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A Home For Jailbirds

A Home For Jailbirds image
Parent Issue
Day
30
Month
October
Year
1896
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The permanent reforniation of convlcts and the supplying of honest employment for them when their terras of imprisonment are over isa problem whicli has puz zied reformers and social economista for years. A new student of the problem has appeared in the person of Mrs. Ballington Booth. She belioves that she has solved the problem. Mrs. Booth flrst becamo interested in the lives and futures of American convicts shortly after she came to this country with her husband, thpn the comniander of the American brnneh of the Salvation Army. Her flrst work in this line was among the j convicts of San Quentin prison, in fornla. After the formation of the American Volunteers she again turned hef thoughts toward the inmates of prisons and longed to make the work of reforming and hclping them practically one of the chief branches of the labore of the Volunteers. During the past two months Mrs. Booth has spent considerable time at Sing Sing, and as a result of her investigations has formulated two plans, one fop the benefit of discharged convicts, and the other fór the benefit of those still in eonflnement. For discharged convicts she proposes to establish homes. To these homes convicts may go as soon as they have secured their release. There the dlschargod convict will be surrounded with Christian influences. When he has shown that he has a sincere desire to reform and earn an honest living, Mrs. Booth will endeavor to find employment for him. She fujly approciates how difficult in most cases this vrill be. She proposes to put herself In communication with the chief employersof labor and to secure their co-operation if possible. No man will be recommended for employment who has not shown In the prison home that he will if ho geta a chance be glad to become a law abiding citizen. ïhe flrst of the homes was opencd In New York recently. It is appropriately named Hope Hall, and is beautifully situated in the upper part of the city, overlooking the Hudson. Speaking of her plans for the assistanee of released convicts Airs. Booth said: "When they come to me here, they will fill out a blank describing themselves. A corresponding blank will be filled out by the warden of the prison f rom which they have been released, and there I shall have their records. I do not expect them to reniain at tha hall any longer than is necessary for them to obtain a situation by earnest search. It shall be no place for a man to live in idleness. There will be much for them to do. The cultivation of the grounda about the house and the care of the building will keep them busy when not huntinj for work. "What hope is there for ex-convicts if avenues that should open to au honest living aro closed before them? I shall know those with whom I deal. Many I shall have watched through months or years in prison. I shall havo the warden's testimony as to their prison record and then our own knowledge of them while inmates of Hope Hall, so I shall be able to speak ■with some knowledge and certainty regarding their sincerity. Surtdy I shall flnd some who will help me by offering them employment and who will help them by forgettiiig they ever had the name of convicta. wnen a prisoncr is reieasea, ne must flnd work or beg or starve. It is hard to realize, except frora experience, how noxt to impossible it is fora man once in prlson to obtain employment. He may try his best to hide the disgrace of lüs life, and may live within the strictesc letter of the law, but the murder will out, and no firm wants him in its employ. The man, in epite of his best efforts to make a living respectably, will bc reduced to beggary. ïhen, too often, there will erop out the criminal instinct which flrst carriod him to prison, and ho will steal. "It is the testimony of prison officials that f rom 80 to 90 per eejjt of releasod prlsoners go forth freewith the determination to load honcst, respeatable lives, and liow are they meb by socioty? With antagwüsm on every side. There is séldom any ympathy extended to the lonely would be reformer. It is this lack that I would remedy'by establishing a home wliere reloased prisoners may abido in useful occupations until they have secured permanent employment. There they will have I tended to thera the sympatliy and lovc of i friend, which cannot fail to svork strongly lu favor of a roforracd life. " The plan for helping the men whose terms of lmpriBonment will not aoon expira Is this: A sort of prison guild of the Volunteers will be forraed. The menibers of the guild will confine their work entirely to visitlng the prisoners. They will become acquainted with the prisoners and Snd out each one's especial need, and the needs, if any, of hls family. The prisoners will be urged to accept Mra. Booth'g invltation to oorreepond wlth her. The Volunteers' Gazette, the official organ of the Booths' new organization, will be put Into the hands of every prisoner who cares to have it. An effort will be made to oonvert the man. ïhon, if a prisoner's family is in need, Mrs. Booth wlll visit the iamily and do Whatever she can to help them. Only the other day there was an instance of what may be done in this direotion. The family of a convict whom Mrs. Booth had met at Sing Sing was about to be evicted for nonpayment of rent. Mrs. Booth got the address and called. She found the family consisted of a wife and one child, a baby boy. There was little food in the house, and the woman had no money. Mrs. Booth found employment in the country for the woman during the summer and placed the baby in a home in Montclair. When the husband gets out of prison, Mrs. Booth will have a place for him, obtained frora a man who believes that she has solved the problem of prison reform and wishes to show his belief in a practical way. Then the family will be reunited, with the husband earnina an honest living. It is Mrs. Booth's desire to establlsh prison homes ultimately in every state in the Union. It is her intention to make these homes places of industry as well as places of refuge, for every inmate wlll be expected to do some work. In this vray Mrs. Booth hopes to make the Volunteers the agency not only of evangelizing America, bufc also of reclaiming convicts.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat