Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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kVVVVWVVVVV«» ' S W« S8 JS XSSS3a6 3SSSS3S X363S3SSSS36SSSSSSSt3« The Growth of the American Penal System By Theodore Machaj I N this country less is known about crime than about any other im- portant matter; yet, crime is one of our greatest national problems. There are at the present time in the prisons of United States approxi- mately 125,000 men or the same number of men that are in the standing army of our country. Hove than fifteen million of our people have been at some time arrested, and more than five million of these have at one time or another been in some jail. Because of the import- ance of the crime problem, I shall endeavor to give a brief history of prisons. Prisons have been used from the days of antiquity as places of deten- tion or seclusion but only in modern times as places of punishment for crime. In the first class were such famous institutions as the Bastille and the Tower of London. All of America’s prisons are in the latter class. Early prison conditions in Amer- ica were exceedingly bad. At Sims- bury, Connecticut, an abandoned copper mine was used as a state prison from 1773 to 1827. Prison buildings were of poor construction with little means of heating them. There were very few conveniences for the well-being of the inmates. The cells had very little light in the daytime and practically no light at all at night. Moreover, the inmates were usually treated very cruelly. They were forced to work hard and to maintain complete silence at all times. Long sentences were served for minor infractions of the strin- gent laws. After an inmate served his term, he received no aid in se- curing work or reestablishing him- self in society. Reform began with the building of the Eastern Penitentiary at Phila- delphia in 1817 and the Auburn State prison of New York at the same time. These prisons formed two distinct plans for the reform of criminals. In the Auburn Plan the prisoners have separate cells but eat and work together. The Eastern Penitentiary Plan provided that prisoners eat, work, and sleep in their cells apart from all other in- mates. Between the two systems fierce rivalry arose, but after many trials the Auburn Plan has been generally adopted. Manv factors have contributed in revolutionizing the Auburn System to its present status. With the in- troduction of steam heat, the age- old problem of heating the prisons was solved. The invention of arti- ficial light solved a like problem. It was possible then to use the time after work hours to better advan- tage. It also brought about manv new types of work that were not nossible before. Modern sanitary conveniences have also done their share in the improvement of prison conditions. Medical science has controlled disease and kept up the health of inmates. Merciless plagues can no longer take their toll of hu- man lives. 20

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in the work of John Howard, who was helping to improve the condi- tions of prisons, workhouses, and hospitals. When she returned to America, she made investigations in our hospitals, prisons, and poor- houses. Her work resulted in the awakening of the American people to the horrifying conditions here. After this dark period came the revival of nursing. The first hospi- tal training school worthy of the name was founded by Theodor and Friederike Fliedner in Germany in 1836. One of their pupils, Florence Nightingale, v as destined to use this school as a cornerstone for the building of a world-wide system of training schools— forerunners of the present type of school. Florence Nightingale, from child- hood, had an urgent desire to be- come a nurse despite the fact that girls of her class were supposed to be above the menial task that nurs- ing v as thought to be in those times. Guided by her own enthusiasm for an ideal that others could not un- derstand, she visited hospitals all over Europe and became greatly in- terested in the Fliedner school. Here she took the course offered and graduated. Later she organized a hospital training school in England, and the influence of this school ex- tended all over the world, and train- ing schools were established in many hospitals. No history of nursing is complete without the mention of our own Clara Barton. She was America’s “Angel of the Battlefield’’ in the Civil War. She was appalled by the conditions she found in the hospitals in Washington where the wounded soldiers vmre taken. Despite the sneers and charges of impropriety on the part of narrow-minded peo- ple, a band of loyal women went on- to the field of battle to help the sol- diers where help was most needed. After the war she was instrumental in founding the American Red Cross, which, in time of war or peace, brings aid to communities in an emergency and restores order to chaos. After the Civil War modern methods of nursing were introduced by the discovery of anesthesia, anti- toxins for many diseases, the X-ray, and many other wonderful scientific inventions. These new methods of treatment required other and more skillful methods of nursing, thus making nursing an outstanding art, until to-day it is a profession requir- ing of the highest degree of effi- ciencv and is regarded as one of the most helpful and wonderful profes- sions in existence. In time of war and peace alike the nurse will stand fearlessly at her post as she has from time immemo- rial. It was of her that Longfellow wrote : “A lady with a lamp shall stand In the great history of the land A noble type of good, Heroic womanhood.” 19

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Prison management and disci- pline had not fully kept pace with mechanical improvements. The old forms of torture and barbarous pun- ishment, however, disappeared, while escapes became relatively in- freouent. Inefficient management often destroyed many of the good influences which modern penology demands shall surround the pris- oner. While efforts were being made to improve physical surroundings and to bring about better discipline, lit- tle was done to educate the prison- ers most of whom had very little schooling. This condition improved very gradually until the present nlan v hereby it is possible for any inmate to attend classes. In all the larger institutions, attendance at the prison school for one hour a dav is compulsory for all men, who, by education or test, rate below the sixth grade. The teaching is done by educated prisoners under the su- pervision of a civilian head, and the results achieved are excellent. Tests made by a research assistant in the Department of Education of Colum- bia University showed that the pris- oners make more rapid progress than is made by students in corre- sponding grades outside. Corre- spondence courses are also per- mitted with some very excellent re- sults. Recreation has kept pace with education. It gives the prisoners something else to look forward to beside the dull routine of work in prison factories. After work hours the prisoners are given an oppor- tunity to do one of several things. Some take advantage of the privi- lege of indulging in popular sports. Others retire to the library to read newspapers and magazines or to v rite letters to their family or friends. On one or two nights a week, moving pictures, which have an educational and recreational val- ue, are shown. It is evident that every effort is being made to make prison life resemble as much as pos- sible the life outside of prison so that an inmate, when released, will have an easier task to readjust him- self to society. In this country, efforts are con- tinually being made to make profit- able use of prisoner’s time by en- gaging him in gainful and produc- tive enterprises. This purpose is carried out by one of three methods. In the lease system, the convicts are leased to contractors for a fixed sum and period, the entire responsi- bility for the care and safe-keeping of the men devolving upon the con- tractors. This system prevails in a few southern states at the present time. It has led to great abuses and should be abolished. The lease sys- tem is rapidly losing favor because it interferes with good discipline and with private industry. In the Public Account System or State Use System, as it is sometimes called, the state furnishes the plant and material and conducts the en- tire business through its officials, any profits going to the state, anv losses borne by the state. In most states v hich make use of this sys- tem, only such articles are made as will be utilized in other public insti- tutions or departments. This plan is the best yet proposed because the prisoner can be used to the best ad- vantage, and prison labor does not compete with private industrv. 21