SOME AMERICAN EXPERIMENTS:--
THE PROBATION SYSTEM.
THE ELMIRA SYSTEM.
=The Probation System.=--In several of the States of America an attempt
has been made to devise a substitute for imprisonment in the cases of
persons convicted for minor offences.
The State of Massachusets was the first to take the lead by initiating a
somewhat elaborate system of probation.
Briefly described, it is an attempt to reform a prisoner
OUTSIDE.
Imprisonment for minor offences has had many bad features and should,
where possible, be avoided. Firstly, there is the stigma that attaches
to every man who has worn the broad-arrow. Secondly, there is the loss
of self-respect which, together with the contaminating influences
existing in a prison, often convert the minor offender into the hardened
criminal. Thirdly, there are the hardships that the wife and family are
called upon to endure while the bread-winner is in gaol and not earning
wages.
The Probation System seeks to overcome all these difficulties. Instead
of sentencing an offender to a period of imprisonment, the judge
confides him to the care of the probation officer for a period
co-terminous with that which he would otherwise have had to spend in
prison. The minimum period of this sentence is six months, and the
average about twelve months.
In the cases of female offenders and of youths under the age of 18 years
the probation officer is usually a woman; for adult males, a man acts as
officer.
The officers are invested with very considerable authority. It is their
duty to keep the very closest watch over their wards and to report
continually upon their behaviour. They frequently visit the homes and do
their utmost to become acquainted with the conditions of the home and
industrial life under which their wards live. The visits are so arranged
that they by no means imply an official errand, the officers endeavour
to discover the weaknesses of their wards and the temptations to which
they are most likely to succumb, and as far as possible to remove them
out of the reach of these temptations or to strengthen them against
their power. Some officers provide for meetings to be held for those
committed to their charge. Especially is this the case with those who
have the charge over youthful offenders. At such meetings games,
edifying entertainment and instruction are provided. It is also quite
competent for an officer to receive the wages of a probationer. In these
cases, he will give the man's wife a sufficient sum to meet the ordinary
household expenditure, allow him enough for his personal expenses, and
retain a small sum to be returned when the period of probation has
expired. This course is invariably pursued in the case of drunkards. A
drunkard may, upon the authority of the probation officer, be forbidden
to enter a public-house or to enter it during certain hours only, and he
may also be obliged to remain at home after a certain hour. In fact, the
probation officer may make almost any such rules that he thinks best to
be observed by his ward, and there is always the threat of being sent to
prison to discharge his sentence, if he should refuse to behave properly
when under probation.
To have an officer constantly watching over a man may affix a certain
stigma to the man, but even so, it is not indelible nor nearly so great
as that which the prison leaves behind it. To make this disadvantage as
small as possible, the officers wear no uniform and, within their
prescribed area, work among the convicted and unconvicted alike.
The type of officer required is not easily found. Of humane instincts,
and yet a firm disciplinarian, well educated, competent to give good
advice and able to gain the affections and confidences of those amongst
whom they work, is the type of person required. The ex-soldier or the
ex-policeman is just the man who is NOT wanted. The advantages of this
system Miss E. P. Hughes thus sums up:--
Firstly.--Instead of a few highly-paid officials and many badly paid
warders, you have a number of independent, well-paid probation officers,
chosen for their knowledge of human nature, and their skill in reforming
it.
Secondly.--Far greater adjustment of treatment to individual cases.
Thirdly.--The stigma of the prison is avoided, and while great care is
taken that the prisoner shall be strictly controlled and effectively
restrained, his self-respect is carefully developed.
Fourthly.--The family suffers less. The home is not broken up, the wages
still come in, and if the prisoner is a mother and a wife, it is, of
course, most important that she should retain her position in the home.
Fifthly.--The prisoner does not "lose his job," nor his mechanical
skill, if he is a skilled workman. "I was told that six months in prison
will materially damage this in many cases." He does not lose his habit
of regular work.
Sixthly.--He has one intelligent friend at his side to give him all the
help that a brother man can. And this friend has the unique
opportunities for studying his case, and has also an extraordinary power
over his environment.
Seventhly.--Good conduct and a capacity for rightly using freedom is
constantly rewarded by a greater freedom.
Eighthly.--It is far cheaper than prison. The prisoner keeps himself and
his family, and one officer can attend from sixty to eighty prisoners.
=The Elmira Reformatory.=--"The New York States Reformatory at Elmira"
is the official designation of this institution. It was established in
1875 and had for its first superintendent a Mr Z. R. Brockway.
Mr Brockway had from the age of nineteen years been working in an
official capacity among prisoners, and his religious beliefs led him to
acknowledge that the men committed to his charge had their place in the
redemption of the world.
Maconochie's humane method of dealing with the criminals of Norfolk
Island attracted his attention, and from Maconochie's mark system he
evolved the now famous indeterminate sentence.
