Prison Reform

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the growing tendency to regard the imprisonment of criminals as a preventative measure, rather than as punishment inflicted by society as revenge. In England prisons were largely based on this latter theory, until the social consciousness was first awakened by the writings of the popular novelist, Charles Reade, and most notably by by his novel, "It is Never Too Late to Mend." In the early days of last century prison conditions were exceptionally bad in the United States. As an instance, for years after the Revolution convicts in the State of Connecticut were confined underground in an old, abandoned copper mine, at Simsbury, Conn. One of the first moves toward better conditions was represented in the building of the Eastern Penitentiary, in Philadelphia, in 1817, and the Auburn State Prison, in Auburn, N. Y., in 1816, both of which institutions were conducted on a comparatively humane basis. The movement was still further stimulated by the discussions at the International Prison Congress, held in Frankfurt, Germany, where the United States was strongly represented, among the delegates being Dr. E. C. V'ines, the founder of the American Prison Association, which had a very strong influ ence in this country, after its formation. One of the strongest exponents of prison reform at the present time is Thomas Mott Osborne, in charge of the naval prison at Portsmouth, who first excited a more general interest in prison reform by himself entering Sing Sing Prison, in the guise of a convicted criminal, and obtaining a first hand knowledge of prison conditions, from the point of view of the inmates. It was he who, as governor of the prison, first instituted the parole system, whereby prisoners of good conduct were allowed entire liberty on leaves of absence, being placed on their honor to return. "Self-government" in prisons is another feature of Mr. Osborne's general system, which is now practiced at Portsmouth, under his personal direction, and at Sing Sing, the State Prison for women, at Auburn and at the Preston Industrial School, in California, with such a high degree of success that other prisons throughout the country are adopting the practice. A noteworthy example of legislative efforts toward prison reform was the effort of the Prison Reform League, of Pennsylvania, which in 1917 caused the appointment of a special commission to study prison cor.ditions, with the object of recommending legisla tion with the object of prison reform in view. The report of this commission was rendered in 1919. 1919, but the recommendations made were so far-reaching that they have not, as yet, been embodied in any legislation.