Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1909 — MORE PEANUT POLITICS. [ARTICLE]

MORE PEANUT POLITICS.

The attempt of a few small callbred editors to make political capital out of Governor structions to the Warden of the Michigan City prison in the Tom McCoy case, is too silly for anything. The question at issue as to whether prisoners sentenced under the indeterminate sentence law were entitled to good time was held by the republican attorney general in the affirmative, and he still holds to that opinion. Governor Marshall did precisely what any other law-abiding governor ought to have done under like circumstances. The governor did not pardon Tom by any means, but simply cited the opinion of the attorney general as the authority of the warden in releasing prisoners entitled to such reduction, and on such authority the warden would have been justified—and we don’t know but it was his duty to —release him.

The Democrat never thought the sentence given Tom was at all commensurate with the crime, but that is the fault of the Law in making it more severe to steal a two-dollar horse than a quarter of a million dollars cash. We do think, however, that all prisoners should be entitled to a diminution of sentence for good behavior, as an incentive for them to be well behaved and perform the duties to which they are assigned in the proper manner and spirit.

vlf this is not the law, it should so. If not, the poor devil who has no friends to intercede for him on the outside would, in practically every instance, have to serve out the full maximum term of his sentence whether he had been a model prisoner or not. If the penalty •is not severe enough, amend the law to make it so, but place some Incentive before the convict to make it an object for him to obey the rules to the letter and be a model prisoner. This is a feature that all well regulated prisoners have adopted and Indiana should not be an exception to the rule in this regard. Tom McCoy is entitled to the same consideration as Dan Day—no more, no less —and, if the law entitles either to a dimunation of sentence for good behavior, they should have it.