[When the man that people like to speak of as “Frank”
Randall went to Massachusetts from Minnesota as chairman
of the Massachusetts Prison Commission it was expected
that he would be “frank.” Here is a summary, from the
Boston Herald of parts of Mr. Randall’s first annual
message.]
In an interview given the first of the year by Frank L. Randall, the
new chairman of the Massachusetts Prison Commission, he made several
suggestions for the improvement of the penal system of Massachusetts.
In his six months’ service he has been taking stock of the situation.
While he has found many things that warrant the pride the State
has in her penal institutions, he has found also not a few serious
problems of which the general public know little or nothing. He pays
high tribute to the sheriffs and others engaged in the penological
work of the State. But he discusses a large number of suggestions as
to the supervision of the prison industries of the commonwealth, the
indeterminate sentence, the trying out of applicants for employment as
guards and in other capacities, the pardoning influence of the wardens
and superintendents, and especially as to the very large number of
persons on parole, of whom the State has lost track altogether.
“Did you know,” he asks, “that in this State there are 1,056 persons
from the State reformatory, 217 from the State prison and more than 200
from the woman’s prison who ought to be making regular monthly reports
to the proper authorities but of whom the State knows little or nothing?
“This is a very serious situation. According to the records all these
persons were paroled. The terms of the parole in each and every
case was a regular report every month, that the prison officials,
representative of the power and supervision of the State, might know
exactly the situation of each convicted person who has been liberated
upon obligation to keep the State informed of his movements.
“Some of these persons have never rendered a single report. Others have
reported for a time, and then ceased to trouble themselves about the
matter. In very many cases their whereabouts is unknown.
“Now the sentences of these persons have not expired. They are still
nominally in the charge of the State, which has granted them their
liberty upon conditions. There ought not to be a single such case.
In no instance should the State be ignorant of the whereabouts of a
prisoner unless he is a fugitive from justice. These persons may not
be classed as fugitives, and their sentences have not expired, yet the
State has no trace of them.
“This situation certainly shows a flaw in our system and a serious one.
“I am strongly of the opinion that the prison industries of the State
ought to be differently managed.
“Our boards now are primarily concerned with the welfare of the
prisoners, and properly so. The welfare of the inmate of a penal
institution must come first. But there is a service to the State which
he is rendering, and it is the part of business efficiency to make that
service as large and of as good quality as possible.
“The industries of the penal institutions of the State are not managed
in a business way. Here are hundreds of workers making thousands of
dollars’ worth of goods, and no one who is expert in business affairs
is held responsible for the administration of this industrial system.
The wardens and the superintendents look after these details as one
of their duties. But neither they nor any other official can devote
the time and attention to these industries which they ought to have
in order that the State may get from them the largest return and the
workers themselves derive from them the greatest benefit for themselves.
“The one officer who now gives all his time to the concerns of the
penal system is the chairman of the board, and he has a multitude
of matters to occupy every moment. There ought to be some person
of commercial ability, a trained business man, who should give his
whole time to the dollars and cents of the penal establishment of the
State. Let the commissioner give his attention predominantly to the
humanitarian side of the work. But let us have a trained expert who
shall develop new industries, improve the system of marketing the
product, and look in general after the business side of the prisons
just as the superintendent looks after these matters in any private
enterprise. It will pay the State to consider this matter.”
As he proceeded in his discussion of these problems it became more and
more evident that to the commissioner prison service ought to be a life
work, a professional occupation, to which men should give their lives,
just as they go into law or medicine, and that this should be the case
with the guards as well as with the wardens and the heads of the penal
system of States. This appeared in his discussion of the warden’s
influence on the granting of pardons.
“I myself got caught by my ignorance of one of the kinks in the
laws of the country some years ago,” he said. “It was this way. Out
in Minnesota there was an Indian boy in prison who was dying of
tuberculosis. I investigated his case, saw the proper parties, and went
to the executive with a plea for pardon that the lad might go where
there was a chance for the recovery of his health. I had the influence
of senators and prominent men. And at the last minute I found that I
could not get anything done because my name appeared upon the petition.
