PRISONS AND PRISONERS. THE condition of prisoners has been in all ages so wretched as to call for the prayers and the labors of the benevolent; but it is only in recent years that the treatment of this unhappy class has become the subject of scientific study. John Howard and his followers compelled recognition of the fact that convicts were men, and therefore enti tled to humane treatment; and though their aim was not to establish a science of penol ogy, their agitation was the remote cause of that result. Recent as this science is, it has attained an unusual degree of perfection, and its principles have been already to a considerable extent adopted in practice. These principles are set forth with admira ble clearness and succinctness in an essay by Mr. Eugene Smith, long Secretary of the Prison Association of New York, which is just published by the Society for Political Education. Mr. Smith points out that the vindictive theory of punishment has been superseded by the view that the sole end of a penal sys tem is the protection of society. This end, however, is not secured by the temporary in carceration of criminals, because it has been found by experience that after their dis charge they may be more dangerous than be fore. The management of many prisons is such as to stimulate the criminal tendencies of their inmates. After some misunder standing a substantial agreement has been reached upon the proposition that the re formation of the prisoner is the controlling aim of prison discipline. This is not upon any theory of paternalism or charitable agency, but because it is the best way of protecting society. The criminal is not to be reformed for his own sake, but for the sake of others. He has no special claim upon the government; but by treating him as if he had, the common safety is promoted. The term "reformation," however, as applied to criminals, has a technical meaning. It
does not mean, as most people not unnatu rally suppose, a regeneration of the spiritual nature of the criminal. He may be as bad a man after he is reformed as before, but he is changed in one important respect, — he will not violate the law. A story from the Elmira Reformatory throws more light upon the meaning of this term, as well as upon the nature of the criminal, than will be derived from much explanation. At an examination of the class in " Practical Ethics," the ques tion was put, " Is it better to beg or to steal? " One prisoner replied : " A hundred years ago the question presented no difficulty; it would have been better then to beg than to steal. But now, when such great progress has been made in prison reform, it would be better to steal than to beg; for the thief, being imprisoned, would enjoy all the bene fits of a reformatory training, which would enable him on his discharge to take care of himself so well that he would never afterward have occasion either to beg or to steal." On account of the existence of this dis torted and morbid standard of morality among criminals, it is indispensable that the prison regimen should be severe. The dis grace of imprisonment is a sufficient deter rent to most men; but for the typical criminal this is not sufficient, and a painful discipline must be added. The convict must be made to dread the thought of a renewal of his sen tence. Subject to this fundamental require ment, the general principle governing the treatment of convicts is laid down by Mr. Smith as follows : " Those methods of prison management are the best calculated to re form the prisoner which assimilate his con dition to that of the free workman outside, which cultivate in him the same habits, appeal to the same motives, awaken the same ambi tions, develop the same views of life, and subject him to the same temptations that be long to the free- community of which he is fitted to become a member."
