And it is to be borne in mind, too, that our society is not restricted in its interests or sympathies, to the penal institutions of Pennsylvania. We would contribute all in our power to the “alleviation of the miseries of public prisons,” the country and world over. And it would probably surprise most of our readers to know how many and how aggravated these “miseries” are, even in prisons which boast of eminent superiority. Since we commenced this article, a case has been brought to our knowledge, on indisputable authority, which will serve as an example. A convict was brought from a State-prison to the Lunatic Asylum. He was heavily chained, and the examining physician noticed a circular bruise on his temple, as if made by the nails in the heel of a boot or shoe! The officer in charge of the man represented him as being very violent and unmanageable. Two and a half barrels of water had been showered upon him, he said, but it did not subdue him. It made him pale and cold, but he was obstinate still. He was malicious too, and had secreted a pair of shears, with the intent (as it was believed) to take the life of his keeper, but fortunately the keeper was aware of it, and knocked him down, and by putting his foot on his head, held him till help came, and hence the bruise which had arrested the doctor’s attention. He had been kept in a dungeon but without any good effect, and they had authority at last to take him to the Asylum.
The unhappy creature heard this story, but made no reply. The physician of the Asylum ordered his chains to be removed. He was admitted to the ward, like other patients, and had not given them the least trouble!
It seems that prisoners, paupers and pay-patients are intermingled in some Asylums. And we are credibly informed, that since the present year came in, not less than thirty-six insane convicts were at one time in the State Asylum at Utica. They are removed from the prison and received at the Asylum as insane, and this is often the end of the sentence. An elopement from the Asylum may perhaps answer all the purposes of a pardon, without the responsibility of it. In one instance, where a convict escaped from the Utica Asylum, notice was given to the authorities of the prison from whence he was received, but no effort was made to re-arrest him, and the fellow was found soon after, following a respectable business in New York city, at $22 a month and board, and was doing well! The Empire State itself could not probably have done better for him.
Our readers have not probably forgotten the fate of four out of five prisoners in a cell, not a cannon’s shot distance from the City Hall in New York. That such an event could occur in any prison which is located, constructed and superintended with ordinary regard to the laws of humanity, is scarcely credible.
In view of such statements, we must admit that the work of prison reform is indeed not yet accomplished. Great ignorance still prevails on the subject. Strong prejudices exist (nurtured, if not engendered by local, personal or professional pride,) against some of the essential features of any true and effective system. Much effort is required to diffuse right opinions, and correct popular errors. Among these last, none is more prevalent or mischievous than that the difference of a few thousand dollars, in the first cost of the structure, should turn the scale in favor of a system which is not, on other accounts, most approved. The true principle which should rule in all questions of this nature, is very obvious. No reasonable expense or pains should be spared in the employment of means to convert a single idler into a worker, or a single rogue into an honest citizen. The mischief which a contemner of laws may do, single-handed, to society, is so indefinite, and, we may almost say, boundless, that we can scarcely conceive of a greater public benefit than his reformation, unless, indeed, it be such a training of his children or his neighbor’s children, or both, as shall prevent their following his example. To confine a convict three or five or seven years with a chafed and irritated temper during all that interval, and then dismiss him, a settled and irreconcileable enemy to himself and all about him, is the worst policy a State can pursue. We do not advocate any course that shall mitigate, in the slightest degree, the legitimate severity of punishment. But we urge it as a matter of public economy, as the dictate of a sound policy, that where two methods of dealing with offenders are at the State’s election, one of which gives better promise than the other for the correction of the vicious dispositions and for the restoration to honest society of a single culprit, it should be chosen, whatever claim the other may show on the score of present expense.
We are aware, that in these times, when so many private and party considerations are allowed to mingle with questions of public interest, it will be no easy matter to secure a safe and liberal policy on such a subject as we are considering. But if so great achievements have been made by the good and wise who have lived and acted before us, it ill-becomes us in the light of their example, and with facilities for the work which were unknown to them,—it ill-becomes us to relax our efforts or to refuse any reasonable service or sacrifice, which will complete what they so nobly begun.
Art. II.—INSPECTORS OF PRISONS.
Much of the efficiency and success of any system of prison discipline, depends on the characters and dispositions of those who occupy the post of Inspectors. As it is out of the question for the most judicious and vigilant inspectors to make a prison what it should be, while incompetent persons are employed to execute the discipline, so it is equally out of the question for the most energetic and thoroughly qualified officers to administer successfully the affairs of such an institution, so long as they are subject to the control of incompetent Inspectors. To secure the desired results, there must be marked confidence between these parties, and such a coincidence of opinion and counsel as shall give unity and strength to the administration.
In cases where the appointment of the principal officers of a prison is in the hands of the Inspectors, there is danger that the independence which is so essential to faithful and efficient action, will be put in jeopardy. It requires no ordinary degree of courage to pursue a measure which is likely to involve a sacrifice of one’s livelihood, and especially where no moral principle is concerned. It may happen, for instance, that some indulgences are allowed or winked at by the Inspectors, which are in violation of the discipline established by law. If the warden remonstrates against the practice, it may be at the risk of losing his place, and it is easy for him to persuade himself that the responsibility is on the Inspectors, whose servant he is, and that the most discreet course for him is to hold his peace and his place. But we think a wise Board of Inspectors would see to it, that the warden is put at his ease on that point, and that the utmost freedom is enjoyed by him, not as a matter of grace, but of right, in the utterance of all his suggestions and objections.
There is no uniformity in the several States, either as to the appointment of Inspectors or the relations they shall sustain to the public on one side, and to the prison and its inmates and resident officers on the other. In some States they are appointed by the Executive, in others by the Legislature. In some they are popularly elected, and in others (as in Pennsylvania) they are appointed by the judiciary. Our own impression is, that the appointing power of this class of officers is most properly lodged in the executive department of the government. It is, in its nature, analogous to other duties of this department. It is in the exercise of purely executive authority that the convict is committed, and it would seem fitting that this same power should exercise a suitable control over him, directly or by agents of its own appointment. If the Legislature has exercised its functions in the enactment of the law, with adequate penalties, and the Judiciary has past upon the guilt of a transgressor and fixed the measure of his punishment, one would think the remaining part of the work is peculiarly appropriate to the Executive.