THE IDEAL OF A TRUE PRISON SYSTEM FOR A STATE
By Z[EBULON]. R[EED]. BROCKWAY
Superintendent of the Detroit House of Correction
The remedy cannot be had, the public sentiment toward the law cannot be changed, so long as a determinate sentence
is imposed at the time of trial. The effect must be stimulative to crime, and to the conditions of character that give rise to it. Heroism, noble or ignoble, holds the admiration and ambition of all classes and conditions of men, throughout history, in all ages of the world. We are all hero worshipers—the best of us—and worship but an indifferent standard after all; while, with the criminal class, the intrepid is the hero, though he be brutal and bad, braving only the penalties of righteous laws. The sentence of imprisonment must, of necessity, affect the mind of the prisoner, as too short and trivial, too long and tyrannical, or just adequate to the offence. If the sentence is too light, prisoners are stimulated to deserve a heavier one, that they may be esteemed more daring; and, when imprisoned, they mentally abridge the period of time appointed, and wait day by day for restoration to former associations and habits. If the sentence is too long, they often feel complimented by the importance thus conferred upon them as great criminals, until imprisonment is once entered upon, when they become vindictive toward all in any way connected with their arrest, trial and custody, and finally fall into apathy and discouragement. If, perchance, the prisoner's views should be precisely met, and his inward sense approve the penalty, then this pernicious effect is produced: he lives with a mistaken idea that he is paying the penalty—expiating his offence; like the others, he counts the days as they go; and, when released, he re-enters society, as he conceives, exactly where he left it, having, in his own estimation, paid up, and put himself right with the community.
Another active cause of crime is the release annually of hundreds of prisoners in every state, who are unreformed by their imprisonment, which must always be the case under the present system of sentences. No man, be he judge, lawyer or layman, can determine beforehand the date when imprisonment shall work reformation in any case, and it is an outrage upon society to return to the privileges of citizenship those who have proved themselves dangerous and bad by the commission of crime, until a cure is wrought and reformation reached. Such minimum of restraint must be retained as will protect the people from their pernicious influence; and this will be likely to prove more powerfully deterrent upon criminals and the criminal class, than would all the severities of the inquisition. Therefore, as for the other reasons suggested, sentences should not be determinate, but indeterminate. By this is meant (to state briefly) that all persons in a state, who are convicted of crimes or offences before a competent court, shall be deemed wards of the state, and shall be committed to the custody of the board of guardians, until, in their judgment, they may be returned to society with ordinary safety, and in accord with their own highest welfare. Of course, this board will have control of all the preventive and reformatory agencies of the state, as before indicated, and will be charged with the right restoration to society of all prisoners, at the earliest possible date, when this result is reached.