Evening star., 1934-03-14

Inc District OF Columbia Parole
Board has been, in its little more
than a year of existence, "a light
that failed"
1t failed because, although 1t saved
the taxpayers more than $4,000 in
IL months, it never was able to Sc
cure penny upon which to operate.
Such is the explanation of DR..
Loren B. T. johnson, nationally
known psychiatrist and formerly in
charge of the model parole system at
st. Elizabeth's Hospital. whose resig-
nation from the board, he says, fol-
lowed his conviction of the futility Of
trying to carry out a far-reaching
experiment in human nature without
support and without understanding.
Began Functioning in 1882.
The board started to function in
the Fall of 1882. DR.. johnson says.
with high ideals. 1t contemplated
striking at the very roots of the re-
lations between society and the
criminal-to relate punishment to the
individual rather than the crime, to
forestall injustice, and to reform a
system which might be turning out,
naturally enough, men whose only
desire was for revenge against a So
ciety which had mistreated them.
DR.. johnson today commented sad
ly on the wreck of the ideal. 1t has
been proposed to install a social serv-
ice of high quality at Lorton to
study the individual prisoner, to rec
ommend adjustments of prison life
according to the individual personality,
to probe exhaustively into the past of
each man in an effort to get at the
causes which led him into anti
social behavior, and to segregate the
medical cases"-the feeble-minded
and the insane
1t had been proposed further to
study the home situations of the pris-
onerS, to adjust family difficulties, to
remove criminal influences, and to see
that when the man was released from
prison he would not be coming back
into an environment in which a re-
turn to crime was almost inevitable.
ANCuOtIC hiu SOuSHts
1t had also been proposed to inau-
gurate a pSychiatric service. Now a
prisoner with neurotic tendencies can
just go crazy" There is nothing to
be done about it until he runs amuck.
Gallinger Hospital is the only recourse
for psychiatric work and the staff
there is so overloaded that its men,
h., l.
gency cases.
Still another possibility, somewhat
nebulous to date, was for the appoint
ment of public defender as well as
a public prosecutor, Dr. johnson said.
Il have no doubt" he said. that
most of the men in Lorton are guilty
of the crimes for which they were
sentenced. I also have very little
doubt that there are some there who
are innocent. The lawyers appointed
by the court advised them to plead
guilty. whether they were or not, as
surfing them that they would either
get very light sentences or be paroled.
Instead they were given severe SEN
tences Such men are likely to come
out enemies of society"
The Parole Board also wanted to
end the mixing together of real GRIM
inals and boys, perhaps driven by
hunger. who had been caught In their
first offense. 1t wanted to have in
formation on the attitude of the in
dividual A great many Of the men
at Lorton, he believes, accept their
sentences as just, SO long as they
are not too long or too severe. The
sense of justice differs widely with
the individual. 1t was the idea to
have the Parole Board watch the
progress of the individuals senti-
ments and, if practicable, to parole
him before the idea became fixed in
his mind that society was taking
ruthless and cruel revenge upon him.
st. Elizabeth's Plan.
There was also in mind something
of the St. Elizabeths parole idea
the gradually leasing" of man back
into society with progressively in
creasing liberties and short furloughs.
Furthermore. it was planned to follow
closely the progress of paroled men,
to determine the effect Of prison
sentences.
But actually, says DR.. Johnson, very
little ,7as possible. Even with money,
there would have been difficulties.
I'm Washington, as everywhere
else" DR.. johnson said, there are
two kinds of people so far as attitude
toward the criminal Is concerned.
There is one class which believes that
when you have taken away a mans
respectability, subjected him to the
disgrace of prison sentence, lost him
his friends and his position, you have
punished him about as much as pos
sible. A few extra weeks or q few
extra years in prison do not make
much difference. But there ts an
other class. and they are certainly the