The Society continues to have the benefit of the labors of WILLIAM J.
MULLIN, who for so many years has filled the place of “Agent” at the
County Prison. His services are important to the Society, in the
amelioration of the condition of a vast number of men, women, and even
children, whom he finds in the cells of the prison, victims of the
errors of public officers, of their own follies, of the vindictive
feelings of unkind neighbors, of their own inordinate love of
litigation, or their own or their parents’ crimes. He is not called to
look to the cases of those who may be released by the Inspectors. His
labors are with the prosecutors, the aldermen, the district attorney,
and the court; and those labors resulted in the release of one thousand
four hundred and ninety-one persons during the year 1863. These
releases, of course, were all effected with the consent of some
established authority. And it may be added, that of the whole number
released, _forty-three_ were children.
The amount of domestic misery consequent upon the arrest and
incarceration of the 1491 persons is almost inappreciable. The injustice
corrected by the successful interference must have been immense, and the
pleasure brought to a suffering family by the restoration of parent or
child to approved innocence, and the duties and comforts of home, must
have been truly great.
But we are not to consider all these 1491 persons entirely innocent of
the charges brought against them. The magistrate had the commitment
supported by the oath of some complainant, and the complainant himself
was undoubtedly often justified by the conduct of the prisoner. The blow
for which assault and battery was charged, was probably given, and the
fruit or toy whose loss led to the imprisonment for larceny, was taken
by the accused. The pane of glass in the tavern window was probably
broken by the intoxicated creature who was charged with “malicious
mischief.” Nor, under these and similar circumstances, are we always to
censure the magistrate for taking the oath of a citizen. He commits to
prison, or holds to bail for trial, those who stand accused of the
violation of private rights. The offender knew, before he entered upon
his offensive conduct, that he was about to do wrong. But probably he
did not understand the extent of that wrong, and especially was he
ignorant of the extent of the penalty which he was about to incur.
We all know the axiom of criminal law, that “ignorance of the law
excuseth no man;” but we all know, also, that the axiom is not of equal
force in moral law; and the administration of criminal law itself has
practical exceptions to the rule. We have already said that a large
number of cases sent to court might easily be settled by the parties,
but especially by the interference of the magistrate; and we may add,
that more than two-thirds of the cases in which the magistrate holds, or
commits the prisoners for trial, could, before reaching the prosecuting
attorney, be settled, with benefit to the community and the offender.
The requirements of the law are seen and felt by the accused before he
finds himself committed. The vengeance of the law would do little
towards reforming one who already sees his fault, and is ready, as far
as possible, to make reparation. In such cases the interference of the
Agent has been found most beneficial, not merely in procuring the
discharge of the innocent, separating him from the association of
untried vagabonds and thieves, and sending him back to his family and
business, to work out and work off the stain which even _false_
imprisonment has set upon his character. But greatly advantageous has
been that interference in behalf of the guilty, of him who had actually
committed the act charged, but who felt the danger of his position as
well as the error or turpitude of his conduct, and who needed only to be
saved from the actual verdict of the jury and the sentence of the court,
to become a candidate again for public confidence and general respect.
To all visitors of prisons it is known that hundreds, who commit a
violation of the criminal law, never feel the degradation of their act,
or submit their minds to its disgraceful consequences, till they are
made companions of culprits in the prison cells,—that to be known to the
good as having done a notable wrong, is a mortifying means for
repentance and amendment; while to be in companionship with the admitted
bad, is to be almost certainly sealed to future infamy. This strong but
correct view of the cases of new offenders, is that upon which the Agent
has based his action; and it is not only due to him, but to the plans
and labors of the Society, to say, that while it is probable that some
of those whom he, with much labor, has released from prison, have shown
that they did not improve by his beneficent efforts, it is most true
that by far the largest portion have shown by their subsequent conduct
that they appreciate the benevolence that interposed in their behalf,
and were ready to make the only compensation which is acceptable to
their benefactor, viz., an amended life.
It is dangerous—it is at least wrong—to make a low estimate of the
labors that take a human being from the cells of a prison, when his
character is such as to lead to a belief that he will do no wrong, by
example, to society, nor sink in the scale of morals. It is wrong to say
that the verdict of a jury fully acquits a man, restores him at once and
entirely to society, and wipes away the stain which a prison cell has
imparted. Thousands hear of the charge who never know of the
acquittal,—thousands recollect the man as the inmate of a prison, who
have no remembrance of the full cause of his release. The adverse
statement of the press, as it regards the act, or the adverse testimony
on the trial, lives in the minds of many who do not know, or scarcely
would care, about all that was said in behalf of the accused to induce a
complete acquittal.