When the New York State established a Reformatory at Elmira, Mr Brockway
was placed in charge and given practically a free hand in the adoption
of such methods as he deemed most likely to effect the permanent reform
of the men committed to imprisonment there. A restriction was placed
upon the age of the offenders who should be admitted, the law reading
thus:--"A male between the ages of 16 and 30, convicted of felony, who
has not heretofore been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment
in a State prison, may, in the discretion of the trial court, be
sentenced to imprisonment in the New York State Reformatory at Elmira,
to be there confined under the provisions of the law relating to that
reformatory" (vide section 700 Penal Code).
This by no means implies that all the inmates are first offenders. Many
of them have been in juvenile reformatories, penitentiaries, and houses
of correction, so that in some cases a considerable advance in the
career of crime has been made before they are handed over to the
authorities at Elmira. Again, only felons are received, not minor
offenders.
The principles upon which the reformatory system is based are
practically those set forth in the declaration of the National Prison
Congress held in Cincinnati in 1870 as follows:--
1. Punishment is defined to be "suffering inflicted upon the
individual for the wrong done by him, with a special view of
securing his reformation."
2. "The supreme aim of prison discipline is THE
REFORMATION OF CRIMINALS, not the infliction of
VINDICTIVE suffering."
3. "The progressive classification of prisoners based on
character, and worked on some well adjusted mark system,
should be established in all prisons above the common gaol."
4. "Since hope is a more potent agent than fear, it should be
made an ever present force in the minds of the prisoners, by
a well devised and skilfully applied system of rewards for
good conduct, industry, attention to learning. Rewards, more
than penalties, are essential to every good prison system."
5. "The prisoner's destiny should be placed, measurably, in
his own hands; he must be put into circumstances where he
will be able, through his own exertions, to continually
better his own conditions. A regulated self-interest must be
brought into play and made constantly operative."
6. "Peremptory sentences ought to be replaced by those of
indeterminate length. Sentences limited only by a
satisfactory proof of reformation should be substituted for
those measured by mere lapse of time."
The old system of penology may be described as "so much suffering
inflicted for so much wrong done and with the object of expiating that
wrong."
The principles upon which the reformatory system is founded must be
clearly grasped before the system itself can be understood. Criticism is
frequently levelled against it on the ground that the prisoners are
given "too good a time." This criticism is based upon some theory that
vindictive retaliation is the attitude that should be assumed towards
the criminal. When this theory is renounced, then the system stands or
falls according as it accomplishes the objects for which it is designed.
When it is asked why should a prisoner in captivity be better looked
after than he would be if left in his old haunts of crime, the question
must be answered from the prisoner's point of view, and he will candidly
reply that the prison which deprives him of his freedom until his
reformation has been effected is not the place which has any attractions
for him. The life of discipline and industry does not at all agree with
his idea of blissful surroundings. Upon admission at the reformatory,
the prisoner is placed in the middle of three grades of classification.
From this grade he can, by industry and good behaviour, advance to the
highest grade. If he should prove refractory, he sinks to the lowest or
convict grade. Each grade has its own particular privileges, these being
of course at their maximum in the highest grade. They consist chiefly in
a better diet, better bed and freer access to the library. His fate is
practically placed in his own hands. If he shall show himself
industrious and shall apply himself diligently to the task set before
him he may make such progress in his grades as will secure his release
after a comparatively short period of detention. If, on the other hand,
he will not exert himself to embrace the opportunity, he is kept under
detention until the maximum limit of his sentence is reached. The
authorities urge for legislation making the sentence absolutely
indeterminate, so that those who resist the reformatory measures may be
kept in prison for a period co-terminous with that of their resistance.
The principles upon which the system is founded are developed in a
course of training described as a three M course, i.e. mental, moral and
manual. The machinery consists of, the indeterminate sentence, the
school of letters, the trade school, and the gymnasium.
=The Indeterminate Sentence.=--The ideal Indeterminate sentence provides
that when once a criminal falls into the clutches of the law he shall be
deprived of his liberty until he has given satisfactory evidence that he
is able to conduct himself as an honest and industrious citizen. It
makes no distinction between different crimes, such as to provide that
the man who embezzles shall receive a longer sentence than the man who
commits arson or vice versa, but makes the restoration of liberty depend
entirely upon reformation. It refuses to tolerate the idea that any
criminals should be at large to prey upon society, and it thus imposes
upon society the obligation to undertake the reform of all criminals.
