A little paper lies before me, the first number of a new monthly publication from behind the bars of the prison I know so well. In its pages is mirrored a new dispensation—the new dispensation sweeping11 with irresistible12 force from State to State. Too deep for words was the[Pg 273] thankfulness that filled my heart as I tried to realize that at last the day had come when prisoners were recognized as men, and that this blessed change had come to my own State. I knew it was on the way; I knew that things were working in the right direction; I had even talked with the new warden13 about some of these very changes; but here it was in black and white, over the signatures of the warden, his deputy, two chaplains, the prison doctor, and several representatives of the prisoners themselves: all bearing witness to the new order of things; to the facts already accomplished14 and to plans for the betterment of existing conditions. Of the fifteen hundred convicts fifty have been for several months employed on State roads under the supervision15 of two unarmed guards. The fifty men were honor men and none have broken faith. Two hundred more honor men will be sent out in the same way during the summer of 1914. Another three hundred will work on the prison farm of one thousand acres, erecting16 farm buildings and raising garden and farm products for the prison and the stock, and gaining health for themselves in a life practically free during working hours.
To the men inside the prison walls the routine[Pg 274] of daily life is wholly altered. No longer do they eat in silence with downcast eyes; the table is a meeting-place of human beings where talk flows naturally. No longer is life one dull round from prison cell to shop, where talk and movements of relaxation17 are forbidden; and back in silent march to prison cell, with never a breath of fresh air except on the march to and from the shops. This monotony is now broken by a recreation hour in the open air every day, given in turn to companies of the men taken from the workshops in which exchange of remarks is now allowed. In pleasant weather this recreation is taken in games or other diversions involving exercise. "Everything goes but fighting" is the liberal permission, and recreation in cold weather takes the form of marching.
From October to May, for five hours in the day, six days in the week, school is in session in four separate rooms, the highest classes covering the eighth grade of our public schools. Any prisoner may absent himself from work one hour a day if desiring to attend the school, and can pursue his studies in his cell evenings. Competent teachers are found among the prisoners, and no guard is present during instruction hours. Arrangements[Pg 275] are now on foot for educational correspondence connected with the State university.
The time given to recreation and to education has not lessened18 the output of the shops; on the contrary, the new spirit pervading19 the prison has so energized20 the men, so awakened21 their ambition, that more and better work is done in the shops than before. The grade of "industrial efficiency" recently introduced serves as a further incentive22 to skill and industry and will secure special recommendation for efficiency when the men are free to take their own places in the world.
Nor is this all; for each prisoner as far as is practicable is assigned work for which he is individually fitted. Men educated as physicians are transferred from the shops to the staff of hospital assistants; honor men qualified23 for positions where paid attendants have hitherto been employed are transferred to these positions, thus reducing expenses. Honor men having mechanical faculty24 are permitted during the evenings in their cells to make articles, the sale of which gives them a little money independently earned. Also in some of the prison shops the workers are allowed a share in the profits. It is the warden's aim to utilize25 as far as possible individual talent[Pg 276] among his wards26, to give every man every possible chance to earn an honest living on his release; to make the prison, as he puts it, "a school of citizenship27." To every cell is furnished a copy of the Constitution of the United States and of the State in which the prison is located, with the laws affecting criminals. Further instructions relating to American citizenship are given, and are especially valuable to foreigners.
But helpful as are all these changes in method, the real heart of the change, the vital transforming quality is in the personal relation of the warden to his wards. In conferences held in the prison chapel28 the warden makes known his views and aims, speaking freely of prison matters, endeavoring to inspire the men with high ideals of conduct and to secure their intelligent and hearty29 co-operation for their present and their future. Here it is also that the men are free to make known their prison troubles, sure of the warden's sympathetic consideration of means of adjustment. Heart and soul the warden is devoted30 to his work, never losing sight of his ultimate aim of restoring to society law-abiding citizens, but also feeling the daily need of these prisoners for encouragement and for warm human sympathy.
[Pg 277]
Mr. Fielding-Hall, after many years of practical experience with criminals, reached the conclusion that humanity and compassion31 are essential requisites32 in all attempts "to cure the disease of crime," and the curative power of sympathy is old as the hills; it began with the mother who first kissed the place to make it well; and from that day to this the limit to the power of sympathy has never been compassed, when sympathy is not allowed to evaporate as an emotion, but, hardened into a motive33, becomes a lever to raise the fallen.