“You see, it is assumed that it is not wise for the guard or the
warden to be in any way friendly with his prisoners and at the same
time to have influence for the securing of pardons. He might try to
use his influence for the advantage of his favorites, and give them
their liberty, not because they were ready for it, but out of personal
reasons. That was the old thinking on the subject.
“But the new thinking is better. If you have the right kind of warden
there will be no danger of the abuse of any such power. He will be
so sincere a friend of each and every prisoner that he will not use
his influence to free a man until he is sure the convict is ready to
return to society with safety to himself and to his fellowmen. When you
have that kind of warden his opinion will be the very best that it is
possible to have.
“The same point applies in the case of the guard. The old theory is
that the guard must not talk with a prisoner except on matters of
discipline. He might become interested in a prisoner and that would
be bad for discipline. The new and better idea is that we should have
guards who mean to make penology a serious professional occupation,
a life career, and then their attitude toward a prisoner changes
entirely, and the danger of favoritism disappears.
“In most cases when a man applies for a place as guard we look him over
and tell him to put on a uniform if he bears scrutiny. He may pass
some simple tests in a civil service examination. But what about his
temperamental fitness for the responsibility of the care of prisoners?
That is, perhaps, the most important qualification. As it is, we have
no means of determining it.
“I wish we might have some sort of central agency for the trying out
of prospective guards. When they have made good and manifested a
disposition seriously to study and practice the science of penology
then they become very valuable to the State. Men who go into the
occupation as a makeshift are expensive to the State in the long run.
If we could test him in practice the credentials a man would bring from
that central clearing house would be the best possible guarantee of
fitness.
“The science of penology in this country has advanced with very rapid
strides. But the art of penology has not kept pace with it. And the
reason is suggested in what I have said. There are too few who mean to
make penology a real career. What we need is the type of man who can
see the possibilities of service to the State in his kind of work.
“Another matter which has been already a subject of study with me here
in Massachusetts is the practice we have of mixing in our institutions
two classes who ought to be kept apart. We have the workhouse cases and
the prison cases. The former will include probably the older and the
more confirmed offenders, many who are less hopeful of reformation, the
careless and the professionally delinquent. They come and go and come
back again quite as a matter of course.
“But very many of the prison cases will be younger persons convicted of
more serious offences. They will include many who can be appealed to,
that are not confirmed in crime, who will respond to influence of the
proper sort.
“Now, it is not good policy to mix these cases. The one class comprises
many who are glad to be fed and lodged and sheltered by the State. The
others must not be permitted to learn to think of themselves as thus,
subjects of the State’s care.
“I would have these men sentenced indeterminately, not to be released
until it is evident that they are ready for liberty. They must be
treated as individual cases and adjustments must be made in each
instance. I would place their release in the discretion of certain
officials who may be presumed to be best prepared to say whether or not
they are ready for release.”
In general Mr. Randall referred to the need of the removal of the work
of prison officials from all political and partisan influences and
control. He named the State of Ohio as a community which has lately
taken a very advanced step in penal legislation. The State of Illinois
was referred to as an example of precisely the opposite sort. The
commissioner told of his experiences in attending the annual meetings
of the prison workers of the country, when year after year there will
appear different sets of officials from the same city or State. “How
can there be any real progress, or any development of the art of
penology, when there is so little tenure of office?” he asked with a
smile.
“This country,” he added, “is regarded all over the world as a great
laboratory where all sorts of theories have a chance to be tried out.
This is because of our federal system. The United States has nothing to
do except with a few federal prisons. Each State of the forty-eight has
its own penal institutions. Thus, as you go about the country you may
see almost every sort of plan, the most advanced and the most belated,
in operation. For that reason deputations from foreign countries
are sent here often for observation and study. Massachusetts ranks
high, and deservedly so, although there are many opportunities for
improvement.
“One thing that must be remembered is this, that it is almost
impossible to tell in advance how a plan is going to work. It may be
wrought out with great care. But we have human nature to deal with,
and exceptions to rules occur pretty frequently. Often a seemingly
unimportant provision may prove very valuable. Then it must receive
the place of importance that it deserves, and be adapted to varying
conditions everywhere. And often what has seemed to be important will
turn out to be of very subordinate consequence.”