposed expenditure in this
State up to $51, 100000. The State
plans include the rebuilding of Sing
Sing, Clinton and Auburn prisons and
the erection OF two additional prisons,
one at Attica, to cost $l2, zoo, 600, and
another in the Southeastern part of
the State, with the establishment of
farms and prison camps for about 500
short-term prisoners. In its entirety it
Is the largest prison reconstruction plan
ever attempted.
Federal inquiries, inaugurated by
President Hoover, the national crime
commission, the Society for Penal In
formation and other agencies have
made national investigations which
have brought out diSQuieting facts
about politics in prison administration,
low health standards, inadequate pro-
visions for education, unintelligent
parole system, oyercrowding, bad food,
medieval cells, and almost without ex-
ception, the corruption Of young prison.
eYS by being housed with old offenders
While public opinion has been, as
usual, alertly hostile to proposals which
seemed to suggest the ''pampering" of
prisoners, there has been a decided
change from the resentful attitude
toward prison reform" few years ago.
In New York State, particularly, Gov.
Rooseyelts proposals have received
strong public Endorsement, and there is
ground for belief that vast amount of
enlightenment on prisons and crime
problems in general may come out of
the current interest. discussion and
moves toward State and Federal action.
Paraphrased, some of the more au-
thoritative findings of experts in the
current prison forum are as follows:
Raymond Morley, professor of public
law, at Columbia University: The
Baunes laws were not subjected to suf-
flcient discussion. Inelastic statutes,
not devised to ut particular persons and
instances, may do great harm The
great lesson of all Jurisprudence is that
we must learn to place more trust In
responsible officials"
Hastings H. Hart, chairman of the
subcommittee on prisons and paroles of
the Hoover Observance Commission:
Protection of the community, and not
punishment, must come first. Pre-
ventive measures are supremely impor-
tant. Promptness and certainty of ar
rest and not the severity of the SEN
tence are basically important. There
must be a restoration of hope to pris-
onefs. Recent reVoltS are due to the
limitations on former encouragements
and the hopelessness of prisoners"
Z Edwin j. Cooley, chief probation Of
beer of the Court of General Sessions
bf New York: The trouble is due 20
Dvercrowding, the taking away of hope,
inferior guards and the lack of ade-
huate food. medicine and segregation
TheTe should be paid, productive labor
and education in social relationships
: Father Donald Cleary, chaplin Au-
burn Prison: "One of the most impor-
fant things is to provide segregation of
desperate men"
En~F0rd Dafae 80 ma