Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-01

citizen of him If they had given him another
chance And, on the other hand, they give
some pervert a year or two for criminal as
sault on child. and when they let him go.
they know perfectly well he viii do the same
trick right over again. This Is the type which
is a menace to society, the mentally deficient
criminal, who should be segregated from society
for life"
IA IARDEN LAwES went on to say that sum
wv til the advent of prohibition there had
been no such thing underworld except
In the sense that birds Of feather fiocksd
together. Today, however, crime Is highly
specialized industry. and the only reason that
1t does not actually overthrow the Government
is because those engaged in it do not trust one
another.
''That Is the reason why the criminal class
cannot successfully fight organized society. II
the convicts here trusted one another. we could
not hold them within those walls an hour.
Lawes believes in the fve P's, as he calls
them, as preventives to crime and enumerated
them in the order Of their Importance: First,
prevention; second, police; third, probation;
fourth, prison; fifth, parole. From this 1t Is
apparent that. In his opinion, prison Is far less
important than prevention and probation more
efncacious than parole.
prevention means education Of the child.
would have boys club next to every police
station and men-not 'sissies'-to teach them to
be clean-living decent citizens Prison Is q
necessary evil and IS one Of the lesser impor-
tant preventives, In my opinion. On the other
hand, prison Is no more to blame for crime
than hospital Is for disease
Then the warden called one Of the guards
and told him to show me through the prison.
He was No. Is and just completing his twenty
first year there.
And things were Immediately noticeable in
this particular prison-the absence of striped
uniforms and the fact that none of the guards
carried sidearmS or clubs.
holv Ir0y crrnd in toll
me, if that were sufficient explanation. and
went on to enlighten me as to the carrying of
arms.
Were better OF without them. II we had
o gun on the hip some one might take it out
when we weren't looking and shoot us. The
boys en- the wall can take care of any shooting
that's necessary"
The buildings of the old prison are marked
contrast to those built under the Lawes regime.
The old ones are dark, with medieval atmoS-
phere about them. The doors are mere Sits
through which the light can hardly filter, and
the sanitary arrangement Is one of the most
meager kind. The cells In the new building
overlooking the Hudson are larger and airy.
with windows through which the river can be
seen. There are wash basins with running
water and other sanitary arrangements, while
the whole atmosphere Is decidedly more hopeful
and cheerful. Most cells have radio and the
chapel provides movies during afternoons and
evenings
THEN we went to the death house and stood
] for a moment In the execution chamber 1t
Is sordid, shabby room, about whose bare
white walls terrible stiffness seems to brood.
There Is sign, Silence" over the door which
leads from the cells This room Is devoid Of
furniture. except for the chair and three long
wooden benches IN corner upon which the
spectators sit
No. IS invited me to have seat In the chair
but declined. It Is worn, almost dilapidated,
and not very clean looking.
Before leaving I visited the warden's once
again. I said he seemed to have accomplished
q great deal.
THE prison merely reflects the attitude Of
the community" he replied New York Il
fairly liberal and so is Sing Sing. But there
are other prisons in the country which. for the
same reason. have great way to 60"
Then 1 asked him IL he could give good
reason why he opposes capital punishment.
1.-TWO Of Them" he replied. I'm the Hrse