It is largely owing to the sympathy of the present warden that light and air have come into the moral and mental atmosphere of this prison. In the natures of the men qualities hitherto dormant34 and undiscovered have come to the surface and are in the ascendant, aroused by the warden's appeal to their manhood; and the warden's enthusiasm is the spark that has touched the spirit of the subordinate officials and has fused into unison35 the whole administration. And the warden is fortunate in the combination of men working with him. His deputy, the disciplinarian of the place, served for twenty-five years on the police force of Chicago, a position[Pg 278] directly antagonized to crime and yet affording exceptional opportunity for the study of criminals. True to his colors as a protector of society, he now feels that society is best protected through the reclamation36 of those who have broken its laws; he believes that the true disciplinarian is not the one who punishes most severely37 but the one who trains his charges to join hands with him in the maintenance of law and order within their little community; and he has already reduced the punishment record for violation38 of rules to scarcely more than one-tenth of former averages; and the shackling39 of men in the punishment cells is abolished.
The prison physician is an up-to-date man, fully40 in accord with the views of the warden, and with admirable hospital equipment where excellent surgical41 work is done when required. The two chaplains have a missionary42 field of the highest opportunities, where a sympathetic friendship for the prisoner during six days in the week becomes the highway to their hearts on the seventh.
The faces of the prisoners bear witness to the life-giving influences at work among them; the downcast apathy43 has given place to an expression[Pg 279] of cheerful interest, and the prison pallor to a healthful color. And the old prison buildings—the living tomb of hundreds of men—are themselves now doomed44. On the adjacent farm the prisoners will eventually build new quarters, either one modern prison into which God's sunlight and the free air of heaven will have access, or, better still, a prison village, a community in detached buildings, after the plan which has proven so satisfactory in other State institutions.
And what of the women sent to prison in this State? For fifteen years and more they have been housed in a separate institution. This has never been a place of degradation45. Every inmate46 has a light, well-ventilated, outside room, supplied with simple furnishings and toilet conveniences; white spreads cover the beds, and the home touch is evident in the photographs and fancy-work so dear to the heart of woman. The prisoners in their dress of blue-and-white check are neat and trim in appearance as maids from Holland. They number but sixty-five, and conversation is allowed.
The women have a recreation playground for open-air exercise and an assembly-room for evening entertainments. They are given industrial[Pg 280] training and elementary education; and though the discipline is firm the life is kept normal as possible; and wilful47 violation of rules seldom occurs. The present superintendent48 is a woman of exceptional qualifications for the position—a woman of quick, responsive sympathies, and wide experience, with fine executive ability. A thorough course in domestic science is fitting the women for domestic service or future home-making, and some of them are skilled in fine needle-work and embroidery49.
The lines in the old picture of prison life so deeply etched into my consciousness are already fading; for while I know that in too many States the awakening50 has not come, and the fate of the prisoner is still a blot51 on our civilization, the light has broken and the way is clear. Not only in my own State but to every State in the union the death-knell of the old penitentiary, with its noisome52 cells and dark dungeons53, has struck. The bloodless revolution of the reform movement is irresistible simply because it is in line with human progress.
Not until the present generation of criminals has passed away can adequate results of the widespreading change in prison management be [Pg 281]expected; for a large percentage of our convicts to-day are the product of crime-breeding jails, reformatories, and prisons. The "incorrigibles" are all men who have been subjected to demoralizing and brutalizing influences. In the blood-curdling outbreaks of gunmen and train-holdups society is but reaping the harvest of evils it has allowed. Not until police stations, jails, workhouses, reformatories, and prisons are all radically54 changed can any fair estimate be made of the value of the recent humane55 methods.
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1
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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oases
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲( oasis的名词复数 )；（困苦中）令人快慰的地方（或时刻）；乐土；乐事 | |
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discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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annoyances
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| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
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glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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erecting
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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energized
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| v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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utilize
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| vt.使用，利用 | |
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wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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reclamation
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| n.开垦；改造；（废料等的）回收 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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shackling
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| 给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的现在分词 ) | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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44
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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45
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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48
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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49
embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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50
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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51
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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52
noisome
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| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
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53
dungeons
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| n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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54
radically
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| ad.根本地，本质地 | |
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55
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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