CONSERVING HUMAN SOUL
Conserving Human Souls Work of The International Prison Congress of 1910 By LUCY C. DANIELS THOMPSON ON THE AFTERNOON of Sunday, October 2, the opening meeting of the International Prison...
...United States May Learn from Europe ONE thing that the layman had impressed upon him at the Prison Congress way that prison administration and the treatment of criminals has become a science...
...In Ohio a stop was made at the State Reformatory in Mansfield...
...On the days intervening between tha arrival of the delegates in Washington and the opening of the Congress, the American Prison Association held its annual meeting...
...n if desired while the system was ;till in its experimert-1 Stare...
...and industrial occupations for prisoners serving short sentences or in the smaller prisons...
...The shoemaker may stick to his last, the weaver to his loom, the artist to his palette...
...director of the Swiss Bureau of Statistics, who has been secretary of the International Prison Commission since its organization more than 35 years ago, and who, upon being relieved by this Congress, at his own request, from the arduous duties of the secretaryship, was made an honorary president...
...Its sessions were well attended by the foreign delegates to the Congress, who thus gained a still closer insight into American theories and methods...
...This Association is composed of officials of American State and Federal penal institutions and of American scientists interested in sociological problems...
...Guillaume...
...A Tour of Inspection IN THIS first visit of the Congress to America, special opportunities were given the delegates from the old world to inspect the correctional and penal institutions of the new...
...Many speakers also paid tributes to the memory of Dr...
...There was a general agreement that with the present trend of penal legislation toward the introduction of such measures as probation, conditional release, and the indeterminate sentence, added responsibility is placed upon the prison official, and increased attention is demanded to his fitness both in character and in special education and training...
...The direct-ing body is the International Prison Commission, made up of specially appointed delegates...
...In view of the character, ability, and distinguished service of these men and women, there seemed little ground for the misgivings implied by President Taft on the occasion of the official reception of the delegates at the White House on September 30, when he expressed the hope that their deliberations might not be influenced by "maudlin sentiment," on the one hand or by "desire for vengeance," on the other...
...freer use of probation and suspended sentence...
...In the interval between Congresses, this body formulates the questions which the next Congress is to consider...
...Another point on which the East may instruct the West is in saving to society the previously acquired skill of the prisoner...
...the desirability of establishing special institutions for abnormal children with dangerous moral tendencies...
...Z. R. Brockway, for many years superintendent of the Elmira reformatory where many of the new prison methods were tried out, and Dr...
...This was the first of the International Prison Congresses to be held in America, although to an American, Dr...
...For the meeting of the International Prison Congress is not a junket...
...The resolution as finally adopted after a three days' discussion by the first section within whose field it lay,—a section made up of distinguished jurists and piccided over by M. Adolphe Prins, inspector general of piiscns in Belgium, and professor in the University of Brussels.—indorsed the principle in the case of delinquents of weak mental or moral fibre and of all delinquents requiring reformatory treatment, while guarding against its abuse by demanding ind v: Y study of each case and decision as to the length cf detertion by a capable and unprejudiced brard, with a fixed mux...
...This purpose is, indeed, for the wilful and stubborn foe of social order, a stern and austere determination to make the way of the transgressor hard and thorny so that dread fear shall hold the vicked in check and unbending force constrain the lawless...
...On the return trip, the institutions of Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Indiana, and of Louisville, Kentucky, were inspected by the party...
...Greater cooperation between school authorities and the public, more kindergartens, greater recognition of training in handwork for the children, more playgrounds, wholesome reciea-tion centers, gymnasiums and athletic fields, were other measures proposed for keeping children employed and contented...
...These offered an opportunity for the public to see and hear some of the leading exponents of prison reform in the different countries of the world...
...These visits were of especial importance in giving the foreign delegates an opportunity to see in actual practice some of the American correctional and penal methods, and to observe the results following upon the application of theories hitherto in dispute...
...It gave a new idea of the oneness of the world to see these representatives of the old world and the new, of republics and monarchies, of Caucasian race and Mongolian, all actuated by the same motives and bending their efforts towards progress along the same humanitarian lines...
...These questions are sent out to persons especially qualified to report upon them, and a general reporter or reviewer for each question is appointed to summarize the reports made, and to formulate in accordance with the views presented therein, resolutions which form the basis for discussion in the various sections of the next Congress...
...Having back of them, however, the united opinion of the best penologists and prison administrators of the world, they have had in the past, and are likely to have in the future, great weight in determining the course of penal legislation and prison reform...
...The section declared against short sentences as incompatible with the reformatory system, but approved of combining with the reformatory treatment a system of liberation on parole on the advice of a suitable board, and under proper guardianship and supervisicn...
...Preventive Measures OF SPECIAL importance in the deliberations of the third section, over which Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise presided, was the question of lessening the hardships resulting from the imprisonment of the head of a family...
