Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-13
consensus Of many leading pencil
ogists and prison officials.

eUtNg W sV~tety ooet"s
consensus Of many leading pencil
ogists and prison officials.
In an era Of growing enlighten-
ment. experts say. too many
United States prisons are OUT
NODDED snakepits Of human des-
pair !. grim, sour-smelling Bas-
titles where thousands Of men are
entombed year after year In a
gray steel world.
Even hard-headed critics who
scoff at any pity-the-poor-pris-
oner approach-"nobody invited
them to q picnic"-are slowly be-
ginning to realize that some
United States prisons amount to
virtually q national disgrace.
Then, too, recent comments by
American visitors to Russia, un-
favorably comparing United States
penal methods with Soviet prisons.
have set of fresh demands for
q searching re-examination Of this
country's custodial system.
More than 40 years as a prison
official have led me to question not
only the place but the effective
ness and the validity Of the prison
system in our society,"" says DR..
Frederick s. Bald, former war
den Of Pennsylvania prisons.
System outmOded
Harry Elmer Barnes. noted So
biologist and longtime advocate Of
penal reform, declares:
I'VE shall ultimately come to
admit that society has been as
unfortunate in handing over GRIM
inals to lawyers and judges as 1t
once was in entrusting surgery to
BARRIERS"
Some authorities contend that
about half the Nations prisoners
could and should be turned out Of
prison-either shifted to open-air
correctional camps and farms or
released on parole.
The day Of the high-walled Big
House. they say, should be ended
for all but the toughest, most Vi
cious and unregenerate offenders.
The prediction Of most lead
ing officials today is that wide
spread reforms viii be made
though progress will vary from
region TO region, State to State.
Penologists are taking a hard
new look at the nations 200 JAM
packed Federal and State prisons,
which house over 100000 inmates.
And they're clamoring for far
reaching reforms.
The result, they say, could be
as revolutionary as the discarding
of the prison lockstep, ball and
chain, zebra stripped uniform.
shaver head. the sweatbox and
the dread silent system which
drove men insane.
overcrowding Is Acute
A Nationwide survey discloses
these facts:
/. Most United States prisons
are explosively overcrowded. This
is one Of the prime reasons, au-
thorities say, behind the wave Of
more than 100 major riots which
have erupted in the country's
penal institutions during the past
10 years.
2. Prisons are failing badly in
their No. /. objective Of reform.
More than IS per cent Of the
men in prison have been there
before.
3. Many prisons are hotbeds Of
homosexuality and virtual crime
schools" for teaching criminal
techniques to young offenders
thrown in with hard-rock convicts.
4. The most pressing immediate
need. according to many wardens,
is the establishment Of psychia-
trio clinic in every prison to weed
out the hopeless detectives and de-
generates-and keep them apart.
5. United States prison sem
fences, among the stiffest in the
world, are often so severe and
inflexible they destroy incentive
for good behavior or rehabilitation.
many penologists assert.
6. Wide variations in sentences
- where one man gets 10 years
to life for armed robbery. while
the man in the next cell gets of
with a one-year sentence for
committing the same offense-
cause bitterness among prison in
mates and plant the seeds Of
hatred against the social system
which put them behind bars.
For example:
In three States the maximum
penalty for the sale Of narcotics
FIRST offense) Is three months.