BLACKMAR: penology in KANSAS. 163 



criminals, that are made inflexible and indiscriminative, are the rta^Qs^ 

 valueless that can ever be instituted for the guidance of the wafder^ p^ 

 a prison. In his judgment should rest the determination :of mapy- 

 things concerning prison discipline. A warden should be a person 

 especially trained for his position by long practice and theoretical 

 study. So far as possible he should be removed from poli;t;ica]i 

 regime, and be continued in ofifice during good behavior and cprapi^;-, 

 tent administration. There should not be too many laws and rules 

 instituted by boards of supervisors, which tend to hamper him, . la 

 Kansas the Board of Directors of the state prison make the ruleSi for. 

 the government of the warden. Ordinarily this check upon adminlsT 

 trative government may be wise, but to a well prepared and .cornp^e- 

 tent warden such laws are liable to prove irksome in the extremie.) 

 Even the statutes passed by the state ought to be sufficiently flexible 

 to give large discretionary powers to the warden. Too many boards 

 are a supreme nuisance to rational government. There is- no greater 

 mistake made than in the creation of a prison law which shall treat ta 

 thousand prisoners as one man, whether in regard to their food,; or 

 to the hours they, shall work, or to the method of confinement, "Q* 

 the length of sentence, or to grade marks, or to the method which may 

 be taken to reform them. Consequently the singling out of each indi- 

 vidual as a character study with a desire to give him the full benefit 

 of all helpful measures to reform him, and to place him in a way to 

 make himself independent after he leaves the prison is, indeed, one of the, 

 prime factors in prison discipline. The method of classifying togetjier; 

 individuals of the same character and degree of criminality, with 

 a view to make them mutually helpful by conversation and associa-; 

 tion rather than to deteriorate their character has been tried in some 

 instances but as a rule it has proved a failure. Nevertheless it does 

 seem that something might be done in this way. At least, possibly 

 those who have a life sentence should be classified together in, the 

 same group. If prisoners must work together during the day time 

 each group could be placed by itself. If in any kind of association 

 there is contamination either by words or looks or signs, a few prison- 

 ers of the same degree of criminality could be classified together, which 

 without doubt will make fewer chances for those who are very evil in- 

 nature to degrade others. How far this may be carried with suc- 

 cess can only be determined by those who will make of it a practical 

 example with an intense desire and determination to succeed. At any 

 rate, it may be affirmed that the classification of prisoners in groups 

 can be carried on with great skill and a great deal of benefit, if the 

 buildings are arranged for this purpose: different dining rooms, 

 different apartments apd reading;- rooms, different associations in every 



