EKDMKIIE1 mmmwm 7jo make punishments e((icmim$S9 turn things are necessary: TJhey must never he Jisprep&rtiomd to the &ifense, and they must he certain* — Simms, THIS VOLUME has been published by the United Stales Bureau of Prisons for the purpose of making available to authorized and inter- esfed persons and agencies a detailed picture of the work and attainments of the federal prisons of America. Hi specific sub-purposes ares ... To show the nature and extent of the industrial assistance being furnished this Nation in its war effort by the federal prisons and prisoners of America. . . . To give society in general a factual and authentic picture of the life, the opportunities and the potentialities of the federal prisoner. . o . To create a fund of source material for those pursu- ing studies or doing research on matters penological. ... To suggest further constructive possibilities for pris- oners and to attain, thereby, proportionate advances in rehabilitation. In compiling and presenting this survey, the Bureau of Pris- ons earnestly hopes that by laying the premise for a better understanding of conditions as they exist, greater go»d may eventually be accomplished by and for the men in penal institutions and greater benefits reaped by society and the Nation. A SURVEY OF THE ACTIVITIES AND AIMS OF THE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS ADMINISTERED BY THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF PRISONS Prepared by 111*' • lil.lllfl III Published by the UNITED STATES BUREAU OF PRISONS Department of Justice JAMES V. BENNETT, Editor in Chief Editorial (Board Benjamin Frank, Ph.D. George G. Killinger, Ph.D. W. T. Hammock Joseph W. Sanford Edited and Published at the UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY, Atlanta, Georgia MCMXLII Jdedicated to the {American People IN THE NAME OF A PROJECT ... THE RECLAMATION AND REGENERATION OF AMERICANS WHO HAVE FALTERED OR FALLEN ... A PROJECT AND IDEAL WHOSE PROVEN PEACE- TIME VALUE HAS BEEN MANY TIMES AUGMENTED NOW THAT THE NATION IS AT WAR. THE TOLERANCE, SOCIAL FAITH, AND THE DEMOCRATIC HUMANITARIANISM WHICH HAS MADE THIS COUNTRY GREAT HAS MADE THIS WORK POSSIBLE. TO THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IS THIS BOOK, THEN, DEDICATED. Tjable of Contents Page A Foreword by Attorney General Francis Biddle ......... 6 The Bureau of Prisons; an Interpretation and a Promise 7 By James V. Bennett, Director of the Bureau of Prisons The Work of the Bureau of Prisons; an Analysis 9 Rehabilitative Procedures 11 The Composite Federal Prisoner 16 The Daily Routine of a Prisoner .... .. 18 Some Statistical Graphs Relative to America’s Federal Prisons and Prisoners 21 A Map Showing the Federal Correctional Institutions 22 Products Manufactured in the Federal Prisons .. 90 Federal Prison Industries, Inc. .. 92 “So You Want to Know What Prison Looks Like?” 95 Wartime Security 97 Prison Medicine 98 By Dr. Justin K. Fuller Prison Housekeeping 100 Prison Personnel 102 Federal Parole .... 104 An interpretation by Hon. Arthur D. Wood, Chairman of the U. 8. Board of Parole Federal Probation 110 By Victor Evjen, Assistant Chief of Probation, Administrative Office of the United States Courts Prison Agriculture 112 Juvenile Delinquency 114 By Arthur James, Supervisor Juvenile Section, Bureau of Prisons Legislation 117 An outline of penal legislation fostered or advanced by the Bureau of Prisons Prison Publications 118 Airplane Mechanics in Training .. 119 Jail Inspection Service .... 120 By Miss Nina Kinsella, Executive Assistant to the Director, Bureau of Prisons ♦ Bibliography 122 Index 1 23 Snititutionb Page McNEIL ISLAND (U. S. Penitentiary) 23 LEAVENWORTH (U. S. Penitentiary) 26 ATLANTA (U. S. Penitentiary) 30 CHILLICOTHE (Federal Reformatory) 36 LEWISBURG (U. S. Penitentiary) 41 TERRE HAUTE (U. S. Penitentiary) 45 ALCATRAZ (U. S. Penitentiary) 48 DANBURY (Federal Correctional Institution) 52 TALLAHASSEE (Federal Correctional Institution) 53 EL RENO (Federal Reformatory) 55 MILAN (Federal Correctional Institution) „ 58 SANDSTONE (Federal Correctional Institution) 60 SPRINGFIELD (Medical Center for Federal Prisoners) 62 ENGLEWOOD (Federal Correctional Institution) 66 PETERSBURG (Federal Reformatory) 68 LA TUNA (Federal Correctional Institution) 70 ASHLAND (Federal Correctional Institution) 72 NEW ORLEANS (Federal Detention Headquarters) 74 TEXARKANA (Federal Correctional Institution) 76 ALDERSON (Federal Reformatory for Women) 78 NEW YORK (WEST STREET) (Federal Detention Headquarters) 82 NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL (Institution for Male Juvenile Offenders) 83 FEDERAL PRISON CAMPS (Kooskia, Dupont, Mill Point, Tucson, Montgomery) 85 FRANCIS BIDDLE cA foreword by the c Qeneral It is my hope that this publication may serve to increase the interest of our citizens in the federal penal and correctional system. Too often we send a man to prison without knowing and without caring what becomes of him once he has been convicted and sentenced. Once the doors close behind him, he has little opportunity to speak for himself and there are few to speak tor him. There would, perhaps, be more to plead the cause of the prisoner if they knew that by doing so they were speaking in the true interests of society as a whole. When I visited the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta last January, I was able to observe at first hand the sincere and enthusiastic response of that group of prisoners to a highly intensified war production program. I know that this same spirit, this intense desire to contribute something definite and concrete, exists also among the inmates and the personnel of each of the other federal institutions as well as in the various state prisons. At this particular time, when the need for utilizing every possible source of manpower becomes increasingly urgent, the value of the individual is appreciated as it probably never is during times of peace. It is difficult, if not impossible, for our totalitarian enemies to understand that the products of our prison shops and prison industries are not the products of enforced labor; that the prisoner, along with the prison official, is working for those liberties he knows he will some day enjoy as a free American. It is during critical periods of war that the responsibilities of a democratic form of government for the improve- ment of the underprivileged, for the reclamation of those who have violated its laws, for the rights of loyal minority groups, receive their greatest test. The fact that our penal and correctional institutions have been able to gear their programs to the war production demands being made upon all American industry is proof that the job of retraining and rehabilitating the convicted offender is being well done. FRANCIS BIDDLE, Attorney General. 6 THE BUREAU “The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than in he who receives it ” —Cato. OF PRISONS however, there are 28 federal penal institutions of widely dif- fering types and sizes, spanning the length and breadth of the United States. In 1930 Congress authorized the establish- ment of a Bureau of Prisons in the Department of Justice together with several new institutions. In connection with this legislation it stated: It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress that the said institutions be so planned and limited in size as to facilitate the development of an integrated federal penal and correctional system which will assure the proper classification and segregation of federal prisoners according to their char- acter, the nature of the crime they have committed, their mental condition and such other factors as should be taken into consideration in providing an individualized system of discipline, care, and treatment of the persons committed to such institutions. In pursuance of this mandate the Bureau of Prisons has constructed and is administering a group of classified institu- tions. The scheme of classification, the general program of employment, training, and treatment, as well as the program By JAMES V. BENNETT The old slogan “Business as Usual’’ has disappeared from our national economy. Winning the war, as rapidly and as completely as possible, regardless of cost or sacrifice, is our objective now. Business as usual has no more place in the prison than it has in the rest of the country. In many instances, it was the prisoner who first saw the opportunity to serve. In spite of his past and in spite of his offenses, he is an American and he is loyal. It was a prisoner who put up the poster in his shop, “Let us work now and fight later.” Somewhere, either in prison or out, there was a job for him to do and he wanted only some help in finding that job. Here, too, was his chance to re-establish himself in the eyes of society. “Gearing Federal Prisons to the War Effort” is a record of accomplishment. It is the record of the efforts of several thousand men, convicted of violating the laws of the land, to demonstrate that, given the opportunity and the leadership, they, too, have a contribution to make to their country at war. If we who are administering the prisons give these men a chance to regain their own self-respect perhaps their communities will rec- ognize them as deserving of some respect on the part of the more law-abiding citizen. The watchword of our whole program is carved upon the arches of the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa., “That which is past and gone is irrevocable; wise men have enough to do with things present and to come.” This wise saying of Francis Bacon embodies the objectives of the federal prison program, which constantly seeks to send men out of prison improved in body and mind and prepared to participate in good American living. Almost everyone is curious about life behind prison walls. This curiosity, unsupported by facts and ob- servation, has given rise to a misconception of prison life in the minds of many people. To some, prisons are nothing short of country clubs providing a life of ease and comfort under conditions of restricted freedom. To others, the prison atmosphere is charged with bitterness, rancor, and a pervading sense of de- feat. Actually, these popular notions do not char- acterize the American prison system. Most prison ad- ministrators realize the significance of their jobs and try to make their programs as constructive as possible. Certainly, life in a federal prison is not an easy one. It is, in fact, a regimen of work, training, and cor- rectional treatment tempered with intelligent discipline and enlightened custody. As little as fifteen years ago, the federal prison system was associated in most people’s minds with the penitentiaries at Atlanta and Leavenworth. Today, JAMES V. BENNETT, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons 7 of activities within each institution in the system are explained and illustrated in this book. The increase in the number of federal penal and correctional institutions is due in large part to the fact that the Federal Government is reaching out into the legal “no man’s land” to apprehend and try offenders who formerly could carry on their activities with little fear of punishment. In 1910 there were only about 2,000 federal prisoners. At that time the central government had jurisdiction over but few crimes such as counterfeiting, mail robbery, and crimes committed on gov- ernment reservations. At the present time there are approxi- mately 18,000 federal prisoners and about 6,000 under parole supervision. Congress has closed the loopholes formerly existing in our crime laws. The energy and determination of the Department of Justice to end organized crime and prevent the escape of the guilty has brought into the federal prison system a large number of offenders who today are serving time for acts which were not federal crimes 25 years ago. Naturally this has placed on the Bureau of Prisons constantly increasing responsibilities. We must first deal with the federal prisoner in the local jail, for there is where the federal prisoner awaiting trial is confined. There are more than 3,000 of these jails throughout the country. It is the duty of the Bureau of Prisons to inspect them, see that they are safe, that improper privileges and liberties are not allowed the federal prisoners, and that condi- tions are reasonably decent and sanitary. Out of the three thousand-odd jails only about eight hundred have been approved for federal use. It is the first duty of the f« deral prison system to carry out the sentences imposed by the court, strictly and firmly, and to safeguard the interests of the public. These objectives can be met most effectively only if we direct the work, training, and treatment program to the release of the prisoner. For every hundred men who enter prison, ninety-five leave. The average amount of time spent in prison is only about twenty-some months. Relatively few cases spend ten, twenty or thirty years in prison. The typical prisoner is just as complicated a person as the man free in his community. And he is coming back to live as that man’s neighbor. It is important, therefore, that the prisoner be studied very carefully, that he be freed of his mental conflicts, cured of his physical defects, taught a trade, and shown that hard work can be an honorable and worth- while substitute for the furtive, hectic life of the criminal. Altogether, the Bureau of Prisons has a difficult job to per- form. For the most part, it is a fascinating and hopeful job. And this publication is evidence of the fact that the job is indeed so very hopeful. These Are the Institutions of the Bureau of Prisons PENITENTIARIES United States Penitentiary Alcatraz Island, Calif. JAMES A. JOHNSTON, Warden For intractable offenders United States Penitentiary Atlanta, Ga. JOSEPH W. SANFORD, Warden For habitual tractable offenders United States Penitentiary Leavenworth, Kans. WALTER A. HUNTER, Warden For habitual tractable offenders United States Penitentiary Lewisburg, Pa. WILLIAM H. HIATT, Warden For older improvable offenders United States Penitentiary McNeil Island, Wash. PAUL J. SQUIBB, Warden For older improvable offenders United States Penitentiary Terre Haute, Ind. E. B. SWOPE, Warden For older improvable offenders REFORMATORIES Federal Reformatory Chillicothe, Ohio F. LOVELL BIXBY, Warden For younger improvable offenders Federal Reformatory El Reno, Okla. LEO C. SCHILDEB, Warden For younger improvable offenders Federal Reformatory Petersburg, Va. C. O. NICHOLSON, Warden For younger improvable offenders Federal Reformatory for Women Alderson, W. Va. MISS HELEN HIBONIMUS, Warden For female offenders MEDICAL CENTER Medical Center for Federal Prisoners Springfield, Mo. M. B. KING, M. D., Warden For physically and mentally maladjusted offenders CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS Federal Correctional Institution Ashland, Ky. L. J. WATSON, Acting Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional institution Danbury, Conn. EDGAR M. GEBLACH, Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional Institution Englewood, Colo. ROBERT P. HAGEBMAN, M. D., Warden For younger improvable offenders Federal Correctional Institution La Tuna, Texas T. B. WHITE, Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional Institution Milan, Mich. CECIL J. SHUTTLEWOBTH, Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional Institution Sandstone, Minn. GEORGE W. HUMPHREY, Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional institution Tallahassee, Fla. ALFRED OGBAM, Warden For short-term offenders Federal Correctional Institution Texarkana, Texas AUGUST E. SCHWANZ, Acting Warden For short-term offenders MEDICAL CENTER TRAINING SCHOOL National Training School for Boys Washington, D. C. HAROLD E. HEGSTBOM, Superintendent For male juvenile delinquents DETENTION HEADQUARTERS Federal Detention Headquarters New Orleans, La. JOHN J. RYAN, Warden For offenders awaiting trial and short-term offenders Federal Detention Headquarters New York City EDWARD E. THOMPSON, Warden For offenders awaiting trial and short-term offenders PRISON CAMPS Federal Prison Camp DuPont, Wash. THOMAS J. BROCK, Superintendent For improvable offenders, minimum- custody type Federal Prison Camp Kooskia, Idaho D. A. BEMER, Superintendent For improvable offenders, minimum- custody type Federal Prison Camp Mill Point, W. Va. JOHN FINN, Superintendent For improvable offenders, minimum- custody type Federal Prison Camp Montgomery, Ala. JAMES B. GAFFNEY, Superintendent For improvable offenders, minimum- custody type Federal Prison Camp Tucson, Ariz. CHARLES B. MEAD, Superintendent For improvable offenders, minimum- custody type TRAINING SCHOOL (Note: For information on the institutions at Terminal Island, Calif., Fort Leavenworth, Kans., Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, see “Institutions Aren’t Exempt,” page 89.) 8 federal PrUonA and the %Var The most potent contribution to the war effort being made by America’s federal prisoners is their fine attitude toward the job to be done. The day after the blow at Pearl Harbor, a prisoner working in one of the industrial shops put up on the wall a hastily drawn poster on which were the words, “Work Now and Fight Later.” There was a note of genuineness and honesty in this phrase. The prisoner who so perceptively limned the needs of the emergency in these succinct words has unwittingly, perhaps, given to prison officials and prisoners alike a goal and an objective. In the days that followed the Declaration of War, there came a stream of letters from individual prisoners and petitions from groups of prisoners pleading and arguing for the utilization, in the war effort, of the many thousands of pris- oners throughout the country. These men wanted to work or fight. Like other American citizens, prisoners everywhere bought War Bonds, contributed to blood banks, donated their earnings to the Red Cross, and worked with unequaled enthusiasm in the institutional industrial plants, knowing that their products were intended for the Army and Navy and other military purposes. At the heart of this all-out war program is a nation of men and women who are trained to work cooperatively and efficiently at the tasks and production which must be done. Like all other American institutions, the prison faced the problem of converting its productive equipment to war needs, of extending its facilities for doubled and tripled production, and of training its manpower for the specific nature of the tasks at hand. The prisons must, in effect, create efficient manpower where there was, before, only inefficient manpower; they must produce strong new metal from the human scrap piles of the Nation; they must produce war materials from sources that should be productive of little that is good or useful and much that is bad. In the administration of a prison, security of custody is important, the assess- ment of penalties fixed by the courts is important, but none of these is sufficiently important unless men are returned to society with the training and readiness to participate in the work to be done. “Gearing Federal Prisons to the War Effort” is intended as a report and record of what the federal prison service is trying to accomplish toward achieving the very objective implied in the title as well as in the slogan which the prisoner hung up in his shop. A very great deal is being accomplished. A great amount of production for military use is being achieved in the industrial plants of the federal prisons. Plants are being operated by night and by day. Men who are qualified are being assisted toward induction or enlistment in the military services. Men are being trained to take their places in the produc- tion lines of democracy, in the shops and foundries and shipyards of the Nation’s war industries. Men are being placed in these vital jobs. Added to the routine job of rehabilitation is a war program which advances the right of the competent and qualified prisoner to assume his rightful yet privi- leged role as an American in industry outside of prison, or upon the battlefield; to be one of the hundred and forty million strong working together for a victory that is as certain as the faith and determination which beats in the heart of every American. And the prisoner's objective is as admirable as his patriotism; he hopes to re- turn to society as an ex-soldier rather than as an ex-convict. THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF PRISONS The federal prison system is not only the largest single prison system in the world but it is the newest and youngest major penal organization in America, and yet, paradoxically, it today sets the keynote and criterion for incarceratory procedures in the Nation. Brought into existence little more than fifty years ago and expanded and improved to its present degree of attainment somewhat more than a decade ago, the Bureau of Prisons has profited by all of the advances and errors of the older systems, has produced a principle and a practice of penology that represents a happy and effective improvement on all that constituted the norm of other years, has inaugurated a sub- stantial foray upon a social problem that had been, sadly enough, drifting into complete stagnation, moribund of im- provement and futile of solution. The history of the federal prisons may be divided into three periods: the period before 1890, when there were no federal institutions for federal prisoners (prisoners were “boarded” at state prisons); the period from 1890 to 1930, when there were such institutions but there was concurrently a diffused penal policy and an uncoordinated administration; and last, the period from 1930 onward through the present, when needs and a new understanding of the problem began to beget policies, personnel and processes of a progressive and con- structive nature. Prisons ceased being merely jails, adminis- trators ceased being merely jailers, and prisoners ceased being merely convicts. The modern Bureau of Prisons started as an idea, a rather broad and uncomplex idea, simply the idea that criminals could be converted into useful citizens if crime were regarded as a social disease, curable as are all diseases, by diagnosis and proper specific treatment. Treatment—that was the word which summed up the new penal policy. The Congress put this idea into law and in 1930 a theory became a practice. The tenets of the operating policy of the new Bureau of Prisons were manifold: to provide “a widely diversified pro- gram of classification, medical care, industries, education, recreation, welfare and religious activities.” All this in addi- tion to the maintenance of a secure custodial restraint, the operation of a probation and parole system, the administration of a jail inspection service (for nonfederal jails), and the guardianship of juvenile federal delinquents. The Bureau has accomplished all of these material objectives and has, additionally, accomplished the more intangible but equally important aim of creating a high standard of penal procedure for the entire country. The exact nature of the changes which have been developed subsequent to 1930 have taken the following forms: (a) The creation of an extensive treatment program. (See “Rehabilitative Procedure,” page 11.) (b) The development of an improved personnel in both of the administrative divisions (custodial officers and technical and professional specialists) through selectivity, training and the inculcation of good morale. (See “Personnel,” page 103.) (c) The segregation of inmates of various kinds in especially suited institutions. (See chart on page 8.) (d) The eradication of the vitiating conditions of penal tradi- tion and practice. Of importance but less immediate pertinence was the fuller development of probation and parole. There were, at first, many handicaps and impediments to the accomplishment of this program. The Nation, at that time, v/as in the initial throes of a major depression and legislative funds were scarce. There was the problem of overcrowding. And there were the problems of the hide-bound skepticism and reactionary indifference which permeated certain strata of American life, penal and nonpenal, at that time. Most of the objectives of those initial days of planning, however, have been or are being accomplished. There have been set-backs but there has also been fine, satisfying achievement. Many new institutions have been built, each one a refreshing departure from the old forms and types. Thousands of new employees have been recruited and trained, and each of these has become a working missionary for the ideals which mo- tivate and underlie today’s Bureau of Prisons. The administration of the Bureau is the responsibility of a Director (James V. Bennett) and three Assistant Directors appointed by the Attorney General. One Assistant Director is charged with fiscal matters, one Associate Commissioner is in charge of prison industries and one supervises classification and rehabilitative activities. Others who are associated with the office of the Director of the Bureau are the three members of the United States Board of Parole (who cooperate with the Director but who are autonomous of his authority), the Supervisor of Classifica- tion, the Medical Director (an official of the United States Public Health Service detached from that department for this function), and the Associate Commissioner of Prison Indus- tries.* There is also a Board of Directors for the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., which supervises all productive industry in the federal prisons. This board is composed of five members representing, respectively, private industry, labor, agriculture, the public, and the Department of Justice. Functioning under the Director as his advisory staff are divisions which adminster (a) jail inspection service, (b) statistical research, (c) the maintenance of files, (d) account- ing and fiscal matters, (e) construction and engineering, (f) classification and social service, (g) education, library, recrea- tion and religious activities, (h) medical, dental and psychiatric services, and (i) probation and parole. T'-'re are also, then, the officials and employees in the field, tne Wardens and Superintendents, the specialist workers and custodial officers. Virtually all of these employees (including the Wardens) receive their positions and are protected and obligated under the regulations of the United States Civil Serv- ice Commission. Promotion is based strictly upon merit and qualification. Particularly gratifying has been the great number of men of education and background who have, in recent years, become employees of the Bureau of Prisons. This work has truly come to be regarded as significant and desirable; the prison service is now a career service. A departure in prison practice has been the use of professional interns, men and women students in various sociological fields and from accredited schools who are ap- pointed to federal institutions for periods of training in spe- cialized work. These persons receive maintenance but no salary. There are, at present, about 3,500 full-time employees in the prison service. Some 1,600 of these are members of the various custodial forces, about 700 do clerical or maintenance work and about 1,000 are engaged in some form of rehabilitative work (education, industry, religion, parole, etc.) and the remainder are employed at miscellaneous assignments. Not counted above are the splendid men and women of the Public Health Service who do all of the medical work in the federal prisons but who do not properly come within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Prisons. The prison service is one of the few government services all of whose functions are controlled, in their details, from the Washington headquarters. The result is in the direction of uniform effort, of standardized attainment. Certain supplies are purchased through Washington in accordance with standard specifications. Training programs for personnel are dissemi- nated through Washington. Construction projects are ordered through Washington. All public relations are conducted through Washington. The net result of this policy is economy, higher standards, greater uniformity, and the widespread usage of all practices which, in individual instances, have proven their worth. *Until 1941, the Chief of Probation and Parole was also a member of the Bureau; he has subsequently come under the jurisdiction of the Administrative Office of United States Courts. A factor which makes for abundant attainment in the federal prison system is the desire and practice of eclecticism in evaluating procedures, putting them into practice, or discontinuing them. Although every effort is made to stabilize institutional regimen and permanently retain all features of each program that have merit, the program as a whole is fluid and easily adaptable to the improvements which, of their own obvious merit, manifest themselves. To facilitate such improvements, every effort is made to keep all functions and functionaries of the service—from top to bottom—in touch with one another at all times. Within the institutions conferences and “round-table sessions” are fre- quently held. Detailed reports are regularly required from each division of activity. Detailed bulletins of information are reg- ularly furnished all employees concerned. Interinstitutional conferences are frequently held. The Washington heads of each of the specialized services (classification, education, etc.) constantly inspect, revise and develop their programs in the various institutions and spend much of their time in the field in order to keep alive and vigorous the rapport between the prisons and the Bureau itself. In this way is the menace of bureaucracy avoided. In addition, there are yearly conferences of specialized functions, beginning with the wardens and includ- ing classification officers, probation and parole officers, super- visors of education, chaplains, stewards, farm managers and other employees. Nor are the inmates overlooked in this respect. All federal prisoners are encouraged to speak freely to officials concerning matters which may trouble them, or upon which they seek edification, or even upon matters about which they have sug- gestions for improvement. Many improvements and no small amount of good morale and mutual trust has come out of this privilege. Furthermore, prisoners may communicate with the Attorney General, the Pardon Attorney, the Chairman of the U. S. Board of Parole, the Surgeon General, and the Director of the Bureau of Prisons at any time that they may wish, nor are such letters subject to censorship by officials of the insti- tution in which they are incarcerated. These factors, and many others that are discussed in other pages of this book, are responsible for the extent and nature of attainment in today’s Bureau of Prisons. The material accomplishments are but tokens of the gains to be made in the future as they are but tangible symbols of the intent and insight of a government agency which, not content with merely per- forming an obvious function, is determined to carry out the fullest beneficial potential of that function. The war has made a difference too. The Bureau, making the most of this ill wind, has over- looked neither the possibility of its rehabilitative influence upon prisoners nor of their performing valuable industrial service to society. Penal as well as military history may well be made before peace and victory are achieved. Roster of Bureau Personnel JAMES V. BENNETT, Director Armstrong, Robert H. ..Supervisor of Prison Camps Barnes, Robert D. Construction Inspector Barrows, J. S. Assistant Commissioner, Federal Prison Industries Butterworth, Thomas F. Mechanical Inspector Byington, Donald M. Chief Recruitment and Placement Unit Conner, A. H. Associate Commissioner, Federal Prison Industries Crane, George H. Supervising Assistant to Statistician Davis, George H. Supervisor of Accounts Davis, Nelson Industries Agent, Federal Prison Industries Denison, Irene R. Chief of Personnel Unit Dunbar, Robert C. ..Principal Construction Engineer Forristall, E. H. Farm Inspector Frank, Benjamin Superintendent Vocational Education and Training Gill, Howard B. Examiner, U. S. Board of Parole Grant, Edna A. Chief of Division (Prisoners Records) Hammack, W. T. Assistant Director Hofstetter, Robert Chief Engineer, Federal Prison Industries James, Arthur W. „ Supervisor of Juvenile Section Kinsella, Nina Executive Assistant to the Director LaValle, Ralph J. Secretary, Federal Prison Industries Loveland, Frank Supervisor of Prisoner Classification Mead, Bennett Statistician Miller, John D. Chief, Purchasing Unit Minor, Carroll Assistant Supervisor of Classification Moeller, Herman G. Supervisor of Social Service Work Moore, Robert M, Chief, Mail and Records Section Nester, Ray D. Safety Engineer, Federal Prison Industries Nutter, Carl Senior Assistant Supervisor of Prison Commissaries Overlade, J. E. Associate Assistant Director Reidy, E. P. Member, Board of Parole Richmond, Mark Assistant to Supervisor of Classification Rosenberger, Homer T. Supervisor of Training (Personnel) Smyth, Isabel Secretary to Director Swadley, R. A. Industries Agent, Federal Prison Industries Urich, Walter K. Supervisor of Parole Waller, John E. Supervisor of Trade Training, Federal Prison Industries Wood, Arthur D. Chairman, Board of Parole Wilson, T. Webber Member, Board of Parole 10 REHABILITATIVE PROCEDURES • Social Service • Classification • Education • Recreation and Morale • Job Placement The resocialization of men and women convicted of felony is no mere matter of incarceration. Imprisonment, of itself, has relatively small value as an in- strument of reform. In the distant past, prisons were exclusively punitive institutions and the correction and readjustment of the individual was the responsibility of the individual. When a man erred, the law seized him, chastened him, hoped that he and other incipient malefactors would be taught a lesson thereby. This method failed, through the years, to do any good toward cutting down crime and ultimately fell under suspicion as being more fraught with degeneration than regeneration. Under in- carceration, men stagnated, deteriorated, perfected their crim- inal competence, or became—in varying degrees—institution- alized. Most offenders of small mental resources reacted in one of two general manners. They became bitter, mean and vicious, or they became bitter, mean . . . and sly. It was just a matter of temperament. It soon became apparent that there was no point to a penology that dealt in nonpermanent cures. During the past half-century, with its wide expansion and ultracomplication of the social and economic life of the Nation, the foregoing became vividly and sometimes alarmingly obvious to the people and steps were taken to effect better conditions and results. It was first neces- sary that better-than-traditional types of personnel be made available to prison work, both in the upper and the lower brackets of administration. This improvement was initiated. Then it became necessary that the science and practice of penology be accorded its proper importance in the popular and legislative mind and that its functions and aims be buttressed with thorough research and thoughtfully formulated technol- ogies. These aims were also accomplished. The job of making prisons more than mere human storage warehouses then seemed to require the accomplishment of three objectives. Living quarters and conditions should be bettered. The caliber and competence of custodial officers should be im- proved. And there should be devised and carried out some “treatment” of prisoners that would re- sult in their being conditioned toward better citizenship and away from anti- social conduct. Early in the century, great strides were made toward improvement of liv- ing quarters and the trend still prevails (though for a while it was diverted by a tendency toward overelaborate bastille-type institutions). In instances where evolution may seem slow of process, it must be remembered that prisons are expensive, nearly permanent structures that cannot be junked over- night, no matter how good the reason may be. However, modern ideas have been adapted to existing structures and wherever new institutions are erected, they follow the pattern of the most advanced and humane conceptions of penal architecture. The grim, tradi- tional bastille becomes steadily more obsolete. The Federal Government, with its heavy investment in security institutions, has led the way in adapting old-type structures to more modern beliefs and in its construction of the past decade has set dramatically progressive standards for the rest of the Nation. Tremendous strides have been made in the improvement of the custodial personnel of the Bureau of Prisons. Twofold in manner of accomplishment, the improvements have been made by processes of more careful selectivity and rigorous training; better men, better trained, administer today’s federal prisons, in all ranks and divisions. The 1942 federal custodial employee is as much of a professional man, in important respects, as an engineer or an architect. In fact, he is both an engineer and an architect—an engineer of human conduct and an architect of human character. The third factor—treatment—has offered the greatest pos- sibilities and received possibly the least development. Under this heading came the first manifestations of activities designed to help the inmate become a better man or woman: work and schooling. Later on, embryonic forms of social service began to make their appearance. The movement was, at first, handi- capped by a lack of sound information, by political sabotages, by the misguided efforts of some of its early progenitors, and by public unwillingness to regard improvements on the incar- ceratory principle as anything but faddistic coddling. In time, however, the importance of an effective treatment program was properly evaluated and since then progress has been rapid and sound. In the Federal Bureau of Prisons there has been possible the maximum of success in this direction. Freedom from political fluctuations and the leadership, during crucial incep- tive periods, of such men as Sanford Bates, James V. Bennett and others have facilitated a slow, gradual but steady and sound growth of the so-called treatment program. In this category, the Bureau of Prisons has specialized in what might be called a technique for understanding the indi- vidual in the light of his own as well as society’s best interests. A Classification Board in Session (Texarkana) 11 responsible for such functions. And all requests of an extraor- dinary nature are dealt with by this department (permission to correspond with nonrelatives, legal matters, litigation, di- vorces and business or financial adjustments). Soon after an inmate’s arrival at the institution to which he has been committed, he is assigned to a specific parole officer. This official becomes his own official intermediary in dealing with the institution or the outside world, that person who per- forms for him the services partially listed above. Assisted by the information in the inmate’s central file and by not infre- quent interviews, the parole officer comes to know his “client,” to understand his problems, and to gain insight into his charac- ter. In this way, the best possible effect is gained for relation- ship and attitudes between the institution and the individual. When time for the inmate’s appearance before the Parole Board, the parole officer more precisely fulfills the import of his title. He assists the inmate in preparing his parole plan, which means that he helps him clarify the pattern of life to which the inmate hopes to return, helps him with employment plans, helps him to select and secure a satisfactory parole adviser, and as- sists him in other ways to the formulation of a tentative plan of life that will prove acceptable to the Parole Board. This is an extensive and complicated chore, calling for no little patience and resourcefulness. One of the principal functions of the parole department (the social service unit) is the formulation of the dossiers which are the basis of the classification program. The Classification Program As has been indicated in the foregoing, treatment is the key- note of federal penology. Men and woman sent to federal prisons are accorded the specific treatment which meets their specific needs. In order to formulate and administer this treat- Setting-up Exercises, Army Style (Englewood) This procedure has necessitated a considerable amount of individual research, a vest compilation of records and an extensive expenditure of time for interviews, correspondence and other varied, related considerations, but it has paid heavy dividends in better institutional procedures and improved release adjustments. These forms of social service have evolutionally been formulated into a vigorous and effective system of resocialization that are discussed, in their various subdivisions, hereinafter. The separate phases of the treatment program which the Bureau of Prisons carries on in the interest of both society and the men and women in prison may be summed up in the following fashion: a. Social service. b. The classification plan. c. Education. d. Recreation and morale. f. Job-placement. “Time yet serves, wherein you may well redeem your tarnished honors Social Service The term general to usage in federal prisons, parole officer, is really a misnomer. It is a hold-over from the day when the institutional parole officer performed most of the social services required by men in jail, in addition to preparing their pleas for the consideration of the Parole Board. And yet social service, with its sometimes unfortunate connotations of mis- directed zeal and impractical idealism, is not the word either. But it must and does suffice to describe the services and functions performed in the federal prisons for men and women estranged from social ways and attitudes. Social service, in the federal institutions, is a carefully for- mulated proceedure of dual nature. It serves society and the individual by building up a complete and comprehensive “fact- picture” of the inmate. It serves the individual by performing for him the services which, as a prisoner, he cannot perform for himself. It counsels him on matters of his personal life, it obtains relief and redress for him where these seem indicated, and ’t acts as intermediary for his dealings with the outside world. And it performs subtler, more delicate functions. For in- stance, no prisoner is forced to undergo the experience of be- reavement through the crude medium of an abrupt telegram or letter. In an appropriate manner, he receives such information through his “parole officer,” whom he knows and who knows him. There are, too, certain relations between the administra- tion of a penal institution and its inmates which are potentially productive of bitterness or misunderstanding—relations involv- ing conformity to policies or regulations—which can best be conducted on a basis of dignity and sympathy and understand- ing rather than from the standpoint of arbitrary indifference. The social service unit (mislabeled the “parole department”) is ment, proper diagnoses must be made. Such diagnoses, in advanced penal practice, are known as classification. Classification clinics, an integral phase of federal penal pro- cedure, form the basis and the springboard for all effective rehabilitation. All committed inmates are, through successive interviews with the social service unit, exhaustively investigated. Their entire lives are keenly scrutinized for incidents or trends of a revealing nature. Former employers are contacted, rela- tives, friends, neighbors, officials, welfare agencies, former wives ... all of these are enlisted in the project of creating a complete understanding of the individual. To this mass of in- formation are added the reports and opinions of the medical officer, the psychiatrist, the educational supervisor and other specialists within the institution. All of this data is assembled, welded into a coherent entity by the classification section, and presented, within a period of thirty days, more or less, to the institutional classification board. This committee, generally composed of the warden or super- intendent, the associate warden, the chief medical officer, the psychiatrist, the supervisor of education, the supervisor of in- dustries, the parole officer and chaplains, studies the dos- sier (known as the “admission summary” in federal pro- cedure), interviews the individual, and decides upon a pattern of treatment that literally becomes the blueprint for the sub- ject’s readjustment to society. Such a pattern is known as the inmate’s program. Programs are not changed in any respect without recourse to the classification clinic. Factors which the classification board consider are (1) cus- tody and supervision, (2) transfer to another institution more suitable to the inmate’s needs or requirements, (3) social serv- ice, (4) medical and neuropsychiatric treatments, (5) employ- ment and vocational training, (6) education, (7) religious training, and (8) recreational program. 