The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-27
Inmates of The Nations Prisons Hear And Heed Defense s. .O.S. for Mechanics
By TOM WOLF
tNEA Service stan COrrespOndentl

CNEA Service Stan CorrespOndentl
 New York, Nov. 2T-Walls do not prison make-especially when 1t comes to national defense. The pres- ent emergency has scaled the ram parts the prisoners watch and ef- fected some profound changes within the nations penal institutions, state and federal.
 In the federal prisons, these changes actually involve production, of materials for the defense effort, Inmates of the penitentiaries at At larlta, Ga, and Terre Haute, Ind, for example, are turning out such de- fense accessories as tents, ship avn ings, shell covers, TINT bags, and parachute packs.
 But because the U. s. govern inent may, by law, buy only such prison-made goods as are manu- factured in federal prisons, the pres- ent emergency has not directly af- fected the production programs in state institutions, Its primary effect there has been on the vocational training programs.
 PAROLEES TAKE JOBS
 VACATED BY OTHERS
 Many state institutions are re- vamping their treatment programs to train men to 1t into industrial vacancies immediately after their parole" explained Robert J. Wright, assistant secretary of the American Prison association, a natinoal clear- ing house for penal information.
 "Actually, few men with prison records are getting jobs directly in defense industries after parole. Rather they are filling the places of men who have left related indus tries for better paying defense jobs.
 "In New York, for example, the prison Association of New York has placed in the past few months perhaps 50 parolees in small auto repair shops, shops which have lost their skilled personnel to the new industrial plants which need ma chinists so urgently. So great is the demand for trained men to take their places that we are able to find jobs for more men with records toe day than at any time since the last war"
 TO it prisoners for these jobs, some of the New York State insti- tutions, especially those like Elmira reformatory, whose primary job is rehabilitation of young offenders, have made major changes in their training programs.
 ! nAfaHa ktsa oka VA Af N1AA EaynR Ti '. mira, for example, had only few machine shops and these were sel- dom used to capacity. When the war started and industry began to clamor for machinists, Elmira's shops sud- denly became too small to accom- modate every one who wanted to learn.
 So a few months ago the re- formatory began a unique six months course for its inmates. Be- fore prisoners get chance to learn in the shops at all, they arc given a two months course in theory--just aS 1t might be- taught in Q college classroom.
 NIGHT COURSES TO TEACH
 NEEDED MECHANICAL SKILL
 Nor Is 1t only some state prisons which are adapting their training programs to Americas new indus trial tempo. The federal peniten. tiary at LewiSburg, Pa,, has gone SO far as to institute c night shift in It's machine shops and is teaching prisoners such other much demand ad ekilia ag naAehaninai drnftin1 and blueprint reading.
 The paradox in all this activity with increasing demands for trained men and increased training Of men ia some of the state institutions, is that there are still in the nations prisons, especially those in New York state, men who have served their minimum sentences, yet cannot be paroled because they can find no work.
 New York is one of the very few states In which job Is Q manda-