This IDEAL sentence, however, does not exist. At Elmira, the
authorities are obliged to recognise a maximum, so that if at the expiry
of this maximum, the prisoner should have made no progress towards
reform he must, nevertheless, be discharged. Since, however, a man may
at Elmira reduce a sentence of ten years to something like 22 months, a
great incentive is given to him to identify himself with the efforts
being made on his behalf. From every point of view the indeterminate
sentence in the case of those sent to reformatories appears the most
reasonable. The business of the trial court is concluded as soon as the
question of guilt is determined. The judge has not imposed on him the
impossible task of measuring out a punishment which in its severity
shall exactly accord with the degree of crime committed. The question of
the prisoner's sanity is not left to the jury to decide but to qualified
alienists. Neither does this question determine his GUILT but
only his RESPONSIBILITY. No account has to be made of the
provocation from which the prisoner suffered at the committal of his
crime. If but a small degree of criminality exist, the safest adjustment
of punishment is to be found in the indeterminate sentence. From the
social point of view, it gives the best safeguard to the society. It
guarantees that a criminal once convicted shall cease to prey upon
society. He will either reform and return to society as a useful member
thereof and a contributor to its wealth, or else, refusing to reform, he
will never regain his liberty. This sentence lays it down that society
ought not to tolerate criminals in its midst. Imprisonment for a fixed
period under our present penal system serves but to exasperate the
criminal, and at the end of his sentence, when he is a more dangerous
criminal than ever, the law demands that he shall be released. It is
only by indeterminate sentences that society obtains the guarantee it
may justly demand. For its effect as a means of discipline a prisoner
will give his own experience. The following extract, was written by an
inmate of the Reformatory in 1898:--"From the view-point of a 'man up a
tree' I would say that the character of our sentence has everything to
do with furnishing a motive which induces and stimulates us to a degree
of activity we could never acquire under a fixed penalty. Where, under a
definite sentence, we would spend most of our time crossing off days
from the calendar and lay awake nights counting over and again the
amount of time yet necessary for us to serve before the dawn of freedom,
now every moment is utilised in taking advantage of all opportunities
for improvement that are offered, well knowing that only by advancement
in the trade-school and school of letters, together with strict
compliance with the rules of the disciplinary department, can liberty be
earned. And the word earn is used advisedly, for a man to get along in
this reformatory can be no sluggard but must be alert, ever ready to
advance and not drag behind."
The ideal sentence, so far as an incentive to reformation goes, would be
an ABSOLUTELY INDETERMINATE ONE, where a man must either reform
or remain in prison for life, for where would be the welfare of society
considered if a man be released prepared to prey upon it as he did
before imprisonment? In the case of the absolutely indeterminate
sentence there is a motive that will quicken every energy and arouse the
dullest to life and exercise, for he would be fighting for life and
liberty--liberty that could never be his until he had shown by his
conduct that ready compliance with all requirements here was intended,
and willingness to discard the old and detrimental habits, taking on new
and profitable ones. The fact that a man could get along in here would
indicate his ability to live in accord with society in the outside
world.
Under such a system no one fit to be released would fail to gain it.
Why? Because the motive is so strong as to force the most unwilling to
willingness; because a man who would rather rot in prison than try to
regain his freedom by legitimate means is better off where he is. He
would only be a stumbling block to society in general if he were set
free, and would sooner or later land again in some penal institution or
other, and thus his life would be wasted, and public funds wasted in
arresting, discharging and rearresting the useless drone, the balance of
whose life would be passed in various prisons of the country.
That the indeterminate sentence furnishes a powerful motive for
reformation is shown daily in this institution. You have only to watch
the student over his books, or mechanic over his tools to see the effort
that is being made to win that golden prize--a parole. How that motive
is undermined or taken away entirely when the sentence is definite is
readily perceived by taking a cursory glance over the records of men
sentenced here for a definite period. The greatest percentage of them
are careless, insolent, and furnish most of the class that goes to form
the nucleus of the lower or convict grades. Why? Because there is
nothing to work for. No parole can be gained by attention to duty. Time,
and time alone, counts for this class. Only to pass time and get to the
end of the sentence, that is all. No one can make a study of, or even
look about him and compare the records made by definite and indefinitely
sentenced men, without becoming a warm advocate of the indeterminate
sentence. The longer the maximum sentence of the man sent here, the
greater is his effort to travel along the straight and narrow path,
picking up such advantages as offer him through his stay in this
institution. The longer the maximum the stronger the motive, the smaller
the maximum, the smaller effort to earn a release. For example, men sent
here with two or two and a half years as the limit of their maximums, on
an average, remain here longer than those with a five, ten or twenty
years maximum hanging over them. The reason is obvious--the motive is
strengthened or weakened according as the sentence is lengthened or
shortened. The deterrent value of the absolutely indeterminate sentence
would be enormous. Not a question of a few months or years would the
criminal have to face; but a period which would not terminate until he
either reformed or died. As we have seen it gives a tremendous stimulus
to reform, and it would likewise give a powerful check to criminal
tendencies. Thus it relieves the Judge of an impossible task, is most
satisfactory to society, and most humane to the culprit.
