PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



vides jails so constructed as to lecure the absolute wp- 

 ratiun of all prisoners awaiting trial ("I' which a More 

 or more h;ive already been completed). di.lrict work- 

 house* fur misdemeanants, an intermediate peniten- 

 tiary for younr men under thirty years of age Convicted 

 <if felony for the first time (now being erected at Mans- 

 field), and retains the old penitentiary at Columbus for 

 life-prisoners and ineorriiiihlcs. 



Fur delinquent children ( Hiio was the first State in 

 the I 'nion to establish reformatories upon the family 

 or cot 1 .1 The first was for boys, at Lancas- 



ter, in 1858, and the second, for girls, at Delaware, in 

 ! -> Ohio has also taken the lead in establishing a 

 fy-tein of paroles for penitentiary prisoners, and in 

 making a third conviction lor felony conclusive evi- 

 dence of iaeorrigibtlity, and subjecting the offender to 

 imprisonment lor life. 



Puring the lirst half of the present century the 

 United States were clearly in advance of all other na- 

 tions in prison management, but since then we have 

 fallen behind, and other nations, having adopted all 

 that was best in our American systems, have added 

 large improvements of their own. 



In recent years, however, through the influence 

 largely of State boards of charities and correction, and 

 the conferences and publications of the national and 

 local prison associations, there has been a revival of 

 public interest in America upon prison subjects, and 

 annii-il improvements are indicated by the action of 

 Legislatures in almost every State. 



The fact that in the United States, for many years 

 past, there, has been a steady increa.se of crime in a 

 ratio largely in advance of the increase of population, 

 has also emphasized the necessity of better methods in 

 dealing with the criminal classes, and has aroused pub- 

 lic attention. This increase, as indicated by the U. S. 

 census reports, in as follows : 



Year. 

 1850.. 

 I860 . 

 1870. 



1880. 



Prisoners. 



6,737 



19,088 



82,901 



68,609 



Ratio to population. 

 1 out of 3,442 

 1 " " I/) 17 

 1 " " 1,171 

 1 " " 855 



That this rate of increase has been checked some- 

 what now seems assured by reports of investiga- 

 tions in several Stales, and it is probable that the na- 

 tional census of |s<io w jH show a perceptible and pos- 

 sibly a large decrease in the country as a whole. 



The science of penology is no longer in a chaotic 

 condition, for its fundamental principles are as well 

 established as those of any other science relating to 

 Kovial development, and their application in other 

 countries, and not ably in England, has shown that 

 crime can le so dealt with thai, instead of increasing, 

 it can be steadily diminished. In the nature of things, 

 preventive : will always lie more potent for 



pood than any others, but still the necessity will always 

 rem-iiii for intelligent treatment of those actually con- 

 victed of crime and sentenced to prison confinement. 

 At the. bottom of all effective prison management, and 

 without which no large results in the reformation of 

 criminals can be obtained, is such classification as will 

 cut off. or at least minimize, the contaminating influ- 



of evil association-. 



'din'.' to the ccn-us. the tiumtxT of prisoners in 

 the United states, June I, K-u, not iadnding the in- 

 mate* of reformatory institutions for juvenile- delin- 



-, was 58,609. The number of juvenile delin- 

 reportcd was 1I.4C.S. The total number, 

 therefore, of criminals and quasi criminals, taken to- 

 gether, was 70,077. Of the .'^.I'lD'.i prisoners, properly 

 M called. 30.fi.19 were found in penitentiaries. . 

 workhouses and houses of correction, I'.'.C.'.M in county 

 juls, llilf, in city prisons. 4'.i'.) in military prisons. 350 

 in hospitals lor the insane, and 4H7'J were leased out 

 to private part 



It will be noticed that of these prisoners 14,359, or 



' nearly one-fourth of the entire number, were in county 

 jails and city prisons. This, however, only repre- 

 sents the number actually in confinement on'the day 

 of enumeration. Taking the whole year through, the 

 number of separate prisoners actually confined in jaiU 

 and city prisons would d at least tenfold, 



and possibly twentyfold ; and if we include village lock- 

 ups and citv station-houses, the number would again 

 be increased many tinn -. It is very evident, there- 

 fore, that in the classification of prisoners, with a view 

 to prevent the contaminating influences of association, 

 the largest attention by far should IK' given to county 

 jails and city prisons, and it is here our American 



are most_ deficient In fact, at this on- 

 point of unrestricted association among prisoners, our 

 American jails arc substantially the same as the jails 

 of KiiL'land were found by John Howard a century ago. 



In England at the present time jails, by act of Par- 

 liament, are simply places of detention tor prisoners 

 awaiting trial, and each prisoner is kept entirely sep- 

 arate from every other prisoner; but in America, with 

 very rare exceptions, prisoners in jail are herded to- 

 gether in a common hall, and all the evils of associa- 

 tion are not only permitted, but enforced. BO that the 

 jail becomes a school of crime and a moral pest-hoii-c 

 I Bo long as this continues all penologists are agreed' 

 that no large advance in the suppression of crime can 

 be expected, and they are also agreed that cellular sep- 

 aration is the only effective remedy. 



Several States are making progress in this direction, 

 notably Massachusetts and Ohio. The Suffolk county 

 jail, in Boston, has already lieen referred to as the 

 piotieer in cellular separation, and in Ohio nearly all 

 new jails, for several veal's pa-t. have been constructed 

 upon what is known as the central corridor or Ohio 

 plan, which provide-, tor the entire separation of pris- 

 oners, and in several such .separation is now enforced ; 

 and a law is now under consideration by the Legisla- 

 ture to make it compulsory in all. 



In Ensrland, by act of 1877, the control of jails was 

 vested iii a body of prison commissioners, appointed 

 by and responsible, to the Home Secretary, which se- 

 cured uniformity of action throughout the kingdom, 

 and contributed largely to the present pre-eminence of 

 English prisons ; but in the United States the control 

 aril maintenance of jails, except in Massachusetts, is 

 entirely with county authorities, and so long as this 

 continues pro-less will m-ccs.-arilv be slow. It is SO 

 clearly evident that jails, together with all other 

 prisons, should be wholly under control of the Stato 

 authorities, that it would only seem necessary to bring 

 it to the attention of the public, in order to secure its 

 adoption, but thus far local and political interests have 

 been strong enough to prevent affirmative action. 



Outside of jails and other places of detention for 

 prisoners awaiting trial, the prisons of the United 

 States, as a whole, are not inferior to those of other 

 countries, either in construction or management, and 

 many of them are keeping fairly abreast of the ]-t 

 experience of the world. In each of the Northern 

 and in most of the Southern States, there is at 

 least one penitentiary for prisoners convicted of 

 felonies; and in some of the larrcr States there are 

 two or three, and all of these, except the Eastern Penn- 

 sylvania Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, arc conducted 

 upon the congregate or Auburn system of manage- 

 ment, which maintains cellular separation at night, and 

 associated labor in silence by day. 



The tendency of public sentiment in the United 

 States now M-CIIIS to favor such classification of pen- 

 itentiaries as shall provide for the separate- confine- 

 ment of young men under thirty years of age con- 

 victed of their first offence. The first prison of 

 this kind was established at Elmira. N. V., and is 

 known as the Elmira Reformatory. Its success in the 

 reformation of prisoners has been so conspicuous that 

 :al other States have adopted the system. The 

 reformatories at Concord, Mo.---.. Hantttfdoo, Pa., 



