At the session of the New Hampshire Legislature which adjourned on
April 15, the New Hampshire Prisoners’ Aid Association co-operated
with the State Conference of Charities and Corrections and the State
Federation of Women’s Clubs in the advancing of two measures which were
deemed of immediate importance to the State.
The first of these was a resolution calling upon the Governor to
appoint special commission of three members to investigate and report
to the legislature, at its next session, in 1913, on the desirability
of a State Workhouse or Reformatory. The resolution, which carries a
sufficient appropriation to pay the expenses of the investigation,
passed the legislature and received the signature of the Governor. A
similar measure presented at three previous sessions met with defeat,
owing to the false impression that a central state reformatory would
mean additional cost to the taxpayers. This impression was weakened
by the arguments before committees that the assembling of all minor
offenders in one institution would make it possible to put them
at some profitable industry and in the end save money. At present
minor offenders are confined in about 20 county jails and houses of
correction, in only one of which is there a population sufficient to
operate an industry. In nine of the jails idleness is the rule. In the
remaining institutions the prisoners are dependent upon work about the
buildings and upon the farm, and when this work is slackest the prisons
are fullest. It is hoped that the study of the commission will result
in recommendations whose execution by the next legislature will in New
Hampshire do away with the evils of the locally administered jail and
house of correction.
The second item on the program was a bill providing for medical
inspection by the state board of health of all penal institutions, and
for thorough examination of all prisoners, at the times of committal
and discharge, not only with reference to their present physical and
mental condition, but also with reference to their personal and family
history as to mental capacity and delinquency. This measure was felt
to be important, aside from its immediate advantage in institutional
administration, in two respects: (1) It would undoubtedly bring about
some changes in classifying and treating offenders; and (2) the careful
recording of the results of the examinations would probably in the
course of years build up a mass of data from which it would be possible
to draw inferences as to methods of preventing delinquency. This bill
was not put into presentable shape until so late in the session that
it failed of favorable consideration. The chief opposition came from
those who believed that the cost of careful medical examinations in
county institutions would be such as materially to raise the budget
for the hospital departments. On the contrary, the warden of the state
prison testified that the result of such examinations as have been
voluntarily adopted by him has been a lessening in the expenses of the
hospital department. The centralization of minor offenders in a state
reformatory will facilitate the adoption of this needed reform.
Similarly it will probably be easier to get a system of probation
for adult offenders if there is a state reformatory. The Prisoners’
Aid Association pressed a probation bill two years ago and failed.
This year the measure was held in abeyance so as to give the more
fundamental bill the right of way. A state penal board has for many
years been desired by many. This too, would logically follow state
control of minor offenders. So the Association feels that the first
battle has been won in the wider campaign. The next battle, and
the decisive one, if we win it, will be that concerning the actual
establishment of the state reformatory.