12 For instance, it may be decided that an inmate requires placement on a close-custody status, on the basis of personal instability or a previous history of vicious conduct, or it may be decided that his background calls for minimum custody with relatively extensive freedom and trust. It may be indicated that he be programmed for a heavy course of education to de- velop abilities that appear to be incipient. Medical or psychiatric therapy may seem indicated. In these and many other details, the nature of the treatment to be accorded the individual is set up in this fashion and by this committee. From time to time during the inmate’s, sentence, when changes of program are required, reappearances before the Board are scheduled. Reconsideration may occur because of the inmate’s request or upon the suggestion of one of the members of the Board. Before such reconsiderations are held, a progress report (detailing information that may not have developed at the time of the first hearing, or changes in the subject’s attitude or status) is formulated for the use of the committee. Reclassi- fication sometimes is ordered after an inmate has applied for parole and been denied. Education No federal prisoner needs to leave prison unimproved in- tellectually. It is virtually impossible for those with little or no education to be released unimproved. And those who are eager to better themselves are given every advantage and assistance toward the attainment of this goal. Of more than eighteen thousand men and women under con- finement in federal institutions, better than six thousand ac- tively participate in some form of educational activity. There are day and night school classes, vocational classes, with opportunities for both theory and practice. And there are cell study or correspondence courses. In correspondence classes, there are courses in most of the foregoing subjects, also in more than forty agricultural subjects (courtesy of the Universities of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana). Visual education facilities and lectures are also an integral part of federal penal educational procedures. In most of the institutions, special quarters or buildings are set aside for educational activities; in all of them function edu- cators especially trained in the instruction of adults. These are assisted by civilian teachers. Religious instruction and services are essential functions of the rehabilitative program. There are full-time Catholic and Protestant chaplains and part-time Jewish chaplains (because of the relatively small proportion of Jewish inmates). A num- ber of unordained graduate students are used in the federal institutions, their status being that of “interns.” Under the jurisdiction of the supervisor of education comes also the manifold morale-stimulative and recreational activities so necessary to effective rehabilitation and which come up for discussion further in this article. Vocational Training Since the advent of the war and the broadening of the Nation’s industrial program, the Bureau of Prisons has placed great stress on war-industries-slanted vocational training. With a full realization that not only can important aid be fur- nished the country but that such factors may produce im- portant results in terms of better citizenship, the Bureau has built up within the various institutions vigorous programs of coordinated training and production. These programs are not half-hearted or superficially planned affairs. They have been prepared and are being carried out with the full and interested support of the U. S. Employment Service, the U. S. Department of Education and various other governmental agencies. Such men who are selected as fit and potentially useful can- and restore the good thoughts of the world again.”—Shakespeare. The major objectives of the Bureau with respect to education may be summed up as follows: a. The education of illiterates and border-line illiterates. b. Opportunities for those who are not strictly illiterate to make up for “holes” in their educational background. c. Practical trade training for the unskilled. d. Provision of “special subjects” (languages, commercial subjects, etc.). e. Correspondence courses for those who cannot attend classes. Since the inception of the war, trade training—and especially training of a nature to be of use in war production—has taken precedence over all other forms of education in the federal prisons. See “Vocational Training,” separately discussed herein. Every inmate who enters a federal institution and who can- not, under test, give proof of fifth grade attainment, or better, must attend school at least one hour daily. The instruction given such men is purely elemental. He is taught to read (if he lacks such knowledge), he is taught to write, and he is taught simple calculations. If he desires additional schooling, and such schooling is not seriously at variance with the rest of his pro- gram, an extra hour or more is granted him. Other inmates who do not fall into the compulsory group but who desire education are given their choice of a number of subjects other than those which are merely academic in nature. Amongst such subjects are: didates for these purposes are being trained by methods and with equipment that completely approximates the conditions that will confront them in outside industry. The U. S. Employ- ment Service is making available to the training officers with- in the prisons techniques and performance standards which will make it possible for the prisons to turn out practical work- men rather than merely men who have been exposed to a certain degree of training. Efforts are also being made to di- rect the kinds of training given to the trends of labor needs that exist on the outside. Workers will not only be trained to order but they will be trained to fill definite needs of vacancies. Welding is the first craft to receive extensive development under this system. In most of the federal prisons (Atlanta, Radio Repairmen in the Making Advanced English Journalism Commercial Art Public Speech Penmanship Laundry Practice Shop Mathematics Bookkeeping Blueprint Beading Accountancy Religious Courses Business Arithmetic Navigation Shorthand Spanish Poultry Raising Music High School Classes 13 Chillicothe, El Reno, Lewisburg, Milan, McNeil, and others) complete and well equipped welding schools have been set up and are being taught by qualified trades instructors. Men are assigned to these classes strictly upon the basis of aptitude and with due recognition of all other factors pertinent to potential success (length of time remaining before release, mental and physical health, social attitude, etc.). Regular selection boards, chosen from the institutional staffs, function for the choosing of men for these classes. The welding pro- grams are functioning with great success. All of the other crafts-—and especially those needed in the war effort—are being established as rapidly as equipment can be obtained and courses formulated. These will include the various phases of machine-shop work, metalworking, building construction and crafts essential to boat, tank and gun fabrication. Courses in the conventional trades are already in operation (carpentry, electrical engineering, plumbing, etc.) and training in these divisions is given on a strictly theory-practice basis, is taught in classrooms but is accompanied by rigorous on-the- job practice. At Atlanta, men receive intensive instruction in the mechanical trades necessary to cotton mill operation. At Chillicothe (as explained in detail in the article on that institu- tion) training in aviation maintenance and repair is stressed. And so in these important ways, the Federal Government has not overlooked the many beneficial and constructive potential- ities to be gained from providing men with the facilities and skills that often mean the vital difference between success and failure in life. Recreation Wholesome, balanced recreation is an important contribu- tant to good prison morale. The Bureau of Prisons fully recog- nizes this truth and though there are no activities permitted or stimulated which might possibly be regarded as being of an indulgent nature, every effort is made to provide federal pris- oners with the means and opportunities for healthy recreation. Sports are heavily accented. However, it is realized that there must be specific types of sports for each of the varying groups in the institutions, and though there are plenty of facilities for the more vigorous activities (baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, and—sometimes—football), there are also adequate facilities for the more sedentary pastimes (shuffleboard, croquet, horseshoe-pitching, boccieball, bowling, etc.). Tumbling, weight- lifting, bag-punching, trapeze and ring athletics ... all of these are also facilitated. In practically all of the institu- tions there are handball courts; in many of them there are well - kept tennis courts. No prison (except those in the crowded cit- ies) is without its baseball dia- mond. In most pris- ons, moving pic- tures are shown regularly (once a. week, usually). Radio reception (through the me- dium of head- phones) is the privilege o f al- most every prisoner. Usually a choice of two programs is available and men may listen to broadcasts from immediately after supper until lights-out. At Atlanta, because of the stag- gered work hours, radio reception is available at several periods throughout the day. All of the federal institutions maintain excellent libraries, some of them having as many as 20,000 volumes. New books are constantly acquired and alert and informed consideration is given such selections. Newspapers and leading magazines are also available in the libraries and each is under the supervision of a trained civilian librarian whose express function is to counsel and aid men in constructive reading programs. Many men who have never had the opportunity nor the incentive to form reading habits do so in prison. In most institutions a wide variety of extra curricular recre- ational activities are carried on. Lectures and discussion groups are organized and meet regularly in some of the prisons. At others the well-known “Town Hall Forum” is a weekly event; prisoners gather in discussion of a previously announced subject and are addressed by authoritative speakers from the outside world. At Atlanta, the weekly forum is host to many prominent persons from all fields, newspaper commentators, novelists, military and naval officers, university professors, world travelers and many others well qualified to bring valuable information and edification to the men of the prison. The foregoing does not give an adequate idea of the many recreative facilities which are available to the federal prisoner. Holidays are invariably well and appropriately celebrated. Special events occur from time to time. Athletic contests of an unusual nature are brought within the walls. Prison or- chestras and specialized inmate talents are utilized whenever possible. Noth- ing is left undone that may contribute to good morale and yet be com- patible with the policies and purposes underlying the administration o f these federal institutions. Job Placement One of the newest in- novations successful- ly fostered and developed by the Bureau of Prisons is the service of job placement. Previously, one of the most vitiating hindrances to rehabilitation was the inability of parole officials to obtain employment for all men leaving prison. The public simply could not be interested in giving the ex-prisoner a job. The Learning To Be a Draftsman A Session of the Town Hall Forum (Atlanta) Upper {left), the meeting of an inmate council; upper {right), an inmate minstrel show on the stage of an institutional audi- torium; lower {left), shufflehoard relaxes those unable to participate in the more vigorous sports; lower {right), a basketball team in one of the institutions for younger offenders; inset, upper {left), retreat and flag-lowering with the entire population at respectful attention. fault apparently lay in the fact that the approach had always been made on the basis of an appeal to civic instinct, or worse, to charity or sentiment. In 1940, the Bureau of Prisons decided that the obtaining of employment for prisoners was a specialized assignment which required the service of specialists. Men with vocational experience were recruited and the first and somewhat experimental placement bureau was opened at Atlanta. The approach was made from a somewhat different and more practical angle. Business men and employers were offered men whose qualifications could be used in their own businesses; were shown how these men could be valuable. The entire rela- tionship was one of frankness and hard-headed common sense. With the inmate’s consent, the prospective employer was fur- nished with a complete description of the man the placement bureau wished to “sell” to him; an abstract which included his picture (dressed in civilian clothing) and all of the details of his training as well as the facts of his criminal record. The job- placement bureau enjoyed an immediate and a growing success, despite the handicaps with which it was faced. Placement bureaus are being developed in the other institutions and new vistas of rehabilitation are confidently predicted for this radical departure in penology. Early in 1942, when the need for manpower—especially men with industrial skills—began to manifest itself, the Bureau of Prisons, with the full cooperation of Mr. Donald Nelson’s War Production Board, decided to take steps that would make avail- able to the war effort more men and more skills; not only the work of men to be released from prison but the work of those yet behind prison walls. A number of conferences were held, wardens and industrial experts discussed all possibilities for assistance to production needs, and an intensive and extensive program of salvaging prison workers to the cause of the country was decided upon. It was of threefold nature. Institutional production of commodities was to be vastly expanded and machinery made available for the fabrication of additional products. Inmates were to be trained according to the best and most modern standards for war production, both in prison and out. Efforts were to be made (by the placement bureaus in collaboration with the United States Employment Service) to place men thus trained into jobs in the war effort; all of these objectives are being accomplished. Two other factors have manifested themselves, hastened progress in the direction of economic rehabilitation. Early in the year, troubled by reports that industrial plants were dis- charging former prisoners (under the impression that federal contracts forbade employment of such men), the War Produc- tion Board issued orders that this practice should be discon- tinued. In June, the Civil Service Commission relaxed its traditional taboos against released prisoners, accepted their applications for a great many government positions in cases wherein respective wardens would certify the applicant’s rehabilitation. With the inception of the vocational training program dis- cussed earlier in this article and with the broadening of war industrial needs, the scope and potentialities of the job-place- ment plan have been greatly augmented. It not only performs a valuable service to the man himself, but to society as well, and increasingly with the passage of every new day of the war, to a nation which will ultimately need the services of each and every one of its sons. 15 He is a native-born American between the ages of 24 and 29. He has married and has fathered a child but has “somehow” become separated from this family. He in- tends to return to them “when this is all over.” He is about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs in the neighborhood of 165 pounds. His health and constitution are fair but his teeth need attention. During his incarceration he will probably elect to have several minor corrective operations performed and will assuredly gain several pounds before his departure. He is a Protestant but has not attended church in years, will do so occasionally while in prison . . . inevita- bly at Christmas, Easter and Mother’s Day. He got about as far as the seventh grade in grammar school, will undertake a considerable plan of education while in prison and, surprisingly enough, will manage to success- fully complete a satisfactorily large portion of it. He plans to do a considerable amount of “heavy” reading after his first inspection of the library. He never does. Twice weekly he draws three works of fiction, his favorite magazine, lets it go at that. His parents are alive and he keeps in closer and more regular contact with them as a prisoner than he did when at liberty. He has more time to worry about the welfare of aged and indigent relatives than ever before, and does so. His correspondence assumes much impor- tance to him and he derives his greatest pleasure from this contact with those outside, receiving about five letters a month but writing somewhat less than this number. He was convicted for violation of the Dyer Act (he took a stolen car across a state line), was sentenced to year and a day, thinks that this is pretty severe. He Kidnaping' | .18% | Interstate Commerce | IM% | White Slavery | 1.04% | Counterfeiting and Forgery |i 6.84% | Immigration Act ■ 8.40% | Postal Laws ■ 1.84% | Nareoties ■ 8.81% | National Motor Vehicle Aet ■ 8.84% | Liquor Law Violation ■■■■■HI 48.48% | All Other Crimes 1 18.88% | ■ From 8.0 to 8.0 ■ K | 8.7% | From 9.0 to 9.9 7.8% From 8.0 to 8.9 a 8.8% From 7.0 to 7.9 A Frt 11.0% >m 10.0 and up f Frc 1 71.8% | n >m 6.0 to 6.9 Frt u.i% | )m 4.0 to 4.9 r m < m From 14.8% | 0.0 to 2.9 m r From 14,8% | 8.0 to 8.9 14.8% Japanese s Chinese .49% Indians 1 2.76% White, Forelgn-born m is.31% Negro 23.18% Native, White KA OOtff w»o«7d 1 All Others I •*■>% has one previous conviction (probably for the same of- fense) and a number of arrests for minor offenses (juve- nile delinquency, traffic violations, drunk and disorderly, etc.). He pleaded guilty in order to receive clemency but now believes that he would have won acquittal had he stood trial. The first three months of his incarceration he spends pondering his case, wondering if he has grounds for a writ. He will probably not make parole, serving nine months and 17 days of his sentence, earning the remaining 72 days as “good time" for satisfactory behavior. He will gain from three to eight pounds during the first 90 days of his sentence and will like the food, though he will not admit that he does. He is a prodigiously fast eater, never pausing during his meals until the last scrap is gone. He esteems ultrafresh bread as others do a deli- cacy and consumes gravy in large quantities. He pretends to suspect stew on general principles but puts away large quantities of it at every opportunity. His disciplinary record is generally good. He affects an elaborate disdain of punishment, actually fears the loss of his good time more than anything else in his prison career. He feels that it is incumbent on him to express good-naturedly cynical criticism of the prison's administrative policy while, as a matter of fact, he is somewhat respectfully impressed by what is being done for him and his mates. He spends two dollars a month in the commissary, rolls his own cigarettes on a patent roller, gets by on one razor blade a week (sometimes longer) and is convinced that Lifebuoy soap has got to be good because it smells so bad. He purchases his own tooth brush, not that the Continued on Page 12/f Lifers II ■■ •»«% 1 r I w 10 Years ami Over Z I fk | | .89% Minors Held Fending 21st Blrthd^ T © § Years and Less Than 10 Years | 4.02% 1 Year. 1 Day 18.52% fl 1 Year and Under ■HHHHH ss.83% m "1 "Unknown BecoM, Aliens etc... | M8% | Two Previous Convictions m ■■ 11.83% | 0 Three or More Previous Convictions < ■■i 17.18% | One Previous Conviction / * 31.48% > No Previous Offenses mmauamBm *#*% § ”1 Widows! * M* > Separated 1 > Divorced mrnmmm *»1 / Stasis > H \ . ’> f jk » Atitov' yj% Married i ■ mm ■I * tit tit it it it «* C5 *- K s 3 9 SI t % 9 z *•* 1 ■s SO £ 3 3 ■3 » #■* 1 " M 1 1 1 > ft M c Hi £ 5 3 M o T? s SO § irt U % £ C o o © © © as +* H <5? ■H ♦» 8 s o SS P S S§ For auth< jrity for statistic*, see page 124.) DAILY ROUTINE John Q. Doe is one of the twelve thousand men who enter federal prisons each year. On February sixth, nineteen hundred and blank, he was apprehended by state police while driving a car which he had stolen in an adjacent state. He was “turned over to the federal authorities” (as the local newspapers phrased it, though no “turning” took place, except on paper), indicted and convicted. His sentence was fixed at a year and a day. The extra aay was added so that he might be sent to a penitentiary instead of being lodged at the local jail. All persons receiving sentences of a year or less are exempted, under federal law, from the stigma and duress of penitentiary incarceration. John Doe was brought to prison by United States marshals some weeks after commitment. Upon being turned over to prison authorities, he is bathed and given an immediate and ultrarigorous medical inspection. He does not, con- trary to his expectations, receive a close-cropped “prison haircut,” but he does lose his mustache, if he has one. All of his “outside” property is taken from him (exception: a few to-be-approved family pictures that fall within certain size limitations). Waiting at his place on the bench as he returns dripping from the shower is a bundle which consists of underwear, sox, handkerchiefs, a pair of blue-gray denim coveralls (similar to those worn by automobile mechanics), a tooth brush and a can of tooth powder, an aluminum cup and a set of radio headphones. He is then taken to a single cell, furnished with a book of rules and two bags of tobacco and left to contemplate his past, present and future. The immediate future is pretty much of a certainty. A simple calculation tells him that he will remain behind these walls for nine months and seventeen days unless he violates the rules so seriously as to be deprived of his “good time” (time off for good behavior), in which case he will, of course, serve the full 366 days. His rule book tells him that for the next thirty days he is “in quarantine.” During this period, John knows that he will receive no visits, write and receive no letters except to and from his closest relatives, do practically nothing but cooperate with the administration in a thorough- going examination of his physical, mental, moral and chrono- logical self. The fact-finding program commences soon after he arises at seven the next morning. He receives a meticulous medical examination, specimens and all. The dentist checks his teeth, finds several cavities, puts him on the list for future call. It turns out that he suffers from a long-uncorrected hernia; he is asked if he wishes an operation, indicates that he desires this therapy, is listed for surgery. He is innoculated for small- pox and for typhoid fever. His physical condition is charted and itemized so completely that he feels like a well blue- printed Martin Bomber. Then John meets the psychiatrist. His mentality and personality and all of his abstract char- acteristics are studied and inventoried. By the time the psychiatric examinations are over (there is a minimum of three interviews), John’s non-X-rayable self is as thoroughly blueprinted as his physical organism. During these first few days, Doe’s measurements have been taken and subsequently he finds himself supplied with several additional garments, his coveralls taken away. He is furnished with two pairs of trousers made from the same stout denim that was used in his coveralls, and two blue cotton shirts. These are to last him a week, to be exchanged each Saturday (along with his underwear and bed linen) for a freshly laundered and pressed set of garments. He is also furnished with a blue-gray peaked cap (to match his trousers), a black necktie (to be worn voluntarily at any time, compulsorily in the visiting room), and a snug blue jacket which will be checked for him during the summer months). He also receives a pair of white cotton shorts (which he will exchange each week for clean ones) and a pair of tennis shoes to wear in his cell and on the recreation field. These he is warned to take special care of, as with the rubber shortage there may not soon again be available such commodities. John Doe’s relationships with the social service department are, he finds, many and complex. He is questioned about all of his activities, attainments and omissions for a period cover- ing practically his entire adult life, and earlier. He finds that his parole officer is particularly interested in his family life. John is somewhat alarmed by this interest at first, and then, relieved by what appears to be genuine good will on the part of the official, he gets down to facts on the story of his pre-prison activities. All of these details are incorporated into records (see section on Social Service and Classification in Reha- bilitative Procedures, page 11) and checked. John is routinely finger- printed and photographed, and an inventory is made of his distinguishing physical characteristics (marks, scars, deformi- ties, etc.). He is interviewed by the supervisor of educa- tion, tested in that department and rated on his educational attainments. If he tests below the fifth grade standards he will have to attend school at least an hour a day until he is able to show attainment above this rating. Otherwise he is ex- tended a cordial invitation (and it really is cordial) to freely avail himself of the facilities of the educational department, the classes, the correspondence courses or the other cultural activities. Another of his ear’y interviews is with the librarian, who offers him advice on reading matter, and with the chaplain (in John’s case, the Protestant chaplain), who discusses his spir- itual needs with him. Finally, in an informal but dignified interview, he meets the associate warden in charge of individual treatment, who talks to him of his opportunities in prison, asks him about his interests, and generally gets acquainted with this new member of the prison community. During this entire period, John and others who were committed during a parallel period live and conduct all of their activities away from the prison proper and its population. To help him in adjusting himself to the new life ahead, John’s institution has inaugurated an “orientation program.”* The program con- sists of a course of lectures by heads of institutional depart- ments. The supervisor of education addresses John and his mates on the educational advantages that are open to him. The physical aspect of his changed condition is discussed for him by Public Health Service doctors. The psychiatrist gives a number of short talks of a nature to set him straight on his emotional problems, if any. The associate warden in charge of discipline explains the rules and institutional procedures. Other executives and specialists talk upon subjects within their fields. John feels considerably encouraged and stimulated by these sessions. He gets the idea, for possibly the first time, that the prison means him good, not harm. And the sessions help to clear up some of the misconceptions formulated before his A SUMMARY OF THE m D 4* r , i MYClUyv KOUTm© Of Til© AV0rCIC|6 PriSOnGT IT1 tH© ForJorr'il I cUcIUI 1115011 ‘First put into operation at Atlanta, soon to be instituted in the other prisons. 18 arrival behind these walls, some of the false credos in circulation at the county jail in which he was confined before and after his conviction. And then, too, he is to find that being set right this early in his inside career will help him to meet some of the malign rumors that he will encounter when he is released to general circulation in the prison. For his thirty days are almost up, his record has been formulated, and he is very shortly to be fitted into his place in the institutional plan. John graduates from quarantine via the classification board. Here he appears before the representatives of all of the executive divisions of the institution (see “Rehabilitative Procedures”), expresses himself if he sees fit, hears his institutional program laid out for him and is assigned to what- ever employment his past qualifications and his future poten- tialities (plus certain custodial considerations) make desirable and practical. The next day, John packs up and is moved to new quarters. Depending upon the type institution that houses him and the degree of custody deemed necessary to his case, John finds himself quartered in a single cell, a cell shared with one other man, a large group cell for from eight to ten men, or a dormitory similar to those used by the Army and the Navy. Most likely he will find himself moved to a group cell, the capacity of which is eight men. As he enters his new quarters, John concludes, from the disposition of belongings, that there are no more than six residents in the cell, including himself. It is a tidy, cheerily green-painted cell about fifteen feet long and some eight feet wide. Furnishings include four double- decker bunks, a table, four double lockers and four chairs. There is also a porcelain washbasin and a porcelain commode. On three sides of the enclosure are the pleasant apple-green walls, on the fourth side there are floor-to-ceiling bars, an arrangement by which the maximum of light and air may reach the occupants. About the quarters, there is an atmosphere of cleanliness, wholesomeness, military tidiness. There is none of the odor of disinfectant which John’s experience at the county jail has led him to associate with prison. Some dozen feet away from the “open” side of his cell are the large, wide-opening windows through which sunlight and fresh air are freely admissible. John tries a bunk, finds it soft and springy. This is decidedly better than the strip-steel frameworks of the county jail, better than his preconception of prison. He shucks off his shirt, has a wash, dries himself on the white crash towel allotted to him when he was transferred out of quarantine, rolls himself a smoke and sits down to await developments. Shortly before five, John’s new cellmates began to arrive from their jobs. There were five of them. Paul and Tony worked on construction crews; Red’s white duck clothing indicated that he worked in the kitchen; Joe was a librarian, and Charley was a clerical worker assigned to the parole office. “Hello, fella!” There were no formalities. Inquiries were brief and to the point (“How much time?”), and in twenty minutes John finds himself as much at home as if, for instance, he were a new hand in the bunkhouse of a Dakota wheat ranch, or a replace- ment in the squadroom of an infantry company. John finds the atmosphere considerably different from that which he encountered in the county jail. There is none of the stagnation, none of the bad morale, none of the viciousness. The spirit and attitude of his new mates is more nearly that of sailors in the foc’sle, or industrial workers, or professional soldiers; there is some horseplay, healthy alertness and the normal good humor of men who are living lives of vigorous usefulness under conditions of decency and dignity. To John, this is plenty encouraging. He is already infected by the vigorously wholesome spirit that prevails among his mates. In the back of his mind, plans for the use of the many facili- ties around him begin to take form. He’ll take that course in shop mathematics . . . try to obtain an assignment in the institutional industries . . . have his teeth fixed and . . . The bugle blows, the cell door opens and the men walk to the mess hall. Not in lock-step, not even in military formation, certainly not in the despondent shuffle so prevalent to tradi- tional popular misconception, but in the hearty stride of hungry men anxious to sit down to a desirable meal. The food is served cafeteria style, from stainless steel steam tables by white-uniformed kitchen workers. John finds that he can have as much food as he wishes, so long as he eats all that he takes. Little garbage comes from the dining room proper in federal prisons; the work of the dishwashers is reduced to a minimum. At meal’s end, Doe finds that he has been tastily and substantially fed and he returns to his quarters to light up another hand-rolled cigarette and to spend the evening reading, chatting, listening to the radio or playing dominoes with his cellmates. Later on during his institutional career he will spend portions of his evenings working on study courses. The next morning after breakfast he reports for work. He has been assigned to a construction crew and finds himself, with several score other inmates, building a concrete retaining wall. The work is a refreshing contrast to his months of idleness and he realizes how important constructive work is to the daily life of a man. Thus John Doe slowly fits into the regimen of prison life, finds his usefulness in the plan and adapts himself, with less difficulty than he has envisaged, to the strictures and restraints of life behind the walls. There are, for him, moments of loneliness and moods of sadness, but never the traditional despair or desperation; there is no time nor incentive for such emotional extravagance in John’s daily life. He works hard, he sleeps better and longer than, perhaps, he has done in years, and he eats prodigious quantities of food at regular hours. A better general state of health is bound to result from this regi- men. For recreation, John plays a little softball, makes greater use of books than was his custom before, and discovers a new emotional and intellectual experience in participation in the institutional Town Hall forum wherein current events are discussed. In his second month, John ran into bad luck. One evening the cell house officer found him smoking while lying on his bunk, an offense against regulations. He was summoned to appear before the associate warden in charge of discipline, who sat as chairman of a disciplinary board whose other members were the other associate warden and the psychiatrist. Because John was entirely frank about his breach of regulations and expressed a sincere regret over the incident, he was let off with a warning. It was his last appearance before the disciplinary board. Shortly afterward, he received news of the illness of his wife. His anxiety over this was extreme and was complicated by the knowledge that there was a possibility of financial duress at home. He feared that his wife was not telling him the worst, was hoping to spare him worry. Soon the anxiety, coupled with a consciousness that his failure to be at her side robbed her of the protection to which she was entitled, developed into a pathological feeling of guilt and self-recrimination and John’s inhibitions and constant introspections began to interfere with his work and daily life. Remembering the instruction given him during the early days of his sentence, he applied to the psychiatrist for counsel. This official went into the matter deeply with him, explained to him the futility of his recriminations and pointed out, in terms of the clearest understanding, just how his mental state might be cleared up. The interview was a complete success. The social service department, notified of the unfavorable domestic situation, called John Doe, also, discussed his situation with him, contacted social agencies in Mrs. Doe’s community, arranged for an alleviation of her condition and, according to conventional procedures, requested the classification committee to assign John to industries, so that he might earn some part of his wife’s subsistence. In his fourth month, John was assigned to work as a machin- ist in one of the industrial shops. He would earn some twenty dollars a month, and of this amount, would be permitted to retain two dollars for his own use (tobacco, toilet articles, “Hello, fella!” 19 etc.). John, however, thoroughly chastened by the memory of his wife’s illness, insisted that his extra earnings be sent home. In addition to cash compensation, he would earn two extra days of “good time” a month. John took great pride in his new job and no little pleasure. His interest in his work was increased and intensified by the fact that the tools and machinery at his disposal were of the latest type, and conditions and methods prevalent in his shop were virtually those to be found in similar shops in the out- side world. His foreman was a foreman, not a surly, tight-lipped guard. Every effort was made to interest him in his job, to facilitate his becoming a better workman. The net result was that John quickly developed into an alert, competent machinist. So engrossed was he with his work that when the institu- tional hospital was ready to take care of his hernia condition, John Doe begrudged the time which the minor operation required. He was hospitalized, however, and the necessary corrective surgery performed. Immediately he found himself better able to meet his physical needs than he had been in years. John, unfortunately, failed to “make” parole. During earlier, unsettled portions of his life, he had been arrested a number of times, for bootlegging, disorderly conduct and similar offenses. Though not important in many respects, these occurences were sufficient to introduce an element of doubt into the Parole Board’s consideration of John’s application, and he was turned down. Disappointed but not embittered, he plunged himself into his shop activities, indicated his determination to make fullest use of his opportunities by applying for instruction in welding. Because of his good conduct record, his mechanical background, his vocational and economic need and his obvious desire to better himself, John Doe was enrolled for such training. He became an apt pupil. And so, wholesomely and constructively, passed the remainder of John’s sentence. In mid-November he found himself at last approaching release. Some months before he was due to return to society he made application to the job-placement bureau. He was called by an official of this department, interviewed in respect to his employment opportunities and listed for action by the Bureau’s field representatives. John’s picture was taken (in ordinary civilian dress) and attached to an abstract of his background and capabilities, and upon the basis of this dossier, agents of the job-placement bureau contacted private employers in his behalf. To John’s keen satisfaction, a job was forthcoming. Not only a job but a good job, a job that paid well, a job which he knew that he could handle. And it was in a region close to his home. Two days before Christmas, nineteen hundred and blank, John Q. Doe ... a selectee for service on the home industrial front . . . stepped from the United States Penitentiary resocialized in every respect. On the eve of the hopeful new year, he would return to his family confident in the knowledge that he was a better-thinking, better-functioning and better- equipped individual than the confused, frustrated, inadequate man who took a chance at crime barely a year before. THE FEDERAL PRISONER SPENDS HIS DAY SOMEWHAT IN THE FOLLOWING FASHION (A Typical Day in Atlanta) 5:30 A. M.—Arises, cleans his quarters, washes, shaves and prepares for the day.* 6:00 A.M.—Goes to breakfast in the dining hall. 6:30 A. M.—Work begins. 10:30 A, M.—Stops work to go to dinner. 11 ;00 A. M.—To the yard for an hour’s recreation, to the library or to school. 12:00 Noon—Returns to work. 3:30 P. M.—Stops work, has supper and returns to quarters.-*- 5:00 P. M.—Except for a few months in the winter, he may go to the recreation field for recrea- tion again and remain there until 7:30 p. m. 7:30 P. M.—Returns to quarters, listens to radio, reads, studies, or otherwise occupies himself until lights-out. 10:00 P. M.—Lights go out. On Sunday, the hours which are devoted to work on week days are used for religious services or for recrea- tion. On Saturday afternoon there is usually a moving picture show. On Sunday evenings, after supper, there is no additional recreation period. *In the larger prisons, expediency dictates that the day’s regimen shall function in two shifts. Therefore the men who are employed on maintenance assignments and projects rise an hour later than the men on industrial assignments and their whole day (until evening stockade) is set back somewhat from the foregoing schedule. Thus the industrial men eat dinner at 10:30 a. m., the maintenance men at 11:45; the industrial men quit work at 3:30 and the maintenance men at 4 p. m. fThis regimen may vary in details among the several federal prisons, but it is universally standard in essentials. It is, how- ever, representative only of peacetime procedures and does not show the night work being done on war projects. For instance, at Atlanta (and in a number of the institutions) men leaving their shops at 3:30 p. m. return to work an additional shift at 4:15 p. m., the mill remaining in operation until 10:30 p. m. At this prison, large groups of maintenance men (clerks, cooks, plumbers, clean-up orderlies, etc.) voluntarily work in the mill in the evenings as their contribution to the war effort. SOME STATISTICAL GRAPHS RELATIVE TO AMERICA'S FEDERAL PRISONS AND PRISONERS A Year's Movement in the Population of all of the Institutions of the U. S. Bureau of Prisons POPULATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR: 20,345 POPULATION AT THE END OF THE YEAR: 21,675 used in all statistics on this page are for the fiscal years 1940-1941. AMERICA’S FEDERAL PRISONS 6 Penitentiaries 5 Reformatories* 9 Correctional Institutions* 2 Detention Headquarters 5 Prison Camps 1 Medical Center 1 Training School (For Juveniles) * Terminal Island and Dallas have been placed at the dis- posal of other governmental agencies for the duration. McNEIL ISLAND Area: 4,409 Capacity: 1,100 Average population: 964 Per capita cost: $620.87 Budgetary appropriation: $628,462 Products: Agricultural products (fruit, vegetables, etc.) Number of personnel: 176 Type of offenders: Older reformabie Warden Paul J. Squier Associate Warden Lawrence Delmore, Jr. Business Manager Walter J. Haniger Supervisor of Education Raymond B. Pitts Captain Raymond W. May McNeil Island is situated in Puget Sound about three and a half miles from the small town of Steilacoom, Wash. It is about fifteen miles from Olympia (the state capital) in one direction, and somewhat more distant from the city of Tacoma. Seattle, the largest city in the region, is some miles northward. The island is set in a heavily wooded section of southwestern Washington, in a region where lumbering is the principal industry. In the Tacoma and Seattle areas, there are also widespread industrial activities and the maritime industries are also of considerable importance. The climate is extremely salubrious, cold but not unhealthful during the winter, briskly pleasant during the summer. The region is served by the Great Northern, the Northwestern Pacific and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroads. McNeil Island is the only federal prison which can boast a “navy” of its own. Situated on one of the beautiful pine-clad islets of salt-water Puget Sound in southwestern Washington, this northernmost institution is reached only by boat and neces- sarily keeps in operation a number of passenger and freight vessels the crews of which are entirely composed of inmates. Strangely enough, McNeil Island’s isolation, its location amidst the foggy and often frigid waters of the Sound and its traditional reputation in the region as the bastille for the “bad men” of the Klondike and the tough Pacific Northwest of the Roaring Eighties has not given this prison the somewhat grim and dismal aura which Alcatraz possesses. McNeil Island possesses a cheerfully rural atmosphere and has less the ap- pearance of the orthodox prison than, perhaps, any other federal institution of its size and capacity. Perhaps the absence of high walls has something to do with this effect; more likely it is the busy, bristling nature of the activity on the island which belies the real function of the establishment. The oldest federal prison, it had a long and somewhat indefi- nite career as a marshals’ jail for “the northwest territory of Washington” when it was taken over as a territorial peni- tentiary and finally as a federal prison. In 1867, Congress appropriated money for construction of buildings, and in 1870 the first prisoner was received. At that time, the prison reser- vation consisted only of some 27 acres, a very small portion of the island. Since then, additional properties have been acquired, and in 1936, with the last of these purchases, all of the island (some 4,409 acres) together with two small adjacent islets was transferred to the ownership of the Bureau of Prisons. McNeil Island is a community with several occupational resources. It operates a large and successfully producing farm. There United States Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Wash. In regard to its industrial facilities, McNeil stands ready to fill any function in the war effort that may be required of it. In the words of the Warden, “The men of our shipyard have repaired damaged invasion barges for the Army and are avail- able for more of this work when needed. Also, the auto shop has repaired government trucks from Dupont, Wash. Whatever work that can be done here for the war effort is instantly attended to. However, increased production both in the field and in the cannery will be our chief contribution.” McNeil’s physical establishment is one of growing adequacy. Practically none of the original buildings are still in existence, all having been replaced by structures that are modern and attractive of design. Living quarters for inmates are provided in four cell blocks, one dormitory unit, and a receiving and quarantine building for newly committed prisoners. The hos- pital building, which was remodeled along most modern lines in 1937, has a capacity of 80 beds. The equipment is modern and complete. There is an administration building, a building housing administrative offices of a secondary nature as well as the educational department, library and similar functions, and there is a splendid auditorium which is also used as a chapel. There are also the customary shop buildings. McNeil is unique among federal prisons in that it has an emergency short wave broadcasting installation. Its population is of a rather anomalous nature. Nominally an institution for “older improvable male offenders” not requir- ing maximum custody, McNeil also houses a considerable number of Indians, Eskimos and Orientals, a condition that involves many administrational problems, not the least of which is that of education. Most of these men possess little formal education, some are illiterate and a number of them do not even speak English. Education for this group must start with the basic elementals. Special classes for the Indians and Eskimos, taught by experienced teachers of their own race, are making great progress, for the men are reluctant to deal with white men in the classroom. It is expected that such efforts for their improvement will have great significance, not only for individuals, but from the standpoint of a betterment of social relations in the reservations to which these prisoners must assuredly return. Education for all groups receives equal attention and stimu- lation. There are classes in the usual academic subjects (plus eleven special courses: art, industrial art, Spanish, bookkeep- ing and accounting, navigation, shorthand, show card writing, salesmanship, Diesel engineering, electricity, typewriting) and there is an extensive curriculum of cell study courses. And, in line with the Bureau’s current policy of ultrautilitarian vocational instruction, there is a vigorous program of indus- trial training. The educational department works in conjunction with the shop foremen in the industrial training program. Foremen and supervisors from the laundry, the welding shop, the auto shop, the electric shop, and the steward of the culinary depart- ment all hold classes in the educational department. Classes in the night schools are held for carpenters, plumbers, electri- cians, welders, sheet metal workers, machinists, and in shop mathematics, blueprint reading, etc. The training of electrical are a number of fine, fecund orchards. And with the recently inaugurated use of powerful new machinery (a 110 horse- power Diesel tractor with 12-foot bulldozer blade stump re- mover, rear hoist dragline, etc.), many hundreds of acres otherwise useless have been and are being reclaimed for cultiva- tion. The island is fast becoming a model agricultural unit, no inconsiderable factor in these times of great need for food production. The newly opened institutional cannery is operating with substantial attainment. Production has been increased from 712,000 pounds in 1940 to approximately 1,517,000 pounds for the season of 1942. Operated under the aegis of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., and employing nearly a hundred men at the peak of its season, the cannery promises to make material contributions to the war effort not only indirectly (by making McNeil less dependent upon outside food sources) but more directly by making certain portions of its pack available to the Nation. The administration has received instructions from the War Production Board to “set aside a certain amount of pro- duction for use of the Army, Navy and Lend-Lease activities.” In addition to the 1,517,000 pack of fruits and vegetables produced on the island (this does not include some 200,000 pounds of produce used in a fresh state) the cannery will preserve approximately 790,000 pounds of fruits purchased from local growers. The total pack will amount to approxi- mately 335,000 No. 10 cans. McNeil Island operates a small shipyard, also adjunct of the Prison Industries, Inc. Excellent facilities are available foi the building, remodeling or repair of wooden launches, tugs and barges. A 65-foot motor passenger launch was recently constructed there and the ship repair department has suc- cessfully and expeditiously repaired a number of military surf landing boats for Army units at nearby Fort Lewis. These facilities are always immediately available for the uses of the fighting service and in the event that this portion of the Pacific Coast were to become a theater of war activity the marine repair establishment at McNeil would be of manifold potential value. There are also other industrial and maintenance facilities. The machine shop is well equipped for marine engine repair and all kinds of general machine work. There is a splendid sheet metal department where general and heavy oxy-acety- lene welding is done and repairs of all kinds of large road, construction and farm machinery are accomplished. The automotive shop is equipped to handle the maintenance and overhaul of all types of automobiles and trucks. There is a fully equipped laundry with a capacity of more than a thousand pounds of general work per hour, and a complete pressing and dry-cleaning section with a capacity of 300 pieces of linen a day. Housebuilding is also being carried on with a view to reliev- ing the defense housing shortage by providing residence on McNeil Island for employees, who now find it virtually im- possible to obtain reasonable or adequate quarters on the adjacent mainland. A vast industrial boom has occurred in the region and housing of any kind has become both scarce and expensive. Facility at One Kind of a Machine Is Taught . . . Also at Other Kinds of Machines 24 McNeil’s Bo at-building Industry . . . And Its Automotive School workers, also, is not neglected. Advanced students in academic subjects may have recourse to extension courses in college-level subjects which have been made available through the auspices of the WPA. An extensive recreational program and a schedule of sports activities have an important part in the life of the prisoner at McNeil. As intimated above, the inmates of the prison are by no means the total population of the island. More than three hundred persons (families of the prison employees) reside on the reservation, and facilities for their living and social needs are largely furnished by the government (transportation, medi- cal care, schooling for the children and similar services). There is also a large and modern quarters for bachelor employees. The inmate response to the war has been gratifying to the extreme. The men have purchased nearly six thousand dollars’ worth of War Bonds (few men are paid industrial wages at McNeil) and many of them have contributed blood to the plasma bank maintained by the Red Cross. Some of them have de- voted their spare time to the invention of devices which might be useful in the war (bombsights, airplane detectors, etc.) and one man is working on a history of the war compiled from material gleaned from the newspapers and news broadcasts. Of the inmate reaction to the emergency, the institutional administration says: “Electrified by the attack upon Pearl Harbor, local inmates reacted with fierce patriotism. Immedi- ately there was an excited buzzing all over the institution. Radio headphones were clapped to everyone’s ears to get the latest war news. An overwhelming desire surged through the men to do something to help their country. “Concrete expressions of patriotism were soon forthcoming. Many inmates immediately set about a campaign for the salvage of waste paper, tin, etc., and a large number of men signed a petition asking that they be allowed to form a ‘suicide squad’ to operate against the enemy. Many others offered their services to the war front or the home front, wherever they could best serve the common cause. “Self-improvement activity was accelerated. Inmates flocked to enter into the intensified educational and vocational training program offered by the institution. School attendance and enrollment upped sharply. Men entered wholeheartedly into the program to train them for the work outside. “The morale of the inmatdb was greatly raised by the infor- mation that Attorney General Francis Biddle and Prison Director James V. Bennett had gone before a congressional committee announcing a plan to release qualified federal prisoners for service on the war and home fronts. “The inmates of McNeil Island are generally very patriotic and eager to serve their country.” The institutional administration has overlooked no measure in regard to war needs which might seem indicated. It has already taken steps to increase its productions or to make available its repair services, as indicated in the foregoing, and it has taken every precaution against attack from the air. In this latter respect, we again quote the administration: “Geographically, we are a landmark in the center of a great Pacific Northwest Defense Zone. Surrounded by a network of war industries, naval yards, ship yards, military posts and air- fields, we make an excellent target for Axis bombardiers. For that reason we have made comprehensive plans for defense against air raids. We have developed an air raid defense organization in which more than one hundred carefully selected and trained employees take part. Every civilian employee has been assigned specific functions to perform and community air raid wardens have been appointed to assure adequate protection for the island’s civilian population. A manual of instructions has been prepared and distributed. Practical demonstrations of fire bombs, gas bombs of various sorts and other explosives have been given before the assembled inmate population.” In addition to all this, the institutional personnel have found time to give physical training (in its modern gymnasium) to commissioned and noncommissioned officers of the Army stationed at nearby Fort Lewis. Jujitsu, boxing, wrestling and similar skills are taught as a part of these courses, and army officials have expressed themselves as being extremely appreciative of the valuable training being given their officers in these respects. The importance to the war effort of McNeil’s abundant farm acres cannot be overestimated. The production of food is ex- pected to be a major problem in the near future, particularly during the winter of 1942-43 when the United States will not only be feeding its own armed forces on practically every continent in the world but will probably necessarily be faced with the problem of providing food for innumerable civilian populations other than American. For this reason, both the farm and the institution’s new can- nery take on augmented significance. As some token of what the cannery is capable, the following figures are tacit evidence. During a two-month period this summer (1942) the following output was accomplished: Cases Cases Rhubarb 119 Loganberries, choice 1,203 Rhubarb, fancy 232 Loganberries, Strawberry preserves 424 water pack 48 Cherries, water pack 28 Cherries, standard 177 Raspberry preserves 18 Cherries, black 23 Beets, diced 38 Cherries, choice 1,124 Apricots, solid pack 116 Peas, field run 240 Apricots, choice 1,061 If it is true, as commonly believed, that food is an important factor in winning the war, then McNeil is already doing its bit, will make even greater contributions before the last shot is fired. Thus, situated as it is on the rim of one of the war fronts, McNeil Island is doing its job in the American way and attempting to function at its fullest potentiality toward its present twofold responsibility: all assistance to the war effort that is compatible with its duty to society as a rehabilitator of men and bulwark for internal security. 25 LEAVENWORTH For years, when people thought of “federal prison,” they thought of Leavenworth. This institution, to the average Amer- ican, represented the ultimate in what might happen to him should he violate the Nation’s laws. It constituted and con- notated the very spirit of menace and punishment in its very name; it was suggestive of Uncle Sam in his most ominous role, that of chastener of malefactors. Established almost at the geographical center of the United States on the horizontally flat but richly fertile plains of Kan- sas, Leavenworth is-—with Atlanta—one of the largest of fed- eral institutions and has, during the span of its half-century of operation, passed through an entire cycle of penology. When it first came into existence in 1895 (although this but ambiguously describes the nature of its inception, which is more fully described below), prisons were merely places for securely domiciling convicted felons for a specific period of time, and rehabilitation was a little-used word in the dic- tionary. Life and laws were not as complex then as now and most of those to walk the troubled path through Leavenworth’s somber arch were out-and-out bad men; there were no income- tax evaders, no violators of the “white collar” criminal code, and few whose crimes were not as open-and-shut as the man- acles that guaranteed their custody. World War I, which was to unstring so many emotions and create the genital factors for a whole generation of social pathology, was still far in the future. Those who came to Leavenworth were “honest thieves” —outlaws, counterfeiters, defaulters and such—and they (and their keepers) would have been dumfounded at any sugges- tion that their incarceration was for any other purpose than that of punishment. They went out as they came in, criminals. Their discharge was their receipt for a penalty paid; society was apparently satisfied and so were they. Thus, the Leavenworth of this era was the apotheosis of the old-time bastille. But there came a time when society became aware of the futility of such processes. Such awareness reached its climax in 1930 when, under the newly reorganized Bureau of Prisons, new policies were placed in effect and “rehabilita- tion” developed from being merely a word into function as a vigorous practice. Already, for a number of years, steps toward better procedure and effect had been taken. Now, Leavenworth was entering a new phase of its evolution. Leaven- worth had become one of the principal institutions for the carrying out of the attainments that have made the Bureau of Prisons preeminent in American penology. The history of the United States Penitentiary at Leaven- worth, Kans., may be said to date from July 1, 1895, at which time the Fort Leavenworth military prison was transferred to the Department of Justice for the confinement of federal prisoners. The transfer was effected because of the miscarriage of legislation creating a prison system within the Department of Justice. In 1891, Congress passed an act providing for the establishment of three prisons for federal felons, but no enabling act was passed that would create a financial appropria- Area: 1,710 acres Capacity: 1,904 Average population: 2,005 Per capita cost: $463.92 Budgetary appropriation: $1,066,909 Principal products; Shoes, furniture, brushes, clothing Type of offenders: Habitual tractable Number of personnel: 259 Warden Walter A. Hunter Associate Warden Reed Cozart Business Manager Cecil E. Cooper Chief Clerk Coyle E. Singletary Captain Nova F. Stucker Leavenworth is situated in the midst of the vast central plain of the United States. The region is typified by fertile and expansive farm lands. Less than 27 miles distant is Kansas City with a population of 324,410. The largest city in the Middlewest, Kansas City is a meat packing and agricultural marketing center, has large industrial and commercial establishments and is an im- portant port on the Nation’s inland waterways (the Mis- sissippi River). The institution is located in the city of Leavenworth, a farming community with a population of 19,220. The climate is very cool in the winter, warm and dry in the summer. tion. So, through the cooperation of the War Department, the Kansas reservation was secured. The Attorney General appointed J. W. French as the first warden. It is interesting to note that the organization for the penitentiary at that time consisted of warden, deputy warden, chaplain, surgeon, clerk, bookkeeper, superintendent of indus- tries, superintendent of transportation and farm, and a force of fifty guards. There were but two watches, one for the night and one for the day. There were accommodations for a maxi- mum population of but 525 prisoners. During the first year, the average number of prisoners was something over 300, in the second year capacity was almost reached, and in the third year capacity was exceeded with an average census of 560 men. Since that time, throughout the career of this prison up to the present, the population has always exceeded the capacity despite the continual creation of new living quarters. The first year of occupancy of the Fort Leavenworth mili- tary prison had not elapsed before the Department realized the necessity for prompt construction of a new, modern and large penitentiary, and upon recommendation of the Attorney General Congress passed the enabling act on July 10, 1896, authorizing the selection of approximately one thousand acres of land on the military reservation as a site for a walled peni- tentiary capable of accommodating at least 1,200 prisoners. An area some three miles from the Fort Leavenworth peni- tentiary was chosen. Sheds were erected for the temporary feeding of prisoners (from Fort Leavenworth) who were to United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kans. 26 A Bird’s-eye View of United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kans. work on the project, and barbed wire was strung to insure security. Plans for the new institution (prepared by Fames and Young, of St. Louis) provided for a prison of the so-called “radial” type, with four cell houses radiating from a rotunda, with a projection on the center back for inside offices, dining room, kitchen, schoolrooms, library and chapel. In front of the structure, a two-story administration building was to be provided. The walls of the institution were to be 30 feet high and about 2,600 feet long. The site was to cover about 16 acres. These plans were used, incidentally, as the basic design for the penitentiary at Atlanta, built several years later. Super- ficially, the lay-out was altered, but in essential features the two prisons are very similar. The principal difference between them lies in the fact that at the southern institution the four cell blocks parallel each other (two and two) instead of stem- ming, spokewise, from a central rotunda. Active work on the institution was begun in March 1897 with 250 prisoners detailed from Fort Leavenworth to do the construction work. According to an Attorney General’s report for that period, the job of marching the prisoners back and forth between their quarters and their work was no pleasant assignment for either prisoners or administration, and it was not until February 1906, nine years later, that construction had advanced to a point where inmates could be housed in the partially completed prison and the institution at Fort Leavenworth could be returned to the War Department.* As indicated in the foregoing, Leavenworth was host to a great many criminals and individuals of a very dangerous nature, at this time. There were still a great number of “warpath-inhibited” Indians from the turbulent Oklahoma Ter- ritory in incarceration there. Many of these, on holidays, were permitted to wear their ceremonial dress and to perform tribal dances and rites, prison veterans say. There were also con- siderable numbers of the “bad men” whose sensational depre- dations during the final days of the old “Wild West” made the job of United States marshal something less than a sinecure throughout the south and northwestern territories. When The Law was finally brought to the lawless West it was Leaven- worth that received the grist thereof. Though construction was so far completed in 1906 as to permit the incarceration of prisoners in the new prison, it was not until 1927 that the institution was finally brought to ulti- mate completion; in the interim many modifications and exten- sions of the original plans had been made. At that time, the capacity was 1,660, including 1,420 in cells, 240 in dormitories and, in addition, 24 isolation cells and a 174-bed hospital. The dormitory at No. 2 Farm has an added capacity of 200 pris- oners, so that the institution is prepared to house, without overcrowding, a total number of 1,860 prisoners. But Leaven- worth’s major problem has always been overcrowding and it has, at one time, lodged 3,589 prisoners. On July 31, 1942, the number of prisoners confined totaled 2,005. Improvements and additions to the physical plant have, in line with a major Bureau of Prisons policy, been made regu- larly as part of a long-range planned program. Among the most notable improvements have been two sections of a new 250-bed hospital, a modern fireproof storeroom, a completely remodeled culinary department, a maintenance shop building (constructed almost entirely of salvaged materials), a new steel warehouse (located outside the institution), a new and modernized sallyport, a new armory, modernization of the wall towers, an indoor target range for officers (located outside of the institution) and the construction of eleven comfortable staff residences. Similar advances have been made toward the acquisition of the most modern equipment for all departments of the prison. The program of improvement of the physical plant continues. Nevertheless, the Leavenworth of today is a splendidly equipped and completely integrated institution, an important link in the chain that is the Bureau of Prisons. The function of this particular prison is “the confinement of male recidivists, not addicted to narcotics or convicted under the Harrison Narcotic Act, who are considered to be habitual or professional criminals.’’ Included in this group are “offenders under the age of 25 who have more than two previous convictions to adult reformatories or penitentiaries; offenders over the age of 25 who have more than one previous com- mitment to adult reformatories or penitentiaries, or who are known to have been habitual or professional offenders even though not sentenced, and all offenders over 25 years of age whose present sentence exceeds fifteen years.” Leavenworth serves as one of the Regional Training Centers for custodial officers. {See Prison Personnel, page 102.) New officers are trained there for permanent service at Tucson, La Tuna, Terre Haute, and the Medical Center at Springfield. Training schools for storekeepers and junior farmers are also conducted at Leavenworth. At this institution are to be found all of the administrational and rehabilitative techniques and agencies around which, in the respective prisons, the Bureau has built its program and *The Disciplinary Barracks were, in the course of time, to come again under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Prisons, and once again to be returned to the War Department. 27 made its attainments. (See Rehabilitative Procedures, page 11.) The classification system, with its attendant full development of individual case histories, is the mainspring of the prison’s supervisional procedure. There is a full-scale sports and rec- reational schedule, with adequate facilities for both, and every incentive is provided for the development of sound, wholesome inmate activities of various types. About 20 percent of those who are sent to Leavenworth are illiterates, or near illiterates. For this reason, great emphasis is laid upon the educational factor in the rehabilitative pro- gram. There are the usual academic courses and there are additional classes in advanced arithmetic, bookkeeping, show card writing, mechanical drawing, radio construction and repair, blueprint and plan reading, shorthand, typing, algebra, Spanish, and various other advanced specialties. Men who apply for such instruction must display specific ability, must show regular attainment after they are enrolled. There are also cell study courses in the above subjects as well as in journalism, short-story writing, newspaper advertising, ele- mentary electricity, electrical refrigeration, Diesel engineering, and some 40 university extension subjects grouped under the headings of general agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, dairying, and home economics. Men assigned to learn trades as they do them within the institution may receive supple- mentary instruction through correspondence courses in barber science, blueprint reading, bricklaying, carpentry, painting and decorating. The newly organized vocational training program is well represented at Leavenworth. In addition to large numbers of men trained as bricklayers, electricians, painters, plasterers and carpenters and, according to the administration, “fully capable of accepting profitable employment in these trades,” a considerable number of artisans have been so completely instructed in the institution’s fine, modern furniture factory that their services would and will attract premium wages in the outer world. Approximately 45 barbers are trained yearly in the general barber shop and would “have no difficulty in passing any state board examination for a barber’s license.” With the advent of the war and the inception of the Bureau’s new program of war-production-slanted trades training, in- struction in skills of a more contemporaneously useful char- acter are being made available. Additionally, a survey has been made with a view to select- ing a number of inmates for transfer to the reformatory at Chillicothe and subsequent enrollment in the airplane me- chanics’ course conducted there. Refresher courses in blueprint reading, higher mathematics and kindred subjects are offered those who are candidates for that class. Other inmates whose circumstance and aptitudes indicate that they might be avail- able for war industries in the near future are being selected for assignment to work activities where they may receive training in welding, metal lathe operation, sheet metal work, plumbing, steam fitting, radio, electric wiring, etc. Leavenworth is a heavily industrialized prison. Approxi- mately 37 percent of its population is employed in one of the five productive activities operated by the Prison Industries, Inc. A Giant Slide Rule Serves to Illustrate Mathematics The prison makes brushes. It makes clothing for both inmates and custodial officers. It makes a high grade of furniture. It does a considerable amount of government printing. And it makes an extremely fine type of shoe, not only for the several governmental departments and for the inmates of federal prisons throughout the country, but for the armed forces now fighting throughout the world. More than a thousand inmates are employed at these industrial occupations within which, since the war and despite a decrease in available inmate labor, production has materially increased. A break-down of nonindustrial employments for a recent annual periodf furnishes an adequate idea of the average occupational disposal of Leavenworth’s inmates. Approximately 63 percent of the population (all those not working in the industries) was assigned as follows: Administration and fiscal, 103; classification and parole, 103; general maintenance, 452; mechanical service (powerhouse, etc.), 138; hospital, 123; preparation and service of food, 284; outside operations (including farming), 450; unemployed (crip- ples, disciplinary, etc.), 295. For the same somewhat representative period, employment within the industrial set-up fell into the following classifica- tions: Six hundred men were assigned to the shoe factory, 210 men were needed for the operation of the brush factory, 150 men worked in the furniture factory, 60 men in the printing plant, 85 in the clothing factory, and about 20 men were em- ployed in the various administrative offices. All of these re- ceived compensation for their work under scales formulated by the Prison Industries, Inc. (See Prison Industries, page 92.) Leavenworth and the War Leavenworth is meeting the needs of the times with a spirit and effect that does tremendous credit to both its inmate body and its administration. In the field of industrial production, attainments have been significant of an excellent war morale. The value of goods produced for the three-month period prior to the declaration of war amounted to $893,001.36 and for the three-month period immediately following Pearl Harbor it was $1,201,238.08, an increase of percent. Of this total value, 82 percent of prewar production ($733,834.29) was for national defense use, while since the war declaration, 84.7 percent of output (or $1,017,884.96) was for the war effort. The shoe factory may well be taken as exemplary. In the three months before the war it produced 124,882 pairs of shoes. In the three months afterward production increased to 181,339 pairs. That’s an increase of 56,457 pairs, or better than 45 percent. Each man’s work performance per day increased from 3.4 to 4.4, a stepping up of effort of 32 percent. In this, as in other departments, working hours were increased—with the enthusiastic approval of inmate workers—from 44 to 48 hours weekly, an increase of 11 percent in man-days. All of this despite a reduction in the working force concurrent to a gen- eral average decrease in institutional population. Productions already accomplished are only a token of attain- ments that lie ahead, Leavenworth’s industrial administrators believe. War orders for considerable quantities of goods have been accepted and, as in the other institutions, a tremendous Ball Diamond and (in Background) Industrial Buildings tThe population at that time (1940) was 2,962, and has materially decreased since. 