REPORT OF THE ACTING COMMITTEE For the Year 1910 to the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

During the year 1910 the monthly meetings of the Acting Committee have been regularly held with the usual exception of two meetings of the summer months.

It has been a year of much interest and importance to students of penology and especially to the active workers who have charge of our prisons and reformatories.

PROBATION FOR ADULTS.

In the State of Pennsylvania the law providing for probation or suspended sentences for adult offenders under the care of probation officers, to whom reports must be made, has been in effect for almost eighteen months. Very general approval is expressed regarding the operation of this law. It is believed to be a very efficient means of restoring those who have lapsed from the right path to better methods of life and to a deeper realization of their duties to society. They have not become inoculated with the prison virus. The law applies to certain classes of crimes and to first offenders. It is understood that much of the efficiency of such a law depends on the character and vigor of the probation officer, who should be most earnest in presenting before such offenders higher ideals of civic virtue.

THE INDETERMINATE SENTENCE. PAROLE.

Since the last annual report of this Committee, in the State of Pennsylvania a system of parole for criminals sentenced to the Eastern and to the Western Penitentiaries in accordance with legislative enactment, went into effect. The act provides that the court in pronouncing sentence shall state the minimum and maximum limits thereof, with the understanding that the minimum time of such imprisonment shall be the minimum now or hereafter prescribed by statute for the punishment of such offense, and that the maximum shall be the maximum now or hereafter prescribed as the penalty. Hence it does not follow, as has been supposed by many, that the minimum sentence is in every case one fourth of the maximum sentence, though there is a provision that when there is no minimum time prescribed by law, then the court shall impose a minimum sentence, which is not to exceed one fourth of the maximum time for the crime in question. Neither is a prisoner entitled to release at the expiration of his minimum sentence, unless it shall have appeared to the officers of the prison and to the inspectors that the applicant for parole has given evidence of being ready to become useful to the community. The new law has not been in force for a period sufficiently long to enable us to decide absolutely as to its merits, yet, if we are to have confidence in reports from other States which have tested such a law, we hope that a fair trying out of its provisions will demonstrate its benefit both to the convict and to society. The man or woman on parole by the necessity of the conditions involved therewith must give satisfaction until the maximum time for which he was sentenced has expired, by which time we believe many of them will have formed a habit of living decently and orderly. Ex-Governor Hanly, of Indiana, acknowledges that when he took office he felt great antagonism toward a law providing for parole before the expiration of the conventional sentence, but after closely observing the practical working of such system of parole during his term of four years, he became an enthusiastic advocate of the principle of the indeterminate sentence. State after State, nation after nation, have been for some years applying this principle in some form or other, and now many intelligent jurists and administrators of prison discipline have recognized that this element of the new penology has come to stay. This method of reforming criminals, moreover, was approved, after spirited discussion, by the late International Prison Congress, held at Washington, D. C., October 2-8, 1910. This Congress was not composed of mere theorists. Men of national and international renown as wardens and superintendents of great prisons and reformatories took part in the discussions and acquiesced in the conclusions. Warden Benham, of the New York State Penitentiary at Auburn, regards the indeterminate sentence as a leading influence in the process of reforming the lives of those who have fallen. By some jurists in this and other States, fears have been expressed with regard to the practical service and to the execution of such a system of curtailed punishment. It is quite possible that experience may show that in this State some modification of the existing law may at some time be adopted, but great care should be exercised lest the reforming possibilities of the act should be weakened. It is to be hoped that a full opportunity may be given to observe the effects of this law, the essential principles of which are the same as have been found successful in other States.

The reports from those who have been paroled within the last year in this State are so far very encouraging.

Parole Officer John Egan of the Western Penitentiary reports on the first day of the current year that there were twenty-three under his charge on parole, and that the reports from them were with one exception satisfactory. There were ten then confined in the Western Penitentiary who were proper subjects for parole provided sponsors and employment could be obtained for them.

