Evening star., 1935-01-14
BATESPRESCR|BES
D.C.PENAL UNITS
Federal Prisons Director
Recognizes Districts Pc.
culiar Status.

What are the requirements for a
model penal system, and Uheretn
does the National Capital fail to
meet the standards The article
beloD is the first OF series OF
four dealing Uith this question.
In its peculiar resemblance to a
city-State, the penal institution needs
of the District of Columbia are more
extensive than such requirements for
any city of comparable size.
With these extensive requirements
from structural standpoint go the
administrative complexities of modern
prison procedure, the whole forming a
composite need considerably beyond
present financial resources available
to the District, but which is being
maintained in the minds Of those
most interested in the longtime
public welfare program Of the COM
munity.
A survey of present facilities and
discussion with local and Federal
prison officials brings to light the
general extent of these needs and
the theories upon which such esti-
mates are based.
Since these needs are pointed in
general way toward the ideal prison
system of the future, the opinion Of
Sanford Bates director Of the Fed
eral Bureau of Prisons. Is among the
most interesting. Stressing the point
that a prime function of the prison
system is not only to punish the law
breaker and give him sense Of de-
privation Of liberty, but also to see
to it that the prisoner who is re-
turned to society is not more GRIM
inally inclined than when he came
in, Mr.. Bates believes the prison
of the future will be "at once a
disciplinary school for those who can
be reformed, a place of permanent
segregation for the incorrigible and
laboratory for the study of causes
Of crime.
Busy and Stern.
"For some time to come prisons
Of one kind or another will be neces-
sary. The prison of the future will
be Of strong construction where
otlClISlA ID llCCOCOt OuI ~ VIII give
prominent place to the hospital, the
laboratory, the school, the mental
hygiene clinic and the workshop. 1t
will have a farm and a library. 1t
will not be an asylum. or place of
amusement or dungeon. It will be
clean and teach cleanliness. 1t will
be busy and teach industry. II will
be stern and teach discipline.
In the second place. the prison Of
the future will be manned by persons
who will be trained in the science Of
understanding human nature. Too
long have we left the conduct of our
prisons in the hands of men picked
at random on the basis of size, strength
and inability to get a position any
where else. The prison service today
can be professionalism. The United
States Government is making start
in that direction in its school for
prison officers. Notices have been sent
to the universities calling attention TO
the fact that the prison service offers
a productive field for college graduates.
Once this idea has taken hold, I'M
provement in our personnel may be
expected
Work Saves Discipline.
I'm the third place, much attention
will be given to the realization OF
the important fact that an idle mind
is the devils workshop. No serious
prison riot has yet taken place in
an institution where all the inmates
have been provided with steady and
productive labor.
Fourth, we finally come to the most
difficult and yet the most hopeful func-
ton of the prison of the future. We
must find some way to individualize
the corrective and protective treat
ment to be given the inmates. Men
may be punished en- mass, they can
not be reformed that way. 1t is just
at this point that the psychiatrist and
the mental hygienist can be of inesti-
mable value in the development of our
future prison program. Before we
! can treat. We must prescribe.
THE guard force in the prison.
| trained as above outlined, will be aug
mented and perhaps supplemented by
physicians and psychometrists. voca-
tional instructors, research assistants,
librarians, athletic instructors, super
| intendents of schools, morale officers,
parole supervisors and other specialists.
| Finally, We must be ready to as
sure ourselves and convince the pub
| lie that in the adoption Of this future
| program of prison management there
| will be no diminution in the insiStence
on strict law obedience and enforce
ment. We must be prepared to DEM
| onStrete that corrective and reforma-
| tory treatment is in the lorg run pro-
| tective.
"One of the most searching ques-
tions that can be faced may be stated
in these terms: Which is the most
important to society as whole, to at
] tempt to reform on humane terms the
10000 men and women now in our
State and Federal penitentiarieS and
reformatories, or, through fear of
punishment, attempt to deter the
120,000,000 still on the outside. It is
my firm conviction that We can do
BOTH"
| More Units Needed.
| Asked how these theories might be
applied to future development of the
District system. Mr.. Bates declared
structural additions to be the nrst
need.
I'm a unique community such as
this where all types of prisoners ordi-
narily divided among Federal, State
and local prisons are charges Of the
community adequate structural facili-
ties are prime need" Mr.. Bates said.
with a normal load of at least 1000.
the system should have at least five
units for male prisoners.
"One should be a walled peni-
! tentjary of maximum security for
as many as 500 prisoners; a second
should be an industrial reformatory
/ Of some security, capable of handling
five or six hundred older men who
are not vicious and who still may
be made into law-abiding citizens;
third, such as Lorton Reformatory
at present, should be devoted to
younger men, first offenders and
those who presumably are not Grim
inals by nature; fourth would be