It may be urged that since liberation would depend in a measure upon
proficiency in the trade-school and school of letters, that some
criminals whose criminality might be of a lesser degree, would be at a
greater disadvantage than others. That is not so. The system is
obviously a very complicated one, and only the bare outlines are being
given here. In operation it is absolutely fair, neither is any
inducement offered to commit crime for the benefits which the
trade-school confers. The managers know no such defect in their system
or otherwise they would report it. They have a free hand in the
employment of their methods, they are continually experimenting, and
they owe no devotion to "red tape."
A further advantage that the indeterminate sentence has, is that it
provides for a second period of probation. A man may behave himself well
in prison but upon his release betake himself immediately to his old
surroundings and then to his old habits. The most critical moment is
when the prisoner steps outside the gaol walls and finds himself a free
man. The habits of industry and good conduct acquired when in
confinement have to be accommodated to new conditions, and if unassisted
the task is often too great. The consequence is that he falls away and
rejoins his old companions and soon becomes a recidivist. The
indeterminate sentence allows for his freedom being regained gradually.
Having given evidence of reform and of abilities to support himself,
employment is found for him, and he is granted a parole. That is he is
released conditionally. For the next half year he must report himself
every month, and if at the end of that period he has behaved well he is
granted absolute discharge. Opportunity is thus given for him to
establish himself gradually amidst the conditions of free social life.
The sense of freedom comes without shock, and when it comes, the
critical period has long since passed away.
Should he violate his parole in any way, he is rearrested and may be
called upon to serve the maximum penalty for his crime.
=The School of Letters.=--As has been said the system of the Reformatory
is classified under the headings of mental, moral and manual. There is
no sharp distinction between all three, inasmuch as no mental or manual
training is considered of any value which does not also assist to
develop the moral character of the pupil.
The whole aim of the system is to develop minds and bodies, arrested in
their growth, in order that they may become more susceptible to moral
influences, and that habits of correct thinking and useful industry may
be established. Every prisoner upon entering the institution is assigned
to the school of letters, care being taken that the task imposed upon
him is well within his mental grasp, but at the same time shall require
an effort on his part in order to master it.
The school is divided into three sections--The Primary, the Intermediate
and the Academic or Lecture division. Each section is subdivided into
classes and each class again subdivided into groups. The usual method of
making the lower classes large and the upper classes small is exactly
reversed at the Reformatory. There may be as few as twenty pupils in the
lower classes and as many as two hundred in the upper ones. The school
is under the management of a director who is assisted by a competent
staff of civilian teachers, as well as by a number of the inmates
themselves. Some of the prisoners, being illiterate, have to commence
their education at the very bottom of the ladder. Others, according to
the education they have received, enter the course at higher points. In
the case of foreigners much of their education consists in teaching them
the English language and instructing them in American customs and
manners. The training is of immense advantage to them.
The classes are held in the evening and the routine of the Reformatory
is so arranged that throughout the whole of the prisoner's waking time
he is kept employed.
From the elementary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic,
given to illiterates, the course progresses so as to include History,
Civics, Political Economy, Ethics, Nature study and Literature. Attached
to the school there is a well stocked library from which books are
issued under regulations relative to good conduct and progress made.
There is also a weekly paper issued within the institution called "The
Summary," to which the prisoners may contribute articles. Attendance at
the school is in all cases compulsory. The inmate has no option
whatever. He is not consulted as to what course of study he would like
to pursue but this is chosen for him and he is set to it. In selecting
his course, every attention is paid to the man's abilities, tastes and
attainments. No useless studies are undertaken. Every study must be of
value from a reformative point of view and also from an educational one.
That is, it must serve to correct bad and wandering habits of thinking
and to cultivate good and consecutive habits. It must assist to broaden
the outlook of life and to bring the individuals into living touch with
the life and traditions of the country to which he belongs. It must
serve to inspire hope, confidence and zeal. It must cultivate a taste
for the beautiful, a love for the natural, and an adoration for the
Divine. When released, the student must find himself equipped with such
a knowledge as will enable him to steadily advance in his station of
life. And yet there is on an average, only two years in which to impart
such an instruction. How is it done? Firstly, nothing useless is taught,
the object primarily aimed at being the formation of character.
Attendance is therefore compulsory, and attention and application are
necessary in order to obtain a parole. Monthly examinations are held and
failures at these gives a set-back in the matter of obtaining a release.
A failure, however, may be overtaken by extra exertion during the next
month. However distasteful it may be to the prisoner to study regularly
and methodically, or however difficult his former irregular life may
have rendered this task, yet it is so intimately bound up with his
interests that he soon finds a motive powerful enough to correct mere
dis-inclination. He must work and work at his best, and invariably he
does so.