28 VIEWS OF LEAVENWORTH’S INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY— Top, the brush shop; second, the clothing factory, ichcre both inmates’ and officers’ apparel is made; third, the furniture factory, and (bottom) a portion of the shoe factory, wherein footwear for the military is being manufactured at the rate of more than 60,000 pairs of shoes monthly. expansion of federal penal industrial potentialities is antici- pated with better than a mere reasonable expectation of accomplishment. Inmate response to the war, both from individuals and the group, lias been heartening and significant. Figures gathered early in the year indicate that more than $43,000 worth of War Bonds have been purchased. A total of $1,518.40 was donated to the American Red Cross, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the United Service Organisation, the Navy Relief Ccclety, and the Salvation Army, more than a thousand dollars of this amount going to the American Red Cross. The administration describes other forms of inmate response to the war in this fashion; “Of course, this institution, like all others, has a large number of inmates who arc offering their services to the country, either in the active fighting forces or on defense jobs. A few have been able to secure enlistment (as of April 1D40), but a large number arc seeking interviews, writing letters, etc., hi an effort to play a very active role on the outside in such activities. Quite a number of inmates have submitted sketches and drawings of inventions which they have offered to the National Inventors’ Council for use in the war effort. Two or three inmates have suggested plans for supplementing our present parole system whereby men could be paroled in groups in different aircraft or armament plants. Some inmates . . . individually or in groups . . . have written letters expressing their allegiance to their country and offering their services wherever needed. They are voluntarily cooperating in blackout preparations and saving materials needed in the war effort, and they work longer hours in defense production ... in fact the morale of the entire body seems to have improved considerably after the declaration of war." This is the administration’s coolly objective evaluation of inmate response to the war. It has certainly not been idle in regard to making most effective patriotic use of these newly developed attitudes. In addition to augmenting the industrial schedule and making the survey (already mentioned) for can- didates for the Chillicothe aeronautic school, the administration is doing all possible, within legal limitations, to provide men for the needs of the industrial world outside. An occupational analysis has been made of all inmates in the institution and the results of this analysis are being used to facilitate the placement of men to aid increased production as well as to serve as a basis for directing the improvement of educational facilities and of occupational opportunities of men after release. Leavenworth has not been remiss in the matter of air raid precautions. Though far from any border, the institution has fallen into line with the other federal prisons in this respect and, coordinating its measures with those of the local com- munity and the edicts of the Office of Civilian Defense, has developed a security and protective program of considerable effectiveness. A test blackout was successfully held. In the words of the associate warden, who acts as defense coordinator, “training will continue, vigilance will not be relaxed . . , this institution is prepared.” This is the story of Leavenworth, a major bulwark for society both in war and peacetime. This is the story of a prison which has been, through the decades of its progressive evolu- tion, both a penal institution and then a correctional institution. Though by the nature of its function, Leavenworth still sug- gests emphasis on the incarceratory principle, it shares some of the most hopeful aspects of rehabilitative procedures evolved by the Bureau of Prisons, and adequately and abundantly fulfills its own specific responsibility within the structure of the Nation’s penal system. ATLANTA Area: 1,576 acres Capacity: 2,100 Average population: 2,500 Per capita cost: $431.80 Budgetary appropriation: $1,202,858 Type of offenders: Tractable habituals Principal products: Cotton cloth, duck, canvas and products thereof Number of personnel: 365 Warden Joseph W. Sanford Associate Warden Ben Overstreet, Jr. Associate Warden Thomas J. Gough Assistant Associate Warden (Acting) George G. Killinger, Ph.D. Chief Clerk E. W. Jones Superintendent of Industries Thomas G. Roche Superintendent of Training and Placement S. L. Meek The United States Penitentiary is situated just outside the city limits of Atlanta, the capital of the State of Georgia. Its locale is one of verdured, rolling farm land and the influence of city life little affects the atmosphere of the prison. Atlanta, near the Chattahoochee River, is a railroad center, an industrial center and one of the principal farm markets of the South. Presently there are a considerable number of war industries operating or planned in the area and a number of training camps, aviation fields and supply depots for the military are located there. The climate is warm in summer, mild in winter. Atlanta isn’t just a prison. Probably least of its multiple functions is that of jail. Though it operates, necessarily, as a place of confinement for federal felons, the nature and effect of its activities qualify it, with no less emphasis, as a resocialization center for society’s delin- quent, as a training school for the vocationally inadequate, but most of all as a vast, vigorous and abundantly productive industrial community. The strong accentuation of production and craftsmanship in Atlanta’s industrial factories, as well as its other shops, has evolved an old-line prison into a considerably more whole- some and useful adjunct to the social structure. Visitors to this institution are invariably agreeably disappointed by the complete absence of “prison atmosphere,” that dank blend of apathy, menace, whitewashed stagnation and disinfectant that was the ubiquitous concomitant of penitentiaries of the past. The war has had a little to do with the changes that have come. There has been—for a number of years, now—good produc- tion at Atlanta; there has been an increasingly good moral and social tone to life in this institution. But with the advent of the national emergency, Atlanta developed an atmosphere with- in its confines that was as American as Bunker Hill, as socially conscious as a New England community and as production- minded as River Rouge. The tempo was stepped up to what seemed, at the time, the very ultimate, and then it was stepped up several times again. And “advent of the national emer- gency” does not mean, in this case, December 7, 1941. This institution was thinking and living and building for victory many, many months before the war became a reality in the land. Atlanta meets the legal specifications. It imprisons, re- strains, exacts the toll of the courts. But it also meets addi- tional and more progressive specifications. It teaches, corrects, cures and equips its “citizens” for life outside. In its physical essentials, it is still a bastille, with cells, bars and a wall. In its abstracts, it is something far more socially important; in the product of its individual treatment procedures, its educa- tional activities and its other functions are designed to stimulate sound social attitudes in the individual. For though education and recreation and social service are certainly not unknown to contemporary penology, their application at Atlanta has been, for various reasons, abundantly productive. In each specific field, “something new has been added,” a sound, virile some- thing that has achieved, among other things, sincere acceptance by the inmate of his role as partner in the enterprise. For it is believed, at Atlanta, that rehabilitation is necessarily a cooper- ative—not an autocratic—project. Consider the prison industries. Work in prisons of the past—and in some prisons of the present—is nothing more than penal boondoggling, the modern prototype of the treadmill, or little better. Work at Atlanta,, and in the other federal prisons, is dignified, stimulating and of very high standard. Navy Department inspectors who visited this institution recently were constrained to comment that the industrial spirit there was better than anything they had observed in “outside” textile mills, anywhere. The formula is a simple one. The outcast felon becomes a workman, and competent workmen are universally respected, not least of all by themselves. Out of self-respect is inevitably born reform. Dominating Atlanta like the steel mills dominate Pittsburgh, the noisy looms and busy shuttles of the prison’s textile indus- try provide a motif and set a tempo which has pervaded every phase of institutional life. Thus have the traditional futilities United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga. 30 Bird’s-eye View of United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga. and frustrations been eliminated. In this, as in other sub- divisions of the federal penological structure, waste motion has been transmuted into a valuable utility. Atlanta’s pattern of procedure has been divided into five natural administrative functions which collectively devolve directly from the Warden. These functions can be labeled Mass Treatment, Individual Treatment, Industrial, Medical Care, and Business Management. The three last-named depart- ments are self-explanatory of nature. Under the first two units comes the administration of the affairs of the inmate population.* The Individual Treatment Division, with its sub- ordinate departments, undertake social service, education, recreation, the formulation of case histories and data and the supervision of all matters relating to the individual as a private person. The Mass Treatment Division (each of these sections falls under the jurisdiction of an Associate Warden) concerns itself with the maintenance of group custody, safety, order and discipline as well as with the supervision of the custodial force. The physical plant at Atlanta has never been adequate to the demands made upon it. Although a considerable amount of additional construction and renovation has been accomplished (especially in recent years) and despite the fact that its modern and attractive appearance and adaptation has been so skill- fully contrived as to give the casual impression of great adequacy, the basic framework of the plant—never designed for present occupancy needs—is fundamentally unequal to requirements in many major respects. Despite this weakness, Atlanta takes considerable pride in its relative self-sufficiency, a smart and well-groomed community The prison proper is situated on a 328-acre reservation on the southeasterly outskirts of Atlanta. Pleasantly located in a semi- suburban middle-class residential district just outside of the city limits, its position affords the advantages of reasonable prox- imity to the city and desirable nearness to more rural regions with more breathing space and elbow room. Past the prison’s colonnaded front move the cars of the city’s traction line. The eastern walls look down upon the plowed furrows of Georgia’s red earth. Over the western walls may be seen the tree-shaded streets of Atlanta. Farm Two consists of 1,248 acres and is located 12 miles east of the main prison. About 150 men are employed in its operation. In close proximity to the institution are living quarters of many of the civilian employees, comfortable, well-lawned brick structures, most of them pleasantly suggestive of wholesome American middle-class living standards. The prison itself is surrounded by a 37-foot-high wall that measures 4,178 feet from front gate to front gate. Stemming from a central corridor entered by the front gate and through the administration building are the four cell blocks. Two of these contain one hundred cells each, cells planned to house four men each but now used to house eight. The other two blocks have one hundred and ninety cells each. One man was intended to be housed in each of these cells. Current exigencies make it necessary in some instances that two men be crowded into the meager space available. Population inflations have made it necessary that other liv- ing space be found, and four dormitories were created. Two of these were developed in other buildings; the basement of the cell blocks were converted into desirable living quarters, too. At the terminus of the central corridor which serves the four cell blocks is the dining room. Fifteen hundred men may be fed at one time in this immaculately tiled room, but, for expedition and convenience, Atlanta’s men are fed all of their meals in two shifts, early and late mess. The food is served hot from stainless steel cafeteria-style steam tables. Opening immediately on the dining hall with frank unsubtlety, so that diners may see the white-garbed cooks busy with their food, is the prison’s spotless, sootless, almost greaseless kitchen, * Administrative details are more completely covered in “Rehabilita- tive Procedures,” on page 11.) 31 first meets institutional life. Here he is “dressed in,” given his preliminary tests and examinations and classified for his insti- tutional career. Here, also, is conducted an orientation pro- gram (lectures, visual education, and personal interview) for the purpose of preparing the new inmate for prison life. The prison hospital, a modern unit in all respects, is com- pletely to itself. Other buildings house the library, the laundry and a dormitory (in one structure), the Associate Warden’.; department and the punishment and segregation quarters, the storehouse and inmate commissary, the various shops (paint, plumbing, carpentry, etc.) necessary to the maintenance of the prison. The industrial buildings, the power house and ice house, and the recreation facilities are to be found together at the southerly end of the reservation. Connecting each of the units ordinarily undergoing considerable usage are paved walks; mud is no midwinter handicap at Atlanta. Wherever possible and desirable, there have been placed lawn and terrac- ing. During the greater part of the year, flowers of all kinds— and more especially beautiful roses—are to be enjoyed at At- lanta. In too many of the old-line prisons, such perquisites 'were only to be found fronting the Warden’s office. Flowers were for visitors. At Atlanta they bloom in profusion behind the walls, for all. Atlanta’s educational program is one of the more important aspects of its rehabilitative pattern. There is an academic school (the three R’s, and more), there is a vocational school and there is a correspondence school. But this is not all. There are extra-curricular classes (art and choral singing and cur- rent history), special events (speakers, art exhibitions and special radio programs). There is also the prison’s excellent A Process in the Preparation .of Yarn: Twisting equipped with every culinary device to be found in the best outside establishments. Giant mixers, modern ovens, pancake griddles, the most advanced dishwashing equipment, stainless steel, monel metal, white enamel, gleaming painted or polished surfaces, cool, clean, glased brown tile, an impeccable butcher shop, a fragrantly savory bakery, spotless storerooms and extensive refrigeration units are adjuncts cf the main kitchen. Above the dining room are the prison auditorium (archaic ani increasingly inadequate), the educational department (also inadequate) and the beautifully decorated Catholic chapel (murals, oil paintings, a hand-carved altar). Chief among the supplementary buildings is the new Re- ception Center. Built to provide the completest isolation from the rest of the prison, the receiving building (a five-story, outside-cell structure with hot and cold water in every living unit, its own culinary and recreational accommodations) is that portion of the prison wherein the newly arrived inmate Thousands of American Soldiers in Training Sleep on Atlanta’s Mattresses Single Cotton Warp Being Sized for Better Weaving and Greater Strength 32 Top, entrance to new Industries Office and Vocational Training Building; center, portions of Atlanta’s new welding-instruction chop showing students at vsorlc in arc-welding booths; bottom, Receiving Building where nets inmates are quarantined. band, extensive library activities (17,000 volumes in cheerful, mural-decorated quarters), and other cultural activities. The Atlaxtiax, a monthly magazine, is published under the aegis of the educational department. Another activity is Atlanta’s Town Hall organization, a forum group whose schedule of weekly forum meetings (addressed by prominent guests) has proceeded uninterrupted since 1938. All men who cannot pass a fifth grade (grammar school standard) examination must attend classes in Atlanta’s school; the institution is determined that its alumni shall know how to read and write when they leave, no matter what else they lack in education. These men may also have, if they wish, an extra hour of schooling daily in subjects of their own selection and all prisoners are entitled to one hour daily. Many ask for and obtain two hours and some, where it is possible, are given even more time. Over a thousand men daily attend classes in the routine subjects as well as in shorthand, typewriting, bookkeeping, journalism, public speaking, Spanish, radio, poultry-raising, shop mathematics and other similarly useful subjects. In recent months, because of the changed nature of the times, greater educational emphasis has been placed upon the teaching of knowledge and skills that can be useful in war production, rather than the more purely academic subjects. Within a short period of time (of the publication of this report) a specially coordinated training program will have been gotten under way; its aim, to prepare men for specific jobs in war industry. With the advent of this realistic response to the challenge of the times, many of the less vital aspects of the present educational curriculum may have to undergo suspension for the duration. In less formal words, if an in- mate wishes to study algebra or journalism, he will have to do so on his own time, in the evenings, in his cell. (The new training program is more fully discussed elsewhere in this publication.) In the correspondence division, which serves some 800 men taking more than 1,100 courses, the accent is again placed upon the useful subjects. There are 65 courses available, of which 45 are agricultural. The others, for the most part, parallel the subjects taught in day-school classes. The trades-training school, assisted in operation by a professional vocational counselor, offers instruction (both theory and practice) in some two dozen subjects (carpentry, metalworking, welding, dairying, painting, plumbing, printing, laundering, electrical science, etc.). Most important among its courses are those directly related to the textile industry, for such instruction may be given against a background of actual operation and with the assistance of the industrial foremen, themselves. , Atlanta’s industrial effort, as intimated before, is one of the most important forces for good within the prison’s walls. In peacetime it was a virile, effective activity; war conditions and needs have made of it a project as important to the security of the Nation as any plant to be found outside. Canvas and canvas goods, mattresses and other products badly needed by the Army and Navy are turned out at a rate and of a quality that would have formerly been considered unbelievable. It is no longer possible, because of wartime restrictions, to give actual figures of production or precise details of equipment, etc. Suffice it to say that Atlanta’s establishment is modern, fully equipped and has trebled (promises to quadruple) its peacetime output. And its peacetime output was plenty. In- teresting is the fact that Atlanta’s men have acted like any- thing but prisoners in regard to their attitude toward their work in the industries. It has always been considered a privi- lege, by the inmate body, to be permitted to work in the “mill.” Since the advent of the war, it has been looked upon as a high honor, and the men vie with each other, departments and shops vigorously extend themselves, to better and break each other’s production records. Not on December 7th did Atlanta decide to speed up its production of war materials, but nearly a year back, at which time the dramatic effort being put forth by At- lanta’s men wrung from a leading Nazi newspaper angry epithets and stimulated the Christian Science Monitor to edi- torially praise the institution in an article entitled “Atlanta Raises a Standard.” The prison’s war workers are now putting in a 56-hour week —voluntarily—in their unanimously enthusiastic effort to help the Nation win the war. A large number of men otherwise employed in maintenance—clerks, orderlies, nurses, teachers, etc.—are working in the mill during the evenings. In short, these men do their daily eight-hour stint on their respective assignments and then go to the mill, during the evening, and operate textile machines for an addi- tional four hours. The policy behind the operation of the industrial set-up at Atlanta is de- serving of special interpretation. It has been the institution’s belief that reha- bilitation largely springs from the awareness, in men, of the value and importance of the work that they do. In the same proportion as a man builds his own prestige in his own eyes—by reason of his competence as an artisan —so does he instinctively automatically seek to build prestige with his fellows, with his superiors, and with society. Upon this concept, Atlanta bases its industrial pattern: work for all men . . . useful, skilled work for men in prison that will provide economic self-sufficiency for them upon release. Two-Thirds of the Money Goes Home Atlanta’s inmates are paid an average of approximately twenty dollars monthly for their work in the industries. A small portion of this may be spent for personal necessities or small luxuries. The rest of it is sent to his dependents or goes to savings to be used by the inmate upon his release. Fully two- thirds of the money earned in the mill goes to the families of inmates. In Atlanta’s prison hospital (operated by the Public Health Service), medicine and psychiatry go hand in hand. Atlanta’s doctors believe that physical and mental health are mutually dependent and neither is of lesser importance. Not only is every effort made to deal completely and conscientiously with each and all complaints that become known, but considerable attention is given individuals suffering from physical or men- tal disorders of a nature to incapacitate their progress in out- side society. On the physical side, therapies and surgeries of all natures have been performed toward the better conditioning of men so handicapped. In the psychiatric field, the successes have been no less. An interesting connotation to contemporary good morale and proper attitude on the part of a penal com- The Best Form of Relaxation: a Well-Stocked Library munity’s citizens is the current attitude toward the function of psychiatry at Atlanta. In the prison of the past, the psychiatrist has been Number One Boogie Man to the inmate population. He has been popularly regarded as a malign figure who, for obscure reasons, existed only to entrap and stigmatize unwary prisoners. Find- ing his fullest function, in their minds, as a sort of a sadistic lunacy broker, they comprehended him only in terms of a mor- bid curiosity in their personal secrets, a perverse tendency to place an unfavorable construction on these secrets and an invariable capacity for interfering unpleasantly in their prison lives. The bug doctor was definitely a person to be shunned and contacts with his department were regarded as dark events to be dealt with warily, circumspectly, vigilantly. The result was that practically no one cooperated with the psychiatrist, no rapport was permitted to exist between physician and patient, and a reduced proportion of good effect to the individ- ual, to the institutional group, and eventually to society itself, was accomplishable. The Beginning of Production: Cotton for Canvas 34 field. A system of rating the work capabili- ties of inmates on cards kept by their individ- ual supervisors is beginning to bear fruit in terms of better understanding of the inmate and beter development and use of his facilities. And now, as a means of most directly meeting wartime needs, a training program is being gotten under way (see “Wartime Precau- tions,” page 97) which promises important attainments. Regular meetings are held at which the administration and its personnel may discuss common problems (“The Round Table,” a bi-monthly occurrence). A weekly publication (“The Key”) is issued for the personnel and extensive facilities for study (together with a progressively modern penological library) are available to all employees who seek to better their understanding of the work they do. Atlanta's in-service training program has produced many of the fine custodial officers and administrative assistants who serve in federal prisons from coast to coast. The foregoing represents but a small portion of the stuff and substance of daily life at Atlanta, but it gives, perhaps, some idea of the sound, wholesome spirit of good will and cooperation which permeates the institution and makes possible all of the progress and production which is such a vivid concomitant of the scheme of things at this prison for men from a category heretofore considered not easily reformable. This, then, is Atlanta, a colorful, animatedly vital industrial community; a symbol of the efficacy of the American Way as applied to even this most difficult of social problems; a graphic and compelling proof that the health and wholesome- ness of a community is not determined by the nature of its individual components, but by the nature and force of its policy and leadership. Culture Is Important: An Art Lecture Thus has good morale begotten good results in still another department of the prison. The hospital at Atlanta has a manifold function. Thousands of examinations are undertaken yearly. From 250 to 500 men apply at the hospital daily for treatment. Some 2,200 opera- tions are performed yearly, of which better than 1,500 are major operations. Innoculations, vaccinations and many other activities provide a good day’s work, every day, for Atlanta’s competent medical staff. (A full account of the nature of prison medicine is given in an article by Dr. Fuller appearing on page 98.) No small part of the prison’s food comes from the farms which are operated on and adjacent to the reservation. Com- prising some 1,500 acres, the land pro- Quarters for Prison-Farmers duces fruits, vegeta- bles and feed for daily production. One hun- dred to one hundred and fifty men are thus employed. Constructive innova- tions and administra- tional experimentations of a sound nature are routine factors in At- lanta’s program. The fi r s t job - placement bureau in the federal system was inaugu- rated there; hundreds of men have been gainfully placed through this bureau and its procedures have been adopted and are being developed throughout the entire federal prison system. A program of fore- men training has been successfully inaugu- rated and weekly con- ferences are held under the direction of an expert skilled in this CHILLICOTHE Area: 1,300 acres Average population: 1,2G0 Capacity: 1,252 Per capita cos?: $580.35 Budgetary appropriation: $080,299 Type of offenders: Younger improvable male Products: Meta! castings, furniture, sheet metal products, farm products Warden F. Lovell Bixby Associate Warden Allen Shank Assistant Associate Warden Joseph O. Kearney Chief Clerk Raymond W. Meier Supervisor of Education Edmond R. Fodder Captain V/ilby F, Anderson The Federal Reformatory is situated in the fertile Scioto Valley of southern central Ohio in an area predominantly agricultural. Chillicothe (the town) has a population of some 20,000 persons and is a farming center with paper end flour nulls, beef and hog markets and some manufacturing. Tue population is largely of American stock, with some Du.ch mixtures. The Norfolk and Western, and Chesapeake and Ohio, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads serve the region. The climate is reasonably temperate though winters are inclined to be inclement over Jong periods. Wheat and other farm products are very successfully raised on the pleasantly rolling acres of the region. The altitude is G13 feet above sea level. In 1S25, Congress decided that the Nation needed a separate institution in which to house and resocialize its younger and more reformable lawbreakers. It therewith passed an act establishing an institution for “male persons between the ages of 17 and 30” wherein such offenders might'be “prevented from becoming habitual criminals.” Camp Sherman, a military training center during World War I, was acquired as a site for the new institution. In January of 192G, the first detachment of inmates arrived and commenced work upon what has since become one of the finest and most productive correctional plants in the country. Chillicothe is com- petently and vigorously fulfilling the function created for it by Congress in 1925. Situated on 1,300 flourishing acres of beautiful Ohio farm land, the institution, in its physical establishment, consists of large administration and receiving buildings, four cell blocks (with a capacity of 600 inmates), six dormitories (with a capacity of 1,000), two mess halls, a laundry building, a school building, a warehouse, a chair factory, an iron foundry, an airplane mechanics’ school and eight vocational shops. This is the physical plant, but there is much more to Chillicothe than just dormitories, shops and offices. (See page 119 for analysis of the effect and importance of Chillicothe’s Aviation Mechanics’ School.) The Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio Chillicothe Has Its Playing Fields intangibles which do not appear on the blueprints are the forces and influences which make the atmosphere of Chillicothe not that of restraint and punishment but one of hope and progress. This is only a prison in its barest essentials; this is, in other respects, as much an institution for the matric- ulation of useful young Americans as any school in the land. Youth is in the air at Chillicothe, youth and hope and the cheerful, zestful, productive activity that typifies Young America, no matter what its condition of life. Every facility that might rerout these young men back to decent living is accorded them. Vocational training is heavily stressed, though academic education is also available. The Nation’s advent into the war has greatly widened the scope of Chillicothe’s opportunity for service to the Nation. Skilled artisans are vitally needed. Skilled artisans are being produced at this federal reformatory. Since January 1st, more than four hundred of those released have gone to jobs that were directly connected with the war effort. The training within the institution and the number of reinforcements being sent to outside industries are speedily being expanded and with the doubly valuable result that society is not only having its pro- duction need assisted but a large percentage of its lawbreakers and potential criminals simultaneously resocialized. Chillicothe’s inmates make chairs, more than 30,000 of them in 1941, and has now geared up its production to an output of more than 1,300 a week. More than 150 men were thus em- ployed before the war; some 180 men are now so employed. The great majority of them attend school in the evening. They make iron, bronze and aluminum castings. In the institution’s well-equipped foundry, more than 42,000 castings were made in 1941 (a total weight of nearly 300 tons). Pro- duction in this department has been stepped up nearly 18 percent and is being continuously increased and many young men who came to Chillicothe with no previous training in this essential war industry have been released to outside foundries completely trained as molders and for other functions within the craft. Welding was carried on before the war but purely as a vocational training activity. With the dynamic expansion of industry subsequent to December 8, 1941, operation in this craft became more vitally needed than ever. Chillicothe took over the job of welding bed locks for the Navy, greatly ameli- orating a production factor that had been more or less bottle- necked. How quickly the institution geared its facilities to requirements is demonstrated by the fact that more than 27,000 bed locks were produced during the month of March, alone. Over a period of 49 days, 40,000 bed locks were welded. Only the best and latest techniques are used; only the most modern and improved equipment. Most spectacular of the institution’s industrial-vocational enterprises is its airplane mechanics’ school. Organized con- siderably before the advent of the United States into the war, Director James V. Bennett, an aviator in World War I, foresaw the impending need for vast numbers of men skilled in the work necessary to keep America’s flyers in the air. He felt that Chillicothe, with its population of young and easily train- 37 of the airplane mechanics’ school. The Army Air Corps donated flight instru- ments, a number of Wasp and Hornet radial engines, and an 0-38 Observation plane. The Federal Prison Industries, Inc., made funds available for the pay- ment of salaries of training personnel and various private air lines and plane production concerns lent their advice and other valuable assistance. Available for training purposes is also a Stinson monoplane equipped with a Warner- Scarab engine. The school building, especially erected for its present pur- pose, is a semihangar and houses not only the shops but schoolrooms, a reference library and a lecture room equipped for moving picture projection. All machinery is of the latest type and each student is supplied with an individ- ual set of high-grade tools especially suited to the work he must do. The course is taught by three experienced and fully competent aviation engineers. Though an important and interesting field of activity, avia- tion mechanics is by no means the major part of Chillicothe’s curriculum. Automobile repair, industrial painting, sheet metal work, plumbing, bricklaying, cabinet work, cooking and bak- ing, electrical work, automotive transportation, laundry, farm- ing, dairying, swine and poultry husbandry and the machinists’ trade are also taught. The vocational academic subjects are available, too. Men selected for vocational training spend 80 percent of their training time on supervised practical work and 20 percent of their time on classroom study. The program takes as its policy a keynote of extreme practicability; Chili- cothe’s boys are trained with a view to help them toward self- sufficiency, not to help them kill time. The morale at Chillicothe is good. Proof of this is manifest in every activity carried on by and for the inmates. Sports and recreation are heavily accented. A Town Hall forum re- ceives regular and enthusiastic patronage. There is a well- stocked and well-administered library. Wholesome activities of various kinds are fostered and every attempt is made to develop worth while interests and sound conceptions in men who, otherwise, might slide further down the social toboggan. The inmate monthly publication (The Beacon) and its smaller weekly prototype (The Flashlight) adequately serve their purposes as a media for expression of the thought of the men at Chillicothe. A measure of self-determination of some aspects of their daily life is afforded them through an elective inmate council, which makes suggestions to the Warden and communicates to him the general requests of the population. The classification plan (see Rehabilitative Procedures, page 11) attains, perhaps, its most fruitful function at Chillicothe, dealing, as it does, with felons whose criminal records are hypo- Farming Is No Mere Boondoggling Project able men, was the place in which to train men for such work. Working with the Warden, Dr. F. Lovell Bixby, and using pro- cedures recommended by the U. S. Army and various leading air schools, Mr. Bennett instituted the Nation’s first penal school for airplane mechanics. Men chosen for such training from the many eager for the opportunity are those who, after careful discriminate selective procedure, seem completely satisfactory in all respects. They are transferred to a certain section of the honor dormitory where better conditions for individual study and group dis- cussion are conveniently available. Their first month is spent in a split schedule of work and study. One-half of the day is spent on intensive application to fundamental subjects: aerodynamics, theory of flight, mathematics, drafting, blueprint reading and C. A. A. regula- tions The other half of the day is devoted to shop projects. The trainee is permitted to familiarize himself with shop pro- cedures, materials and tools and to make practical applications of the techniques and theories he learns about in his classes. The following five months are spent exclusively in the four aviation mechanics’ school shops, machine, welding, sheet metal, and woodworking. In the welding shop, the men acquire experience at acetylene and electric-arc welding, brazing and cutting. In the machinists’ school, training includes the sharp- ening and adjustment of tools and operation of the lathe, milling machine, shaper, drill press, and power saw. They go to the sheet metal shop to learn riveting, soldering, spot weld- ing, drafting and lay-out. During this period, the trainee also receives advanced subject instruction. This is given to stimulate and maintain interest and includes talks on airplanes, engines and accessories and trainees are encouraged and assisted to do planned coordinated reading on the subjects involved. In the second six months, training is of a more intensive nature. Students have been prepared, by then, through habits and training, for more technical subjects. A brief list of subjects now covered would include aerodynamics, the construc- tion and rigging of airplanes, the study of engines and their various accessories (propellers, instruments, carburetors, the ignition and electrical system, magnetos, starters, generators and spark plugs). Also included are dope and fabric, sheet metal construction, riveting and heat treatment of metal. Classroom instruction precedes and follows shop projects. During the eleventh month, elective courses in meterology and navigation are conducted. The twelfth month is devoted to engine testing and trouble- shooting. Men who have successfully accomplished the fore- going studies are placed at work on actual flight equipment. Engines are dismantled, overhauled and their parts calibrated. While this project was initiated during a prior administration, it was brought to fruition during the summer of 1940. Various agencies have been vitally cooperative in the creation Classrooms . . . the Greatest Reforming Agencies. 38 thetically ahead rather than behind them. Here, better than at any time in the junior malefactor’s career, can he be studied, understood and rerouted back to a decent existence. Great emphasis is laid upon this function for upon its effectiveness rests the success of the entire program. Chillicothe’s placement bureau is also functioning with heartening results. The second institution to receive the benefit of such service (Atlanta was first), Chillicothe’s placement division has begun to bear fruits that are sound justification of the work that has gone into its inception. A large percentage of the young men who leave Chillicothe at present not only go out to desirable jobs at satisfactorily remunerative compensation (in itself a definite departure from the unhappy post-prison employments of tradition) but most of them go to jobs for which they have been specifically trained while serving their sentences. Of these, during the last few months, a large proportion have found function in the war effort (49 out of 371 during the first few months of 1942), and with expanding needs for skilled work- men, there is little doubt but what this proportion will be in- creased. A large percentage of this latter group have been, and are being, absorbed by the aviation production industry. The reformatory is presently concerned with a research project of twofold purpose. Thirty young men have been housed in a separate dormitory, there to be accorded treatment of a rather specialized nature, to be carefully studied in respect to SKILLED WORKMEN RARELY STEAL. At top, Chillicothe’s young men learn the automotive trades; at bottom, the making of quality furniture; inset, goggled foundrymen pour a casting 39 their reactions to this different type of custody. All of these young men are habitual juvenile delinquents. As stated in the foregoing, the project has two purposes: (1) to try to discover whether any common factors or characteristics distinguish young habitual delinquents from other groups of young men, and (2) to test the value of a special treatment program. Conclusions may be made on the basis of comparison of the records of the men who leave this unit with those of the men who have undergone merely the regular program and routine. Thirty cases are insufficient for sound conclusions and the time already spent in the studies has not, as yet, lengthened into a proper perspective, but observations made thus far have been very interesting. It transpires that men from the special group, though above average in intelligence, are below average “in ability to think critically and reason logically,” and that the “extreme instability and egocentricity of such lads is related to a defective father relationship during the years from eight to twelve.” There can be but little doubt but what this experiment will furnish information of an extremely valuable nature, perhaps constitute the basis for further similar research projects. This enterprising spirit of inquiry, of challenge and of initiative is ot the essence of the Chillicothe func- tion. Only in the restraints necessary to the accomplishments of the insti- tution’s purposes is Chillicothe a pris- on. There are none of the dreary, dismal atmospheric factors of the tra- ditional bastille. There is only con- structive work, desirable study and the facilities for decent, dignified living. There is an informed under- standing and consideration for the needs of young men not fully off the social track, nor fully on it. At Chillicothe, the Bureau of Prisons does a job in education—in its broad- est aspects—equal to any done at some of the more academic, if less cloistered, educational institutions. Chillicothe and the War Both officials and inmates have responded with vigor and sincerity to the challenge of the times. Production has been stepped up; working hours have been increased. As stated in earlier paragraphs, pro- duction in various departments has been increased to a great and heart- ening extent, and in one department (the welding shop) has been turned over to the Prison Industries, Inc., for the manufacturing of material for the Navy. Every effort has been expended to fit the institutional tempo to the nature of the times. Moving pictures on defense sub- jects (“London Air Raids,” “War and Order,” “Wartime Factory,” “Handling Incendiaries,” etc.) are shown regularly to population and personnel. Every precaution for dealing with air raids has been taken. (See footnote below, also detailed description on page 97.) First aid classes for inmates have been organized and instruction in other war security subjects is being regularly given. The inmate morale has been excellent; War Bonds have been purchased in amounts surprisingly large in contrast to the small resources of the prisoners, and generous donations have been made to the American Red Cross. A blood bank has been planned and a large number of men have volunteered as uonors. me inmates are eageriy anxious to serve tneir country in some fashion while in prison and after release as well; both of these desires are being met insofar as possible. The attitude of the men is uniformly good because it has been made that way at Chillicothe. If the essential requisites of good Americanism are to want to be one and to be able to be one (physically, mentally, morally, vocationally), then Chillicothe is turning out good Americans. Because of the age and nature of Chillicothe’s population, a considerably heavier responsibility devolves upon its adminis- tration than upon those of other institutions. To Chillicothe (and to El Reno) come the young men who might potentially develop into component parts of America’s criminal problem of the future. Chillicothe has the unique privilege of dealing with those who might become habitual criminals before they have become habitual criminals. The privilege connotes ex- traordinary opportunities for the administration’s policies; it also con- notes the difficulties and set-backs so rarely separated from such work. Chillicothe’s young men, it has been proven, are little different in the essentials from the other young men of the Nation; far less different from these than are the men in the actual prisons. All that is necessary to route these men back into the proper living channels (except in the cases of the pathological) is the in- troduction of the factor (sometimes several) which has been lacking from their lives. Chillicothe seeks to fill this want. Sometimes the factor is physical or mental therapy. Sometimes it is education. Sometimes it is merely advice and direction. Most often, it is simply the provision of a sound vocational prop. And, as indicated above, frequently it may be a com- bination of all of these elements, and others too. Chillicothe seeks to accomplish the rerouting of these young men by all of these methods. By virtue of its diversified facilities for individualized treatment and its acutely attuned system for the classification of in- mates, it is succeeding. The advent of the war has made such a project more accomplishable than ever, largely because of the intensely sincere spirit of cooperation among the men. James V. Bennett, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, summed it up rather revealingly a number of years before other Americans had any idea that war would ever come to these shores. “I am sure that ... an institution such as the one at Chillicothe can exist only in a democracy. In these tragic times, we want to make our form of govern- ment and all of its institutions succeed.” A Trade That Will Mean Security Later *Air raid wardens and auxiliary policemen have been appointed and trained. Instruction in first aid, fire defense, gas defense and related subjects has been given. An air raid plan has been placed in effect by the formation of a civilian defense council which operates in accord- ance with both state and federal civilian defense agencies. Necessary lights have been screened. A reserve water supply has been built up. Additional fire-fighting facilities and a reserve medical station has been made available. Hydrants have been painted white and traffic signs have been painted black and white. The various shops have contributed in various ways (windproof shaded candle lanterns, a pressure tank on wheels to combat incendiaries, dummy incendiary bombs for instruction purposes, charts and illustrations of various kinds for the same uses). 