We know the power of conscious innocence; but we know also the effect of
conscious disgrace. A man who has been imprisoned long, on a criminal
charge, may, in his chamber, or in his family, feel the peace of a
“conscience void of offence;” but, abroad in the world, he will feel
himself continually on the defensive,—always anxious to show that he is
still worthy of the confidence he seeks,—always fearful that some act or
word of his, unnoticeable in others, may be construed as consistent with
charges which he has publicly disproved; and he feels that the months or
weeks of imprisonment which he has suffered, are not to be redeemed by a
whole life of liberty and honorable conduct.
There is something in the atmosphere of a criminal prison which seems
never to forsake the liberated prisoner: he feels its influence, and
suspects all to be guarding against its infection. In his imagination,
the deadly mephitic air is always about him. A reflection of innocence,
or a sense of repentance and full reparation, may appease the
conscience, but they will not take away the remembrance of the
incarceration; and it is to be feared that such painful reflections
have, when acting upon a morbid sensibility, led to suicide, or to a
return to crime. To diminish the evil, to lessen the effect of guilt, to
save self-respect, and restore man to the duties and enjoyments of
society, are the objects of the labors of the Agent, when he interferes
to save even the offender from such a punishment as shall operate upon
him beyond the demands of the law, and, reaching even over the culprit,
shall bring misery and disgrace and ruin upon his dependent family.
It is in this light the services of the Agent are to be regarded. He
releases hundreds of innocent persons, every year. He restores to family
and friends those who have been detained for insignificant offences. He
calls from the cells of the prison such as may have done acts that would
have lead to a criminal life, and he gives them their freedom before
association with the bad has weakened their moral perception,—before
they can have formed resolutions to revenge upon society the offence of
their incarceration. He assists to save the convict from a return to the
haunts of vice, and the associations that led to his crime and his
protracted imprisonment, and, supplying trifling sums, and aiding in the
application of funds furnished to him, he has seen the prisoner leave
the cell which he had occupied for more than a year, and return to a
distant family, to commence a life of improvement, and become a useful
member of the community in which he was reared; and it may be added
that, in one instance, at least, while the care of the Agent, in
connection with an Inspector, saved the released female from fulfilling
an engagement of crime which she had rashly formed, it placed her in the
bosom of a family that received her as a child, and made her feel all
the comforts and confidence of home which can be felt by the repentant
and the forgiven.
The immense saving to the city and county, resulting from the efficient
labors of the Agent, by which is saved the cost of maintenance in
prison, and of trial and acquittal in court, is worthy the consideration
of the tax-payer, and is appreciated by the Inspectors of the prison,
who administer the moneys appropriated to the maintenance of the
imprisoned. This Society is specially concerned in the moral and
physical results of the labors of the Agent, and feel that the objects
proposed in the formation of the Society for Alleviating the Miseries of
Prisons, have been greatly promoted by the successful labors which they
authorize and which they approve.
The Agent of the Society for the County Prison makes a monthly report of
his labors, and his small expenditures for clothing furnished to the
outgoing prisoner, and for his fare to some other place. These reports
show the constancy and the value of his labors in the right direction.
We have already mentioned the number of the releases secured by his
efforts. We may, perhaps, appropriately repeat here a remark elsewhere
made, that the services of the Agent are not required with prisoners
whom the Inspectors are by law competent to discharge,—such as are
committed for drunkenness, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, breach of the
peace, and such offences; but to cases that require the intervention of
the magistrates or the courts to release the accused, the interference
of the Agent is directed. Among the many cases which he has reported to
the Society, we select a few which serve to illustrate the character of
his labors, and their influence in alleviating the miseries of prisons,
and serving the cause of the unfortunate innocent, whose errors may have
led them into questionable situations, or whose poverty may have placed
them in bad company or adverse circumstances.
_Case First._—A woman was incarcerated upon the charge of the
larceny of two fifty dollar notes, of which she was innocent. Her
imprisonment was very unjust. She was taken from her home, with her
little infant in her arms, and committed to the prison, and
separated from her three other children. The Agent ascertained on
inquiry that the prosecutor had accused three other persons at
different times for taking the money that the prisoner was accused
of taking. When the Agent informed the “Court and District Attorney”
of these facts, her case was ignored, and she was released from
prison, there not being a particle of evidence against her aside
from the mis-representation made by the prosecutor.
It is scarcely necessary to comment on this case, for though the justice
of the movement is sustained by the judicial officers of the court, we
have few of the facts which gave poignancy to the innocent sufferer.