Upon entering the class room each student receives a printed slip which
gives an outline of the lesson to be studied. This serves to convey an
idea of the amount of work to be undertaken, to show the progressive
steps and to prevent any idle speculation concerning the development of
the lesson. These slips are kept by the student and they are made the
basis of the monthly examination. These examinations are conducted with
great strictness. In order to pass 75 per cent. of the maximum number of
marks must be obtained, and marks are given for exact knowledge only.
For instance, if in a sum in arithmetic a right method is employed but a
wrong answer given no marks are rewarded. The student has shown an
inability to use his knowledge. In other subjects the men in answering
their questions must give the exact "how," or "why," or "when," or
"where," or "which" before their work will pass. They may write sheets
but it will not count if they miss the point. They soon find therefore
that in order to pass their examinations they must pour forth all their
energies upon their work. Needless to say, no catch questions are ever
introduced, neither does the examination task exceed the men's
abilities.
When English literature was first introduced the men regarded it as an
imposition. They did not know what the new study meant nor what was
expected of them. A great amount of coaxing and gentle treatment was
necessary to overcome the general bewilderment. The first examination
passed off measurably well. Soon a change took place and English
literature rose rapidly to become the most favourite study. The demand
upon the librarian for the supply of English and American Classics
became so great that special restrictions had to be placed upon their
issuance.
Marked success from a Reformatory point of view has attended this study,
and the men enthusiastically enter upon a new and broader life.
The late Prof. S. R. Monks, for twelve years Lecturer at the
Reformatory, says:--"But does such education contribute to the
reformation of the criminal and the protection of the public?"
Unqualifiedly and unhesitating I answer, Yes. Men are found to acquire
in this school month by month a growing application of better things, a
readier apprehension of truth and a heartier sympathy with virtue, and
best of all, a greater capacity for sustained and consistent effort in
practical undertakings. These transformations are the successive steps
of a real reformation, and every step puts the man at a greater and
safer distance from past shiftlessness and viciousness. "The virtues,"
says Felix Adler, "depend in no small degree on the power of serial and
complex thinking," but, continues that practical philosopher, "the
ordinary studies of the school exercise and develop this faculty of
serial and complex thinking. Any sum in multiplication gives a training
of this kind." It is hardly possible to exaggerate the benefit that true
education will confer on one who has come under the condemnation of the
law. His improved education will counter-balance some of the disgrace of
his past criminality; it will with industrial training extricate him
from the hopeless mass of ignorant unskilled labour where competition is
always hottest and most perilous, it will teach him, better than he
could know without it, the relative value of things; it will so elevate
his thoughts and refine his tastes that the path of duty in its roughest
and steepest places, will yet steadily attract his footsteps.
The charge is sometimes made that the criminal is made more dangerous by
education. The assertion begs all it carries. It assumes that education
strengthens character but does not transform character which is false
for it does both.... No man can use his mind in the careful
investigation of moral principles, and become thereby merely a more
dangerous cheat. No man who has opened his eyes to see the revelations
of eternal wisdom and goodness written in letters of light on all the
handiwork of Nature, can be made thereby merely a more dangerous
villain. On the contrary, every hour of honest search after reality, of
careful industry governed by principles and lined to accuracy, every
hour spent in happy contemplation of wisdom and goodness, wherever
manifested will make the man forever the better for it.
=Physical Culture.=--This Department of the Reformatory falls into three
divisions--the Gymnastic, the Military and the Manual.
=The Gymnastic.=--The idea of a gymnasium within a gaol must deliver no
small shock to the prejudices of many, but in studying the Elmira system
we must endeavour to keep before us the end which the authorities are
aiming at, viz., the restoration to society of their criminals in a not
only harmless state but in their most useful state, and this can only be
made possible by the most careful and thorough training of the mind,
body and soul.
Neither is there any cause to think that the prisoners are getting too
good a time, and that, being treated better than the industrious worker,
a premium is being offered to crime. The investigation of the
authorities has revealed no case in which a man has entered the
institution on account of advantages offered. To criminals they are not
realised as advantages. They understand them only as the rough road
leading to their release, and it is about the last thing for men of
shiftless, lazy, inconsequent habits of mind and body, to suppose that
they are having a good time when sent to a gymnasium every morning for
two hours' steady work. Work which brings all the muscles of the body
into play and which demands the fixed attention of the mind and its
submission to the word of command from the instructor, is many times
more distasteful than the "hard labour" of lazily cracking stones.
Until 1900 the whole prison population went through a regular gymnastic
course. This is now changed and assignments are made to the gymnasium
only upon the certificate of the physician. All new arrivals however
spend a period, averaging about five weeks, in the "awkward squad," half
of whose morning time is spent in the gymnasium. They come in a very
ungainly looking set of men. Many are undersized, underweight, rickety
and diseased in body and generally of a slovenly, unmanly appearance. A
multitude of causes have been at work to produce this condition.
