HOW YOUNG MEN BREAK INTO PRISON
One of the most startling facts that face the present day reformer is
the great number of strong, healthy and well educated young men that
really break into prison, as that is the only way you can speak of it.
Various reasons are given for this singular condition of things but
which do not satisfactorily explain the difficult problem. We believe
the question is worthy of the highest consideration which the State can
bestow upon it. It is everywhere demanding a solution at the hands of
Christian philanthropists and statesmen. When we think of the tens of
thousands of young men in this and other large cities, who are leading
prodigal lives, uncared for by their fellow men, and little sought after
by Christian agencies, unless they are well dressed and have plenty of
money; then the Y. M. C. A. and the Club will compete for their
patronage. But if they are poor nobody cares for them, and if they
happen to wander into a Christian Reading Room, they will be told that
such a place is only for members, and not for them.
Many of these young men come from country homes in search of employment,
and not finding any, after they have spent their capital, they eke out a
precarious living by doing odd jobs or even panhandling. After a time
they become seedy in appearance; sever all connection with the loved
ones at home; lose all ambition of ever amounting to anything or
securing employment. Then they mingle with criminals, who present to
them some “rosy scheme” to get ready money without working for it, and
when they seek to carry it out, find themselves in the meshes of the
law. Now they have discovered by experience that “The way of the
transgressor is hard.” If, however, they had sought steadily to do what
was right by shunning the saloon and the companionship of evildoers, the
result of their brief city life would have been different.
Some time ago a young man, twenty-seven years of age, was in the
Jefferson Market Police Court. He had wandered to New York months ago
from a New England home. Although a graduate of Yale, and a law student,
filling many important and lucrative positions, yet he lost all by
strong drink, cocaine and evil companions. As soon as he was sobered he
found himself to be a moral and physical wreck.
It seems that when he had exhausted all his resources and his clothing
became torn and tattered, the only employment he could find was to play
the piano in a Tenderloin saloon for free “drinks.”
Perhaps the reason that so many young men really break into prison is
that they have acquired sinful habits in their youth which have grown on
them with the years. They refuse any longer the advice of friends and
are unwilling to learn by experience, and like men void of
understanding, they rush into crime, like the horse into battle, only to
meet disaster.
Some of the larger Rescue missions of the city do a vast amount of good
in caring for these young men. But many are “pauperized” and in the end
become chronic panhandlers. And the same “bunch” is found in the
missions from year to year and are no better.
Put them to work sawing wood or breaking stones or indeed anything, and
if they are able bodied and refuse let them alone. Feeding them only
prolongs their misery.
It is a sad fact, though nevertheless true, that many young men do not
learn by experience. As soon as they are out of one trouble, they seem
to rush into another, until Society is compelled to protect itself by
sending them to prison a second, or a third, or even a fourth time. The
reason doubtless for this is that the young criminal in a great number
of cases gives way to the low instincts of his morbid nature, or he has
acquired sinful habits in youth, which grow on him through life, and he
readily gives way to them when tempted. The heredity of crime is simply
giving way to natural depravity that has never been curbed.
It is safe to say that 70 per cent. to 75 per cent. of all who get
behind prison bars for the first time are young men between the ages of
sixteen and thirty. When the “rounder” puts in an appearance this
percentage is reduced. Nevertheless, the great mass of all first
offenders are young men.
I once wrote to Superintendent Brockway of Elmira Reformatory, whom I
regard as one of the best informed penologists in the United States; I
asked why so many young men are sent to prison rather than men of
maturer years, and he replied: “Young men between the ages of sixteen
and thirty are the most pushing, vivacious, alert, wideawake and
daring.” But though this reply was not as satisfactory as I should have
liked it, it explained much. I believe there are times when temptations
to commit crime are greater than at others; for example, when one has
been idle for a long time, young men who live in idleness, or have no
trade, or are out of employment, or during the time of financial
depression, or when under the influence of liquor, or when one has
become improvident; of course, certain associations promote crime, such
as bad company, bad books, bad amusements and bad homes; still young men
are the first victims on all such occasions.
Among the great generators of crime to-day, among young men, I regard
the gin mill, the pool room, the dive, the play house and the vile
literature that gives its readers a detailed account of the daily
murders, robberies and other crimes as the worst.