Full statistics from the Eastern Penitentiary have not been obtained. About thirty had been paroled by the end of last year from whom satisfactory reports had been received. About the same number were awaiting decisions from the Board of Pardons.

WORK OF GENERAL AGENT.

We desire to commend to the special attention of the Society and to the public, the efficient work of our General Agent, Fred. J. Pooley.

He has been constantly engaged in giving counsel to the prisoners, and particular attention to them at the time of their release. A large number of cases have been investigated, and where there have appeared to be mitigating circumstances, or where some relative or judicious friend has agreed to stand as sponsor, a remission or suspension of the sentence has been obtained from the court. We have heard of no instance in which such favor has been abused. In one month of the last year over one hundred arrested and accused persons were discharged without receiving the stigma of a convicted felon. In the latter part of the autumn the privilege of an interview at the Central Station with the prisoners who have been committed to the County Prison after a hearing before the magistrates, was accorded to our General Agent by the Director of Public Safety. In order that he may thus occupy this very promising field for service, the Secretary has assumed a portion of the duties at the Eastern Penitentiary which had formerly been under the care of the agent. A full report of the work of the agent will be presented at the Annual Meeting, and will be printed in the Journal.

COMMITTEE ON EASTERN PENITENTIARY.

Reports of the various members of this Committee show that besides a considerable number of visits that have not been reported, 6,130 visits to prisoners have been made during the past year. Some of our members have participated in the gospel services at the Penitentiary. We are firmly of the opinion that this work of visitation, which has been carried on by this Society for nearly a century and a quarter has been very helpful, although from the nature of the circumstances accurate statistics cannot be presented. The officials of the Penitentiary manifestly sympathize with the objects of these visits. Cleanliness and good order characterize the various departments of this large prison, to which ends a general overhauling of the plumbing with other improvements have been made conducive. A new three-story block, containing one hundred and twenty cells is in process of construction, and it is quite gratifying to report that nearly all the work of construction is being done by the prisoners. This affords employment for from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty prisoners. While some other prisoners have employment in weaving, knitting stockings, chair seating and in helping in the kitchen and laundry, still many of them spend a large portion of their time in enforced idleness. This is a condition which is conducive to most serious evils, since it is liable to affect their entire career after they have left the prison walls. Is the State justified in forcing these unfortunate human beings to remain idle year after year? Should we not rather use every means in our power to prepare them for useful citizenship?

Reports of the agent show that 333 prisoners have been supplied at the time of their discharge with suits either entirely or in part. We are increasing our efforts to find positions for such as need employment.

The warden, Robert J. McKenty, is untiring in efforts to promote the welfare of those under his charge. To him and to the other officials the members of the Committee are under obligation for the facilities afforded in making their visits.

PRISONS AT MOYAMENSING AND HOLMESBURG.

Our General Agent is unremitting in his endeavors to assist those confined in the prisons of the City of Philadelphia. The ladies of the Committee to visit the women prisoners at Moyamensing have been faithful in looking after their interests. Situations have been found for many, and not a few have been restored to their families. In all, 6,707 visits have been made to the inmates of the County Prisons.

We take pleasure in reporting that striped clothing as a distinctive prison garb was relinquished, except as a punishment for misbehavior, at the Holmesburg Prison on the first day of July, 1910. Gradually both in this country and England this ancient custom is being dropped. This is a further indication of the growing belief that the convict, after all, is a human being, and does not need the degradation of stripes in order to be distinguished from the rest of humanity.

COUNTY JAILS.

The Western Penitentiary and the Allegheny County Prison have been regularly visited by one of our committees, and there has also been regular visitation of some of the county jails. The evidence afforded that this service has been acceptable and useful has been encouraging to us, and arrangements are being made for its extension to other parts of the state.