40 LEWISBURG Capacity: 1,506 Average population: 1,448 Per capita cost: $532.54 Budgetary appropriation: $820,281 Principal industry: Metal products, clothing Type of offenders: Older improvable Warden William H. Hiatt Junior Associate Warden A. W. Alexander Chief Clerk Harry W. Adams Chief Parole Officer . Thomas A. Grover Supervisor of Education William J. Lahodney Captain Andrew C. Warming Lewisburg is situated in central Pennsylvania close to the Susquehanna River. The region is characterized by pleasant, rolling hills and abundantly productive, frugally tended farm lands. In adjacent regions are located numerous industrial enterprises and to the westward lie the extensive coal and ore mining regions of the state. The region is served by the Delaware and Lackawanna and the Pennsylvania Railroads and is easily accessible to the key cities of the East, Midwest and Atlantic sea- board. Bucknell University is immediately adjacent to the institution, and Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton, and other large cities are within easy driving distance. Much has been done by both State and Federal Governments to help the reformable youthful offender. Lewisburg is penally unique in that it is a prison whose specific purpose is to help the reformable delinquent whose age would render him ineli- gible for the processes and considerations available to younger men in the hopeful group. Lewisburg is a radical departure, architecturally as well as technologically, from the traditional prison. Prisons are most often grim and impersonal citadels of confinement where beauty and human appeal are sacrificed for utilitarian—and sometimes punitive—purposes. Lewisburg is neither grim nor menacing. Its appearance, like its policy and purpose, is attractively whole- some, normalizing, designed to impel cheerful, relaxed and socially decent response from its population. Situated on nearly a thousand beautiful, rich acres amidst the magnificent Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania (the Blue Ridge Mountains in the visible distance), Lewisburg is happily free of the unpleasant influences of urban life. The locale is made to order for mental and physical health. The institution, designed by Alfred Hopkins under the direction of Sanford Bates (whose brainchild it was), is a skillful adapta- tion of Italian Renaissance architecture and is constructed of brick, artificial stone and cement block. There are Gothic arches, iron grillwork and picturesquely crenelated towers. The effect is one of the Old World monastic simplicity, yet there is also the quiet feeling of restrained beauty. This is the setting for a well-ordered life. Lewisburg, primarily an institution for those presumably reformable, is also an “induction center” for most of those convicted in the densely populated northeastern portion of the country and so, like the other prisons of the federal system, depends heavily upon its classification clinic and related proc- esses. The human grist is sorted out; the veterans are marked for transfer to Atlanta, the junior hopefuls for Chillicothe, and the preponderance of assimilables are programed for their careers within the Pennsylvania institution. Lewisburg is singularly well adapted to its needs and responsibilities. It possesses, in various proportions, most of the characteristics and facilities of the other specialized institutions. There are maximum security accommodations. There are accommodations for each of the modified types of restraint. There are vocational training facilities and there is an excel- lent school. The industrial plant and organization is impressive. There is a highly productive agricultural program and ample acreage for its operation. And there is the means of securing effective segregation of multinatured groups within the con- fines of the institution. Lewisburg is admirably equipped to deal adequately and separately with all types of offenders, but under the present system deals only with those that may be classified as “older improvables.” Its adjacency to various metropolitan areas has lent to its population more of an urban texture than is true of the other large institutions. A large percentage of men committed there are former or potential white-collar or industrial workers, thus Lewisburg’s rehabilitative responsibility is preponderantly that of preparing large numbers of its inmates for return to pursuits and lives compatible with a metropolitan environment. Hence, there is a strong accentuation of training of a nature to provide economic seculity under such conditions. Lewisburg receives a considerable number of the foreign-born and of second-generation Americans, many of whom have had no great opportunity to develop a high standard of citizenship. With full understanding, the institution makes effective efforts to meet the needs of such groups. As in the other federal institutions, sound, specific education and useful, vocation-building work are stressed at Lewisburg. There is a well-developed school (academic trades training) which operates both during the day and in the evening and this is supplemented by an excellent correspondence division for those unable to attend classes or desirous of adding to their classroom instruction. Taught in the academic school are (ad- Rear View, United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pa. 41 The Warden {Right) Makes an Inspection ... of the Food Trays Lewisburg Makes for the Army ditional to the conventional subjects) bookkeeping, shorthand, typing, mechanical drawing, commercial art, music, journalism and the theory and practice of auto mechanics. There are nine well-equipped classrooms. The texts and techniques taught are of the most advanced, and visual education is also a feature of the educational program. A unique feature is that inmates who complete the high school course available receive a high school diploma issued by the Department of Public Instruction of the State of Pennsylvania. Vocational training at Lewisburg is of an extremely practical and realistic nature and is keynoted by a close collaboration of theory and practice. Men at work on purely functional jobs are enabled to attend classes immediately related to the per- formance of their jobs. Tailors receive supplementary instruc- tion in pattern drafting, if they wish. Carpenters may take courses in shop mathematics. Men assigned to the laundry are encouraged to receive additional training in commercial laundrying. In the various other fields necessary to the insti- tution’s maintenance and production, the policy and practice is the same. In addition, correspondence courses (which include blueprint reading, household refrigeration, commercial law, business arithmetic and similar subjects) are available and instruction in them is vigorously and sympathetically supervised. The new training program, imposed by wartime exigencies and discussed in greater detail elsewhere on these pages, will undoubtedly expand the scope and opportunities of both edu- cation and industry at Lewisburg, as elsewhere. Lewisburg has taken cognizance of the Nation’s need for skilled farm workers as well as industrial workers. For in- mates who came from—and will return to—rural districts, agricultural courses have been arranged, through cooperation with Pennsylvania State College, and the institution’s farm program has been developed in relation to the courses so that such men may go outside considerably more able to assist in the production of food that the Nation so vitally needs at this time. Plans are under way, too, for vocational training in dairy operation. The chief industry at Lewisburg is metalworking. Before the war, a varied number of products were turned out: wastebaskets, sputum cups (for Veterans Hospitals), interstate truck identification plates (for the Interstate Com- merce Commission), filing cabinets, steel furniture, steel shelv- ing, automobile license plates (for the War, Agricultural and Interior Departments), food trays and many other similar products. Since Pearl Harbor, many of the nonessential lines have been dropped and Lewisburg’s metal shops have gone all out on the production of commodities necessary to the job of putting the Japs and Nazis out of business. Stainless steel food trays for the Army and Navy and Marine Corps, double- deck beds and bed locks (also for the military) and bomb fins and bomb racks are the principal items now manufactured. Though there are considerably less men confined at Lewis- burg, at present, production has been tremendously upped. Normal production of trays was 5,000 a month; present pro- duction: 5,000 a day. Steel consumption has increased 232 percent. Volume of business has increased 100 percent. A night shift has been at work since the early part of the war and the men are enthusiastically engaged at work that they realize is important to national needs. A contract for 100,000 Cutting Shirts ... a Hundred at a Time Each Man Has Own Niche in the Welding School 42 SCENES FROM LEWISBURG’8 METAL GOODS PLANT. The paint is sprayed on the fabricated parts; they will then undergo a “baking” process. Upper inset, lathe operation; lower inset, a welding job. double-decker beds for the Navy is now being filled with a patriotic fervor unexcelled in outside industry. Lewisburg also operates a clothing factory, turning out all of the apparel worn by both officers and inmates. The well-cut release suits for men in many of the federal prisons are manu- factured here, too. There are, of course, other activities in connection with the maintenance of the institution, in support of the social service, individual treatment and morale-stimulation program which take up the time and services of many of the men here con- fined. Not least of these is the growing of food that constitutes a large part of the institutional diet. Life at Lewisburg is somewhat less regimented than at some of the other federal penitentiaries. The men, for the most part, live in dormitories. There are also honor rooms—without bars or locks on the doors—for those who have proven their fitness for this consideration. Everything possible is done to stimulate morale and to de- velop the decent social instincts. There is an excellent library. Athletics are fostered and adequate equipment available. There is an inmate council which operates not as an administrational body but as a set-up through which the inmate body may make requests and suggestions to the administration. The institu- tional publication (The Periscope) gives the men excellent opportunities for self-expression. In these and manifold other ways Lewisburg attempts to create and stimulate a high degree of social, intellectual and emotional self-sufficiency for its men. There are, of course, the same superior medical facilities available (through the United States Public Health Service) in the other federal prisons. Every effort is made to send these men back to the world more fit, mentally, morally, spiritu- ally and physically, than when they appeared before the bar of justice. Lewisburg and the War The administration and men of Lewisburg have responded to the demands of the wartime emergency with vigor and enthu- siasm that would defy comparison with many nonpenal com- munities. The industrial set-up has already been related. Individually and in concert, the men have been equally anxious to be of use. Bonds in the amount of $4,350 have been purchased, and in the words of the administration, “practically all of these were bonds of low denominations, and in every case represents money earned in the industries and not . . . personal funds.” Nearly one hundred and fifty dollars was donated to the American Red Cross. A blood bank has been organized and more than half of the population has evinced a desire to be permitted to act as donors. An intensive campaign for the salvage of waste materials has been carried out and almost completely on the basis of voluntary inmate action. The administration has taken the necessary steps for security from air raids. Inmate air raid wardens have been appointed and trained and the personnel has been completely prepared for all eventualities under a carefully coordinated plan. Less than thirty days after Pearl Harbor the first practice blackout was held; the reservation was completely blacked out within four minutes of the sounding of the alarm. Again in the words of the administration, “not one unpleasant situation marred the blackout try-out and not one inmate was out of place or failed to cooperate.” Other blackouts have been held 43 (some in cooperation with the sur- rounding communities), all with the same success. A great many inmates have been released to work in plants turning out products for the military, and a great many more have obtained em- ployment in industries indirectly providing commodities for the war effort. Detailed information is not always available on such employ- ment, but the following cross-section of examples is significant of the nature and extent of the trend: A stock clerk in industries, when released, went to a terminal warehouse clerkship with a large manufacturing company in Baltimore, Md. A shipping clerk in industries secured a job as an assist- ant shipper for an iron and steel concern in Harrisburg, Pa. An electroplater in industries accepted a job secured for him in the electroplating department of a large metal manu- facturing company in Elizabeth, N, J. Two inmates who learned engineering drafting in the industries engineering department were sent to jobs with a large metal manufacturing concern in Philadelphia, Pa. A considerable number of welding trainees have secured jobs in the shipbuilding and drydock companies of New' York, Philadeplhia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. An inmate trained in the material control section of the industries has secured a similar position with a large air- plane manufacturing company at Buffalo, N. Y. A number of men released from Lewisburg have been ac- cepted by the Army shortly subsequent to their releases (such enlistments are growing more common) and many others who have obtained employment in war industries have written to the administration proudly announcing their good fortune. Probation reports that virtually all of these have proven ex- cellent workers. A placement bureau is currently being established in the prison and it is anticipated that, in the near future, far greater numbers of men released from Lewisburg will go directly to useful and well-paying jobs in the war pro- duction field. The institution has geared its vocational program to war needs, with realistic regard for skills that are needed outside, rather than skills that are requested inside. In other words, inmates are taught vocations for which there is a proven demand rather than trades which may appeal to them on the basis of personal inclination. Selections for such training are not made arbitrarily and without due regard for the individual’s capabilities and preferences. New men classified for industries are carefully placed according to intelligence, mechanical aptitude, experience in private employment, and release plans. All of this is done by the institutional vocational counselor, who talks with the inmate, determines his maximum usefulness in terms of outside industrial needs and the man’s own future welfare, and creates for him a parallel course of vocational instruction. There are many sound courses available. For instance, there is a welding class which offers a 200-hour course in all phases, methods and theories of welding (acetylene and arc). There is an excellent course in machine-shop maintenance. For those with longer sentences, there is a four-year course in tool and die making. Short-term machinist trainees receive instruc- tion in lathes, shapers, punch, and drill press operation and various other useful trades. The men respond enthusiastically to these opportunities. The incentive comes from the well-known need for skilled labor; the impetus comes from the fine spirit prevailing at Lewisburg. Individual reactions have been inspiringly commendable. We quote the management once more: “There has been a remarkable increase in the general esprit de corps ... a notice- able decrease in disciplinary and custodial problems. At the outbreak of the war, a number of inmates submitted interview slips to the Warden’s office in an effort to discover whether it would be possible for them to enlist in the armed forces upon their release. It might be well to note that these men asked no special favor, merely information as to how they could best serve their country. They did not say, if we are released we will consider serving our country.’ They said, ‘When we are released, we’ll serve our country in any way and in every way possible.’ One inmate said, ‘I’m trying to do the best that I can under the present circumstances. Naturally, I know I’m not too important to my country, but because it is my country, you can count on me for whatever I’ve got, and that includes my life if necessary.’ ” In these and other ways, the inmate body has responded, has proven their intrinsic Americanism and the value of the treat- ment which they receive at Lewisburg. Some of them have worked out inventions which have been forwarded by the ad- ministration to the proper authorities. Regardless of whether or not these inventions are used, even though they are entirely overlooked, they are nevertheless further manifestations of the spirit and Americanism of these men. An institution of this kind—like any commercial concern producing commodities—can only be judged by the nature and quality of its output. In this respect, as applied to its human commodity, Lewisburg can legitimately lay claim to high attainment. Its metal products are useful, cleanly fashioned, able to stand any reasonable stress and strain. And so it is with most of its other product, its men. Basketball Relaxed, as Well as Vigorous Recreation; Shuffleboard, Handball, etc. 44 TERRE HAUTE Area: 1,129 acres Capacity: 1,054 Per capita cost: $806.65 Budgetary appropriation: $515,991 Type of offenders: Tractable nonhabituals Number of personnel: 207 Warden E. B. Swope Associate Warden C. T. Gladden Chief Clerk Andrew C. Klotz Supervisor of Education Bert Lindsey Captain Samuel T. Cooper ' This newest penitentiary of the federal system is located in the midst of a region famed for its fertile acres and wholesome agricultural tradition. The institu- tion is adjacent to Terre Haute (population 62,693) and some 75 miles from Indianapolis, the state capital, where numerous industrial enterprises are located. Terre Haute is an agricultural and marketing center. The climate of the region is typically midwestern: cold, dry winters, mild, dry summers. The United States Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind., is one of the newest and most modern of the larger institutions operated by the Bureau of Prisons. Consequently, it has profited by all of the experiences and experiments that have gone before and represents the most modern thought and practice of today’s penology. Terre Haute is the antithesis of the heavily secure, maximum- security prison. It has no high wall, no small windows fretted with toolproof steel bars, and few of the other impedimenta of extreme restraint. It is not intended as an institution to house vicious or habitual criminals. It receives only men whose character and conduct warrant the assumption that they will respond to modified discipline and the rehabilitative facilities available there. Created at a cost of $3,000,000 between the years of 1938 and 1940, Terre Haute houses a potential capacity population of 1,200 prisoners on a reservation of 1,129 acres. The institution is so arranged that different kinds of prisoners within the reduced custody group receivable there can be further sub- classified and separately housed. Quarters of different natures stem from a central corridor which connects all of the struc- tures of the establishment (except, of course, the farm and garage buildings). There are open dormitories, similar to military barracks. There are outside cells. There are inside cells, probably the most restrictive type of housing available there. There are honor rooms. All of the rooms, with the excep- tion of those in the inside cell block referred to above, have direct access to light and air. The honor rooms are very similar to the private rooms to be found in hospitals of the outside world. Those who are privileged to live in them may leave them at will; their depar- tures and arrivals are announced to the administration by an electrical annunciator system. Assignment to honor rooms is made on the basis of proven trust and responsibility and is a reward keenly sought and striven for by Terre Haute’s inmates. The institution’s decor is neat, attractive, stimulative and decidedly the reverse of penal tradition. Its appearance, inside and out, is more suggestive of an important service academy than of an institution for the incarceration of felons. All of the morbidly depressing aspects of the traditional prison have been avoided. On the wall of the tastefully decorated dining hall, in which food is served cafeteria style (capacity 972 diners), there is carved this inspirational quotation: “Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully and he patient when thou art changed to lor. estate; for gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.” Across the pro- scenium arch of an auditorium whose dignified design and majestic beamed ceilings would do honor to a major university are written these words: “All experience is an arch to build upon.” In the spirit of such sentiments and against the back- ground of such an atmosphere is the work of this institution performed. Terre Haute’s inmates come from the Midwest, that territory so generally productive of the best elements of American life. Most of them, by reason of the nature of their classification, are conjecturally reclaimable individuals whose civic useful- An Approach View of the Federal Correctional Institution. Terre Haute, Ind. 45 The Institution Is Pleasantly Situated Amidst Fertile Hoosier Farm Lands ness has been aborted by factors usually outside of their ability to predispose: poverty, lack of education, vocational inadequacy and kindred conditions. The program at Terre Haute is therefore heavily slanted toward the assistance of such individuals. Classification is carried out with an especially tuned consideration to the exact need of the inmate, educational processes are developed along specific rather than general lines. Men are trained toward the solution of their future problems in terms of conditions and standards existent within the com- munity to which they must return, rather than to a conform- ity with a standard or uniform ideal. Because of its newness, none of the traditional prison credoes and prejudices exist at Terre Haute. The administration is successfully striving to prevent them from gaining a foothold within the institution so that the type of men who graduate from Terre Haute will not have been exposed to the inhibiting influences so difficult to eradicate in some prisons. All of the facilities available there are completely modern. The institutional kitchen conforms to the most advanced standards of culinary procedure. The equipment consists of electric griddles, bake ovens, electric food choppers and mixers, deep fat fryers, steamers, coffee urns and all possible devices for the nutritious and economical preparation of food. Out of 7,000 pounds of raw food which go into the kitchen each day, no more than approximately 58 pounds of waste will result. Inmates are fed at the rate of approximately twenty-five cents a day. With the national emergency now the essential factor in American life, every effort is being made by the men and administration of Terre Haute, in common with all other population groups and governmental agencies, to do everything possible toward the attainment of the ultimate victory. The administration is doing all possible to convert the keen patriotic fervor of the inmate population into activity and attitudes that will prove effective of the greatest benefit to the Nation. In the following ways is Terre Haute stirring itself to meet war needs: 1. Increased production on the farm is under way and will be greatly augmented with the passage of the next few months. This includes expansion in production of dairy foods, vegetables, beef and pork. 2. The department of education and the library are coop- erating in the defense program to furnish instruction and library facilities advantageous to inmates preparing for defense serv- ice. Trade training is offered in cement block manufacture, bricklaying, plumbing, general laundry operation, machine-shop 46 operation, gas and electric welding, cooking and baking. 3. In order to facilitate contacts between inmates and their local draft boards, an office has been provided whose function is to formulate these contacts and to make enlistments con- venient, where possible, upon release. 4. A searching scrutiny has been made in the direction of salvage possibilities and every effort is pursued toward the reduction of waste. Paper, metals and other essential materials are collected and shipped to the proper governmental agencies. 5. All officers and employees have been instructed and drilled in air raid and other precautions. The medical depart- ment has taken parallel measures. All of the inmates have cooperated wholeheartedly with these programs. 6. More than 250 of the inmates and many of the officers have contributed to the blood plasma bank of the American Red Cross. All stand ready to repeat this contribution. 7. Both inmates and officers have contributed substan- tially through the media of War Bonds, Stamps and other agencies, including the American Red Cross. The inmates have eagerly and earnestly indicated their desire to be included in the in- dustrial program now attaining such effective re- sults throughout the prisons of America. To meet this desire and this potentiality of val- uable production, the administration is hurrying to con- clusion, despite the difficulty of se- curing materials, the completion of the new industries building and installations. It should be remembered, in evaluating Terre Haute’s function and attain- ment, that this prison is still in a stage of incomplete development. Great possibilities of useful service are anticipated when the new industrial equipment is available for operation. Metalwork of many kinds can be produced in large quantities. These include small, round or square sheet metal containers or tanks, such as flare containers, liferafts, etc., iron pegs, tie rods, rifle stocks and similar military commodities. Wooden utilities, such as ammunition boxes, bread boards, tent pegs and stakes, field toilet seats, desks, signboards, barrack benches, tables, and desks can be fabricated according to Army and Navy specifications. Innumerable other products and a considerable amount of machine work; all of these services are within the potential of the shops now being readied at Terre Haute. And additionally, the maintenance and repair work of the insti- tution can be adequately performed. Exclusive of the equipment being installed in the industrial building, Terre Haute operates shops whose installations are capable of uses greatly in excess of present performance. The institution awaits only the sanction and demands of the proper authorities. The machine shop, for instance, is equipped with heavy duty lathes, a large Marshall & Huschart drill press, a planer and a considerable amount of other modern equipment. In the tin shop there is large Niagara slip-roll forming machine, an 18-gage capacity combination burring, turning and boring machine, a 24-gage capacity double seamer, an 18-gage crimping and beading machine, a 36-inch adjustable bar folder, a 36-inch squaring shear, and numerous other types of appli- ances. The carpenter shop has band saws, power-operated turning lathes, surface planers, mortising machines, hand jointers, rip saws and woodworking devices of all kinds for production on a large scale. All of the shops are amply lighted and heated so that with the establishment of a number of eight-hour shifts, a great volume of output could be made available. In a number of other related ways, the administration has sought and is seeking to bring the institution to its ultimate of service to the Nation. War posters have been placed throughout the institution. A survey of skills available in the inmate body has been made. A bureau is being created to function as a correspondence intermediary, in respect to employment—and especially defense employment—for inmates looking forward to release. Courses in agriculture, garment making, animal husbandry, printing, carpentry and cabinetmaking—all skills vital to a wartime economy—are planned for the near future. The p e n i t e n- tiary’s warden discusses Terre Haute’s response to the needs of the times in the fol- lowing terms: “With the national emergency now upon us in full force, every effort is being made by the governmental agencies t o con- serve scarce and vital materials which are needed for the defense.” “The institution at Terre Haute has come into line with similar insti- tutions all over the United States, despite the fact that the reserva- tion is only a little over a year old and many of the departments are not com- pletely organized or in working condition. The administration, with national defense uppermost in mind, has been bending every possible effort to this end. Both the administration and the inmate body feel keenly the need and the desire to prepare for all-out use of the available facilities, including the salvage of time and materials, for the supreme effort.” This statement by the Warden, with its concomitant sug- gestion of administrative confidence in the ability and willing- ness of the inmate population to put out the fullest possible effort for war needs, is typical of the relationship that exists between the staffs and the inmates of America’s federal prisons. The war has swept aside old barriers and prejudices that were, as far back as the middle thirties, already succumbing to the influence of the new social policies incepted by the Bureau of Prisons. The institution at Terre Haute, like most of the correctional institutions of the Bureau of Prisons, seeks to accomplish its larger purposes through the media of good living conditions, constructive work, and the facilities and opportunities for betterment of the individual. Incarceration per se, and as a punitive principle, is a secondary consideration for this insti- tution, whose subjects are generally those in the presumably reformable category. In its location, equipment, personnel and policy, it is admirably equipped for such objectives of re- habilitation. Terre Haute is readying itself for national service, in the same way that all other American agencies and inividuals are doing so, by making its services available to the use of national exigency. When the war is over, like any other good citizen, the institution will return to its peacetime functions. An Auditorium for Religious Services and Other Assemblies 47 ALCATRAZ Area: 12 acres Capacity; 364 Average population: 284 Per capita cost: $1,233.70 Budgetary appropriation: $399,880 Principal product: Mats for naval vessels Type of offenders: Intractable habitual Number of personnel: 118 Warden James A. Johnston Associate Warden Edward J. Miller Chief Clerk loring O. Mills Captain Henry W. Weinhold Alcatraz Island is one of three major islands in San Francisco Bay. It is iy2 miles from the city of San Francisco and somewhat less close to the towns of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. Alcatraz lies in the center of a shipping and industrial center of considerable magnitude. San Francisco is the terminus of the Southern Pacific, the Northwestern Pacific and the Santa Fe Rail- roads and the home port of many major shipping lines (Matson, President Lines, Grace Line, Luckenbach, et al.). Shipyards, foundries, mills, refineries, warehouses, can- neries, banking and brokerage concerns dominate the life of the region. Poised in the San Francisco Bay so that it enjoys the most perfect vista of the glorious Golden Gate and the placid Pacific beyond is Alcatraz Island, the Federal Government’s maximum- security prison. Contrary to popular misconception, Alcatraz is no “haven of the damned,” no American Devil’s Island. It is an institu- tion with a necessarily strict regimen and discipline. It does house criminals whose past acts classify them as vicious and whose long sentences render them classifiable as desperate. But in all other ways and aside from the restraints necessary to the custodial security of such men, Alcatraz shares all of the benefits and amenities to be found in the other federal institutions. The food is good. The inmates receive humane and understanding treatment. There are opportunities for recreation and facilities for education and intellectual advance- ment. And practically any man on Alcatraz may earn his return, by good conduct and proper adjustment, to institutions where the strictures are less rigorous. The history of the little island ... 