In administering a prison system, or a system of prisons, the intellectual
education of all classes must take more
prominent place, and the
education of adult prisoners must not be neglected. The conviction is
gaining ground that christian character can be cultivated; that it can come
only thus; that it is no moral mirage, to be made at will
with human emotions, but a veritable quality of being, inbred and inwrought
by christian culture; that criminals are capable of being changed for the
better by this means; and that education, in its enlarged sense, is the
true title for the process. The absence of ordinary information, indicated
by the statistics before given, is enough of itself to drive these people
to degrading occupations and amusements. Such absence of mental culture
must leave them, as the same statistics show them to be, the blind servants
or the animal instincts; and these are both favorable conditions for crime.
The effect of education is reformatory, for it tends to dissipate poverty
by imparting intelligence sufficient to conduct ordinary affairs, and puts
into the mind, necessarily, habits of punctuality, method and perseverance.
By education the whole man is toned up, and not only are the habits improved,
but the quality of the mind itself; so that its strength and activity render
possible nicely discriminating moral perceptions, whose tendency is to better
impulses and acts. There is a difference in the characteristics of criminals
answerable to this law of their development; there is a refinement of roguery
with some, and a devilish way of doing things with others, that corresponds
to the culture they have received. If culture, then, has a refining influence
at all, it is only necessary to carry it far enough, in combination always
with due religious agencies, to cultivate the criminal out of his criminality,
and to constitute him (toward society) a reformed man. Education helps to
secure admission to respectable society, without which permanent reformation
cannot be accomplished, and at the same time it imparts an impulse in that
direction; for the consciousness that our tastes are in harmony with any
class, and that we are able to make ourselves agreeable to them, inclines
us to their society. Education occupies the time and affords society in
solitude, whose tendency otherwise is always deteriorating. It adds firmness
to the mind, thus fitting it for the crises of life, constituting fortitude
the guard and support of the other virtues. The testimony of those who are
making a quite thorough experiment in educating adult prisoners is entirely
favorable to our view. It is stated that there is a desire to learn greater
than in the common schools for children, and that better average progress
is made; that the school exercises produce a marked change in the appearance
of the prisoners—the gross, animal aspect departing, and the face and
form robing themselves in the habiliments of manliness; also, that between
forty and fifty per cent of the prisoners in the school are deeply interested
in their personal religious relations, while only six per cent of the others
manifest any special regard to the matter. The
testimony of a reformed man is in point here. He says:
"The darkness
of my situation was dispelled; the dawn of better days arose; hope was enkindled
when I became conscious of making real progress in primary studies; and
as I continued to advance the school proved an additional stimulus, until
my life of imprisonment became one of freedom. Though the body was immured,
my mind flew to farthest regions and found fellowship with the world. Sometimes
I seem to be entirely satisfied, and desire no other heaven than the new-found
fountains of joy."
Let us educate.