Chiefly, these are a bad ancestry, foul atmosphere of their dwellings,
their idle dirty habits, intemperance and sexual abuse.
The course of treatment prescribed for these is one which brings into
exercise all their latent muscular power. Special attention is paid to
deformities and weaknesses resulting from any cause whatsoever.
Turkish baths, swimming baths and massage also play an important part in
their treatment and help to bring the dregs of disease, the results of
excessive drink and the use of tobacco, out of their systems.
The effects of such treatment are at the end of a few weeks very
apparent. The body is supple, the carriage is erect, the cutaneous,
circulatory, muscular and nervous systems are in a healthy state, and
the stupid, bewildered or stolid expression has given way to one of
manly concern.
At the end of five weeks most of the men graduate from the awkward squad
and engage in the work of other departments. Some, however, for various
reasons have to remain for a longer period of physical exercise.
The majority of these are classified into three groups:
I. Mathematical Dullards. II. Deficient in self-control. II. Stupids.
These groups are described by Dr Hamilton Wey in his report for 1896 as
follows:--
Group I.--The Mathematical dullards. These were incapable of solving the
most elementary problems in Mental Arithmetic or else did so with
hesitation and difficulty. They were instances of sluggish and dragging
walk, and presented a sleepy or dreamy appearance at work or in repose.
They suggested arrested mental growth. From a careful study of these men
by observation and immediate contact exercises were selected that would
tend to act upon their defects. In addition the exercises prescribed
necessitate the direct employment of their mathematical faculties. The
following schedule was adopted, though subject to constant change as
occasion for change presented itself. The exercises of their group as
with others are confined to one hour's practical work five days per
week. The men receive a daily rain bath and rubbing down immediately
after their exercises. With this group the hour is divided into sessions
of half-an-hour each, subdivided into periods of fifteen minutes. The
first fifteen minutes are devoted to light calisthenics executed by
command with loud counting and simultaneous movements. This is followed
by 15 minutes of marching and facing movements with step counting. The
first 15 minutes of the second half hour are occupied in the laying out
of geometrical fields for athletic events. Employing the 50ft. tape and
the 2ft. rule with divisions of an inch. After being instructed as to
dimensions they are required to lay out the following:--
(a) Baseball diamond; (b) basket ball field; (c) track for 30 and 40
yards running races; (d) placing of hurdles at intervals, in harmony
with established athletic field rules. The closing 15 minutes embraced
practical work, viz., high and long jump, hop skip and jump, high
kicking, target throwing, etc.
Group II.--Those deficient in self-control. The members of Group II,
compared with those of Groups I and III, are physically of better
quality. In general appearance they show a better all-round physical
development, and in some instances the deteriorating effects of sexual
abnormality were not so apparent, this class would, in the performance
of athletics, compare favourably with the scholar outside prison walls.
In the general performance of their work they have shown more interest
than either Group I or III, and in some instances have acquired skill in
some of their athletic branches. The tendency of the athletics selected
for this group by the Gymnasium Director was of a nature conducive to
the cultivation and encouragement of self-control and self-reliance
among its members as shown by the spirit of good-fellowship displayed by
the successful towards the unsuccessful player, and in a measure
subduing the ebullition of passion and the spirit of jealousy that
formerly influenced their every notion in competitive contests.... It
can be safely asserted that one essential feature in athletics, viz.,
will-power, which was conspicuous at the first by its absence, has been
strengthened and inculcated, especially in this group.
It was observed by the Director that perhaps by their exuberance of
animal spirit, the men were prone to make frequent excuses for changes
from one game to another, instead of striving to excel in one branch.
Another observable feature was the attempt to shirk the exercises which
required any exertion on their part. These defects have been remedied,
not entirely, but sufficiently to justify the efficiency of athletics as
a fact in the production of self-control; and instances can be cited of
complete subordination of will to the controlling powers.
Group III.--The Stupids. The members of this group are not far above the
standard of feeble-minded boys. They are what might be termed "all-round
defectives." The object of the athletics selected for this group has
been to awaken and arouse them from that lethargic state into which they
periodically relapse. This has been in a measure accomplished, a great
aid to which has been the daily rain bath. The following physical
defects (some of which have been remedied wholly or in part) come under
my observation: general weakness, weak chest (respiratory organs), bent
carriage of the body, stiffness of wrist, joints, and clumsy movements
of fingers, spinal curvature, extreme (comparative) development of right
arm. To overcome these defects systematic exercise was necessary,
including free-hand exercises, club-swinging, dumb-bell exercise, etc.,
meted out according to the respective deficiencies and requirements of
the men. This group also spent one half-hour in practical outdoor
gymnastic and athletic work. After a general resume of the work
accomplished it can safely be asserted that outdoor athletics and
gymnastics have proven to be in a measure, a prophylactic for a number
of the ills which these three groups of defectives are subject to.