_Case Second._—Was that of a husband and his wife, imprisoned for
the larceny of an old three-prong table fork, of little or no value,
which he found in a pile of ashes in the street. He took, cleaned
and repaired it, and put a particular mark upon it, such as he had
upon all his tools in his workshop, he being said to be a
respectable mechanic. He then gave it to his wife for the use of his
family, and for _this they_ were both arrested and imprisoned, on
the oath of a quarrelsome neighbor, who testified that it was her
fork, and she knew it by the mark upon it; which the prisoner said
could not be the case, as it was he that put _this_ the only mark
upon it. It was certain that they both could not have stolen the
fork, although each of them was committed to prison for the same
offence. They were respectable looking people, who had never been in
prison before. The woman was in great distress of mind, and on the
eve of her confinement. They resided in “Columbia Avenue,” the
extreme northern part of the city, and were sued before a magistrate
in the extreme southern part of the city. This circumstance
indicated a malicious feeling on the part of the prosecutor, and
particularly so in causing the mother to be separated from her
infant child that had been left at home uncared for, as the officer
would not allow her to return home and take her child to prison with
her. And this was mainly the cause of her mental suffering that was
so apparent to all who saw her. The Agent deeply sympathized with
them in their unfortunate condition, and went to the magistrate and
immediately procured their unconditional discharge, all of which had
been done within an hour after the Agent’s attention was called to
the case. They were then released and permitted to return to their
home, as it did not appear that they were in any way guilty of the
charge brought against them.
_Case Third._—Two young soldiers that were from the State of Maine.
One of them was of a family of the highest respectability; they were
accused of stealing a silver watch valued at $18, for which offence
they were committed to prison. When the parents of one heard of the
imprisonment of their son, they addressed a note to the Warden of
our Prison expressing their surprise at his imprisonment. They
stated that they had never known him to do anything wrong, but to
the contrary he had always conducted himself in such a way as to
command the respect of all who knew him. They wished to know whether
it was necessary to send on money to employ counsel to defend him.
This letter was handed to the Agent, who made himself thoroughly
acquainted with their case, and who believed they were innocent. The
letter was answered, and the parents were informed by the Agent that
he believed their son was innocent of the charge that he was accused
of, and the case would be attended to free of charge, and that it
was not necessary to send any money. It was not long after this that
the Agent succeeded in ascertaining that these young men were
entirely innocent of the charge they were accused of, and so far
from having stolen anything, they had been robbed by their
prosecutor. After having been induced to drink _liquor_ that was
drugged, they became intoxicated, and were taken out under the cover
of night and laid at the door of the adjoining house. The very party
that robbed them, went to a magistrate and made oath that they had
stolen a silver watch of the value of $18 from him; for which
offence they were committed. They had been engaged in one of the
late battles, and both of them were wounded and sent to the Chestnut
Hill Hospital, where they had _partially recovered_ from their
wounds, and as they were _convalescent_, permission was granted them
to visit the city, where they got into the difficulty. The Agent
succeeded in ascertaining from one of the _inmates_ of the tavern
where the occurrence took place, that the young men were entirely
_innocent_ of stealing the watch, and that the prosecutor had
actually _offered to sell_ the watch the next day after they were
imprisoned. Soon as this fact was discovered, the Agent got a
_return_ of the case from the magistrate, took it into Court, and
informed the _District Attorney_ of all the facts in the case; the
prosecutor was sent for, but was nowhere to be found, as he had
_suddenly disappeared_ and left for New York, he having become
_alarmed_ at the Agent’s interference in the case. Their case was
laid before the Grand Jury and ignored, and they were released from
prison and permitted to return to their hospital where they could
have their wounds properly attended to. The Agent then addressed a
letter to the anxious parents of the one that their son’s innocence
was fully established, and that he was _honorably discharged_ by the
Court. This intelligence was no doubt gratifying to them.
If this third case is well considered, it will present an instance of
the value of the services of the Agent, and consequently of the value of
the Society, which must be gratifying to every friend of humanity. It
seems almost impossible to free our large cities from the haunts of the
vicious into which these young men had been enticed, and while they
exist it seems certain that crime will not only abound, but progress,
not merely in amount but in impunity. The feelings of those interested
in the welfare and character of these young men, may be imagined when
they learn of their release from prison and their full acquittal of the
charge of felony. The course of vice had indeed been entered, and idle
curiosity (at least) had been partially gratified in the dangerous
exploration by these young men, and now perhaps they may understand the
significance of monitions, against entering the path that leads down to
destruction and associating with those “whose feet take hold on hell.”
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