I am satisfied the Dime Novel and other yellow covered books are crime
producers and generate criminal instincts. We have seen men who have
become criminals in heart and mind by absorbing criminal ideas in bad
books and papers. After reading the hairbreadth escapes of Jesse James
and other noted desperadoes, or how some stage coach or express train
had been “held up” by Western bandits, the mind becomes impressed, fear
of consequences is driven away from the conscience, and the individual
is ready to commit any kind of deed.
Hundreds of young men who are serving time in Elmira and Sing Sing
to-day, lay the beginning of their downfall to bad books and papers that
demoralized their nature. Modern journalism takes a hand in ruining
young lives; for example, when a murder or robbery has been committed
every detail is furnished by some of the morning papers. The ghastly
work is gloated over, so that those who are morbidly minded, are for the
time being hypnotized. The papers usually make a hero out of the
criminal and hold him up before the people as one to be emulated, rather
than shunned. Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered at that
young men become criminals.
Thousands of young men work in this City as clerks, bookkeepers and
salesmen in stores and offices. In most cases the salary is very
small—enough barely to live on. Some of them, however, insist on going
to the theatre and other places of amusement. Then they enter society,
not necessarily what is called the “four hundred,” but society that is
above their own social standing. They have an insane desire to dress
like millionaires, and as they cannot do this on the small salary they
receive, they feel compelled to steal their employers’ money to keep up
a false appearance.
Many young men are in prison because they stole money to “gamble on
margins.” For a time they used their own small salaries, when that gave
out they forged a check or raised the figures on which to secure ready
money. They tried to get rich quick.
There is the case of a young man in Jersey City who was arrested while
he was being married, after having stolen from his employers $6,000. The
marriage ceremony and the entire occasion looked as if he belonged to a
royal family. The young man was a broker’s messenger on ten dollars a
week. His work was to carry the daily balances to the Clearing House. On
his way to that institution he was able to change the figures on the
balance sheet and pocket the money. In a year he had over six thousand
dollars in his own name. He is now in prison for his crime and has long
since discovered that “The way of the transgressor is hard.”
Another young man who was the assistant teller in an uptown bank stole
$40,000 and the only excuse he gave was that others were doing the same
thing. He afterwards confessed that he had to do it in order to keep up
“style;” he lived like a millionaire in fine apartments on the upper
west side; his wife dressed in the best furs and jewelry that his
ill-gotten gains could furnish.
Another young man stole over ninety thousand dollars from a city
institution and fled to parts unknown. When an investigation was made it
was found that he had lived in an elegant apartment on the West Side and
besides kept a team of horses and a woman whose diamonds were a marvel
to the community.
Another thing that imperils the prospects of the young men, is bad
company. The old saying is still true, “A man is known by the company he
keeps.” “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of
fools shall be destroyed.” Every self-respecting young man should shun
the idler, the loafer, and the skeptic. During the past few years, I
have asked hundreds of young men, whom I have met in prison, what led
them into crime, and they invariably replied, “_Bad companions._“ When
the police of New York are asked to look for law breakers, they usually
find them among the gangs of loafers and hoodlums that hang out around
the saloons and other vile dens in the city.
There are five hundred thousand young men in New York who at present
seem to be beyond the pale of the churches and the Young Men’s Christian
Associations. But they are not hopeless, nor are they beyond the reach
of kindness and the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there seems to be no
particular agency at work trying to reach this class before they have
become tramps and criminals, except the rescue missions. It is true
there is an eternal struggle going on between good and evil and it is
becoming more intense every year, but the church should take part in it
and seek to save the young before they become law breakers.
Once upon a time the Young Men’s Christian Association was a moral force
in the community and aided young mechanics and store keepers and clerks
to rise to independence, but not now. They are now working mainly to
reach rich men’s sons. In some Associations rich young “bloods” go there
simply to play pool and when the place is closed at night retire to some
gin mill where they can finish the game. But what about the tens of
thousands of young chaps who hang around the gin mill, simply because
they have no money to pay the steep price for a membership ticket in the
Y. M. C. A. or respectable church club?
Would to God some Andrew Carnegie or Morgan or even a John D. would put
the money up to erect a half a dozen of such places for poor but honest
young men? Make them like the Cooper Union with a gymnasium attached.
Serve meals at cost, have an employment bureau, throw out a shingle
inviting all young men to come in without respect to race or creed. If
you speak to some of these young men about the twentieth century church,
they will swear at you. You know the Church is closed as tight as a clam
six days in the week. What some of these young men want to see is
persons that love God and their fellow men, and then show it by helping
them into a better life.
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