l6o KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



than diminished, and plots and plans were made for future depreda- 

 tions upon society. 



Within a comparatively recent period most nations have endeavored 

 to properly classify prisoners. First a general classification, separat- 

 ing the old from the young, the hardened criminals from the novices. 

 The modern tendency is to institute reform schools and work houses 

 for juveniles, reformatories for youth, and regular prisons for hard- 

 ened criminals. But in the highest ideal of prison science each one of 

 these is to be a reformatory of a different class. Kansas has deter- 

 mined upon this classification. The Reform School at Topeka, the 

 Reformatory at Hutchinson and the State Penitentiary at Lansing 

 represent this three-fold classification. The reformatory at Hutchin- 

 son has not been completed. Its methods are to be patterned after 

 the reformatory at Elmira, N. Y., the model institution of its class in 

 America. The chief difficulty in the establishment of such an insti- 

 tution in Kansas is its great expense. It is a great undertaking for a 

 young state like Kansas to compete with an old wealthy state like New 

 York. Yet the Kansas reformatory may take all the essential features of 

 the Elmira reformatory and by obtaining rather more service from its 

 inmates maybe made less expensive. It will be trying to Kansas tax- 

 payers to provide such an industial school for the criminals of the 

 state as that at Elmira, while it is only by dint of close saving that they 

 are able to give as good an education to their own sons and daughters 

 who have never offended against the state. Yet it must be remem- 

 bered that this is done for the benefit of the whole state, for the 

 purpose of lessening crime and expense. The reformatory at Hutch- 

 inson should be completed as soon as possible as there is a great need 

 for it that the prisoners at Lansing may be properly classified and a 

 certain group of those most susceptible of reform should be sent 

 there. 



Within the prison walls classification of individual prisoners ac- 

 cording to crimes, temperament and habits has been of great assistance 

 in their management. In the United States there are two main sys- 

 tems in vogue, that known as the Pennsylvania System and that as the 

 New York System. The former may be defined as the solitary cellu- 

 lar system, and the latter as the single cell system, with prisoners 

 working and dining together. The Pennsylvania system had its origin 

 in the celebrated Cherry Hill prison, built in 1821 to 1829, containing 

 over 600 separate cells for continuous solitary confinement. This 

 solitary confinement in large airy rooms is expensive but is considered 

 as the best treatment of prisoners. Here the prisoner is kept at work, 

 or instructed in trades or books. Work becomes a necessitv to him. 



