The Daily Alaska empire., 1931-01-21
By ALICE ALDEN

'
 ; NEW YORK, Jan. 21.-No more
 prison riots and bloodshed. That is
 the utopian prospect held out to
 penal officials in New York from
 even a casual parusal of the pre-
 liminary report of the New York
 State Commission to Investigate
 Prison Administration and Con-
 struction. This report just issued ] is engaging the attention of prison
 authorities all over the country;
 and it is believed that it will in ruence widely penal institutions in
 many States.
 Overcrowding is held by the Con- mission to be mainly responsible for
 the many serious prison out
 breaks that occurred throughout
 last year. It is as direct result Of these riots that the commission
 was formed not to investigate the happenings but to seek methods Of ! preventing their reoccugrences. And so the commission expresses it's fstrcng disapproYal Of the construc- ton of any prison with capacity for more than 1000 inmates. When larger number of prisoners are housed in one institution, cliques and groups create intrigue and oft- len trouble and the report recom- mends that old prisons should be iremodeled and the capacity re- ducad.
 594 Inmates
 The commission urges that a lprison should be erected with a maximum capacity of 5o4 inmates and that it should be of type
 that will bridge the gap between
 the fortress type Of jail and the
 road camps where actual confine-
 ment is at minimum. The in-
 mates would be housed in four sep
 arate wings. each three stories high
 with forty-two rooms to floor. By
 this method it is claimed, group
 spirit and group life will be de
 veloped with abundant good results
 to the prisoner and So help his
 chances of rehabilitation. For in-
 tensified training and care of eact
 unit will be possible and made Icasier by the fact that each pris- oner will have been carefully eX- lamined and classified at a desig-
 mated receiving institution.
 Two Shcp Buildings
 Further plans call for two shor
 buildings in which prisoners will x
 taught trades, mess hall, powel
 plant and an administration build. ing. Each prisoner would have az individual room. Two sites for tn, institution have been recommend fed, one in Ulster County, the othel in Orange County, both sites vel
 away from towns.
 f The road camp has been such . success that the commission recon
 nlends it's continuation as well a; the establishment of a new one.
 Other outdoor work and the de
 vslopment of pre-parole units ar,
 stressed as means of lessenin. cell life and allowing prisoners t, work their way to these unit through good behavior and com mandatory conduct. But at tn same time, the commission con sdemns the employment of prison CTS in confidential work such a telephone operators, office workers care of prison records, and recon mends that this type of work b employed by civilians and asks tha
 additional funds be provided fo M this purpose.
 | Reception Prisons
 Under the new scheme, the com mission would use Sing Sing an Attica as reception prisons wher men may be studied, grouped an given expert and thorough psy chiatric examination. And as j | has been found that one out ( | every six prison inmates is in nee of the attention of a psychiatrist, can readily be seen how import ant this recommendation is Flu, | ther, it is recommended that psychiatrict should be on full-tin | duty at each institution to hel | the work of rehabilitation.
 Women convicts, it is recon y,,andad sho1ld also he cleare