Let him be arrested, guilty or not guilty, as a suspect of some crime. Let him be subjected to the inquisition of “the third degree,” regardless of the rights which are supposed to be guaranteed to every citizen that he shall be deemed to be innocent until proven to be guilty. Let him experience the starvation, buffeting insults and detectives’ lies which are incident to this inquisition.
Then, by all means, let Mr. Osborne’s representative await trial in a county jail and discover the beauties of a System which is twice as vicious as the Auburn Prison System which he describes. Thrust him into a steel cage and exhibit him to all comers like a wild beast in a menagerie. Let him share his cell with five other prisoners in a place where he cannot keep himself free from vermin, where he cannot take a bath, and force him into intimate association, day and night, with a mob of prisoners who are kept in idleness, with no occupation except to corrupt one another and to concoct plans to escape by bribing or mobbing the jailer or by cutting out of jail.
Let him stand trial in a court whose judge is overwhelmed with business or is fixed in the tradition that severity is the only remedy for crime, with a prosecuting attorney whose reputation depends upon making as many convictions as possible. Let him have assigned to his defense an attorney who, because of inexperience, incompetency, or indifference, cannot present his case properly, in order that his innocence may be demonstrated, if he is innocent, or any mitigating facts may be made clear if he is guilty.
Or let Mr. Osborne’s representative essay the role of a paroled prisoner, going out as a ward of the State under the direction of a parole officer, in order that he may discover the efficiency and equity of the Parole Board, the fidelity and good-will of the parole officer, the patience and fair dealing of the employer, and the advantages and disadvantages generally of the parole system.
It is a good thing to call the attention of the public to the deficiencies of the convict prisons, and the public ought to know that Sing Sing is, and has been for many years, far worse than Auburn. Think of a prison where rheumatism and tuberculosis form an inevitable part of the prison sentence for a large proportion of the prisoners, whose number can be definitely predicted! But the prison problem of the State of New York can only be solved by a thoroughly organized and persistent attack under the leadership of men and women who have social and economic vision.
And the prison problem of the State of New York will not be solved until it is recognized as a technical problem, demanding the services of tried and expert men. Prisons, like other educational institutions, should be headed by superintendents of demonstrated training and efficiency, selected without reference to geographical lines.
THE NEW FREEDOM AT AUBURN PRISON
By O. F. Lewis,
General Secretary, Prison Association of New York.
[This article has been reprinted from The Outlook, by special permission of that periodical. The editor of The Delinquent begs to say, that although he himself is the author of this article, he believes the new development of self-government at Auburn, as described in the following article, is of sufficient importance to warrant being called earnestly to the attention of our readers.]
The afternoon of the Fourth of July was drawing to a close in the long building-inclosed yard of Auburn Prison, in the State of New York. Fourteen hundred gray-suited inmates were playing a score of different games. The afternoon’s track events had come to an end. The South Wing, with between four and five hundred prisoners, had won from the North Wing, with some nine hundred prisoners, in the varied contests. A silver cup, given by the president of a prominent mortgage company in New York, was the tangible goal of the exciting battle.