Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1909 — Neglect of Criminal a Crime. [ARTICLE]

Neglect of Criminal a Crime.

By F. O. HELLSTROM

Warden of the North Dakota Penitentiary.

IF a man be convicted of a crime and serve a term in prison and no steps be taken to effect his reform or cure A GREATER CRIME AGAINST SOCIETY HAS BEEN COMMITTED TH AN TH E CRIM EO F THE IN DIVIDE AL. Any prison management that forgets the moral ethics, justice and humanity, .cannot justify its right to existence. The prison that is managed and DOMINATED BY THE SPIRIT OF REVENGE is simply a barnacle that society must remove in order to facilitate human progress. R R R WHEN THE INMATE’S CHARACTER IS UPLIFTED THE DUTY OF PRISON MANAGEMENT HAS IN THAT MEASURE BEEN DISCHARGED. THE SHACKLES OF CRIME HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE MIND OF THE INMATE, AND THERE HAS BEEN ADDED TO SOCIETY A USEFUL MEMBER. IF THE MAN DISCHARGED GOES FORTH WITH BITTER HATRED AND VENGEANCE IN HIS HEART AGAINST SOCIETY, THEN BOTH ARE TO BE PITIED, FOR THE STORM WILL SURELY BREAK AND SOME INNOCENT PERSON WILL BE MADE THE VICTIM. The solving of the criminal problem is a subject that reason and the spirit of charity alone can solve. I prefer to take my stand for reason and charity backed up by the home, the schools and the churches. YOUR SCHOOLS, YOUR CHURCHES AND YOUR PRISONS ARE A PRETTY TRUE INDEX TO YOUR CIVILIZATION. By the fruit shall ye know them. Give us more schools, more churches, more charity and less barleycorn and revenge and there will be less need for jails, reformatories and penitentiaries.