[Sidenote: “On Trust”]
Prisons are not much like schools. Nevertheless the great principles of
personal leadership appear in prison administration. Note in the
following incident how willing the response is to an opportunity for
independent, yet supervised action. Trustfulness (a typical form of
coöperation) begets confidence and self-control in using new
opportunities.
Thomas Mott Osborne records the following conversation with a prisoner.
It reveals in another level of society how trust begets fidelity. Jack,
a prisoner, speaks:
“I know this place through and through. I know these men; I’ve studied
them for years. And I tell you that the big majority of these fellows in
here will be square with you, if you give ’em a chance. The trouble is
we ain’t treated on the level. I could tell you all sorts of frame-ups
they give us. Now if you trust a man, he’ll try and do what’s right;
sure he will. That is, most men will. Of course, there are a few that
won’t. There are some dirty curs—degenerates—that will make trouble, but
there ain’t so very many of those.”
“Look at that road work,” he continues. “Haven’t the men done fine?”
“How many prisoners have you out on the roads? About one hundred and
thirty. And you ain’t had a single runaway yet. And if there should be
any runaways, you can just bet we’d show ’em what we think about it.”
“Do you really believe, Jack, that the superintendent and the warden
could trust you fellows out in the yard on Sunday afternoons in summer?”
“Sure they could,” responds Jack, his face beginning to flush with
pleasure at the thought.[3]