REFORMATORIES. 



power upon tlio lives of men, it began to dawn upon 

 the minds nt legislators that even to prisoners kind- 

 Dew, sometimes, niiirht 1 10 letter than cruelty. The 

 first reformat. pry. however, actually csuhli.-' 

 fiieh. liv governmental action, was the prison nt Si. 

 Michael at Koine, in |7ii|, by Pop* Clement XI., and 

 was for boys and young men. It was conducted u|n>n 

 :n similar to what is now known as the "Auburn 

 system " that is to say, of separate cellular imprison- 

 ment by night and silent associated labor by d:-. 

 its success was conspicuous and continuous. Howard 

 visiteil it and praised it as one of the few pri- 

 the world worthy of commendation. lie found over 

 the prison door this inscription: " Clement XI . Su- 

 preme Pontiff, reared this prison for the reformation 

 wid education of criminal youths, to the end that 

 those who, when idle, hud been injurious to the state. 

 might, when better instructed and trained, become 

 useful to it," Within the prison, on a marble slab 

 inserted in the wall, he found this (as he terms it) ad- 

 mirable sentence: " It is of little use to restrain crim- 

 inals by punishment, unless you reform them by edu- 

 cation." As a general principle in the care and di.x'i- 

 iiliue of young criminals, this golden sentence from 

 Po|>e Clement XI. must commend itself to all right- 

 thinking people, and in the requirements of modern 

 penology no prison should be tolerated which does not 

 make the reformation of its inmates a leading object. 

 In fact, to discharge a criminal without reformation is 

 to defeat the only object (the protection of society) for 

 which imprisonment is justifiable. 



For sixty years St. Michael's prison at Rome found 

 no imitators in its reformatory purpose and methods, 

 but finally, in 177. r >, another prison, similar in character 

 and purpose, was established at Ghent, which soon 

 became a model for all Europe, and was recommended 

 as such by Howard, who visited it in 1770, and again 

 in 1778. In fact, Howard found at Ghent, in success- 

 ful application, nearly all the great principles of mod- 

 ern penology. They were: (I) Reformation as a pri 

 marv end, with hope as a great regenerating force. 

 (2) Industrial labor with a variety of trades to prepare 

 prisoners for self-support _ (3) Education, religious 

 and literary. (4) Abbreviation of -sentence and a par- 

 ticipation in earnings as incentives to diligence, nliudf- 

 ence, and self-improvement. (5) The exclusion of 

 cruel bodily inflictions as a means of maintaining dis- 

 cipline, and the enlistment of the will of the criminal 

 in the work of his own moral nge&eratioB. In fact. 

 as a reformatory prison it has rarely been equalled 

 since, and it still remains a noble monument to the 

 genius and humanity of Viscount Vilain XIV., under 

 whose inspiration and influence it was established. 

 Through its example all prisons in Belgium are now 

 distinctively reformatory in purpose and character. 

 and other Continental countries are adopting similar 

 methods. 



Under the British government the first prisons con- 

 ducted on reformatory ideas were those of Ireland, 

 whore the system of classih'ealion and parole was es- 

 tablished by Captain Crofton (now Sir Walter) in 

 I, and which is now known as the "Crofton 



in " (Sec ClKiKTii.N.) 



In England, through the legislation of 1877. uni- 

 fying prisons and centralizing their supervision, the 

 whole prison system has been made reformatory in 

 purpose, Mid the steady reduction of crime throughout 

 the kingdom clearly indicates its efficiency. 



In the United States there are no r.m\i t pri-ons 

 under State care without some reformatory agencies. 

 In all religious services are held upon the Sabbath 

 day, either by a resident chaplain or some clergyman 

 from the outside. In the majority of these prisons 

 flourishing Sunday-schools arc maintained, chiefly 

 through the efforts of volunteer workers from outside ; 

 nd in quite a number weekly prayer-uiectiipi:- 

 hcld, in which the prisoners take an active part. 

