THE NEW CRIMINOLOGY 857 



Between the partisans of these rival systems a furious controversy 

 broke out, the echoes of which may still be heard reverberating 

 around the globe, for it has not yet completely died away. The 

 Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons 

 defended the separate system, which was acrimoniously assailed 

 by the membeis of the Boston Prison Society and of the New York 

 Piison Association. The protracted discussion which ensued had the 

 merit of bringing to light the inherent defects and essential cruelty 

 of both systems; but victory rested with the opponents of the 

 Pennsylvania plan, which was tried by three or four states, but soon 

 abandoned. It nominally survives at Philadelphia, but not in fact, 

 since that prison, with eight hundred cells, now contains over twelve 

 hundred sentenced convicts. The Auburn system, with its rule of 

 perpetual silence, impossible to enforce, has also died a natural death. 

 Then, as now, prisons were of two sorts: one local and minor, in 

 which there was no discipline; the other central or state, in which 

 there was far too much. The juste milieu had not yet been discovered. 



Without regard to the theoretical arguments for and against the 

 separate or individual system, it may be said, in passing, that its 

 abandonment is primarily attributable to financial and practical 

 considerations. It is more costly to install. The ordinary American 

 prison cell contains not more than five hundred cubic feet of space, 

 while the separate cell requires the provision of at least one thousand 

 feet, or double the quantity. It is, therefore, more difficult, in a 

 country with a population multiplying so rapidly as does that of the 

 United States, to secure adequate accommodation for prisoners on 

 the separate than on the congregate system. Moreover, the earnings 

 of the prison are less, since they depend on the employment of labor- 

 saving machinery driven by the power of steam, which can be used 

 in the shops of a congregate prison, but is not adapted to use in 

 prisons of the opposite type. 



All progress has its root in the sense of failure to realize an ideal. 

 There are as many distinct ideals as there are groups of men. The 

 economic ideal of the prison is that it shall be self-supporting; the 

 administrative ideal, that it shall be secure and orderly; the political 

 ideal, that it shall minister to the reputation and the stability of the 

 party in power; the punitive ideal, that it shall crush its helpless 

 inmates and strike terror into the hearts of men tempted to enter 

 upon a criminal career; the sentimental ideal, that it shall be the 

 abode of comfort and content; the philosophic ideal that it shall be 

 so conducted as to reform as many of those committed to it as are 

 susceptible of reformation and rehabilitation. These ideals spring 

 up partly from within and partly from without. Prison officials have 

 the opportunity to study the criminal at first hand by close and con- 

 tinued contact with him. They become familiar with his peculiar- 