...Ta-kashi Sanagi, secretary of the Prison Bureau at Tokyo...
...Since it came into use here, its indorsement has been urged upon each succeeding International Congress, but hitherto unsuccessfully, European opinion being opposed to it as not satisfying the demands of justice on the one hand, and endangering personal liberty on the other...
...Hope for the Transgressor THE attitude of the delegates themselves towards the matters they were to discuss was forcefully presented by the President of the Congress, Dr...
...we desire him to tremble before the majesty of outraged law, but not despair if he is willing to accept the reasonable yoke of honesf and useful labor for the common weal...
...The acticn of the Congress is purely deliberative, and its resolutions have, of course, no binding force on the governments represented...
...Juvenile Courts THE gieatest general interest attached, perhaps, to the meetings of the fourth section, made up of specialists in the study of "tempted and perverted childhood, and of the institutions and measures for the guidance and correction of youth...
...The first method seemed to the section the most practicable, and a recommendation was made that the State should allow payment to prisoners and that any sum of money thus credited to them should be available for the assistance of their families in case of need...
...The places selected for visits in New York State outside of the city, were the State Reformatory at Elmira, the George Junior Republic, and the State Prison at Auburn...
...measures necessary to combat idleness and vagabondage of children in large cities...
...Other questions considered by thi^ section were the establishment of an international bureau of information regarding criminals and exchange of criminal records, and the punishment of persons banded together jn organizations for criminal purposes...
...Since then, Congresses have met in Stockholm (1878), Rome (1884), St...
...This form of sentence, without minimum or maximum limits, was used first in the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, and has since been adopted into the correctional and penal systems of many other states...
...The Indeterminate Sentence THE adoption of the principle of the indeterminate sentence is looked upon as the great achievement of this Congress and a triumph for American methods...
...Arrest of young offenders should be avoided whenever possible, and in case of necessary detention, it should never be in quarters used by adults...
...In Italy, Spain, and Hungary, training schools have been established for the common guards who come most closely in contact with the prisoner...
...This period gave also a needed opportunity for rest and preparation for the arduous duties of the following week...
...Where cases of young offenders come before courts, they should never be heard in the same session with the cases of adults, and it should be the tendency in their trials to "proceed, as far as practicable by way of conference for the good of the child, instead of contest about and over the child...
...It was considered desirable to concentrate as far as possible all persons serving sentences, in institutions large enough to admit of organizing the labor effectively, but where such concentration was impossible, to introduce into the prison various occupations depending on local conditions...
...Measures for the suppression of vagrancy and mendicancy were also discussed, and testimony given, in the main favorable, as to the value of long term sentences (2 or 3 years) for criminal inebriates...
...To prevent habits of idleness and vagrancy among children in large cities, laws were recommended making parents responsible for the wrong-doing of their children, compelling deserting fathers to return to their duty, allowing children to be taken from unfit homes and placed under proper training and care...
...Dr...
...and those necessary for the protection of illegitimate children...
...The parole system was recognized by the Congress as an indispensable aid in the reformation of the prisoner, and it was agreed that prisoners of all classes, including life prisoners where possible, should be eligible to its benefits after serving a definite minimum period...
...M. Simon Van der Aa, professor of penal law in the University of Groningen, in Holland, and newly elected Secretary of the International Prison Commission...
...substitution of other forms of punishment for imprisonment...
...A discussion of the preventive value of probation and similar measures designed to avoid if possible terms of imprisonment especially in the case of first offenders, emphasized the necessity of applying these laws with discretion and only in cases where there is a reasonable likelihood of reform, and the need of careful supervision during a period long enough to complete the reformation...
...Each day during the session of the Congress, the sections meet for three hours in the morning to discuss the resolutions submitted to them, and in the afternoon the resolutions which they have finally adopted are presented to the general assembly for further discussion, amendment, and adoption or rejection...
...In China, he is allowed to select his own work...
...Isabel Barrows, who was her husband's constant companion and co-worker, was present at the Congress, serving as assistant editor in addition to taking an active part in the proceedings...
...Katharine Bement Davis, superintendent of the State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, New York, presided over this section...
...On the question of criminal procedure in the case of juvenile delinquents, it was agreed that the judges, or others having cognizance of such cases, should be chosen primarily for their "ability to understand and sympathize with children, and that they should have special knowledge of the social and psychological sciences...
...With strong feeling he declared: "One mighty and commanding purpose has called us together and will inspire all our counsels...
...Ella Flagg Young and Mrs...
...Petersburg (1890), Paris (1895), Brussels (1900), Budapest (1905...
...How the Congress Works FOR working purposes, it is divided into four sections, dealing respectively with Penal Legislation, Prison Administration, Preventive Methods, and Children and Minors...
...And in this spirit the labors of the Congress were conducted...
...The chief questions considered by the section were the form of procedure to be applied to young offenders...