 There are also, in some prisons, night-school.-, in 



which prisoners hare gome educational opportunities, 

 and probably in all prisons there is some kind of a 

 1 prison library. 



In recent yearSj however, a few prisons of this class 

 have been organized and specially d< as re- 



formatories, and have for their primary object the 

 reformation of criminals. Of tln-se the New York 

 Reformatory, at Elmira, is tin- pionei -r and most con- 

 spicuous example. Prisoners received at Elmira are 

 such as are convicted of their first offence and are 

 under thirty years of age, and are held under what is 

 known as the indefinite or indeterminate sentence. 



The prisoners are classified in three grades, and all 

 prisoners enter the second grade, with liability to fall 

 to the third grade for misconduct, or they may rise to 

 the first grade by good conduct. Promotion to the 

 first grade is by earning 3 marks for 6 months in, or 

 nearly in, succession. The marks are earned, 3 for do- 

 j meanor, 3 for labor, 3 for school progress. After en- 

 I trance to the first grade, six months more of good per- 

 formance is required under somewhat enlarged liberties, 

 when, if there is confidence and employment, the in- 

 mate may go out on parole. Six months of good 

 record on parole usually secures from the managers an 

 absolute release. Under a similar svstem of marks 

 the prisoner may fall into the third grade, but by 

 good conduct he may work back into the second grade, 

 and thence to the first, and thence to parole. Each 

 grade has a uniform peculiar to it.-elf. and the prison- 

 ers, as they advance, have more privileges and better 

 fare. The average period of detention is about two 

 years and a half. _ If found incorrigible, the prisoner 

 is transferred to Sing-Sing or Auburn to serve out the 

 maximum of his sentence. 



The Elmira Reformatory was established in 1876, 

 and the reported results are that 82 per cent, of the 

 prisoners discharged arc thus far reputable and self- 

 supporting citizens. 



In view of the apparent superiority of this system, 

 similar reformatories have been recently opened at 

 Concord, Mass., and at Huntingdon, Pa., and others 

 rre in process of construction in Ohio, Minnesota, and 

 Kansas, and jn several other States similar action is 

 under legislative consideration. 



The Reformatory at Coneord, Mass., was opened in 

 I >> t. Like Elmira, it has three grades and a marking 

 system, by which the prisoner rises or falls, but unlike 

 Elmira. it receives misdemeanants as well as felons, and 

 there is no limit as to age or number of offences, and 

 only a part of the prisoners arc subject to the indeter- 

 minate sentence. Larger privileges are allowed than at 

 Elmira. and religious influences arc made more promi- 

 nent. Then there are other differences of a. minor 

 character, but whether these changes are improve- 

 ments or not, it is too early yet to determine, but thus 

 far the results are encouraging to the prison authori- 

 ties. 



The prison for women at Shcrborn, Mass., estab- 

 lished in 1877, is also conducted on a system similar to 

 j that at Elmira, although it has four grades instead of 

 three, and its inmates are mainly misdemeanants under 

 I definite sentences. It is wholly under the management 

 of women, and as a prison for women it has no superior. 



The Ohio Peiiitentiarv. at Columbus, although not a 

 reformatory in name, Dal adopted the grading and 

 marking system of Elmira. and also maintains night- 

 schools, in which the elementary branches of a com- 

 mon school education arc tauirlit. A system of parole 

 lm> IM-CII authorized forthe Ohio Penitentiary which is 

 unlike that of any other American prison, and its re- 

 formatory influences have been so satisfactory and 

 promising as to deserve special notice. 



Tie- law authorizing this was passed May 4, 1885, 

 and provides, Sec. 8, "that said board of managers 

 shall have power to establish nil. i:lations un- 



der which any prisoner who is now or hereafter may 

 be imprisoned under a <:her than for murder 



in the first or second degree, who may have served tiio 



