Pennsylvania Prison Society

“ It was pointed out that the modern idea did not wholly discard the element of punishment in the treatment of criminals, but, for the benefit both of society and the individual, placed extreme emphasis on efforts to reform the wrongdoer and furnish him with incentives to become a useful member of the community instead of a perpetual menace. There is the publicity of a trial, the confinement to certain limits whether behind walls or within other definite limits, the restraint of a discipline to which a free man is not subject. ”

“ There is no thought of providing a luxurious menu, or of adding materially to the cost of provisions. Government is easier when the prisoners are satisfied with the diet.
We commend to the serious attention of officials and managers of all our public institutions, whether for the convict, the blind, the insane, the destitute, the subject of the appointment of an expert dietitian who shall supervise the selection and the preparation of the food, believing the results will amply justify the expense involved whether considered from the standpoint of health or economy. ”

“ We have long contended that idleness was the most conspicuous fault in the prisons of this Commonwealth.
We believe in these times of stress that it is a flagrant fault to waste an ounce of muscular effort. The conservation of all our resources implies that the 400,000 now confined in the prisons of the United States should be compelled not only to earn their own maintenance but to contribute their fair share for the urgent needs of the nation. They may be employed in the preparation of surgical supplies, in canning fruit and vegetables, and in a great variety of manufacturing industries. ”

“ They claim that under their system of employing convicts, outside labor has nothing to fear from competition. Contract labor may have been somewhat of a menace to labor on the outside, but these men earning wages are engaged in honest production and the product is distributed just as the fruits of any other industry. Let me illustrate. A man working on a farm, in a canning factory, in a cotton mill, commits a fault and is secluded from the community but continues his work on another farm, in another canning factory, in another cotton mill. He receives wages which maintains his family. ”

“ Mark that the law explicitly states that such convicts are eligible for parole, not that they shall be paroled. The time when they should be paroled, if paroled under any event, is decided by the Parole Board. Granted that we have a judicious Parole Board, who can better decide when a man is entitled to liberty, the judge or the jury who note the crime and see the man at the time of his trial, or the men who are supposed not only to know the circumstances of the crime but also to become familiar with the man’s attitude and general character? ”

“ The warden still exercises his judgment on the punishment awarded. The warden governs. The men may have more or less privileges, but they are granted by the warden. It resolves itself into a question as to how far such privileges may be granted. And no two wardens in the world will agree precisely on this point.
For the last twenty years the trend has been getting away from the brutality of the former systems, from the petty rules, from degrading and humiliating treatment, and the avowed object of confinement has been reiterated again and again to aim at reformation. ”

“ Most offenders can be restored to a normal life and good citizenship after they have finished a term under proper treatment, and criminal judges in New York city tell us that fewer men come before them for a second time since we have adopted the present methods.
“It is the aim of the prison to turn the men into citizens with an understanding. They are allowed many liberties, and are made to take an active part in community life in prison. They have their own social organization, a system of self-government, including even a charitable society. ”

“ We hold no brief for the Philadelphia County Prison. Doubtless some conditions could be improved. But the jury occasionally in its zeal magnifies a possible wrong or views some punitive feature out of its proper prospective. The discipline for a body of untried prisoners, some of whom may prove to be dangerous criminals, must not be squared by the discipline meted out to convicts who remain year after year in the same institution. You deal with one set as with people you know, the others present unknown dangerous proclivities. ”

“ Often the man sent to the farm for six months walks forth from the office, strolls over to the recreation room to await his work assignment and never feels for one minute the influence of restraint, except, perhaps, the realization that in the watch towers placed at various points of vantage about the farm there is stationed a man—a fellow prisoner—whose duty it is to notify headquarters if any prisoner starts to leave the grounds. ”

“ There is much complaint from almost every penal institution of the Commonwealth in regard to the character of the food and the manner of its preparation and serving. Denunciation of the food is a perennial charge and is common to all public institutions. It is just dawning on the minds of prison boards and officials that it is sound economy to keep the prisoners in health and that nourishing and palatable food conduces to health. The inmates have abundant time both to prepare the food and to serve it in accordance with approved sanitary methods. ”

“ If a few escape the harm they would do to any community would be less on the average than hardened convicts who receive the long sentences. He recalled that all properly managed insane asylums have their inmates in the open air as much as possible and give them every opportunity to engage in the work of raising the supplies of food. It is all wrong to pen up a thousand men in close confinement because some half dozen of them may try to escape. ”

“ The work of the commissioners who framed the Code of 1860 shows an utter lack of any consistent theory not only of grading the crimes as felonies and misdemeanors, but also in grading the punishment fixed for the various crimes. It may not be easy to do this in all cases. Persons may intelligently differ as to whether perjury should be more seriously punished than assault and battery, and whether larceny or bigamy be deserving of the greater penalty. ”

“ The San Remon Farm is where the non-Christian convicts from Moroland are confined. These war-like people have admirable qualities when treated properly, and three-fourths of the inmates are at work on the extensive farm without the presence of an armed guard. Here is found the model prison of the Orient. “Built of reinforced concrete, with grilled walls, dormitories, shower baths, and with every modern feature for the comfort, health and reformation of prisoners confined there, it has proved a wonderful educational institution for the Moro.” ”

“ Some county officials may point with pride to their prison, perhaps rather recently constructed, with admirable sanitary features, and affording some opportunity for employment. What is to become of such plants? We know of no county prison in the State whose facilities would be equivalent to the advantages afforded by the farm. Some prison will be needed at every county seat as a place of detention. Portions of the real estate may sometimes be sold for a handsome sum, or used for some other public purpose. We know of very few county prisons for whose construction we entertain much respect. ”

