The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
Liberal Viewpoint
-Bv DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

OF late lynchings have crowded riots of the
" front page Of the newspapers though there
is no assurance that the tables may not be
turned again.
In any event the score or more of lynchings
which take place in a normal year are less I'M
portant than the treatment Of the more than
quarter of a million delinquents who are de-
tanned in our prisons.
Bernard Shaw once said that the cruelties
and barbarities which go on in our prisons could
not exist for a year if the people really knew
the facts.
The slogan that if we give the people light
they will find their way to better things is true
especially with respect to prison conditions. Most
notable improvements in prison administration
have grown out of publicity given to atrocous
conditions within prison walls by our news
papers.
Therefore, the country needs a permanent
organization devoted to throwing light upon
prison conditions with relentless persistency and
continuity Such an organization must be free
from selfinterest or fear, possess the scientific
resources to make its work thorough and have
the vision to make the revelation of the defects
of the day the basis for securing better state
of affairs tomorrow.
TINE American Prison Association has done
l. excellent work in providing organization and
esprit de corps among the leading prison Off
Gals of the country. But its members are, for
the most part. themselves engaged in the adj
ministration Of the penal institutions of the
country Therefore, they hardly could be eX-
pected to be too candid or revealing III their
observations on the state of our prisons re-
formatories and jails.
The suitable organization for giving us the
facts on American prison conditions now has
come to us in the form Of the Osborne Assocla-
ton, which has superseded the National Society
0f Inf Osborne Association
is f1ttingly enough, the outgrowth of the eff
forts of Thomas Mott Osborne, the foremost
figure in our generation in the field of prison
reform and a man especially distinguished for
his success in directing the attention Of the
country to the futility of the conventional
methods of treating criminals.
The association just has published the first
volume Of its latest Handbook of American
Prisons and Reformatories,' embracing the in
situations of seventeen states, mainly those east
Of the Mississippi and north Of the Ohio
Broadly speaking, these states have the most
up-to-date and enlightened penal institutions in
the country and some of them would hardly
justify the structures which Sinclair Lewis di-
rected against our prisons in Ann Vickers."
WET even here we find relatively new insti-
i tutions which are great white elephants,
utterly out of accord with enlightened penology
and likely to hold back rational methods for
generation Such are the great penal fortresses
at Jackson, Mich; Graterford, Pa. Statesvile,
Ill, and Attica n. Y
We can not comment here upon the many
interesting and instructive details regarding
prison administration and prison life in these
Institutions but every pubIc-spirited citizen of
any state covered in this first volume will be
repaid amply for his perusal Of the reports deal
ing with the institutions within his common
wealth The facts contained therein constitute
the indispensable basis for intelligent work in
local prison reform. If taken seriously and
speedily operated upon. these reports would do
more to reduce crime and make living safe than
an epidemic of lynching.
All intelligent Americans, whatever their
state, will do we'll to read the brief introduction
to the volume which is an extremely clear and
concise summary of the principles which guide
the up-to-date students of penal affairs. 1t is
removed as far from the interest and doctrines
Of the prison reformers of a century ago as
Einstein is from an astrologer.