9 



Regular Meeting, Monday, March 15, 1880. 



Kegular meeting this evening. President in the 

 chair. Records read. Correspondence and donations 

 announced. 



Hon. Thomas H. Walker of Pottsville, Penn., read 

 an interesting paper on "The Philosophy and Theory of 

 Punishment." To this subject he had given much time, 

 wide research and serious reflection. He began by 

 alluding to the lax system of prison discipline which 

 prevailed in Europe a century ago, when the jails were 

 nothing but moral pest-houses, where drunkenness and 

 prostitution were the pastime of the inmates ; where the 

 innocent and guilty were huddled together in common 

 quarters. At this time Howard, the great apostle of 

 prison reform, came upon the scene of action in England. 

 He visited most of the prisons in Europe and presented 

 such a startling array of facts in reference to prison life, 

 that he was summoned before Parliament and examined 

 with great particularity in regard to his investigations. 



The result was the appointment of a Parliamentary com- 

 mission and the establishment of the true theory of prison 

 discipline, the reformation of the criminal and the pro- 

 tection of society. Human nature was the same inside 

 the prison as outside, actuated by the same motives and 

 resentments. The criminal should, therefore, when prac- 

 ticable, be sentenced to solitary confinement at labor : — 

 solitary confinement in order that he may have opportu- 

 nity to repent of the enormity of his crimes and his re- 

 sponsibility to the State, and that any good impressions 

 which may be created shall not be dispelled by the scofis 

 and frivolity of the hardened criminals ; and labor, as 

 well as solitude, that he may be taught the value of 

 industry, and learn to appreciate the blessing of the 