“ The Commission is unanimous in the belief that employment must be found for all prisoners in the State and county prisons. There are some conflicting elements with regard to the question of prison labor, and it will be the aim of the Commission to devise some system of employment which may as far as possible be helpful to the prisoner, when he is discharged, which may teach him self-respect, and the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and which may reduce the administrative expenses to a minimum, even to the extent of making our penal institutions self-supporting. ”

“ The present interest in sanitation, employment, probation and parole is encouragement, but should not the State do more to develop the man while in the institution, so that he will be better fitted for a successful life when released? ”

“ In the case of almost every crime denounced by the code fine and imprisonment are associated. In most cases the penalty provided is fine and imprisonment, in some it is fine or imprisonment. In a few cases imprisonment alone without a fine is prescribed, and in a few others it is a fine alone without imprisonment. We seek in vain for any principle on which the fine is omitted, where it is omitted ”

“ We are placing an immense burden upon the Inspectors of our Penitentiaries who in this State constitute the Boards of Parole. They are men with a high sense of civic responsibility, who do a large amount of faithful service without financial remuneration. They will not ask for any release from duties which the State may impose on them, but in justice to them we submit that the time has come for at least consideration of a proposition to appoint a special Board of Parole who shall receive compensation for their services. The work, if properly performed, demands a large amount of care and study. ”

“ Confinement on bread and water is the only form of punishment permitted in this colony—no flogging, no dungeons, no ball and chain, no stripes.
“We have prisoners living down on the lower end of the farm working under a prisoner-foreman. We see them only when we are making the weekly round of inspection.” ”

“ The authorities have not been willing to assume the responsibility for paroling the county prisoners for outside work. It is quite possible that in the spring of 1918 they may take action under the special legislation of the late Assembly.
There are some acres of ground about the institution which is kept in an admirable order by the inmates, but no space has been set aside or adapted for an exercise ground for the prisoners. This is a matter which should receive attention. The open air is wholesome, and men should not be deprived of this privilege even if they are felons. ”

“ And that is more than can be said for any jail or prison. We aren’t running any school for crime here. We do know that. We also know that we can make this institution self-supporting and a means of revenue for the State. What more can you ask?
“The wide-open policy of freedom, I believe, has been carried to the extreme here. Although the great majority of men can be handled and trusted in absolute freedom, there are, in a population of 700 men, some who can never be given liberty. There is need for not more than 50 cells. Any farm colony ought to have them even if the cells are never used. ”

“ With the tremendous demand for war supplies in addition to the ordinary demand for domestic uses; with the cessation of immigration which for 150 years has poured a steady stream of fresh laborers into the United States; and with the immediate diversion of a million men, and perhaps four or five millions, to the trade of war, we are confronted with a scarcity of labor which compels us to utilize every available worker to the limit of his reasonable capacity. ”

“ She had felt it essential to have a woman of ability and character to have general management of the farm work, inasmuch as many of those committed to her care were, in a sense, oversexed and they needed to be associated constantly with good women. This was a rule in the selection of all her assistants. As far as possible, men are eliminated from the activities on the farm, so that these girls come entirely under the wholesome influence of young women specially trained for the various kinds of employment on the farm. ”

“ It is not the object of the officers to exploit the men to the advantage of the State. In the last two years they may have returned to the State about $9,000, but in the same time they paid out to the men the sum of $65,000 in wages. They are spending their surplus in betterments. They have built dormitories, with rooms, not cells, avoiding particularly the menagerie appearance. They aim to supply the men with a wholesome and natural environment, believing that thus they may accomplish the main object of a penal institution which is the reformation and restoration of the offender. ”

“ The regulations for those held for trial should be as mild and reasonable as is consistent with safety and the convenience of the accused person. While they are not yet convicts, many of them are well-known recidivists, more or less dangerous, some are entirely unknown and need watchful care, so that any system founded on uniform treatment for all is liable to criticism. A system which combines moderate restraint with exactly the right proportion of reasonable freedom presents a problem which a novice can no more readily solve than an ignoramus the elements of an eclipse. ”

“ Allegheny County now has a farm of over 600 acres, and has under cultivation about 500 acres. This county will be united with four other counties in the management of the Industrial Farm for the Second District, and 500 acres will prove insufficient. It may be wise to amend the Act making it possible to secure a farm of 1000 acres if thought desirable. It has been found to be an economical proposition to establish penal farms on waste land and by means of drainage, leveling, removing of rocks and scientific tillage and fertilizing to make the “wilderness blossom as the rose.” ”

“ Pascoe, Warden of the prison at Easton, stated that he had about 100 prisoners who are only partially employed in carpet weaving. He has a small exercise yard where his men are allowed to parade about an hour daily. With his scant space and opportunities he is hampered. He would be very willing to make arrangements to have his men work on the Poor Farm about seven miles away if the authorities would grant the privilege. He is entirely aware of the evils of idleness, and would welcome the opportunity to employ his inmates in farm work. ”

“ Criminals are not sent to prison for punishment, as many seem to believe, but prisons exist for the confinement of prisoners for the safety of society and for the reform of the man or woman there. They should, if possible, be reformed and returned to society. ”

“ If the laws of the State restrict employment in some lines, this warden gets busy in some other lines. It is vexatious to him to see able-bodied men dawdling about with nothing to do. He gives them all the open air possible. On occasion they may play games in their limited enclosure. Recently he has constructed a special building in which the looms are installed. No longer do they work in their cells, where they were obliged to live, eat and sleep in lint-laden air. The men assist in making improvements, and somehow there is something doing in the line of repairs or improvements every minute. ”