...Rusztem Vambery, Hungarian royal attorney and professor in the University at Budapest...
...Jessi.e D. Hodder of Boston acted as reviewers of two of the questions considered, and presented to the general assembly the resolutions adopted upon them...
...Yet beyond this we look to the evangel of re-education, of reformation, of raising the moral standard of the race where the battle with temptation is hottest and victory over evil the hardest...
...Wines in the organization of the Congress at London, Mr...
...In presenting its resolutions on the subject of reformatory methods to the Congress, the section prefaced them with a statement which may be considered the keynote of the Congress, —that no person, whatever his age or past record, should be assumed to be incapable of improvement...
...The Congress is a hard working body, so organized as to accomplish the greatest possible amount of work in the shortest time...
...Reformatory Methods THE questions submitted to the second section, over which Professor Van der Aa presided, dealt with reformatory methods, especially as applied to adolescents...
...The Congress will return to London at its next meeting in 1915, thus completing the round...
...that they should have the "assistance of probation officers to make preliminary examinations and watch over and help those put on probation...
...Davis is a woman of unusual attainments, and has an international reputation as a criminologist...
...Among these speakers were Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise, President of the English Prison Commission, and President-elect of the Congress to be hel"d in 1915...
...Three days were spent in Chicago, inspecting the institutions of that city and of neighboring towns...
...and Dr...
...There were present at the meeting three men associated with Dr...
...This involved a discussion of the paying of prisoners for their work and turning over to the family a certain proportion of the earnings, a practice followed now in some European countries...
...Several public lectures, however, were given during- the week of the meeting in Washington...
...A system of special treatment for adolescent criminals was strongly urged...
...Isabel Barrows of New York and Mrs...
...Prison Labor THE lesolutions adopted on the question of industrial occupations declared in favor of employing all persons, sentenced for a long or a short period, and in large or small prisons, at useful labor, either inside or outside of the prison...
...Conserving Human Souls Work of The International Prison Congress of 1910 By LUCY C. DANIELS THOMPSON ON THE AFTERNOON of Sunday, October 2, the opening meeting of the International Prison Congress was held in the great hall of the Bureau of American Republics at Washington...
...It needed the closer view of the system in operation in American institutions to convince the foreign delegates that these dangers were not inherent in the system...
...The State furnishes the material, deducting its cost from the selling price and applying what remains to the use of the prisoner and the support of his family...
...conditional release, the principle of which is now established in some form in most of the countries participating in the Congress...
...The extension of the probation system was recommended and the establishment of a central authority in each state or country to exercise general supervision over the probation work...
...In some respects, Europe seems to have recognized the needs of the situation earlier than has the United States...
...Charles R. Henderson, of the University of Chicago, in his inaugural address at the opening meeting...
...In Japan, such subjects are taught as prison discipline, criminal psychology, penal law, prison hygiene, and pedagogy as applied to juvenile delinquents...
...M. A. Schramack, director of the French prison system...
...For the protection of illegitimate children it was urged that existing laws should be so modified as to make the care, support and inheritance of legitimate and illegitimate children as nearly as possible identical...
...The recommendations presented were that in all cases an earnest effort should be made to reform the criminal, using as a means to this end physical development, mental quickening, religious and moral instruction, and such employment as would place the prisoner on a good industrial basis...
...Emmons Blaine of Chicago took a prominent part in the discussions, while Mrs...
...E. C. Wines, is due the credit for initiating the movement which led to the holding of the first of these Congresses in London in 1872...
...There were present delegates appointed by the governments of 35 or more different countries,— prominent penologists and sociologists, jurists, prison officials, administrators of state prison systems,—from each country those best fitted by experience and training to decide upon the important questions coming before the Congress...
...Japan, Spain and Hungary have special training-courses for the superior officials also...
...It can be seen that there is nothing 0f the spectacular about these sessions, and that the general public, even if admitted, would find little to interest them, since much of the discussion is carried on in French, the official language of the Congress...
...and different forms of public and private relief...
...F. B. Sanborn of Massachusetts, Mr...
...It was believed that a reduction in the number of cases of illegitimacy might be brought about by the instruction of young people in sex matters, and the building up of a single moral standard for men and women...
...Much honor was paid by the members of the Congress to the pioneers in the movement for prison reform...
...Not enough information was at hand to enable the section to reach a conclusion on the subject of special establishments for abnormal children with dangerous moral tendencies and further investigation of the subject was recommended...
...By invitation of the Federal Government, the foreign delegates were taken on a personally conducted tour of inspection, beginning in New York, September 18, and ending in Washington ten days later...
...We do, indeed, firmly resolve to make the way of the transgressor hard, but not desperate...
...Women were naturally better represented in this section than in the others...
...Wines, and of Samuel J. Barrows, whose recent death has deprived the prison cause of one of its most devoted workers...
Vol. 2 • October 1910 • No. 42