There is need of continual agitation to educate the public with regard to the necessity of some change in the administration of many of the smaller county jails of the State. They furnish little or no employment, herd a miscellaneous lot of lawbreakers in entire idleness, often keep the young and the old, the suspected, who may be innocent, and the hardened criminals in the same apartments, and thus become hotbeds for the dissemination of vice and lawlessness. We have already in these reports spoken of the usefulness of establishing district workhouses where employment can be furnished and where habits of industry may be engendered. The labor of the prisoners should so far contribute to the maintenance of the jails as to relieve the counties from the chief part of this burden. Sooner or later, we believe, all our States will adopt some such plan, and why should not the legislators of this great commonwealth give some earnest attention to the improvement of the county jails? Already we have in this State an institution which in many respects could be taken as a model for an industrial penal establishment. We refer to the Allegheny County Workhouse at Hoboken, Pennsylvania. Without infringing on the present laws of the State respecting prison labor, they give employment to all the prisoners. Located on a large farm, they supply their tables with vegetables from their own gardens and often have a surplus for the market. When new buildings are constructed, most of the work is done by the convicts. They have those who have been sentenced to terms of from twenty days to some years, and without difficulty they find work for all of them.

The legislature of Massachusetts has been considering a measure contemplating the establishment of such a system of district workhouses. It is quite possible that the State of Indiana may enact a measure of this kind within the next two years. Let Pennsylvania move forward in this work.

VISITS OF THE PRESIDENT.

The President of the Society has made visits to the Eastern Penitentiary, and to some of the County Jails of Pennsylvania. He has also visited the Maryland Penitentiary and the city jail of Baltimore; and has made two visits to the United States jail at Washington, D. C.

In the Washington jail and at the Maryland Penitentiary, he addressed the assembled convicts at their respective Sabbath afternoon chapel services.

THE PRISON CONGRESSES.

An event of great interest to all students of penology and of far-reaching influence in prison administration all over the world, was the quinquennial meeting of the International Prison Congress, which this year held its sessions in Washington, D. C. This occasion brought together jurists, superintendents of prisons and reformatories, eminent lawyers and philanthropic workers from thirty-four different countries of the world. Ninety delegates were enrolled from foreign countries. Not only were the conclusions of this Congress of importance, but the social intermingling of so many earnest men and women in a common cause had an equal value. The American Prison Congress also held its sessions in Washington, D. C., for two days prior to the opening of the International meeting. It was a notable gathering, and while its proceedings were weighty and not to be overlooked, yet it was somewhat overshadowed by the great interest felt in the International assemblage, as the latter was attended by so many who had already beyond the seas distinguished themselves as students of penological problems, and as practical administrators of prisons.

The Acting Committee deemed the conclusions of the International Prison Congress and the proceedings of the American Prison Congress of such immediate interest and importance as to justify the issue of a supplement to our Journal, which should contain these conclusions and proceedings. In this supplement were included an article by President Baily on the Eastern Penitentiary and the account of the Pennsylvania Prison Society which was prepared by the Secretary for publication in one of the bulletins issued by the International Congress during its sessions. Three thousand copies were printed and distributed.

OBITUARIES.

The deaths of John H. Dillingham and David Sulzberger, both occurring near the same time in early spring, removed two valuable members from your Committee. Appropriate notices of the life and faithful labors of each of these have been prepared and read in our meetings, and it is proposed to publish them in the forthcoming number of our Journal.

Our prayers and sympathy go out to all who have the oversight of those offenders, whom society, for its own protection and for the reformation of the sinner, declares must be debarred from freedom. Upon these officials devolves the duty not only of restraining the criminals within physical bounds, but—what is their chief mission—of implanting in their charges incentives for a change in their attitude in society. They should endeavor to inspire them with some sense of self-confidence and self-respect, so that they may be prepared to face the world with new aims and a spirit of hopefulness. The Pennsylvania Prison Society has from its inception desired to work in harmony with the administrators, and we trust has been comparatively free from the errors of a misdirected zeal. In another year this Society shall have rounded out a century and a quarter of existence. While we may contemplate with a good degree of satisfaction the achievements of past years, we are aware that in some lines progress has been slow, but we trust under Divine guidance to go on with the work with greater zeal and consecration.

On behalf of the Acting Committee,

Albert H. Votaw, Secretary.

January 27, 1911.