12 acres of solid rock rising abruptly 175 feet above the blue-gray waters of the bay ... is colorfully interesting. In 1776 . . . five days before the Declaration of Independence was signed . . . the Spanish brig, San Carlos, dropped anchor on the windward side of the flinty islet. A helmeted conquistador, Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala, had himself rowed ashore, took possession in the name of Spain and wrote the bleak promontory into his map as the Jsla de los Alcatraces (Isle of the Pelicans), because of the great number of these birds that he found roosting there. Nothing was done on or to Alcatraz for nearly 70 years. Then, in 1846—just three years before the gold rush was to fill this bay with sailing ships and its shores with treasure-hungry men—Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, sold the island to one Julian Workman for purposes unknown. In 1849, the island was resold to General John Charles Fremont, an adventurous figure of the turbulent history of that era This is Alcatraz Island. This photograph was taken from a point due east of the islet. Invisible to the left is the city of San Fran- cisco, to right would be Angel Island, and in the center background is the Golden Gate (also not visible). The prison proper is the and contemporaneously (at least in the matter of this purchase) a representative of the United States Government. Five thousand dollars was the total price paid. Fremont is alleged to have disposed of the property to private ownership, but litigation followed, the mooted sale was disallowed, and Alcatraz was retained as a property of the Federal Government. In 1854, the United States began to develop fortifications throughout the bay area and batteries of guns were installed on the island. A wharf was built, buildings were constructed, and a lighthouse was established whose pale white beam has fingered the rugged shoreline of the bay from that day to this. In 1859, Company H of the Army’s Third Artillery took up residence and duty on the rocky islet. But Alcatraz, destined for grimmer offices, was not long to remain a simple garrison. Islets have traditionally been associated with imprisonment. Lipari, off the coast of Italy; Solovetskiye in the White Sea, north of Russia; Elba, St. Helena, sensational Devil’s Island, and Fort Drum, the grim bastille in the Dry Tortugas, famed as the locale of Dr. Mudd’s imprisonment—all of these are vivid examples of apt, inevitable uses for small remote islands. In 1861, the first prisoner set foot on Alcatraz. His name was Asbury Harpending; he was a San Franciscan of patrician family and his crime was that of conspiring to aid the Confederacy. He plotted to turn California over to the South, as a matter of fact. He remained on Alcatraz but a short time, long enough only to establish his priority as the first man ever to be imprisoned on the piece of land which was to accommodate, through the years, so many prisoners. Harpending lived on and prospered, became one of San Francisco’s leading citizens. In 1868, the island was designated by the Army as a disciplinary barracks for long-term prisoners. During the seventies, brave and important chiefs captured in the Indian wars of the time were sent there. Later, after the Spanish- American War, large numbers of American soldiers who had deserted, joined the Philippine Insurrectionists, and later being recaptured, were brought to Alcatraz. Civilians who committed crimes against the Army during the Boxer Rebellion in China were transported there. When earthquake and disaster came to San Francisco in 1906, all of the inmates of the city’s jails were brought out to “the Rock,” as it had come to be known with the passage of time. In 1934, the island was taken over by the Bureau of Prisons, to be used as an escapeproof prison for so-called “incorrigible prisoners.” In the years that followed, extensive changes were made. Because of the type of men to be sent there, far greater security measures and equipment were needed. And because of the length of sentences involved, more “livable” domicilic facilities were required. In every way, the island prison was renovated to meet its new responsibilities. Today, Alcatraz is probably the most modern and efficient prison of its type in the world. It is not a pleasant place, but its responsibility is not a pleasant one and it performs a difficult social function as expeditiously, as humanly and as intelligently as is compatible with the statute of its establish- ment and purpose. Nor is it an unpleasant place. Though it is primarily an institution for the confinement of habitual and incorrigible prisoners with serious records of violent crime, members of gangs whose association it is desirable to break up, long-term prisoners against whom other jurisdictions have filed warrants for other crimes, prisoners who have forfeited their good time for serious misconduct in other prisons, and ingenious “escape artists” and agitators and fomenters of institutional trouble, Alcatraz exists not only as an incarceratorium for the vicious rectangular building at the crest of the island, to the right are the shops and laundries, to the left (around the former parade ground) are the residences of officials and employees. The lighthouse is operated by the U. S. Lighthouse Service, Department of Commerce. but it, no less than the other federal prisons, functions as a re- habilitative agency, for few men—even those regarded as “the worst”-—are completely unregenerate, and, with increasing fre- quency, “corrected incorrigibles” are transferred from “the Rock” to be given new opportunities in the other prisons of the system. In this way and where opportunities occur, Alcatraz can be the first step on the long road back, instead of “the end of the line” of a criminal career. Physically, the island’s locale is inspiringly beautiful. From the cell block perched on its spire is visible an expanse of fifty miles of bay and shoreline. The silhouetted skyline of San Francisco is less than two miles away. Framing the Golden Gate to the westward are the 746-foot spires of the Golden Gate Bridge. To the northward are the redwood slopes of Mount Tamalpais and to the east, tumbling in profusion among the foothills of the lofty Sierra Nevadas, are the dwellings of Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Richmond, San Leandro, and other communities. Alcatraz is not alone in the bay. Close by is Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West and the contemporary home of thousands of Japanese as well as the training place for many units of the Na- tion’s new Army. Nearer is pancake-flat Treasure Is- land, whence zoom myriads of naval planes with a pro- fusion once reserved for the pelicans that nested on Alca- traz. Further down the bay is Yerba Buena Island, the well-verdured Naval Train- ing Station and a principal fulcrum for the eight-mile- long super-bridge between San Francisco and East Bay. The view from the island is one of animation and living beauty. Raucous seagulls soar overhead. The choppy waters of the bay are invariably strewn with maritime craft of all kinds, noisy tugs, dingy freighters, clean white ferry- boats, man-of-warsmen, and fishing vessels and scows of many a cut and stripe. In more peaceful times, luxury liners steamed past “the Rock” with daily frequency, the wafted strains of fare- well music in their foamy wakes. This is the vista from Alcatraz — certainly not a dismal one. When the Bureau took possession in 1934, it found 600 old-fashioned soft-steel cells as the mainstay of the penal establishment. These were removed and modern toolproof steel cell bars with automatic locking devices were installed. Gun detectors, special gas outlets and other precautionary measures were made available. A zone in the water around the island was marked off with buoys; boats were proscribed from this area. New guard towers were erected, floodlights installed and gun galleries and overhead walks constructed so that sur- veillance of all the activities of all prisoners at all times was made effective. Every effort was made to insure security; this vigilance has at no time been seriously breached. The Bureau regards work as a major factor in rehabilitation. Alcatraz, in common with the least of federal correctional institutions, carries out a program of constructive work. All such employment (except that needed for the maintenance of the prison) comes under the jurisdiction of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., and men so assigned receive additional “good time” on their sentences (deductions of from 2 to 5 days monthly), but no wages are paid. A large laundry, which serves military posts throughout the bay area and the Army Transport Service, is the principal service; the island tugboat picks up and delivers linen from and to the many forts and other reser- vations along the shoreline. There is a dry-cleaning plant, a clothing factory, a model shop (which repairs furniture), and a factory which fabricates mats from scrap materials for use on warships. More than 53 percent of the population of Alcatraz work in these industries. (Approximately 31 percent are employed at general maintenance, the remaining 16 percent are either segregated, hospitalized or temporarily unassigned.) As indicated in the foregoing, the regimen at Alcatraz is strict and uncharacterized by indulgences. Yet there are adequate concessions to morale-stimulative factors. There are no educational classes such as are to be found in the other institutions, but there is an extensive curriculum of cell study courses as made available through the Extension Division of the University of California. There is a large enrollment in these courses (which include instruction in foreign languages, English, mathematics and various ad- vanced subjects) and ap- proximately 1,400 lessons a year are submitted to the faculty of that university for correction. The Extension Division states that the men do “excellent work,” earn “good grades.” There are also the various correspond- ence courses circulated in the other federal prisons (bookkeeping, stenography, history, art, zoology, com- mercial law, psychology, ag- riculture, music, philosophy and logic). There is a library of ap- proximately ten thousand volumes and, according to the Warden, practically every man in the institution uses the library, a circum- stance unusual to any pris- on. There are religious services conducted in appro- priate surroundings by chap- lains of the conventional denominations. Educational moving pictures are shown regularly, and on holidays specially selected feature pictures are shown. About thirty men practice on some kind of musical instrument and from this nucleus has been recruited a ten-piece orchestra which gives concerts in the living quarters from time to time. Thrice-weekly musical programs are enjoyed from selections of a library of more than a thousand recordings. A relatively extensive sports program is vigorously fostered. Several softball teams compete each week end in the walled diamond adjacent to the cell house. There are also facilities for handball, horseshoe pitching and similar activities. Men of more sedentary inclinations may play chess, dominoes or checkers. The routine of daily life is simple and unvarying and there are no exceptions to common rules; the policy of all federal prisons does not permit the existence of “big shots” or “politi- cians.” Meals are served cafeteria style and the food is, even in the opinion of the most cynical prisoners, good and whole- some. All men are quartered in single cells and each is provided Warden Johnston (center) at the Entrance to His Headquarters with the fundamental commodities for personal maintenance (soap, toilet articles, tobacco, etc.). No newspapers are per- mitted, but certain selected periodicals are circulated. Visits from next of kin are permitted on a monthly basis. In these and other ways the regimen is strict, unrelenting, but com- pletely impartial. On the other hand, each inmate has the privilege and benefit of individual treatment and consideration at all times. The population and turn-over is small enough so that the admin- istration is enabled to discuss respective problems with inmates whenever such discussions may be requested. Medical facilities are such that consultations, too, are available to any man who becomes worried about his health. Very little case work in social service is done, however, at Alcatraz, as most case histories have been completed long before the subjects are transferred to “the Rock.” (Prisoners are never sentenced directly from the courts to this institution; they are invariably received via other institutions.) Facilities for the development of release plans are not required either; virtually all men facing release are transferred to other federal prisons some months prior to the termi- nation of their sentences. Alcatraz is more than adequately supplied with medical facilities. There is a splendidly equipped hospi- tal, a chief medical officer, a psychiatrist, a dentist and three registered male nurses who act as guard attendants. In addition, consultant serv- ices from the U. S. Marine Hospital of San Francisco are always available and frequently called into use. Considerable recourse to psy- chiatry has been productive of important results, both in regard to understanding and planning treatments for psy- chopathic inmates, and in helping those with sufficient insight to understand and correct their own problems. It comes as a surprise to many to learn that Alcatraz is home not only to several hundred prisoners but to some fifty civilian families as well. On the southernmost escarpment of the island live the families of the care- fully selected and trained custodial force that preserves the security of the prison. Clustered about the parade ground that once rang to the smart cadence of Army Regulars are small wooden homes (some of them more than a half-century old), newer apartment buildings, and bachelor quarters. Each morning during the school term, Army boats stop at the island, pick up more than sixty children who attend the schools of San Francisco, and bring them back in the afternoon. Much is made, in sensational newspaper and magazine stories, of the harsh climate prevalent on Alcatraz, of the fog. In every sense of the word, the climate of the bay area is salubrious. Temperatures are invariably cool, both summer and winter. There is, especially during the summer and fall months, considerable fog. But anyone who has experienced the brisk, crystal-clear weather of the San Francisco Bay area knows well that no more healthful climate exists. Alcatraz and the War The inmates of this institution for “incorrigibles” are no less patriotic than their comrades in other prisons, or than other Americans of the free world. They have purchased War Bonds to the amount of $3,250. They have offered contributions of blood to the plasma bank operated by the American Red Cross. They have stepped up their industrial activities to meet the needs (laundry) of the many government agencies and depart- ments in the vicinity (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Army Trans- port Service). They are responding in every way open to them. Alcatraz, with San Francisco, has often been mentioned of late as a possible target for Japanese bombs, and it is true that the danger exists. But no prison and hardly any community is better prepared to meet and defend itself against such raids. The administration has worked out complete plans for the pro- tection of both inmates and personnel (and their families). There are two large and virtually impregnable air raid shelters. There are operating rooms buried deep in the rocky fastnesses of the island. In case of raids, Alcatraz will imme- diately become coordinated with the safety measures effective on the mainland under the jurisdiction of the Air Corps Interceptor Com- mand. In the words of the Warden, “We have developed a plan of complete and per- fect blackout of the island, and have demonstrated our ability to put it into effect immediately upon receipt of the signals. Our plan has worked and our officers have demonstrated their ability to control the situation in dark- ness; the civilians responded in an excellent manner, and we have had fine cooperation from the inmates.” In regard to response to the emergency by the prison- ers of the island, the Warden says, “Their reaction to the war situation, the blackouts, and the possibility of air raids seems to me to be just about like that of the civil- ians I talked to . . . that any- thing might happen in this war, but that so far as we can anticipate or judge by what has happened else- where, we on this island are about as safe as any place we could be. At any rate, we are taking every possible precaution, we are having no hysteria and we are not afraid.” In addition to air raid security precautions, instruction in first aid and in incendiary bomb control is being given to all members of the staff and more than 40 residents of the island have already been graduated in such courses. Thus, it may be clearly perceived that all members of this community, employees and prisoners, are doing their respective bits, within their specific limitations, for the war effort. Mats for Navy Quarterdecks All of the foregoing, informative though it is in its details, is even more significant of the fact that Alcatraz is carrying out a delicate and formidably difficult function with a modicum of success, where success is measured in terms of dignified administration and operation. And if Alcatraz served no other Continued on Page 89 51 DANBURY Area: 250 acres Capacity: 549 Average population: 261 Per capita cost: $724.16 Budgetary appropriation: $349,039. Type of offenders: Short-term tractable Warden Edgar M. Gerlach Chief Clerk Louis L. Kidd Assistant Supervisor of Education David R. Bowman Captain Kenneth E. Thieman The Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury is located in the Penbroke section of this attractive Con- necticut city (population 22,339). Danbury is the Nation’s number one felt hat manufacturing center and also has many other industries of various kinds. Immediately adjacent to the institution are farming areas. Hartford is 55 miles distant and New Haven is 30 miles away. The altitude is 375 feet; the climate is mild and warm in the summer, extremely cold in winter. The Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Conn., is the only federal prison in all of New England. Erected between 1938 and 1940, Danbury is one of the newest links in the chain of specialized penal institutions with which the Bureau of Prisons has girded the forty-eight states in the interest of a safer society. Nearly two million dollars were spent in construction and equipment and its facilities are mod- ern in every respect. There is no wall. Of the self-enclosing type, the institution consists of a number of structures adjoined rectangularly around a central yard. There are six dormitories holding 60 men each and there is one unit of honor rooms, a maximum- security cell block and three cell blocks of the intermediate- security type. This is the extent of living quarters. There are also shop buildings, a hospital, a receiving building, a dining hall, classrooms, an administration building, and warehouse facilities. In the central yard there is adequate space for recreation of all kinds. Danbury has a housing potential of 600 accommodations but has never yet been called upon to provide for this number. The institution is currently intended for the incarceration of tractable male delinquents serving sentences not in excess of eighteen months and serves both the New England states and the New York area. Danbury is unique in its system of custody. From the day that an inmate enters this institution he becomes subject to a plan of diminishing supervision. He is at first quartered in a cell. Later, good conduct and satisfactory adjustment will cause his transfer to a dormitory. With the passage of time, he will be permitted to live in one of the institution’s honor rooms, the doors of which are not locked, nor are the windows barred. On the other hand, inmates who evince surly, refrac- tory tendencies are assigned to quarters in “New Hampshire house”; here there are the traditional “inside” cells, closer custody and a minimum of the more desirable amenities of institutional life. Ordinary cells are not unpleasant. They are 8% feet high, 6 feet wide and 10 feet long. Each contains a metal bed with a built-in locker, a toilet, a combination washbowl and drinking fountain, an electric light and a folding table and chair. The dormitories mentioned above are light, cheerful and well venti- lated, easily comparable to modern military barracks. Danbury possesses an additional housing facility of a nature unusual to penal institutions, the cubicle dormitory. Bed space in this dormitory is apportioned off into separate cubicles separated by enclosures some 4 feet high. The bottom of the enclosure stands 8 inches above the floor, thus permitting the free flow of air. The arrangement permits a semiprivacy very desired and desirable in penal institutions, both from the standpoints of the administration and the personnel. (For a look at this type of living quarters, turn to page 89.) All of the educational and vocational facilities that are vir- tually “standard equipment’’ in the correctional institutions of the Bureau of Prisons are to be found at Danbury. There is an excellent school, a well-stocked library, and, of course, the full curriculum of correspondence courses (cell study courses) that are so popular and effective a factor of education in federal prisons. Vocational instruction is available in the main- tenance repair shops. There is a paint shop, a sheet metal shop, a plumbing and steam fitting shop, and an electrical and carpenter shop. Also unique at Danbury is a hobby shop, supervised by a voca- tional director, where inmates may come, three or four times a week, and do handicraft work in wood, leather, rubber, and other materials. To augment the somewhat non- penal aspect of life at Danbury, the administration permits and stimulates an intensive program of inmate activity. There is an inmate council, whose members are elected by the population in general, which meets with the Warden and his department heads from time to time for the purpose of making suggestions and bringing inmate interests to the attention of those concerned. There are a considerable number of activities fostered by the educational de- partment. There is an excellent in- mate publication {“The Emanci- pator”). And not least important, sports and outdoor recreational activities are heavily accentuated at Danbury. Another factor tend- Continued on Page 89 Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, Conn. (Photo by courtesy of the New York Daily News and “Prison World.”) TALLAHASSEE Area: 800 acres Capacity: 350 Average population: 400 Per capita cost: $334.56 Budgetary appropriation: $338,576 Principal products: Agriculture, laundry work Type of prisoners: Short-term tractables, rural type offenders Warden Alfred Ogram Associate Warden Richard O. Culver Chief Clerk Strobhart H. Seabrook Captain Allen M. Grider The Federal Correctional Institution at Tallahassee, Fla., is located at the point of that colorful state’s north- ward sweep where the palm trees turn into pines. The institution is on the outskirts of the state capital, a city of some 30,000 persons, and is on the direct highway between the east and west coasts of Florida. Farming, lumbering and turpentine production are the principal activities; there are few industries. More than 48 mili- tary training centers are in the immediate vicinity of Tallahassee. The climate is subtropical. The pine-clad uplands of northern Florida are host to some five hundred federal prisoners at the Federal Correctional Insti- tution at Tallahassee, Fla. Here, in a healthfully rural atmosphere, men of an improv- able type—especially those with an agricultural background— are trained in ways of constructive vocational security, are weaned from the practices and attitudes which led to their imprisonment. Tallahassee was opened for operation in November 1938 with but ten prisoners on its rolls. Since then, more than two and a half thousand men have been received there, the high count at any one time not exceeding 658. It is of the modern “quadrangle” type of design and presently includes nine perma- nent buildings, consisting of four dormitories, a receiving building, a utility building, a storeroom, a laundry, and a power plant. Nearby is a community of six homes, the residences of the officials. Most of the construction at Tallahassee was accom- plished with inmate labor as a phase of the institution’s voca- tional training program. All of the buildings are located on an Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, Fla. 800-acre tract of excellent farming land where the production is of vegetables, sugar cane, general farm crops and upon which are raised a considerable number of hogs and turkeys. The farm is not, as yet, in full production, but attainment up to the present has demonstrated that far more food than is needed for local consumption can be grown of everything that is adapted to the climate ahd the soil. In the words of the Warden, “It appears that a feasible addition to the defense program would be to produce vegetables, sirup, milk and poultry products for the military posts nearby.” The institution receives individuals from the southeastern states who have been classified as tractable. These men are primarily of the backwoods, underprivileged persons who are anything but vicious in disposition and have generally gotten in trouble due to their submarginal economic status. The hope of effecting a change in the thinking and practices of these men, according to a statement from the Warden of Tallahassee, seems to lie in better educational and occupational training and in increased economic opportunities. About one-third of them come to the institution illiterate. Practically all are unskilled. Tallahassee strives to give educational and vocational training to as many as are receptive and capable. Nearly one-half of the population is enrolled in academic classes and practically the whole inmate body is engaged in organized work activ- ities where both training and practice are given toward making proficient workmen. Aside from its agricultural enterprises and the operations of shops necessary to the maintenance of the institution, Talla- hassee’s only industrial activity is its large modern laundry. The laundry, a full-scale activity before the war, is now work- ing at fullest potentiality in the service of the nearby mili- tary establishments adjacent to the institution. In April 1941, the laundry had 31 workers and 2 hired employees, washed 22,955 pounds of linens. In January 1942, with 73 inmate work- ers, 8 civilian employees and 65 new pieces of equipment, it washed 124,289 pounds of linens. At present, the laundry is working in two shifts to serve the 48 military units located in the area within 140 miles of the institution. As the pop- ulation of the cantonments is gradually being augmented, it is likely that even greater burdens will be placed upon Talla- hassee’s laundry, burdens which the institution will be glad to meet. Because of the nature and background of the inmates of the institution there are few major custodial problems and prac- tically no disciplinary problems. America’s entry into the war has infused men with a lusty patriotism and all are anxious to do their share. Tallahassee and the War The institution’s direct contribution to the war effort—Its laundry work—has already been described. The inmate re- action to the emergency can best be described in the Warden’s own words: “The native inmate population of Tallahassee* is intensely loyal and deeply interested in the defense program. The morale has risen appreciably since war was declared and everyone seems eager to contribute in any way possible to any activity that will help bring about victory. All are anxious to keep abreast of the latest developments from the war fronts, and haunt the library to read everything available on the subject. Very many of the eligible men are eager to join the military forces and they have watched with considerable impatience for the appearance of legal measures that will put them into uniform and some have already been inducted, their sentences having expired. All are hopeful of a chance of pardon for duty well performed and an ultimate discharge from the armed forces rather than release from prison when their sentences are served. Men with no more than minor crimes against them would be happy to erase the prison stigma in a baptism of fire for their country. Physical Fitness Is Not Ignored “Phases of military training have been in use here for many months. This includes military drill for volunteers, formal color formations and a ceremonial retreat in the evening. Notice- able respect in these matters is shown by the inmates. One inmate made special mention of the thrill he experienced the first evening he spent in the institution, from observing lines standing at attention while Old Glory was slowly and rever- ently lowered. He said he knew then that he was not in such a terrible place when such loyalty and spirit was its guiding light.” Every precaution for the security of the institution in case of air raids has been taken. Classes in first aid have been held and moving pictures showing methods for dealing with various kinds of bombs have been shown. The institutional rifle range, equipped for pistol, rifle, shotgun and machinegun practice, is in almost constant use by army units from the local air base (which has no range of its own). In these ways and all other ways that may become apparent with the passing of time and the trend of events, Tallahassee stands ready to do its humble best for the war effort, assured and compensated in the knowledge that it, with all of the other resources of the Bureau of Prisons, is serving a double objec- tive by so doing, not only assistance to the Nation from a defense standpoint but assistance to the Nation from the stand- point of the resocialization of men who are materially bettered with each opportunity that comes their way to help their country. Prison Reservation ... or Campus *Tallahassee is also host to a large number of enemy aliens, mostly Italian. These, say the administration, give no trouble whatsoever, work hard at their assignments, and display extraordinarily little interest in the fortunes of the Axis plunderers. 54 EL RENO Area 1,000 acres Capacity: 1,118 Average population: 1,023 Per capita cost: $544.38 Appropriation: $546,830 Principal products: Brooms, woolen cloth Type of offender: Young improvable and tractable offenders Warden Leo Clark Schilder Associate Warden William H. Hardwick Chief Clerk — Vincent Harper Supervisor of Education Loyal R. Conrad Captain Roy D. Weidman El Reno lies in central westerly Oklahoma in a fertile alluvial valley between the Cimarron and the Canadian Rivers. Oklahoma City, the capital and largest city of the state, is some thirty miles distant. The oil industry and farming enterprises are the principal activities in the region. The altitude is 1,365 feet and the climate is moderate, with long and somewhat dry summers and chilly but not intemperate winters. The poulation of the town of El Reno is in the neighborhood of 10,000; it is principally noteworthy as an agricultural center. Set against the fine, wholesome background of the Old West in the territory swept by the influences of virile pioneer Ameri- canism, El Reno functions as the “Chillicothe of the West.” the Federal Government’s reformatory for improvable young offenders from the regions west of the Mississippi River. Construction of the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Okla., was authorized by act of Congress of May 27, 1930. Work was started in January 1932, and the institution was formally opened in February 1934. With an estimated value of $3,000,000 (land and establishment), the reservation comprises some 1,000 acres. There are six dormitories, cell houses, a modern and attractive dining hall, a school, a hospital, and other maintenance and in- dustrial buildings. There are also residences for the institu- tional personnel. The institution receives male prisoners, as a rule not over 30 years of age, who are proper subjects for detention in a re- formatory. The population varies from 900 to 1,200. Most of the young men received at El Reno come from rural or semi- rural backgrounds, of limited submarginal opportunities before convictions, and have had little or no vocational skill. Every effort is made to reach these men with treatment that will pro- duce vocational and social sufficiency. Each new inmate is given a social interview and medical, pyschiatric, pyschological, educational and trade examinations. Reports are made by specialists in the institution, and the new inmate is classified for his work and assignments. The men are assigned to a maintenance or a construction detail, to the farm or to the academic school, the vocational shops or to the industries. The principal aim at all times is to prepare the man so that upon release he will become better adjusted to society. The training in various trades and industry has been proven very efficacious toward helping him adjust economically on release. Release planning, by the social unit, is being so effectively carried out that only on rare occasions is it nec- essary to hold a man beyond his parole date for want of employment. “Graduates” from El Reno are going to good jobs in the outside world and keeping these jobs with surprising frequency. Many are working satisfactorily as bricklayers, plasterers and carpen- ters. Two boys who worked in the institutional projection booth (learning their trade in this way) are employed in their home town movie theaters. Several who learned radio work at El Reno are earning excellent livings as radio repairmen. One outstanding case of rehabilitation was a one-armed clerk in the school office who learned to type and helped organize the correspondence courses. Released, he became an automobile salesman, is making several hundred dollars monthly and attending business college at nights. Many other alumni of the institution are working in defense industry and a number have been satisfactorily inducted into the armed services. All inmates who test below the fifth grade level are assigned to academic school for half-day attendance. The evening school offers a variety of courses, such as elementary and advanced academic subjects, mechanical drawing, typing, book- keeping, shorthand, Spanish, art, psychology, religion, gym, radio, and a number of high school and college courses. There are also a considerable number of cell study courses. About 80 percent of the men at El Reno are enrolled in one or more of these various .forms of education. There are three industries in the institution which pay wages: the broom factory, the weaving mill and the print shop. Approximately 300 men are so engaged and practically all of the production resulting from this work goes to the armed services. Some 200 men do construction work and the remainder are employed on maintenance assignments or on the institu- tional farm, which produces hogs, cattle, vegetables, hay and grain crops. Since completion of the addition to the vocational training building several months ago, five shops have been set up. Two of these, especially designated, are training men who will in many cases go into war industries. In the welding shop, a maximum complement of sixteen men are learning forging, oxy- acetylene and electric welding. The machine shop is running to almost full capacity and will soon be turning out men ex- perienced in handling machine shop equipment. (A number Federal Reformatory, El Reno, Okla. 55 of men trained in the institution’s maintenance machine shop are presently making good in outside war-production shops.) There has been a strong increase in the number of men requesting assignment to the vocational shops. A definite pro- gram of training has been set up to provide each man with experience on a variety of jobs so he will be fully trained in a particular trade. Recreational facilities at El Reno are entirely adequate. The recreation field has five baseball and softball diamonds and all possible equipment is provided. There are also basketball, volleyball and handball courts, horseshoe pits and other facili- ties. The gymnasium is used extensively in the winter for basketball games. There are full-time Catholic and Protestant chaplains who conduct Sunday services and weekly religious lectures. Motion pictures are shown weekly or oftener during the late fall, winter and early spring months. The inmates have been permitted to form an advisory coun- cil. They elect delegates to this council, which meets for dis- cussions of common problems and holds discussions of these problems with the Warden. There is an excellent library. On the average, there is a circu- lation of 3,100 magazines, 1,250 newspapers, 1,412 nonfiction books and 3,239 fiction books a month. The library is kept as current as possible with continual acquisition of new books. El Reno and the War The administration and the inmates of El Reno have re- sponded to war needs with an enthusiasm and an immediacy not to be exceeded in any other walk of life. The industrial response is symptomatic of this reaction. In the broom factory (where 110 men were employed before the war), 120 men now work a regular 48-hour week on production which is being entirely devoted to war purposes. Their production for the last quarter of 1941 was: A Chalk Talk on Shop Mathematics are the only factors which have precluded the assignment of more men to this industrial activity. Both inmates and adminis- tration are keenly anxious to perform more war production and will probably do so upon completion of the new industrial building. El Reno’s other two industries (the weave shop and the print shop) are not engaged in actual war work but are occupied at activities which release other employees for more vital projects, and they are working at top speed, stimulated by even this meager satisfaction. The weaving shop (with complete facil- ities for producing woolen goods) will probably find function in the war effort. As indicated in the foregoing, approximately sixty inmates have been released to wartime work and are now employed in shipyards, factories, and in the military camps as waiters, etc. Approximately thirty have been drafted or have joined the Army and one has enlisted in the Navy. Those who can remember the convict antagonisms of other years would be refreshingly surprised at the way that all persons in the institution have cooperated toward the war effort by accelerating their production tempo, keeping up a good morale, conserving materials and salvaging war-vital scrap. During a short period recent to the writing of this article 12 tons of waste paper, 2 y2 tons of old rags and 25 tons of scrap metal was turned over to the proper agencies. Every effort has been made by the institution to furnish the inmate body with useful war-related training. One of the first of such measures was the training of men in first aid. The medical department, with the assistance of the recreational director, gave a 12-hour course in first aid which covered the treatment of wounds, bleeding, concussion, fainting, poisoning, artificial respiration and other similar conditions. Hundreds of men have completed these courses. The first-aid squads which will function as part of a security plan in case the institution ever suffers an air raid are composed of graduates of these classes. In the words of the Warden, “Interest in these classes has been very high. We expect to have every man in the institution take this course in time.” Three classes of ten men each have taken a study course in aviation consisting of theory of flight, construction of aircraft, their types and operations, and civil aeronautics regulations. These classes were held four hours a week for eight weeks and were taught by an inmate who holds a civilian pilot’s license and who formerly had been an aviation machinist in the Navy and an aviation mechanic in the Army. The carpenter shop has turned out hundreds of model air- planes for the State Director of Model Aircraft Production under the United States Office of Education. During the past year, twenty-five men were transferred to the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, for training in that institution’s excellent aviation school. The men who have been sent east represent the pick of the population at El Rena and were constrained to display high qualifications and ability to profit by training in order to be chosen. In this manner, the Bureau of Prisons has formulated and carried out a vigorous October November December Dozen 5,016 4,279 4,916 Total for the quarter 14,211 Production for the first quarter of 1942 was: January February March 5,072 5,759 6,726 Total for the quarter . 17,557 Throughout the rest of the year, production has zoomed at a proportionate rate. Limitations of space in the broom factory and the needs of the institution’s extensive construction program Woolen Cloth Is Produced Here 56 and effective war-training program within its own ranks. The entire farming program is being developed to the end that pork production will be increased about 30 percent, that approximately one-fourth of the institution’s beef requirements will be produced, and that certain sugar substitutes may be developed insofar as circumstances and the nature of the land at El Reno will permit. Air raid and blackout planning has been completely organ- ized, regardless of the remote geographical location of the in- stitution. While re- sponsibility for the development, coordi- nation and perpetu- ity of the plan is vested in one indi- vidual known as the chief air raid mar- shal, the break-down of the plan indi- cates a subdivision of eight sections, each section headed by an employee well qualified in his special duties, and actual development of the plan and training in con- nection therewith is in the hands of these section heads. The use of in- mates is included in the plan. They will be utilized as fire- men, watchers, run- ners, stretcher-bear- ers and first aid workers. Interest and cooperation from them has been gratifying in the extreme. Contact with the local and state civilian de- fense agencies has been made, complete coordination has been arranged, and it is from this source that the in- stitution will receive its warnings, if they come. As indicated i n many places in the foregoing, the in- mate reaction, both group and individ- ual, has been in- tense and whole- some. Probably most symbolic and symptomatic of the loyalty of the men of the reformatory at El Reno is this “Declaration of Faith” drawn up shortly after Pearl Harbor. Qualified by a preamble which said, “This is not a petition; rather is it an expression of faith and loyalty on the part of the undersigned inmates, to their land, the country for which their fathers died,” the pledge took the following form: “To Mr. Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War; Colonel Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy; the Hon. Francis Biddle, Attorney General of the United States, and Warden L. C. Schilder: “1. In recognition that a state of war now exists between the United States and a foreign sovereign, that this Nation is now required to make its most supreme sacrifice that it may exist as a bulwark of freedom, that in that effort all loyal, freedom-loving people of the United States are duty- bound to offer every assistance to their government within their power, we, the undersigned, do of- fer our allegiance, and all our services and efforts, without reservation, to the United States Navy, Army, Air Force, Civilian Defense, or industrial mobiliza- tion at which we may be best suited to fulfill the needs of the Nation. We pledge we will faith- fully obey all and any orders of this government and will execute same to the best of our ability; so help us God. “2. In recognition that our Nation is at war and that every resource in this Na- tion must be mobi- lized to continue that struggle, we, the un- dersigned inmates of this institution, will register as few complaints as possi- ble, will not insti- gate malice, will re- spect institutional property and prac- tice rigid economy in the use of insti- tutional clothing and supplies, and in all respects promote good will and con- duct ourselves as befitting our status.” This was the pledge of the men of El Reno, a fitting and revealing tribute to the rehabilitative policies and practices of the administration there. The Warden states that they have adhered to the promises contained within this pledge; that “enthusiasm and cooperation continue on a high plane.” Brooms for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps 57 MILAN Area: 196 acres Cell capacity: 575 men Average population: 492 Per capita cost: $534.73 Number of personnel: 71 Type of offenders: Short-term tractable offenders Principal product: Metal beds Warden Cecil J. Shuttleworth Associate Warden Lemual F. Fox Chief Clerk Paul J. Wise Captain Earl T. Drown Milan is located in fertile farming country some 50 miles southwest of Detroit (Ann Arbor is nearer, only 27 miles away). The population of the town itself is something under 2,000. There are few industries close to the prison, but in the Detroit region is located one of the largest industrial areas in the world. The altitude is 603 feet above sea level and the climate ranges from temperate to very cold. The Federal Correctional Institution at Milan, Mich., has, in its relatively short career, undergone a wide and varied category of uses. Opened in April of 1933, it was originally intended for the detention of offenders awaiting trial in the adjacent federal districts and for the incarceration of prisoners with sentences of one year or less. In the fall of the same year, it became necessary to use a part of the prison for the custody of women convicted of serious crimes whose temperaments and attitudes made impossible their detention in the regular federal institu- tions for women. Shortly afterward, it was decided to also house certain other types of offenders at this prison, informers, narcotic addicts constitutional psychopaths and homosexuals. The institution, which had been named “The United States Detention Farm,” was now called the Federal Correctional Institution at Milan, Mich. More recently, with the establishment of specialized institu- tions for most of the types mentioned above, such classes of prisoners were transferred away from Milan and this prison became one with a group of similar institutions intended for the incarceration and rehabilitation of improvable short-term male offenders. Because of the proximity to the Canadian border, Milan houses more than the usual quota of immigration prisoners. Canadians and others whose manner of obtaining entry to the United States has resulted in their commitment. These and other minor federal prisoners make up the bulk of the popula- tion, there being few with long sentences, none with sentences longer than sixteen years. Quite recently, some narcotic prisoners have been received at Milan, those convicted of sale and possession of drugs east of the Mississippi and whose sentences did not exceed five years. This institution cakes beds (metal, single and double-deck “bunks”) for the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. Sup- porting this industrial program and institutional maintenance purposes there are also other occupational activities, carpentry, bricklaying, steamfitting, welding, electrical installation, and an extensive program of farm work. Milan’s farm produces a considerable amount of its subsistence and has already stepped up this production to conform to wartime needs. A break-down of occupational activities shows that of the institution’s 400-odd inmates, some 170 work in the metal specialty shop (there were but 70 men so employed before the war), the remainder working on maintenance assignments or on the farm. In all respects, this correctional institution conforms to the modern rehabilitative pattern created by the Bureau. There is a vigorously functioning classification program, there are complete medical and psychiatric facilities, and the educational program has been thoughtfully designed to meet the needs of the kind of men received here. Illiteracy is no major problem here as in some of the other prisons (the rate is about 11 percent), but there are a considerable number of foreign-born inmates who require specialized instruction. Another respon- sibility of the educational department is the teaching of citizenship, community responsibility and similar subjects. Vocational training is strongly stressed. Milan and the War As in the other federal prisons, great patriotism and desire to help in the war program has been shown at Milan. This desire has been met by the administration by the creation of many opportunities to serve. As stated in the foregoing paragraphs, industrial production has been materially in- creased. At the inception of the up-spurt in American industry in 1941 (the period known as that of the “Defense Effort’’) an average of 80 inmates were assigned to the making of the afore-mentioned military bunks, of whom about 20 worked as a night crew. They worked on an average of 44 hours a week and produced about 65 double-decker beds a day. At the out- break of the war in December 1941, additional inmates were assigned (making a total of 125) and the workweek was in- creased to 48 hours. By January, production had increased to about 100 double-decker beds a day. During January and February of 1942, additional inmates were assigned up to a total of 150 and many inmates from the day crew volunteered to work four hours overtime. Also, many inmates working on maintenance assignments during the day volunteered to work four hours overtime in the factory during the evening, and production in March was augmented to more than 150 beds a day. In the winter of 1941, it was decided to build an addition to the factory building so that production might be materially increased. Rushed ahead at wartime tempo, this structure was completed in February 1942 and meant an increase of floor space of more than 30,000 square feet. This building (built of steel and glass) is now being used for welding, filing and packing operations. Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, Mich 58 Milan has just installed a new automatic welding machine, new arc welding outfits and a new power line which has permitted the creation of new pro- duction lines which, in turn, will mean new ho- rizons of production and output. The institution has set itself a new and ambi- tious goal — 300 double- decker beds (or 600 single beds) a day. This would be five times the output of the plant as of a year ago. The installation of new machinery plus the fine, agressive spirit of both the administration and the inmate body will undoubt- edly bring about the at- tainment of this goal. Other improvements in the industrial set-up are also visualized. Up to the present time, all of the materials for the bed plant have had to be unloaded from the main line of the Wabash Rail- road and be hauled three- quarters of a mile to the factory. The finished beds have had to be hauled in the same way for shipment. A spur track, recently completed, has obviated this inconvenience and thus hastened and expedited the industrial war work at Milan. As already mentioned, farm production has also been aug- mented. Twenty-five inmates are now exclusively engaged in the production of vegetables, the raising of hogs and chickens. Individually, the inmates have been keenly patriotic and have proven their patriotism in many practical ways. They have purchased better than $3,000 worth of War Bonds and they have contributed liberally to the American Red Cross. They have asked to be permitted to donate blood for the Red Cross plasma bank and were keenly disappointed when it transpired that the distance between the institution and the nearest facilities was too great to permit the acceptance of their offer. They have shown keen interest and cooperation in the salvage program. They have maintained a high morale and a low disci- plinary record. “They have given,” said the Warden, “practi- cally 100-percent response to our work program in spite of the fact that all maintenance details have been reduced to a point where it is necessary for every inmate to work eight hours a A Birds-eye View of Milan day. Whenever it has been necessary to call for volunteers for overtime work, more than double the number needed have responded.” In many miscellaneous ways, the administration and the inmates have gotten together on projects which contribute to the war effort. Special training has been set up for inmates in spray painting, electric and gas welding and in various other activities which may be of use to them and to the country when they are released. Tinfoil, old rubber, razor blades, metals and waste papers have been salvaged. A bulletin board has been placed above the outer door leading to the dining room which shows each month what is being done, within the institution, to defeat the Axis. The board shows the monthly production of beds for the Navy, pounds of waste paper, metal and other materials that have been salvaged, the amount of War Bonds purchased and other pertinent information. The usual precautions against air raids have been taken (see ‘‘Wartime Precautions,” page 97) and inmates and personnel alike have been instructed in first aid and methods for dealing with the various kinds of gas and incendiary bombs. This, then, is the story of Milan, another link in Uncle Sam’s; chain of security for the Nation and, since December 7, 1941,, an important link in a chain of another sort—a chain of pro- tection against the enemies from abroad. Rough Edges Are Ground Away Beds for Uncle Sam’s Fighters 59 SANDSTONE Area: 2,885 acres Capacity: 500 Average population: 356 Per capita cost: $752.63 Budgetary appropriation: $222,303 Principal product: Agriculture (not fully developed) Type of prisoners: Short-term tractable offenders Warden George W. Humphrey Junior Associate Warden Paul J. Madigan Chief Clerk Aloys J. Dobmeyer Captain Harvey D. Bailey The Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, Minn., is situated in an ultrarural section of north- eastern Minnesota close to the western tip of Lake Superior. Duluth, the closest city of any size, is some 60 miles distant. Sandstone itself is a community with a population of slightly more than a thousand persons. It is an agricultural center and possesses few or no industries. The institution itself lies amidst extensive second-growth timber lands. The altitude is something over 1,000 feet above sea level and the climate is tem- perate with cool winters. One of the newer and, at the same time, one of the more remote institutions of the Federal Prison Service, Sandstone is as yet in an early stage of development. Of admirable im- portance and suitability to the specialized uses for which it has been designated, this institution promises great potential- ities to a system which stresses the importance of specific housing and treatment for specific types of offenders. The Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, Minn., is located on a reservation of 2,885 acres of completely wild and almost virgin land. This area was originally part of the pine (white pine and Norway pine) forests of the country’s central northern region. Successive lumbering operations and wide- spread forest fires have denuded much of the area. Since the last great fire (in 1896), the land has become reforested with second-growth timber consisting principally of poplar and underbrush. There are occasional pine groves. The total tillable land available at the time the institution was completed did not exceed ten acres. The clearing of additional land and the planting of the soil has been, with the necessary construction of quarters and buildings for the prison, the principal activity at Sandstone since the opening of the prison. The development of the wild land into productive acre- age involves many operations and has developed a number of useful by-products. During the winter months, the second- growth timber is cut and the underbrush is cleared away. The pole wood recovered through this operation is hauled to the woodyard to be cut for fuel. All of the pine is left standing; the small pines are moved to a nursery area which will provide the nucleus of growths for a reforestation project. The second operation is the removal of stumps; this starts as soon as the frost is out of the ground and is followed by the removal of surface rocks, which in some areas are very numerous. These are processed by means of a rock crusher and used as road ballast. The prevalence of rock in this region is accounted for by the fact that it is in what is known as the Red Drift area, i. e., the path of the last glacial deposit to invade the United States. After the stumps and rocks have been removed, the breaking of the ground is accomplished by a specially designed breaker plow which requires the power of a large caterpillar tractor. The breaking turns up additional rocks and quantities of roots which in turn must be removed before the discing and harrowing can be commenced. All of this is related so that the magnitude of the job of developing the prison reservation at Sandstone can be grasped. It also becomes obvious that a considerable number of correl- ative services of significance are performed in addition to the preparation of useful farm land. Anti-soil-erosion measures are accomplished, intelligent reforestation is effected and an entire program of natural conservation and development is created throughout an area of considerable size. Sandstone has no industries as yet. Its entire inmate popu- lation is employed agriculturally in the land-clearing operations described in the foregoing paragraphs, or in the various activ- ities necessary to the maintenance of the prison. It is envisaged that, in the not-too-distant future and with the development of the land that is adjacent to the institution, Sandstone will be capable of extensive food contributions to the war effort and may possibly develop an agricultural potential radically un- usual in a penal establishment. At present one hundred acres of seed bed have been prepared. More than two hundred acres will soon be ready for cropping (as of the summer of 1942) and root cellars are being prepared for the storage of produce destined for institutional use. The soil of the region is particularly suited to the growth of root crops and it seems like, at present, that all acreage surplus to the needs of the institutional subsistence will be planted to potatoes, rutabagas and turnips, for elsewhere in the prison system, or for the disposal of the government in the war effort, if necessary and requested. Sandstone is a large and entirely modern institution, built in the quadrangular compound pattern which the Bureau of Prisons has found to be so practical. This form of construction makes un- necessary the erection of expensive and demoralizing walls. A complete community of staff quarters has been provided (resi- Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone, Minn. 60 a rural and semirural type (farm workers, lumber- jacks, miners, etc.). Sandstone and the War Sandstone’s inmates have demonstrated an ex- cellent attitude to the spirit of the times. Though as indicated at the outset of this article, there are no industries at this institution and the men are thus deprived of the opportunity to make materials for the fighting forces that men in the other prisons enjoy, nevertheless they have developed a full understanding of the value of their work on the land and have given the fullest energy and interest to such work. In the words of the Warden, “The aim of prac- tically every inmate is, first, to offer his services to his country as a member of the armed forces upon release, or failing in that, to take his place in the war effort in any capacity available to him. More than 60 percent of the inmate population has reg- istered to give blood to the Red Cross, a project that has not been possible to date because of our remoteness from a plasma processing plant. There have been no outward signs of resentment against the Selective Service Act violators, espionage agents and saboteurs in our population, but contempt for them is evidenced. Our principal contribution to the war effort will necessarily continue to be agriculture and timber conservation.’’ Despite Sandstone’s inland location and reasonably certain freedom from the menace of air raids, air raid precautions have been developed and the inmate body has entered into the spirit of these measures with wholehearted cooperation. Serving its peculiar functions with great effect and pursuing a development which started but a few years ago on the basis of the most utterly rudimentary conditions, Sandstone has done and is doing a truly extraordinary job in penal ground-breaking in more than just the literal sense of the word. Apart from all other considerations, this institution bids fair to become the first large-scale penal-agricultural community in the United States. to regulations governing such commitments, Sandstone receives men from Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas with sen- tences not exceeding eighteen months; men from northern Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska with sentences not exceeding three years, and northern Illinois and northern Indiana for jail commitments (a year or less). The Warden Visits Sandstone’s Farmers in the Fields dences and bachelor quarters) and extensive efforts are being made to develop the reservation. The institution was opened (before completion) on April 10, 1939, by transfer of a group of selected inmates from the U. S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kans. Built up by transfers from other institutions, the population leveled off at about 350 late in 1940 and has remained at that strength. When the informers were taken from Milan, Mich., during the fall of that year, they were brought to Sandstone and the intake policy was changed to include the incarceration of all men from this group with the exception of narcotic addict informers, who are sent to the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital at Lexington, Ky. In addition, Sandstone serves all of the federal districts in the immediate area,* receiving from these areas subjects of Bulldozers Such as This One at McNeil Island Clears Sandstone’s Wild Acres 61 SPRINGFIELD Area: 442 acres Capacity: 1,140 Average population: 950 Per capita cost: $554.80 Budgetary appropriation: $597,300 Principal products: Wicker furniture Type of offenders: Invalid federal prisoners Number of personnel: 127 Warden and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ora H. Cox Associate Warden Albert McDonald Chief Clerk Burton W. Hildrith Supervisor of Education Laurence L. Bryan Captain James H. Dunn The Medical Center is two miles from the city of Springfield (population 61,238). Springfield manufac- tures agricultural implements, dairy machinery and wagons, is an agricultural center and is the locale of the State Teachers’ College. The region is served by the Frisco Lines and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Immedi- ately adjacent to the Medical Center are fertile farm lands of considerable extent. The altitude is 1,345 feet above sea level. The climate, like that of Leavenworth, is cold in winter, warm and dry in summer. In line with the Bureau of Prisons’ policies of centralization and specific institutions for specific functional needs, the Medi- cal Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Mo., fills a role of the highest importance in the federal penal system. It was found, early in the period of the Bureau’s reorganiza- tion, that individual institutions were not equipped to take care of the chronic medical, tuberculous and mental cases among their populations. There were inadequate accommoda- tions and facilities for the treatment of chronic disorders. Many hospital beds that should have been available to the acutely ill were occupied by patients afflicted with tuberculosis, degenerative diseases and other chronic disorders. Not least important is the fact that large numbers of such individuals impaired the efficiency of the respective medical units and indirectly and in many ways interfered with the operation of the institutional program. Certainly, the presence of men who, while not actually psychotic, were mentally or temperamentally disordered constituted a problem to institutional morale and discipline. To meet these needs, the Medical Center was opened in the fall of 1933. The physical plant included six principal hospital buildings for the housing and treatment of patients. These had a total normal capacity of 1,140 beds. The central kitchen and dining room, the storerooms, the laundry and the power plant were established in separate buildings. All of the structures were connected by a common enclosed corridor, partially under- ground, which provides a convenient means of communication, defying the elements and also serving as an effective means of controlling the movement of patients. The buildings and corridors are arranged in such a manner as to enclose an inner courtyard (see illustration), about 3% acres in area, which is extensively used for recreational purposes. At appropriate distances from the institution are located the nurses’ home, a number of staff residences, the garage and the farm buildings. There is no particularly penal aspect to Springfield. In general appearance, it might be mis- taken for one of the many Vet- erans hospitals through the country, for custodial features have not been accentuated. The Medical Center is com- pletely self-sufficient. Practical- ly all types of standard appli- ances and equipment are avail- able for diagnostic and thera- peutic use. All of the latest techniques and proven rehabili- tative procedures are used. Special facilities have been ef- fected for the religious, edu- cational, social, and vocational training of inmates. All patients received at the institution are those who, with few exceptions, have been transferred from other penal institutions. Occasionally men are received directly from the courts, but only by special ar- rangement. When patients ar- rive at Springfield they are im- mediately assigned to the re- ceiving wards, where they re- main for a period of thirty days to permit the staff to become acquainted with them and to permit classification. (Those who are sent to Springfield are transferred upon the recom- mendation of their institutional classification boards, but it has been found advisable to reclas- Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Mo 62 sify after arrival, not only to verify previous opinions and diagnoses, but so as to also ef- fect more precise evaluations.) Patients are segregated into four major groups; (a) tuber- culous, (b) chronic medical (degenerative diseases predom- inating), (c) psychotics (defi- nitely insane), and (d) psy- chopathic. Practically all pris- oners suffering from active pul- monary tuberculosis are trans- ferred to the Medical Center, regardless of the nature of their offenses or of the extent of their criminal records. This group is not large, usually ap- proximating 70 patients, a per- centage of the total population not higher than that existing for the Nation as a whole. Tubercular patients are seg- regated in wards especially designed for that purpose. Active cases are not permitted to mingle with other classes of patients. All possible recrea- tional facilities (including a small but attractive library) are maintained for their ex- clusive use. The treatment of patients includes rest, artificial pneumothorax (collapsing the lung), chest surgery when in- dicated, and other standard measures. Facilities are avail- able for group irradiation with ultraviolet and artificial sun- shine. Constant instruction is given such patients in personal hygiene, proper living, protec- tion of others, and all subjects important to those suffering with this illness. In dealing with tuberculous prisoners the psychic component is given more than ordinary recognition and receives consideration as an individual problem. Rest is therapeutically regarded as one of the most important factors toward effecting cures, but pris- oners are so often afflicted with emotional disturbances (fear, hate or anger) causing chronic tenseness that favorable prog- ress is often difficult or impossible. Thus, psychotherapy as- sumes more than usual importance in the treatment of tuber- culosis in prison. The chronic medical patients comprise a heterogeneous group. The normal bed capacity for this class accommodates 361 patients. Although circulatory and cardiac disorders pre- dominate, many varied disabilities exist among them. Acute, medical and surgical wards are maintained and completely equipped operating rooms and all standard equipment are im- mediately available to all needs. In addition to the usual diagnostic X-ray equipment, a modern deep X-ray therapy unit functions for the treatment of cancer cases. Springfield has an orthopedic appliance department under Federal Prison Industries and supplies all prisons with appli- ances. Although some are permanently and totally disabled, many are improved or recover to the extent where they become ambulatory patients, go to the central dining room for their meals and are able to assist in maintenance work. Practically all federal prisoners afflicted with severe asthma, cancer, trachoma and other chronic disorders requiring active and prolonged treatment are mandatorily transferred to Spring- field. Border-line, senile and physically defective inmates are received from other institutions on a basis of the availability of bed space. All of these who improve to the extent that The Administration Building they no longer require medical care are returned to the institu- tions whence they originated. One of the most important functions of the Medical Center is its work in the field of neuropsychiatry. This service com- prises the treatment of psychotics (the insane) and of psycho- pathic persons (a group that psychiatry claims are suffering from “border-line and ill-defined mental disorders”). Relatively little is known of the true nature of the pathology from which so-called “psychopaths” suffer, but intensive research is being carried on (especially within the Bureau of Prisons and the Public Health Service) and valuable knowledge of the subject is being presently gained. In the past, admissions to Springfield (for psychiatric rea- sons) were limited to those with true psychoses (the actually insane) and there were accommodations for about 260 of such cases. More recently, a series of eight new wings has been added to the Medical Center; these (304 separate rooms) are designated for the study and treatment of psychopathic pa- tients of marked degree. Though somewhat of an innovation in mental hygiene, the unit is already attaining considerable successful effect. The patients of the psychotic group, like mentally ill people in other hospitals, are divided into numerous distinct and separate clinical entities. About 42 percent are afflicted with dementia praecox (schizophrenia), which is further subdivided into four classifications. This type of mental illness, which prevails over all other types of psychoses, is somewhat higher of ratio than percentages found in state hospitals. Approxi- mately 16 percent are afflicted with general paresis. About 14 percent are classified as psychopathic personalities with psy- chosis and 9 percent as mentally deficient with psychosis. 63 Work, study and other activities are important adjuncts to life in the Medical Center. On the left, patients manufacture excellent wicker furniture of a type used in military hospitals; center, painting the institutional library; right, a technical assistant tabulates specimens; surgical operation. Slightly more than 7 percent are diagnosed as doubtful or unclassified reaction types, and the manic depressive group makes up only 4 percent of the population. The remainder comprise patients with psychoses due to epilepsy, chronic alcohol poison, infections, arteriosclerosis and other organic disorders. Many of those who fall into the doubtful group are merely victims of definite mental “episodes” (the psychiatrist’s term for unpleasant experiences of an exciting or depressing nature) that are usually of a transient nature, the patient invariably improving rapidly after admission. Although a great number of psychotic prisoners improve after acutely pathological episodes, most of them are basically weak mentally and possess abnormal personalities of such a nature that relapse is likely to occur under strain. Some of them, following recovery from acute episodes, have been ob- served to quickly relapse following return to penitentiaries. One of the most common symptoms is the paranoid trend. Those who manifest paranoid trends are prone to misinterpret any plan outlined for their welfare since they can only accept ideas in keeping with their own misconceived opinions and beliefs. Usually they are devoid of insight and do not hesitate to voice complaints and grievances that are without merit. They are invariably rigid, opinionative and ultra-arbitrary and often spend much of their time and thought in extensive legal maneuvering, thus entailing a continuous state of confusion injurious to any institutional plan for their rehabilitation. They are likely to regard their associates with suspicion and frequently submit charges against members of the staff and fellow patients. They usually harbor and nourish persecu- tory ideas which often become fixed delusions and do not respond to ordinary persuasion, argument or proof to the contrary. Fellow patients and employees are likely to become resentful toward the paranoid individual, who usually pursues a tur- bulent and unhappy life regardless of the environment. Standard and accepted treatments are administered to all mentally ill persons. Malarial fever therapy and the use of standard remedies are available for all paretics. The new shock therapy metrazol is limited to carefully selected cases and has proven definitely valuable in the treatment of young men afflicted with schizophrenia, characterized by homicidal and destructive tendencies. Occupational therapy is stressed. Hydrotherapy and physiotherapy are also extensively used. It has been found that the best and most efficacious results are inevitably subsequent to constant kindness, sympathy and tact. Officers and employees are liberal with praise, and blame and criticism are reduced to a necessitous minimum. The friendly atmosphere which prevails in the institution at all times is partly due to this studied policy of amity and consid- eration and partly to the presence of female employees. Al- though only four graduate female nurses are on duty, they devote full time to the training of male medical attendants and general supervision of the nursing activities throughout all of the buildings. The entire culinary staff is supervised and managed by a female dietician and all of the library and occu- pational therapy work is supervised by female employees. The administration grants all requests for interviews, and the results of this policy have been extremely fruitful. Fre- quently the request may appear to be of a petty and unimpor- tant nature, but the interview is granted because the subject has asked for it and therefore will probably be in a mood recep- tive to advice. Furthermore, it is in itself a form of therapy for a not unreasonable or impractical request to be granted. And it offers the administration an additional opportunity to keep its finger on the pulse of the inmate group. Every possible opportunity is taken to guide individual and group attitudes and activities into beneficial channels. This is especially true in regard to individuals who have prestige or influence with their fellow patients. When men live together for a period of time, either in a penitentiary cell block or in a large mental ward, certain individuals invariably dominate the group, either for good or evil. Such tendencies are natural and cannot be avoided. When they are recognized and as long as they remain wholesome, constructive, and in keeping with the policies of treatment and reform, the individual is sup- ported rather than interfered with. On the other hand, vigilance is exercised at all times to prevent malignly influential indi- viduals from spreading dissension or gaining the upper hand. As quickly as mental patients improve, their quarters are changed and they are assigned either to occupational therapy or to regular maintenance work. Practically all of the routine laundry, kitchen and sanitary duties are performed by mental patients. Some of them are suitable for minimum custody and are permitted to work in the gardens and elsewhere out- side of the hospital buildings. Such changes are regarded as Recreation Is an Important Therapy 64 promotions and constitute valuable props to the maintenance of good morale. A considerable amount of educational activity is carried on at the Medical Center. Because of the infirmities or disabilities of many of the inmates, classes are necessarily small, courses are of a specialized nature and much of the instruction is indi- vidual. About one-third of the patients are illiterate and ap- proximately two-thirds of those enrolled in the school are students in the elementary classes. Great care and emphasis is placed upon education of the illiterates, and most of them are permitted to attend classes either the entire forenoon or the entire afternoon, five days a week. For more advanced students, there are classes in bookkeeping, typewriting, short- hand, foreign languages, art, sign writing, and mechanical draw- ing. There are also correspondence courses (principally in agri- cultural subjects) and a number of accredited courses in high school and college subjects available through the University of North Dakota. Bed patients are provided with every facility for education and reading and the few blind inmates of the institution are afforded the opportunity to attend “talking book” classes and to receive instruction in Braille. More than ordinary skill and effort is required of the Medical Center’s parole and social service units, not only because of the need of circumspection in dealing with invalid prisoners but because the preparation of parole plans for persons often physically unable to do much for themselves in the outside world requires great resourcefulness and extensive patience and effort. Springfield’s attainment in this respect has been noteworthy. The Medical Center, as do most of the federal institutions, operates a farm. All work on the farm is done by inmates, some 25 of them. Potatoes, garden truck, field corn, hygeria, and hay are raised. Pigs, steers and turkeys are also produced. Springfield’s successful attainment with physically incapaci- tated federal prisoners has depended largely upon the high professional quality of its excellent staff and personnel. All of these, and all of the custodial employees who work with them, possess a profound sense of the importance of their function and perform their responsibilities with keen insight and con- scientious fidelity to the ideals of the institution. Springfield and the War The fact that Springfield is a hospital for physically and mentally ill prisoners has not in any way dampened the ardors of inmate patriotism nor lessened the force of their effort in behalf of war needs. Within the first few months of the war $6,775 worth of bonds have been purchased. In other ways the patriotic response has been intense. Wicker furniture is manufactured by patients able to work, and of this product the administration reports a 100-percent increase of produc- tion, more than 90 percent of which goes to military hospitals. ‘We are now working on an order from the O’Reilly General Hospital for furniture for 30 sunparlors,” said the administra- tion at the time of this writing. “We are working overtime when necessary.” The reaction of the men of the institution to the declaration of war was described by one of the officials in these words. “The news of the Pearl Harbor attack was put out over loud- speakers while the men were attending a picture show here on the afternoon of December 7th. After it was announced that this country would probably declare war on Japan the following day, the applause in the audience was as great as if it had been announced that each man would be given an immediate pardon.” In these and other wholesome ways are proven the nature of Springfield’s success. In the past, men whose lives have straightened out and perhaps lengthened, men whose bodies have been cleansed of illness and strengthened—-because of their stay at Springfield—would have festered painfully and hope- lessly in prison, unknown and unnoticed, to the detriment of society and to the disgrace of our generation. The specialization of care and the development of the policy of individual treatment that typifies the function of the Medical Center is but symptomatic of the work of the Bureau of Prisons as a whole, throughout all of its institutions, a project best described in a paraphrase of a well-known quotation. Instead of letting the “punishment fit the crime,” the Bureau strives to make the cure fit the patient. A Prop to Physical Rehabilitation 65 Area: 580 acres Capacity: 600 Average population: 340 Budgetary appropriation: $118,625 Type of prisoners: First offenders, 12 to 21 years of age Number of personnel: 100 Warden R. P. Hagerman, M. D. Associate Warden Arthur L. Labrash Chief Medical Officer Dr. H. M. Janney Supervisor of Education Montie H. Morris Chief Clerk Raymond F. Hail Englewood is located 5,200 feet high in a valley of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The town itself (popula- tion 7,980) is a mining and agricultural center. Nearby Denver (“The Mile-High City”) is the metropolis of the mountain states and has a population of 287,861 persons, many industries, large merchandising establishments, governmental agencies (including one of the Nation's three mints), and is a junction point on several leading railroads. Mining and cattle-raising are the principal oc- cupations of the vicinity and employment is invariably available to qualified workers. The climate is cool but moderate most of the year. ENGLEWOOD Although Englewood is nominally classed as a ‘‘Federal Cor- rectional Institution,” it is really more of a reformatory than a prison. Need for another institution of this kind plus Engle- wood’s appropriateness to this purpose dictated the Bureau’s decision to send young reformable offenders to this invig- orating, mountain-girded locale, a decision that has been highly profitable in terms of a low rate of prison-contamination and proportionately high rate of resocialization. One of the latest-built of the group of modern correctional institutions which had their genesis in the broad program of development formulated by the Bureau at the time of its reor- ganization more than a decade ago, Englewood was opened in the summer of 1940. It is modern in every respect. Situated in a verdantly fertile valley beneath the snow-dappled peaks of the lofty Rocky Mountains, it possesses every possible influence for the inspira- tion of men to a cleaner, better mode of life and thought. Its buildings, its quarters and assembly rooms, its landscaped grounds—all of these have been designed with a view to pro- viding surroundings compatible with aims and objectives of this institution. The physical plant will, when completed, follow the advanced unistructural, self-enclosed pattern. There are two cell blocks and ten dormitories. Five of the dormitories are divided into individual rooms; each dormitory houses 50 men. There are accommodations for 600 men, but up to the present the popula- tion has never exceeded 370. In the receiving building there is a well-equipped hospital, fully capable of meeting all of the routine needs of the institution. Above the mess hall is located an auditorium, a well-stocked library, and the class- rooms and offices of the educational department. There are also industrial shops wherein vocational trades training is taught and the institutional maintenance work is done. All of the Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood, Colo. buildings are built of reinforced concrete and there is no wall enclosing the reservation. Englewood limits itself to the reception of young men be- tween the ages of 16 and 21 who are sentenced from the northwestern states (El Reno receives those from the south- and machine-shop practice. In the near future it is planned to extend and expand the nature of this training. Englewood is, as yet, only partially developed in all of its activities. The institutional farm comprises some 580 acres. The land is extremely fertile and tillable, the growing season is a long one, and the opportunities for training in agricultural tech- niques are therefore abundant. This year, sufficient vegetables have been raised to take care of the population through the season. In addition to these foods, and the hay and grain crops needed to feed livestock, hogs are being raised. Poultry and turkey buildings and equipment are being installed, and in 1943 a dairy will be placed in operation. The institutional morale is excellent and inmate activities of various kinds are carried on with great spirit and initiative. There is an inmate council which advises the Warden and administration on matters concerning the weal and happiness of the inmate body. There is a forum which meets regularly to discuss current events. There is an excellent institutional publication (Rocky Mountain Breezes). Sports are carried on with vigor and the availability of a well-equipped gymnasium renders such activity permissible throughout the year, basket- ball being the most popular game with the inmate body. Though the inmates of Englewood have displayed a high degree of patriotic response in respect to the war, there is as yet little opportunity for them to transmit their fervor into productivity. Nevertheless, the institution has, in conjunction with the State of Colorado, made it possible for certain inmates to build model air- planes for use in military training programs carried on by the Federal Government. Only those who show the necessary ability are so em- ployed. Plans have been sub- mitted for about ten differ- ent types of aircraft together with detailed instructions for cutting out and assembling these models, which are being built to scale and must meet Navy specifications. Boys who do well at this as- signment receive certificates of recognition from the Navy. This, then, is the story of Englewood, another of Uncle A Completely Modern Machine Shop west). Most of these are in- habitants of rural communi- ties and come from families wherein a submarginal level of economy forbade educa- tional and other opportuni- ties which might have meant the difference between pris- on and a better and more wholesome mode of ex- istence. Education and vocational training are strongly stressed at Englewood. All of the academic classes available in the other insti- tutions of the Bureau are found there, but their impor- tance on the inmate’s pro- gram is more heavily ac- cented there than is consid- ered in the institutions for older men. Last year ar- rangements were made with the State of Colorado to issue eighth grade diplomas to all inmates who completed advanced grade school work and passed a satisfactory examination on their attainment. In the first period covered by this new ar- rangement, 12 boys were so graduated. In 1942, approximately 30 others will have attained the same reward and the desire to gain this diploma is becoming increasingly strong and general. Recently, a radio operator’s class was instituted. Because of the acute shortage of radio operators incidental to the national emergency it was deemed desirable and promising of opportunities for the boys to make such training available. The response was enthusiastic and initial accomplishments indicate that excellent operators may soon be forthcoming. Applicants for the class (which is limited to 25 members) must have at least a tenth grade education and must have completed basic training in electricity. A great number of the boys are taking high school courses. Provisions have been made to allow such inmates who com- plete courses in these subjects to receive credits from the state for their work. There are also some thirty clerical trainees who receive training in business English, office procedure, typing and shorthand. Approximately 150 men are receiving vocational training. Instruction (both theory and practice of an intensive nature) is given in carpentry, electricity, plumbing, sheet metal work, T/ie Administration Building Stenoyraphic Classes Are Popular Sam’s specialized institutions for specific types of offenders. Its attainments of the past two years are definite proof that young men respond appropriately to a proper environment. Its “student body,” graduate and undergraduate, constitute a living proof of this practical ideal. 