The particular purpose of inquiring into the early and antecedent history of the prisoners committed to this Reformatory during the last fifteen years has been to ascertain the character of the defects of the man himself, with a view to map out and conduct a course of treatment calculated to cure such defects or build up counteracting impulses and habitudes, as well as to determine the cause of the defects observed. It has been abundantly demonstrated by our experience here that the record made on the date of the prisoner’s admission, which is an abstract of the examination held by the General Superintendent, is substantially accurate,—accurate in all the essentials required to determine the real character of the man. I am sure, if it was deemed important to go back one or two generations for hereditary influences, we might ascertain enough from the prisoner on his examination to enable further inquiry outside which, together with the statements of the prisoner, would form very reliable data.
I am, dear sir,
Very respectfully yours,
Z. R. Brockway, Gen. Supt.
The following table shows something of Mr. Brockway’s method of classification as the result of his investigations:[8]
BIOGRAPHICAL STATISTICS OF INMATES.
| 1. Relating to their Parentage (Hereditary.) | ||
| Insanity or epilepsy in ancestry | 499 or 13.7 | per cent. |
| DRUNKENESS (in Ancestry). | ||
| Clearly traced | 1,408 or 38.7 | per cent. |
| Doubtful | 403 or 11.1 | |
| Temperate | 1,825 or 50.2 | |
| EDUCATION (in Ancestry). | ||
| Without any education | 495 or 13.6 | per cent. |
| Simply read and write | 1,885 or 38.1 | |
| Ordinary common school or more | 1,592 or 43.8 | |
| High School or more | 164 or 4.5 | |
| PECUNIARY CIRCUMSTANCES (in Ancestry). | ||
| Pauperized | 173 or 4.8 | per cent. |
| No accumulation | 2,801 or 77.0 | |
| Forehanded | 662 or 18.2 | |
| OCCUPATION (in Ancestry). | ||
| Servants and clerks | 376 or 10.4 | per cent. |
| Common laborers | 1,197 or 32.6 | |
| At mechanical work | 1,343 or 36.9 | |
| With traffic | 633 or 17.7 | |
| THE PROFESSIONS (so-called). | ||
| Law | 16 | |
| Medicine | 36 | |
| Theology | 10 | |
| Teaching | 25 | |
| 87 | or 2.4 per cent. | |
| 2. Relating to Inmates Themselves (Environment). | ||
| THE HOME LIFE. | ||
| (a) Character of Home Life. | ||
| Positively bad | 1,883 or 51.8 | per cent. |
| Fair (only) | 1,453 or 39.9 | |
| Good | 300 or 8.3 | |
| (b) Duration of Home Life. | ||
| Left home previous to 10 years of age | 187 or 5.2 | per cent. |
| Left home between 10 and 14 years of age | 226 or 6.2 | |
| Left home soon after 14 years of age | 1,121 or 30.8 | |
| At home up to time of crime | 2,192 or 57.8 | |
| Note.—As to the 1534 homeless: | ||
| Occupied furnished rooms in cities | 390 or 25.4 | per cent. |
| Lived in cheap boarding houses (itinerant) | 280 or 18.2 | |
| Rovers and tramps | 533 or 34.8 | |
| Lived with employer | 331 or 21.6 | |
| EDUCATIONAL. | ||
| Without any education (illiterates) | 710 or 19.5 | per cent. |
| Simply read and write (with difficulty) | 1,814 or 49.9 | |
| Ordinary common school | 979 or 26.9 | |
| High school or more | 133 or 3.7 | |
| INDUSTRIAL.[9] | ||
| Servants and clerks | 1,041 or 28.6 | per cent. |
| Common laborers | 1,853 or 51.0 | |
| At mechanical work | 649 or 17.8 | |
| Idlers | 93 or 2.6 | |
| CHARACTER OF ASSOCIATIONS. | ||
| Positively bad | 2,072 or 56.9 | per cent. |
| Not good | 1,439 or 39.6 | |
| Doubtful | 64 or 1.8 | |
| Good | 61 or 1.7 | |
| NOMINAL RELIGIOUS FAITH OR TRAINING. | ||
| Protestant | 1,531 or 42.1 | per cent. |
| Roman Catholic | 1,667 or 45.8 | |
| Hebrew | 207 or 5.7 | |
| None | 231 or 6.4 | |
The study of physical, mental and moral characteristics will lead us to other determinations and will show in physical health that the prisoners are as a rule not much, if any, below the average of people at large. It will also show that the majority of them not accustomed to regular work or employment are not capable of doing as much labor or enduring as much constant physical fatigue as would the same body of men who are not criminals taken from the common ranks of the people. So as to mental characteristics, we can urge that the criminal intellect has not been keen enough to take proper rank with the average mind. It is a fact, however, that many criminals are very shrewd and intellectually keen. Doubtless something could be said about the quality of such intellect and its special characteristics. It is the intellect of a coarse nature and not cultured, refined, or properly trained in the aggregate. The well developed mind, balanced in every particular, is rare among criminals. It will be seen, however, that a defect in the moral nature is in most instances a secret cause of the crime. Moral insensibility seems to be the common characteristic of a large proportion of prisoners. It is indeed too true with many of them that their conscience consists merely in the humiliation of being caught. Dwell as they may upon past deeds, the great fault of their own, as far as they view it, is in the fact that they were caught in the act and apprehended and punished. This moral insensibility is found in all grades and degrees, from that of a complete lack of moral symptoms to those of a highly sensitive moral nature.
Of the 4,000 criminals who have been through the reformatory at Elmira, 36.2 per cent showed on admission positively no susceptibility to moral impressions; only 23.4 per cent were ordinarily susceptible.[10]
The following tables, taken from the report of the general superintendent of the Elmira reformatory for 1889, may be found interesting. It must be observed that the majority of these prisoners are young and all of them under the age of 30.
CONDITION AS OBSERVED ON ADMISSION.