The people's voice., 1959-01-02
By RUTH MULVEY HARMER
Condensed from THE LION in
READERS DIGEST

businesses are working together IL
a unique experiment to transform
prisons into schools for rehabilita-
ticn.
Roy was three-time loser-witk
1000 burglaries on and off his rec
ord. When he left San Quentin in
1853, fellow inmates bet that he could
not go straight for more than SO
hours.
They lost. A representative of the
California Newspaper Publishers As
sociation helped Roy get started in
an editorial job. Today Roy has a
prospering public-relations business !;
he is married and has earned the re-
spect of his community.
George was a convicted forger. At
the Mems Prison at Chino, he applied
for training in the prison furniture
factory and became a skilled worker.
When he was paroled, a member of
the Furniture Manufacturers Associa-
ton of Southern California offered
him a job. Several years ago, with
the encouragement and financial aid
of his employer, he started his own
factory.
Roy and George are products of a
unique experiment in California,
where labor and management are
cooperating with state officials to
rehabilitate criminals by converting
them into craftsmen.
Almost 500 business and union
leaders are working in this remark
able partnership. AS a result, Cali
fornia's state prisons today employ
more vocational training instructors
than are employed in any other state:
in addition, 29 industrial shops and |
factories and 10 farming and ranch
ing operations are providing prison.
ers with more on-the-job training than
is available in any other state prison
system. In only few years, this pro-
gram has saved millions of tax dol
lars and salvaged thousands of lives.
The California story began in 1914
when the state was rocked by a series
of prison scandals. Governor Earl
Warren pushed reorganization act
through the legislature. The old. poll
5ically appointed Board of Prison Di-
rectors was replaced by Department
If Corrections. Into the directors post
vent Richard A. McGee, tall. mild
hammered former university instruc-
,or, previously Deputy Commissioner
If Correction of New York City and
Director of Public Institutions in the
State of Washington. "He was," Chief
Justice Warren commented recently,
'one of the best appointments l ever
made.
From the first, McGee stated his
simply: primitive people
AXE revenge. A civilized society !
'hould try to rehabilitate". {
McGee first provided adequate liv- :
ng conditions and decent food for the t
,vercrowded prisoners. He stated his t
with trained professionals {
lnder rigid civil service merit sys- i
EN-. During recent years, an unprece-
Tented number of prison riots and '
nutinies have taken place throughout '
he country, but there has been no s
rouble in California. c
But McGee knew that maintaining g
'rison order was only part of the t
OBJ. He had served as warden of New a
york's Rikers Island Prison, and he S
yas haunted by the scene he had often s
yitnessed as the men left. "We1l be a
eeing you," they said in cynical fare p
,ell. '"They left" McGee says, 100 t
day; they returned, 100 day." j
He went to the California legisla-
ire: "Unless prisoners spend their t,
me in a meaningful fashion, one e
,rm is prologue to another. Let's o
elp them the first time so they won't h
ome back again" "
The legislators voted funds. and rt
-ison educational programs were ex- a.
inded so that today more than 5000 W
en- and women are enrolled in pi
'urses. I'm 1857, 361 inmates re- al
lived high school diplomas and 731 tr
rned elementary diplomas; pro- ii
ded by local school districts, the gl
plomas tactfully omit the name of
e institution.) vi
But there still remained a lack of m
jobs in the prisons. The co
ly industrial training available for a
my of the men was the rock pile as