Dr. Bernard Glueck exhibited a number of charts showing much that was deeply interesting in regard to the mentality, environment and parentage of the criminals sent to Sing Sing.

“Sing Sing is being reorganized and rebuilt to receive all of the criminals of New York for examination immediately after they have been convicted. We are trying to get at the man behind the crime rather than the crime itself. Two facts are very evident from our work. The social fact is that 66 per cent. of the prisoners we have received are previous offenders. The medical fact is that 59 per cent. of the prisoners can be classified for mental diseases or mental deviation; and thousands of this class can be treated and cured by means of vocational training and other modern prison methods.

“Sing Sing is being remodeled so that we can devote as much as four months to an intensive study of each prisoner who enters the institution. From this examination we can learn which men should be sent to the insane hospitals, which to the intensive vocational schools, and can outline the most effective method of treatment necessary to prepare the men for the future.

“The indeterminate sentence is essential to the proper working out of our plans, and the criminal courts of the State are working in harmony with this idea. Most offenders can be restored to a normal life and good citizenship after they have finished a term under proper treatment, and criminal judges in New York city tell us that fewer men come before them for a second time since we have adopted the present methods.

“It is the aim of the prison to turn the men into citizens with an understanding. They are allowed many liberties, and are made to take an active part in community life in prison. They have their own social organization, a system of self-government, including even a charitable society. In their charity work they aid prisoners who are leaving the prison, make it possible for poor people to visit imprisoned relatives, send the bodies of prisoners home for burial, and many other things of that nature.”

PRISONERS AND THE WAR.

Some problems arising as a direct result of the war received serious attention. There was the question of additional food production by prison labor; whether paroled men shall enter the army or navy; and whether conditional pardons may be granted, contingent upon military service.

Some delegates asserted that a general restlessness was noticed among most prisoners. Many of them are exceedingly anxious to get into the war, and in some States prisoners are being paroled so that they may enter the army or navy. Prison officials know that many of their wards are fit for military service just as well as they are aware that other prisoners are unfit. After prolonged discussion of the subject, the Wardens’ Association unanimously adopted the following resolution:

“Resolved, That the Wardens’ Association of the American Prison Association suggest to and request of the President of the United States the modification of paragraph 849 of the Regulations of the Army and paragraph 3686 of the Articles for the Government of the Navy of the United States so as to permit the enlistment in the military and naval forces of the United States of men who, in the judgment of the proper military and naval authorities, are physically, mentally and morally qualified, despite the fact that such persons may have been convicted of the offenses set forth in the regulations and articles above referred to and imprisoned therefor, upon their being duly and honorably paroled or discharged from such imprisonment.”

At Guelph, Ontario, the great prison has been practically depopulated. The prisoners have gone to war, and the institution has been taken over as a hospital for convalescents returned from the scenes of war. The Superintendent, Dr. J. T. Gilmour, declared that it is only a step from prisoner to patriot.