=Military Instruction.=--Military drill was introduced into the
Reformatory as a direct outcome of the Prisons Bill of 1888 which
forbade all machine labour in prisons being conducted for profit. The
statute requiring the "shutting down" of all industrial plants the work
of the institution was practically brought to a standstill. In this
difficulty the management conceived the idea of forming a military
regiment. Most beneficial results immediately followed. The men began to
walk with more erect carriage and to respond to quick words of command.
Besides this, the open-air exercise developed their lung-power and
stimulated their circulatory system. A pride in their performance was
also inspired by the opportunity given to rise through the different
ranks to that of lieutenant. Above all, good habits of discipline were
cultivated. Although the circumstances that rendered necessary the
introduction of military drill have passed away, yet the organization
has been found of such great reformatory value that it has become an
integral part of the Elmira system.
The regiment consists of sixteen companies, four companies to the
battalion, company roll of about seventy. The colonel's staff is
composed of colonel, four majors, inmate adjutant, and sergeant-major,
and national and state colour-bearers. The uniforms are blue, black, and
red, corresponding to the grades. White belts, with nickel buckles, are
worn and white cross-belts. Proper insignia of rank is also worn. Dress
parade is held daily at four p.m. on the regimental grounds, or, if
weather be inclement, in the armoury.
So far as is possible the regiment is drilled on exactly the same lines
as those observed by the United States army.
=Manual Training.=--Manual training was introduced into the Reformatory
in 1895. The number of men who had been in the institution for a
considerable period of time and upon whom the ordinary reformative
measures exerted little influence rendered the adoption of some other
means absolutely necessary. The men, with whom the ordinary methods
failed, belonged to the defective classes already described as
mathematical dullards, deficient in self-control, and stupids. The
habits of vice seem to have wrought such a destructive work upon the
will-power of these men that in order to repair it some potent influence
would have to be brought into operation. The conception was to entirely
disengage the mind of its connection with the past and to concentrate it
upon healthy, useful and interesting work. Habit produces character, and
if the old habits of thought could be destroyed and new ones implanted
it would naturally follow that the character would be improved and
developed. The character of the normal man requires for its development
a moral, religious, intellectual and physical training, and the abnormal
man requires the same, in a greater degree.
It was with this knowledge that the managers introduced manual training
into the Reformatory. As the usefulness of manual training (Sloyd) is
described in a preceding chapter no more need be said upon its value as
a factor in education now. It needed the greatest skill on the part of
the managers to adopt the various Sloyd exercises to the requirements of
the different defectives, but each year has given additional proof of
their success, and its inclusion in the reformatory system was amply
justified. In 1899 it was discontinued on account of the small
appropriation that was made for the maintenance of the institution,
making it necessary to curtail expenses.
Before the abolition of Sloyd the following course was employed for
defectives:--
(With each year the group was divided into three terms, there being 17
weeks in each term and 35 hours in each week.)
GROUP I.--(Mathematical Dullards.)
FIRST TERM.
Mechanical drawing, Sloyd, athletics, and calisthenics, clay-modelling,
and mental arithmetic.
SECOND TERM.
Card-board construction takes the place of clay-modelling.
THIRD TERM.
Wood-turning instead of card-board construction.
* * * * *
GROUP II.--(Deficient in self-control.)
FIRST TERM.
Athletics and calisthenics, geometric construction involving the
intersection of solids, etc., wood-turning, pattern making, mechanical
drawing and Sloyd.
SECOND TERM.
Athletics and calisthenics, wood-carving, clay-modelling, mechanical
drawing and Sloyd.
THIRD TERM.
Athletics and calisthenics, chipping and filing, moulding, mechanical
drawing and Sloyd.
* * * * *
GROUP III.--(Stupids.)
FIRST TERM.
Athletics and calisthenics, free-hand drawing from solids and familiar
objects, elementary Sloyd, clay-modelling, mental arithmetic, and
sentence building.
SECOND TERM.
Sloyd, free-hand drawing, wood-carving, mental arithmetic, and
calisthenics.
THIRD TERM.
Sloyd, free-hand drawing, wood-turning, athletics and mental arithmetic.
=The Trades' School.=--Of all crimes, about 95 per cent. are committed
against property. It therefore appeared imperative to the management of
the Reformatory that every man passing through the institution should
be taught a useful trade so that he would be able to provide an honest
and sufficient livelihood for himself and for those who would be
dependent upon him. For this purpose the trades' school was established
and a regulation passed that all men entering the Reformatory without
the knowledge of a trade should be required to learn one before they
would be granted a parole.
