To adopt this suggestion means a return to the old system of convict colonies. An obstacle to the segregation plan under present conditions is the scarcity of lands available for such purposes. Suitable island territory is at a premium. Continental land, except in isolated cases, is not desirable for the location of convict colonies because of the opportunities for escape. The alternative is the establishment of prison farms—a system experimented with more or less during recent years.
Ohio Penitentiary Breaks Silence.—One of the most sweeping changes made in prison rules by Warden Thomas since he was placed in charge of the penitentiary came on February 24, when he announced that convicts would be permitted to talk to each other while working.
Almost since the time the prison was first built it had been one of the stringent rules of the institution that prisoners could not talk with each other while at work. This rule always was adhered to strictly. The theory was that to let prisoners talk in the shops and factories was to invite attempted escapes and plots leading to infractions of prison discipline.
A Good Idea.—From the Elizabeth, New Jersey, News, comes this information: “What New Jersey Is Doing for the Young Man Who Breaks Its Laws,” is the title of an instructive address being delivered throughout the State by the Rev. Frank Moore, of this city, superintendent of the New Jersey Reformatory. In his address Mr. Moore plainly shows the efforts of the State at its institutions to uplift manhood and instill higher ideals of living.
Superintendent Moore selects the county courthouse as the place to deliver his lecture, and has already spoken at seven county seats, including Toms River, Ocean county; Woodbury, Gloucester county; Freehold, Monmouth county; Mount Holly, Burlington county; Belvidere, Warren county, and Newton, Sussex county. At the two latter places, the audiences were so great that there was not room enough in the courthouses to accommodate them. At Mount Holly the largest gathering in years was the result.
Usually the county judge presides, and the lecture is heard by prosecutors, officials, ministers, school teachers, etc., who are naturally interested in the work from their vocations. Excellent reports have been made concerning the value of the lecture.
Prison Publicity.—The Montreal Star says that the farther the inquiry into the Kingston Penitentiary goes, the more it is evident that what the discipline of any prison needs is the wholesome and curative application of publicity. Punishments ought not to be inflicted upon convicts without the fact being made public. Any mischiefs which may arise will be possible only because the authorities of a prison have the power to punish prisoners behind their grim walls in entire secrecy.
“It is not necessary to charge that the authorities or even the guards are worse than the ordinary run of mortals, to see how the human nature in them may be exasperated by the criminal classes under their charge into taking action which they would not take if the steadying eye of the whole community were on them. It must be remembered that prisons are not young ladies’ boarding schools. We do not send the brightest and best of our youth to them. In fact, the deliberate purpose of our system of justice is to send them our worst. Undoubtedly, at times, we do send there some of our best—men whom a chance step from the beaten path has tripped into disaster—but our whole machinery of justice is at fault if the rule is not to select our criminals for our prison population.
“This being so, the guards and the prison authorities generally have a difficult and trying task constantly before them. It would be little wonder if they grew pessimistic and cynical touching the motives and the prospects and even the possibilities of their ‘guests.’ They are constantly in contact with men who ought to be far below the average in all these things. It would be a miracle if they kept their faith in human nature, and their attitude toward the human derelicts who thwart and defy them, at even the average pitch. Under such conditions, with the prison shut in on itself, like a little world islanded from the rest of the country, what can we expect but that prison opinion will come to justify harsh measures and cruel punishments?
“What is clearly needed is to correct this drift toward cynicism and possibly brutality by keeping it always in touch with the sane and unruffled point of view of the general community. This can only be done by publicity. Nor would a demand for publicity be unfair to the prison authorities. Their prisoner is sentenced to a fixed punishment for a definite crime. If he commits another crime, he should be sentenced to another punishment for that; but he should have his second trial and sentence as fully safeguarded by public opinion as his first. Refusal to obey prison regulations would be such a second crime; and his public trial for it would not only make it certain that the evidence was convincing and the punishment humane, but would bring the regulations themselves under public review.