D. George Wight, commissioner of charities and correction of New Jersey finds that there is no uniform rule under which the common pleas judges of the state deal out sentences. There are a number of first offenders in the state prison who should have been sent to the reformatory, and there are numerous cases where prisoners should have been sent to the state prison instead of the reformatory. Dr. Wight also shows that there are a number of hardened criminals confined in the reformatory.
The out-of-place presence of these detained persons interferes with the work in the prison and in the reformatory. Mr. Osborne, warden of the state prison, concludes that reformation is an almost impossible achievement in the state prison, and Dr. Moore, superintendent of the state reformatory, is of the opinion that the presence of hardened criminals in the reformatory prevents the carrying on of efficient reformatory work in his institution.
Under the existing laws it is provided that the male first offenders between the ages of 16 and 30 years shall be sent to the reformatory. Notwithstanding the provisions, Dr. Wight’s statistics show that from June, 1909, to June, 1911, there were committed to the state prison 240 prisoners of the first offender class, and less than 25 years of age. Dr. Wight shows that this total is twenty-five per cent. of the commitments during the two years which the statistics cover. There have been 231 commitments to the Rahway reformatory in the past year, and of this number at least fifty-five per cent. are second offenders, and some of the men are serving their third and fourth terms in prison. The report of Dr. Moore shows that of the commitments in the past year sixty-nine are second offenders, thirty-three are third offenders, eighteen are fourth offenders, five are fifth offenders and six are sixth offenders, leaving 104 first offenders committed during the year, with a total of 234.
The investigation shows that the sentences imposed by the trial judges have not been based upon the seriousness of the crime, but upon the individual preferences of the court.
A Prison Program for New York.—Commissioner Frank E. Wade, of Buffalo, has embodied the results of a recent careful inspection of the county penitentiaries of New York (New York, Albany, Onondaga, Monroe and Erie) in well digested reports to the commission, and in addition recommends a policy of action for the state which deserves quoting. For years the inefficient county management of most of the penitentiaries has been notorious.
“Control of the penitentiaries under existing conditions is essentially a state function. The prospects, however, of state ownership are not promising for some time to come. The initial cost will be so great that, in the present condition of state finances, the proposition for the purchase of these institutions is not likely to meet with favor; furthermore, there are some related problems which should be settled before state ownership of penitentiaries. I refer to a state farm for vagrants, a reformatory for male misdemeanants between the ages of 16 and 21 and the development of industries in the penitentiaries.
“The state is already committed to the farm colony plan and its successful operation will decrease the number in the penitentiaries of the most hopeless class of inmates as far as penitentiary treatment is concerned.
“A state reformatory for misdemeanants, where boys between the ages of 16 and 21 can be committed on an indeterminate sentence and receive instruction in trades and letters, is the most necessary and urgent prison reform under public discussion. These boys can now be committed only to penitentiaries and jails, except in the city of New York, and the penitentiary and jail associations and treatment confirm them in criminal habits.
“The introduction and extension of industries in the penitentiaries is of vital importance. The present idleness of the prisoners in all the penitentiaries (except New York and Onondaga county penitentiaries, where the product can be increased fifty per cent) is tending to destroy their future usefulness and turn them into loafers. It is the duty of the state commission of prisons to present the evils of this idleness to the public and to endeavor to have the county authorities furnish employment for all the prisoners, as required by law.