Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1907 — PRISON CONGRESS IN CHICAGO. [ARTICLE]

PRISON CONGRESS IN CHICAGO.

Inimal Session of the National Prison Association. The annual congress of the National Prison Association attracted many prominent officials and students of criminology to Chicago. The report of the committee of preventive and reformatory work advocated a complete revision of our criminal code. It is held that the system of fees charged in the and prosecution of criminals is wrong. A wealthy criminal should pot be permitted to pay for his defense a dollar more than the State pays in defending a criminal without financial backing. In ihe opinion of the committee one of the greatest social evils of to-day is the privilege? which “the rich have of escaping punishment for their acts. _ Warden Dutcher of the Colorado State reformatory argued against having prisoners constantly—watched- by armed guards. While admitting that in certain cases it might be necessary, he thought that display nf firearms in’ peuil institutions was fraught with grave dangers and with, evil consequences. The result of this policy was inevitably to mark the criminal with ugliness and to fill him with resentment and hatred against all who have a part in the administration of the criminal law. Throughout all the addresses at tile congress tne prevailing tendency was in favor of those methods which lead toward the reformation and betterment of criminals rather than those which are actuated by a spirit of revenge; add much attention was paid to the associations being formed throughout the country for the purpose of helping exconvicts to their feet. Attorney General Bonaparte, addressing the Prison Wardens’ Association on Wednesday, advocated the death penalty for habitual criminals nad for attempts to commit capital crimes. .He argued .that the prirdary purpose of punishment was to assure obedience to the law, and that in inflicting punishment the State xooks not to the past and not to the individual who now suffers, but to all the individuals who may hereafter feaT to disobey by reason of the sufferings of the one now "punished. The habitual criminal, he said, was a product of modern civilization, as our ancestors would have hanged him for his first felony. He, did not favor hanging men for trifling offenses, but he would have '“society cease to nourish and shelter its proved and inveterate enemies.”