Under conditions of free life it would be impossible to teach these men
a trade. In their haunts of crime the criminals live a lazy ambitionless
life and regard work as an evil to be avoided; the reformatory system,
however, captures his interest on behalf of industry by making his
liberty depend upon his having reached the status of an honest and
enthusiastic tradesman.
Two or three days after his arrival the newly committed prisoner is
personally interviewed by the superintendent. This interview, which is
in the nature of an exhaustive examination, generally discloses the
species of criminality to which his crime belongs. This knowledge is
made the basis of the plan which is then formulated for the course of
treatment to which he will be submitted.
In the selection of a trade, the prisoner is given the opportunity of
choosing for himself. If the choice show sincerity and intelligence, he
is applied to it. If, on the other hand, it should reveal mere
indifference or a desire to shirk hard work, the managers take all
matters into consideration and select the trade for him. Once placed at
a trade he is given to understand that he will be kept rigidly to it and
no release from imprisonment granted until his progress has satisfied
the authorities. Changes from one trade to another are rarely granted,
and then only when the learner has given unmistakable signs that he
cannot succeed at his first task. Within the trades school, his identity
is not lost sight of. Day by day, a record of his conduct and also of
his progress is kept. Every persuasive means is used to awaken his
understanding to the fact that his best interests are to be served by
habits of industry and application. The whole system is an appeal to his
desire for freedom. Freedom is offered to him but at a distance, and he
can reach it by no other means than that of following a given road, the
direction of which is very clearly pointed out to him.
The work is graduated according to his ability to make progress, and
care is taken to so arrange his course that he shall be taught
thoroughly all the fundamental principles of his trade. The ordinary
apprentice works so that he will be able to fulfil the orders that are
given to his master. The consequence of this is that two ideas exist,
the apprentice having the desire to learn a trade, his master desiring
to profit by his work. The end of the apprentice is served by constantly
advancing to new work, even though this should mean the loss of time and
the waste of material; his master's object is attained by keeping him
at that work which he learns quickest and giving the difficult work to
more experienced men, consequently he passes through his time and learns
but very little. Now, the pupil of the Elmira trades' school is not
considered to have completed his course until he has gained a thorough
knowledge of every department of his trade. Besides the practical
instruction given in the workshops, classes are also held in the
evenings and instruction given in mechanical drawing so that the men may
be able to understand any plan that may be put into their hands, and
also to draw plans for themselves. Trade journals are subscribed for and
circulated among the men.
The value of this industrial training extends beyond the providing the
means of obtaining an honest livelihood, for by making release depend
upon success, interest is thereby combined with industry. This
combination is bound to react upon the voluntary system and produces a
moral effect. Again it re-acts, this time beneficially upon the
character of the man.
The following is a list of all the trades taught in the Reformatory:--
Barbering
Bookbinding
Brass-smithing
Bricklaying
Cabinet-making
Carpentry
Clothing-cutting
Electricity
Frescoing
Hardwood-finishing
Horseshoeing
House-painting
Iron-forging
Machine-wood-working
Machinist's
Moulding
Music
Paint-mixing
Photo-engraving
Plastering
Plumbing
Printing
Stenography & typewriting
Shoemaking
Sign-painting
Steam-fitting
Stone-cutting
Stone-masonry
Tailoring
Telegraphy
Tinsmithing
Upholstery
Also,
Mechanical-drawing
In the year 1903 there were 1986 pupils instructed in these trades.
=The Results of the System.=--English critics have regarded the system
as being somewhat extravagant and as placing the honest labourer at a
disadvantage to the criminal. This criticism has been considerably
weakened of late years and the results investigated instead of being
imagined. The most careful investigation has made it impossible to deny
that the Reformatory achieves all that it claims to, viz.:--that it
contributes nothing to the strengthening of the criminal habit[1] and
therefore it is not a partial remedy, and that it actually returns to
society as useful citizens no less than 82 per cent.[2] of those
committed to it.
Lombroso speaks of the system as a practical application of the results
of the science of Criminology.
Should the system be adopted in other countries, it would need to be so
translated that it would accord with the traditions and customs of the
people.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] It is generally supposed that such a system cannot act as a
deterrent to crime. The American delegates to the International Prison
Congress (held in Paris in 1895) declared that the obligation imposed
upon the prisoners, in such institutions, to raise themselves by mental
as well as by industrial labour, into higher grades as a necessary
condition for liberation, is felt by many of them, to involve so much
exertion, that they would rather be consigned to some ordinary prison,
where self-improvement is not specially enforced. This system, they
declared, was more deterrent than was generally supposed.
[2] Of some 13,000 criminals who have passed through the Reformatory,
the number known definitely to have returned to crime is a little less
than 1 per cent. of the whole!