67 PETERSBURG Area: 1,000 acres Capacity: 600 Average population: 747 Per capita cost: $446.03 Budgetary appropriation: $321,755 Principal products: Farm commodities Type of prisoners: Short-term tractables of rural type Warden C. O. Nicholson Associate Warden Wallace Lawrence Chief Clerk Irvin Frank Supervising Instructor Lafe I. Richards Captain Merrill R. Davis Petersburg is situated in the historic lowlands of Vir- ginia close to the James River estuary and some 20 miles south of Richmond, the state capital. The region is one of lush farm lands and the climate is temperate. The population of the town is 30,631. The principal crop of the district is tobacco, but there are also a considerable number of industries carried on there or close by. The reformatory at Petersburg, Va., is the wholesome, rural type of corrective institution which the Bureau looks to as one of the principal components of the liberalized penal system of the future. Located on the flat, alluvially acres of southeastern Virginia -—in the James River Valley, below Richmond—Petersburg emphasizes agricultural activities, employing its seven to eight hundred men in farming, dairying, hog raising and other similar pursuits. Such activity is extremely suitable to the background and needs of the type of men sent here, most of them being illiterate or semi-illiterate younger offenders from sections where textile mills, small acreage farms, timber operation and furniture factories provide the usual means of livelihood. Practically none of those sent to this institution fall into the “hardened offender” class; none of them have really long terms of imprisonment. Most of them are men of a type from whom rehabilitation may reasonably be expected as a consequence of a course of disciplined existence against a background whole- somely and vigorously rural. Petersburg has most of the facilities of the larger federal institutions. There is a modern hospital, with completely modern surgical and therapeutic equipment of all kinds. There is an excellent school which stresses fulfillment of the needs of the illiterate and semi-illiterate, though the educational department is equipped to give courses, where indicated, in advanced academic studies, in clerical work and in the skilled trades. Also many correspondence courses are available to the inmates of Petersburg. There is an excellent library. There are movies, radio reception and recreational facilities of an extensive nature. Its pattern of administrational procedure is similar to the procedure in use at the larger institutions; classification, disciplinary practices and so on. Though agriculture is keynoted at Petersburg, this is by no means the limit of activities here. A cement block plant manufactures concrete brick, blocks and pipe. One of the most modern dairies in the state is here. A cannery producing between seven and ten thousand gallons of produce yearly is operated. There is a cabinet shop, an ultra-modern garage and machine shop (we rebuild all of our own batteries) and of course, the usual maintenance shops (paint, plumbing, etc.). Federal Reformatory, Petersburg, Va. Most of the inmates are housed in comfortable, barrack-type dormitories which are grouped about a pleasantly lawned quad- rangle. The surrounding buildings (farm structures, shops, etc.) were allocated with an eye to sensible roominess, the result being one of orderly and uncluttered spaciousness. Petersburg looks, to the casual eye, more like a well-planned and policed military cantonment than the penal community that it is. The War and Petersburg The inmates, the personnel and the institution itself have made individual and group efforts and adjustments to the war emergency of a thoroughness and immediacy that would com- mend the institution’s policy to many larger prisons in the Nation. There is no branch of Federal Prison Industries at Peters- burg, but the administration has tried, as far as possible, to arrange its vocational assignments to give the maximum bene- fit to inmates who may use their training in the Army or in defense jobs after release. These assignments include the laundry, the culinary department, the shoe repair shop, the garage and machine shop, the cabinet and carpenter shop, and the plumbing, barbering, painting and electrical shops. Of not least importance is the training that inmate hospital nurses receive. As for personal inmate reaction to the emergency, the re- sponse has been excellent. Approximately 81 percent of the population signed statements indicating their willingness to assist with various types of air raid defense work. Nearly eighty-five dollars was donated to the American Red Cross, no small amount when one considers that the per capita “wealth” is very near infinitesimal. Many inmates gave all of the money in their accounts. One hundred inmates asked to contribute to a blood bank. A number of time-expired men attempted to enlist in the armed forces and two men have actually been paroled into the Army. Practically all of the men released since the outbreak of the war have embarked upon activities which are, in one fashion or another, helpful to the war effort. For instance, of 88 men released over a two-month period, 45 re- turned to farm work, 20 went to urban work on defense proj- ects or related employment, 2 went to jobs in the coal mines, and only 21 had no particular employment. All of the latter were registered, as a matter of course, with the Virginia State Employment Service for certification to work on defense projects. Every possible measure has been taken to accomplish local air raid security and to cooperate with the nearby communities and the military authorities in this regard. Inmates have been given full opportunity to enter into the program and those Adminstration Building selected for special details have been given instructions in their duties. All have responded with enthusiasm. Incidentally, the institution has been designated as an observation post with a direct line to the headquarters of the Air Raid Warning Service of the Army at Norfolk. This post is manned 24 hours daily. In several other ways, seemingly unimportant but actually of great significance if for no other reason than that they constitute wholehearted adherence to the Nation’s present economic policies, Petersburg has taken steps of a constructive- ly patriotic nature. The “scrap pile” has been methodically worked, with the result that 2,767 pounds of aluminum has been salvaged. Nearly sixteen thousand pounds of used tires have been shipped to the Federal Detention Headquarters at New Orleans for processing into military products. (See NEW ORLEANS, page 74.) Other salvage includes such varied but useful items as more than 200 bales of paper, some 15 pounds of tinfoil, 5 pounds of razor blades, 138,000 tons of scrap steel more than two tons of scrap copper and over a thousand pounds of scrap inner tubing. The institution has more recently contracted to dispose of 100 gross tons of cast iron, 30 gross tons of light iron and 6,000 pounds of waste paper. Gasoline and tires are being conserved as much as possible and officers on patrol duty are using mules instead of light trucks, as previously was the custom. The possibility of sugar shortage and the desire of the administration to impose no more than necessary upon the Nation’s supply of this commodity has prompted the planting of 10 acres of sorghum. Petersburg will make and eat its own sirup this year. An interesting variant upon the conventional federal prison situation is the presence at this institution of a considerable number of conscientious objectors and convicted enemy aliens (such as Italian seamen in the sabotage cases). Especially interesting is the fact that these men and the ordinary Ameri- can inmates work together on the same assignments and are quartered together in the same dormitories. There have been periods when friction seemed about to develop, especially when the American inmates thought the Italians were getting too much satisfaction out of Axis victories, but on the whole both groups have adopted quite a sensible attitude and gotten along quite amiably with each other. The Italians seem anxious to refrain from giving offense and the Americans realize that harm inflicted on these men would only be reflected in persecu- tion of Americans in Axis countries. The Italians, interestingly enough, gave liberally to the Red Cross fund. Petersburg is doing its best, both in the rehabilitative field and for the Nation’s war effort. It hopes that it may be allocated even greater opportunities for usefulness in the near future. Its administration, officers and inmates are fully aware of their responsibilities, present and potential. Stock Pens and Barns 69 LA TUNA Area: 180 acres Capacity: 432 Average population: 509 Per capita cost; $401.87 Budget appropriation: $256,224 Principal products: Agricultural and dairy commodities Type of prisoners: Short-term tractables; Mexican immigration offenders Warden T. B. White Chief Clerk Wilbur B. Kohnle Assistant Supervisor of Education Walter S. Hicks Captain Emby S. Osborn La Tuna is situated on the flat desert country 20 miles north of El Paso, Texas, in the center of a district prin- cipally concerned with mining and stock raising. There is some agriculture carried on (though irrigation is a serious problem in this region. The population of El Paso and the adjacent area is about 65 percent Mexican or second-generation Mexican. El Paso, with a population of 96,810 persons, is largely a railroad center and a port of entry to the United States. It is served by the South- ern Pacific, the Santa Fe, and the Texas Pacific Rail- roads. The climate is very salubrious; summers are very warm, winters are mild and pleasant. So prepossessing and attractive of appearance is the Federal Correctional Institution at La Tuna, Texas, that one might easily mistake it for an educational institution. Located some 20 miles north of El Paso in the upper reaches of the Rio Grande Valley, the institution lies in a once arid desert region which, irrigated by water from the Elephant Butte Dam, now constitutes an increasingly fertile farm land. From the reser- vation may be seen a point of juncture of the states of Texas and New Mexico and Old Mexico itself while practically past its gateway runs the famed Camino Real (Royal Road), the Conquistodor, Coronado’s highway to Santa Fe, the South- western capital of Spanish days. Though sparsely populated immediately adjacent to the prison, the institution is near two main highways and railways. Local activity in this region falls mainly in the categories of agriculture, mining and ore re- fining. The population is bilingual to a great degree. The physical plant is dominated by a beautiful white building designed in the Spanish Moorish style so popularly prevalent throughout the Southwest. This structure (housing the ad- ministrative departments of the institution) makes attractive use of the red tiled roofs, the decorative metal grillwork and the gracefully cloistered arcades so characteristic of the tra- ditions of the region. Other units in the single multiplex struc- ture that constitutes this prison are joined to the administration building by these cool arcades, and the carefully kept green lawns between complete the south-of-the-border patio-like effect. No wonder that parched desert travelers are intrigued by the sight of this gleaming green-and-white community rising out of the desert like a mirage and surrounded by fertile farm lands. Built primarily as an institution for the detention of short- term offenders, La Tuna later acquired a fuller function and a more specific significance in the Bureau’s rehabilitative organi- zation. To this prison are now sent young and reformable prisoners of a category to be benefited by a wholesome plan of agricultural activity, practical education and plenty of outdoor life. A scientific farm program, well diversified and relatively self-sustaining, provides the opportunity for a population pri- marily agricultural to learn and practice progressive methods Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, Texas for getting the most out of the soil. For others more qualified by aptitude and inclination for the industrial crafts, such in- struction and opportunity for experience is available. Other- wise, the rehabilitative procedures and administrative machin- ery to be found in all of the larger federal institutions are duplicated here in special adaptation to the nature of the prison and its population. La Tuna’s operation differs from that of most of the other federal institutions in one distinctive respect. A large propor- tion (the largest single group) of its population are Mexican aliens. Most of these are persons who have several times be- fore been incarcerated, deported and then again apprehended as illegal entrants to the country. More than 65 percent of 5,241 aliens committed during a recent year fell into this special class of recidivism. Despite the fact that such men are not U. S. nationals, the Bureau of Prisons makes every effort not only to improve the qualifications of these men while they are under incarceration but to cooperate with the Mexican authorities and social agencies toward effecting a betterment of the condition of their existence upon their return to Mexico. Toward this end, the institution makes available to the Mexican authorities the full findings of its classification processes and provides assistance in many other important respects. La Tuna’s agricultural program is by no means a static project. Every effort is made both by the institutional adminis- tration and the Bureau to keep production and procedures abreast of conditions obtaining in “outside” agriculture. New equipment and installation are constantly being added (silos, barns, live stock, implements, etc.). At present, La Tuna raises hogs, turkeys, rabbits, and various fowl and grows (and cans) large quantities of vegetables.* Dairying is another major activity. Groups of men are kept constantly busy at the reclamation of more acres from the desert. La Tuna and the War The institution’s proximity to the border probably renders it more than ordinarily vulnerable to jeopardy from air attack. Consequently every precaution has been taken to safeguard life and property from the conjectural menace of air raid. A number of excellent effective blackouts have been held, several of them predating historic December 7th. Fire and rescue squads have been trained and a manual of procedure for local Warden T. B. White Supervises Milking of a Prize-winning Cow action has been formulated so that there shall be no doubt or confusion if the war ever comes to this part of the United States. The population, as elsewhere in the Nation’s federal institu- tions, has responded splendidly. Inmate assistant air raid wardens have been appointed for each dormitory and a com- plete and willing spirit of cooperation has been established between prisoner and administration that speaks well for the alert, intense Americanism of both groups. In the other conventional ways, the inmates have demon- strated their excellent attitude in respect to the emergency. Defense Bonds and Stamps have been purchased though no in- dustrial compensation is available at La Tuna. Even Mexican aliens, with slender cash accounts on the books, have sought to purchase Defense Stamps. Some twenty-five inmates have voluntered as blood donors. Since December 7th, more than fifty released inmates have entered the armed services or gone into defense industries (copper mining and smelting, railroad transportation and other local heavy industries). Though it has no industries in the conventional sense, La Tuna takes con- siderable satisfaction in its contribution (in one important respect) to the sus- tenance of the armed forces. The institution sends 1,000 pounds of milk daily to the mess halls of nearby Fort Bliss. Stepping up its dairy output to meet wartime needs, La Tuna now pro- duces 38,448 pounds of milk a month, against a pre-war production of 22,600 pounds for the same period. The Federal Correctional Institution at La Tuna, Texas, one of the most southernmost outposts of the Bureau of Prisons, in these ways demonstrates its conscientious circumspection with its two related main functions: service to society and service to the services now charged with the defense of that society. Inmates and personnel alike, all at La Tuna are devoted to these ideals. An Airview of La Tuna (the Institution at Top, Center) *There were 29,795 gallons of vegetables canned in 1941; of this amount 10,700 gallons were shipped to adjacent federal institutions. 71 ASHLAND Capacity: 600 Average population: 400 Products: Farm products only Type of offenders: Short-term, nonhabitual criminals Personnel: 104 Acting Warden L. J. Watson Chief Clerk Don L. Farmer Assistant Supervisor of Education George H. Wray Captain Almond C. Huntington This federal correctional institution is situated in Ken- tucky, close to the Ohio state line. The states of Virginia, West Virginia and Indiana are also nearby. The terrain is of richly rolling farm land, well verdured, through which the Ohio River passes. Ashland itself, a town of some thirty thousand persons, has a number of heavy industries (the American Rolling Mills, the North Amer- ican Refractories plant, an iron and nail works, the Armco plant, the Lawrence leather belting factory, a large coke plant and scrap iron yards), and is taking a very large part in the present war production effort. The Chesapeake and Ohio, the Norfolk and Western, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads serve the region. The pop- ulation of Ashland and the surrounding region is mainly composed of sound rural American stock, the ultrarural or “mountaineer” type predominating outside of the city itself. The climate of this section is reasonably tem- perate with no extremes of weather. The altitude is 555 feet. Located in the heart of the rugged mountain country from which many hearty generations of pure American stock have come, the Federal Correctional Institution at Ashland, Ky., is truly and appropriately a reconditioning center for good citizen- ship and training in “the American way.” The newest addition to the United States Government’s reha- bilitative machinery, Ashland, primarily designed to house short-term offenders, particularly those who have violated the liquor laws, is located in the center of a region where such offenses are prevalent. The institution’s population is there- fore mostly drawn from the ultrarural, usually illiterate and often underprivileged classes of the Middle South. They are generally noncriminal in attitude, from the standpoint of anti- social tendencies and make excellent material for resocialization under the present broad plan and liberal policy of the Bureau of Prisons, provided, of course, that proper and adequate com- munity assistance is available after release. Of late, Ashland has received a number of violators of the Selective Service Act. The institution was opened in September 1940 and has a normal capacity and average population of around six hundred. The transfer of numbers of these men to Atlanta to participate in the intensive war industries program there has diminished Ashland’s strength to around four hundred men. Nevertheless, the men of this institution have been able to contribute materially to the war effort; their production of much needed farm products in augmented quantities has de- creased the food levies which would otherwise have been made upon nonprison sources. A new institution and populated largely by men from rural areas, Ashland has not, as yet, inaugurated any form of industrial activity. The plant is modern in all respects and follows the general pattern for minimum security prisons which the Bureau has found so effective elsewhere. There are dormitories and cell blocks, but there is no wall as in the larger security institutions. Particular emphasis has been laid, at Ashland, upon proce- dures that would tend to prevent men incarcerated there from coming in contact with influences that would undermine the essentially sound components of the rural background and attitudes that most of the men sent to this institution possess. Every effort is made to bolster and supplement their agri- cultural competences and to prevent them from being, figura- tively, divorced from the soil during the period of their impris- onment. Most of these men serve short terms and return to their rural acres; it is regarded as essential that their readjustment to their own mode of life and their own community be not undermined in any fashion whatsoever. A great portion of the men who come to Ashland are those who have been underprivileged in respect to formal education and training in important factors of social procedure. Many of them suffer from physical debilitation concurrent to im- proper diet or because of endemic conditions. These deficiencies, intellectual and physical, are vigorously met at the Federal Correctional Institution with intensively prosecuted programs of regeneration. Every effort is made to strengthen and cor- rect inadequate personal equipment. Men are taught to read and write who would have otherwise gone through life without these abilities. Men whose physical condition would have prevented them from doing their full potential of work are sent from the institution materially strengthened. Agriculture is the predominant activity at Ashland. How- ever, the institution is adequately equipped to carry on all activities and functions characteristic of the Bureau’s policy. A vocational training program was inaugurated in June 1941, and trades training has been made available to qualified in- mates. Among the trades taught are plumbing, carpentering, Front View, Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, Ky. 72 laundry work, sheet metal work, drawing, engineering, baking, butchering, farming, and blacksmithing. Assignments are based upon the subject’s age, sentence, background, interests, adaptability to training and plans for the future. This pro- gram and the speedily increasing facilities for carrying it out offer great potential value to the war effort in its output of skilled men for outside industry. Considerable impetus to individual improvement is offered by the educational department which provides academic instruction of a nature supplemental to the trainee’s vocational assign- ment, and, at Ashland, such coordinated training has been made compulsory so that each man will gain both practical and scientific knowledge of his work and do so simultaneously. The teaching of elementary subjects is also an important responsibility of the educational department, in view of the scholastic deficiencies of most of the men sent to this insti- tution. On the farm surrounding the institution, grains, feed and a quantity and variety of vegetables are raised. Somewhat more than a year ago, a piggery was established through the acqui- sition of twelve brood sows. In the relatively short interim, more than 180 pigs have been raised, supplying the institution with more than 22,200 pounds of pork and some 2,000 pounds of lard. Ashland and the War Though limited in its opportunities, this institution quickened its tempo and expanded its activities to a full relationship with the present emergency. Farm production has been increased so that a greater institutional self-sufficiency is possible, thereby reducing the demand upon outside sources for subsistence items. Officers and inmates have responded with vigor and effort. A detailed air raid procedure program was formulated early this year (1942) and its operation has been thoroughly studied, discussed and rehearsed by both personnel and inmates. The plan includes the designation of certain employees as air raid wardens and the establishment of certain supplemental emer- gency posts. Each officer has been instructed in the duties he is to perform in case of an air raid, and lists of employees subject to emergency duty are posted and changed weekly. Each type of post, such as patrol, quarters, tower, control office, etc., has been covered in the procedure so that all em- ployees will be able to understand and perform their functions, in an emergency, with vigor and effort. And, of course, each employee has been instructed to keep the institution informed Prime Hogs Are Ashland’s Major Product. of his whereabouts during the period when his name appears on the emergency service list. The inmate fire department has been expanded and is being trained to handle any situation that might conceivably confront it. Regular drills are held under the supervision of the chief engineer, who acts as fire marshal. The medical department conducts first aid classes. Regular meetings are held by the air raid protection committee at which information is pooled and suggestions for augmenting the general security are made. An air raid siren has been installed. A trial blackout, held early this year, proved completely effective and was carried out in good order and with the wholehearted cooperation of all con- cerned. Attendance of a designated employee at the regional school for civilian defense is planned. Employees are also attending defense classes presently being held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The inmates have responded in every way open to them. All are keenly and patriotically interested in the national situation and many have expressed the desire to be released for service in the military forces or in vital industries. One purchased a two-thousand-dollar bond, but the meager economic circum- stance of most has placed this type of gesture out of their reach. All, however, have cooperated in cutting down waste, in furthering the salvage program, and in taking their places in the various air raid protection plans. The morale is good and promises to continue so, constituting an immediate and satisfactory return on the Bureau’s policy of treatment. The Institution Is Set in Rolling, Wooded Country 73 NEW ORLEANS Area: One and one-half acres Capacity: 330 Average population: 340 Yearly per capita cost; $375.95 Budget appropriation: $116,528 Products: Rubber mats Warden John J. Ryan Chief Clerk T. C. Farmer The Federal Detention Headquarters at New Orleans is located close to the heart of the city. With its popula- tion of more than half a million and its varied industries and commerce, New Orleans offers every social and vocational advantage to those who are released to this region. In addition to being both an industrial and commercial center, the city is one of the largest rail- heads of the South and one of the most important seaports in North America. The population is largely American of French, Spanish and Mexican descent. The climate is subtropical. In two interesting respects, the Federal Detention Head- quarters at New Orleans is outstandingly different from any other federal correctional institution. It is housed in quarters of unusual antiquity and historical interest and its population is possibly the most heterogenous group of men to be found behind bars anywhere in the United States. The old building, erected 107 years ago (in 1835), has served as a United States Mint, as an Assay Office, as a warehouse, and as a regional headquarters for the Veterans Bureau before it finally was designated as a correctional institution. Many colorful and historical events took place in and around this interesting old structure. Proof of the cosmopolitan nature of its population is found in the fact that since April of 1941 (and largely because of the war and related conditions) there have been incarcerated at this institution nationals from Germany, Italy, Greece, France, Yugoslavia, Norway, England, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Japan, China, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, Jamaica and Trinidad. Truly a “league of nations.” The Bureau of Prisons has found itself with a somewhat unique and specific function requiring a special adaptation of its policies and procedures . . . the custody of alien seamen. The nature of port activities at New Orleans brings quantities of such men under the control of the Bureau here and the treat- ment which they undergo can be of great significance in more than one respect. The building is situated on the site of the old Spanish fort St. Charles (built in 1807). The fort was moated and could be entered only by means of a drawbridge. Across the street from the fort were the barracks from which General “Old Hickory” Jackson marched his troops to the defense of New Orleans in 1814. Started in 1835, the present edifice was completed some three years later by Army engineers under Captain (later General) Beauregard, stanch defender of the Confederacy. During the Civil War, the Mint (which had been given by the City of New Orleans to the United States under perpetual grant) suspended its coining activities and it was during these parlous days that many scenes of violence and high adventure took place in or near its purlieus. The Union Flag, hoisted at its portal before the port had been surrendered, was hauled down amidst wild turbulance and a lynching took place on its front stairs. With the advent of the Reconstruction Period, the Mint settled down to calmer days and more useful purposes. Silver and gold was coined there until the turn of the century, when it was converted into an Assay Office and a storage warehouse for currency. In 1920, the Veterans Bureau moved in and remained until 1931 when the Bureau of Prisons, badly in need of housing in that area, took the building over and converted it to its present uses. The Federal Detention Headquarters at New Orleans, Today and (inset) a Century Ago 74 taken place and the Americans serving sentences amidst foreign nationals of every kind have shown wonderful self- restraint, and loyalty and cooperation by refraining from ex- pressing their feeling and causing a demonstration.” The general attitude of the men toward the national emer- gency has been splendid in all respects. Frequent practice blackouts (30- and 45-minute sessions, rated 100 percent successful) have met with the completest cooperation of the inmates. First aid and stretcher-bearer squads have been trained by the chief medical officer. (They will receive efficiency certificates.) Rescue or demolition squads (equipped with crowbars, pick-axes and short-handled spades) have also been instructed. Fire control squads, equipped with foamite and C02 extinguishers, are ready to meet the threat of incendiary bombs. The personnel of the institution (certain of whom are rotated on a 24-hour “on call” status) have been thoroughly trained in basic first aid procedures and each employee has completed a course of instruction in one or another specialized phase of civilian defense activity (as auxiliary firemen, policemen, air raid wardens or traffic wardens). Interesting has been the reaction of the institution’s alien population to the activities and attitudes they find around them. Most of them attend classes in English which were organized for them largely on the basis of their own requests. The Italian aliens, who were leaders in this movement, and most of the other enemy aliens seem quite convinced that the United Na- tions will win the war and they all want to be able to speak English. Typical of their attitude is this incident. A short time ago (in the Warden’s words) “prunes were served at breakfast and one of the Italian seamen who passed by received six prunes. After breakfast he started an argument with the server because he did not get more and the argument was about to develop into a fist fight when the steward stopped it. He asked the Italian server what was wrong and his explana- tion was that in Italy a man gets one prune and no juice at all and that in this country he gets six and all the juice he wanted and that this man (the disgruntled seaman) did not appreciate this difference, that he should be whipped and that he (the server) was about to do it.” Another incident reflecting the attitude of the Italian aliens occurred when two Fascist ship crews were received at the Detention Headquarters. Again in the Warden’s words, “the officers brought their mattresses with them, not knowing where they would be quartered or what they would be required to sleep on. The mattresses were stored with their luggage and last month we removed these effects to another storage room. Some Italian seamen and one ship captain ordered all mat- tresses destroyed. He was ashamed of them and embarrassed when his crew told him that prisoners in this country had better conditions than their officers in Italy.” This, then, is the story of the Bureau of Prisons’ oldest and, in many respects, most interesting institution. Thoroughly in step with the times, the Federal Detention Headquarters at New Orleans, though a lusty centenarian, still serves its country with vigor, adequacy and useful effect New Orleans Makes Mats for the Navy Handicapped by the architectural characteristics and general decadence naturally concomitant to such antiquity, the New Orleans institution has its limitations. Nevertheless the Bureau and the various local administrative heads have done an ex- cellent job of adapting an early nineteenth century structure to the twentieth century needs. The Detention Headquarters is modern, wholesomely planned (or replanned) and does adequate justice to the demands placed upon it, which are of a somewhat specialized nature. The custody of prisoners for the serving of felony sentences is only one responsibility of this institution; the Headquarters houses men being held for trial as well as those sentenced for short “jail sentences.” Many aliens, especially those seized from aboard ships or those who have entered the country illegally, are kept in custody here for dis- position of the various governmental agencies involved. These conditions make for an extremely heterogeneous population in all respects. The turn-over is unusually large, sometimes approaching two hundred a month. All of these factors com- bine to create administrative problems which evoke adminis- trative policies of a rather special nature. For example, industrial activities must necessarily be of a nature for which men can be trained quickly; also, they must be such that they can be carried on with due consideration for the architectural disqualifications of the old building. Rubber mats are manufactured at New Orleans. This product, made from salvaged automobile tires, is shipped to the Army and the Navy where it is extensively used in military cantonments and aboard the ships of the fleet. Before the war, some thirty-five employees were regularly employed in the production of about one thousand square feet of this type mat per week. Since the war, 55 inmates turn out 3,000 square feet weekly. As related, the physical plant at New Orleans is good, despite the necessity of adapting the needs to conditions that were not most favorable. Fire hazards were eliminated by the laying of tile flooring wherever possible and the installation of metal shelving and partition to replace wood. Concrete facilitated the jettisoning of wooden flooring in other usages. Especially at New Orleans is the visitor impressed by not only the extent of the new equipment and general “streamlin- ing” but by the gleaming immaculacy and agreeable paint treatment of the various quarters. The dining room, furnished from Chillicothe’s excellent furniture shops, is especially attractive. There are proportionately small but excellent medical, edu- cational and recreational facilities and inmates are quartered on the dormitory plan, for the most part. New Orleans and the War With its somewhat international population, the Federal Headquarters at New Orleans might reasonably have been ex- pected to face problems with the advent of wartime conditions. Excellent conduct and morale have been maintained, however. In the words of the Warden, “No international conflicts have Boxed and Ready for the Fleet 75 TEXARKANA Area: 693 acres Capacity: 450 Average population: 450 Yearly per capita cost; $242.73 Budget appropriation: $318,045 Number of personnel: 107 Acting Warden A. E. Schwanz Chief Medical Officer Harlan E. Wilson, M. D. Supervisor of Education Ralph G. Tedford Chief Clerk Harry B. Wright Texarkana is situated in a flat, fertile section of north- east Texas close to the Arkansas line. The city itself, of some fifty thousand persons, has lately become the locale for a number of war industries (an ordnance plant and an Army Repair Depot). Nearby is the Red River. The winters are mild, the summers extremely warm, but the climate is considered healthful and beneficial. The prin- cipal activity of the region is cattle raising though considerable farming is carried on as well. This is one of the newer correctional institutions, one of the group which was built in compliance with the Bureau’s policy of decentralization and specialized institutionalization. This type institution is the answer to the criticism that there is social danger in placing the milder, less sophisticated type of prisoner into institutions with professional criminals. In 1938, the construction of six federal correctional institu- tions was authorized and after successful effort on the part of the citizens of Texarkana, Texas, to raise $25,000 for the pur- chase of 543 acres of land for the site, that city was designated as a location for one of these institutions. The Bureau of Prisons purchased more than one hundred acres adjoining the site so that its total size comprised nearly 700 acres. The location decided, plans and specifications of the most advanced type were rushed. Many of the latest innovations of modern prison construction authorities were included. For instance, the Baylor type window, instead of the traditional steel bars, was used. The prison was finished and opened in August of 1940. Intended chiefly for short-term, medium and minimum cus- tody type of offenders, dormitory and honor rooms predominate at Texarkana; there are only 69 maximum custody cells out of a total bed space of 416. Other features include a modern hospital, an attractive dining hall and an efficient kitchen, a semisoundproof auditorium, schoolrooms and air cooling for all the honor rooms. Though one of the smaller institutions of the federal system, provision was made at the outset for easy additions should the need arise. Prior to the opening date, a staff of approximately fifty employees, including the warden, associate warden and chief clerk, had reported for duty and to complete preparations for the reception of the guests to come. During the first week of August (1940) the institution was opened to the public for inspection and thousands of citizens attended the dedication. At first, Texarkana was to be used for the confinement of narcotic offenders. This was due to the need for closing of Fort Leavenworth penitentiary (where such cases were pre- viously confined), and the first transfer of inmates from that institution took place in August 1940. Soon other bus loads arrived, raising the total population to 88, and Texarkana found itself functioning as a narcotic institution. The remainder of the institution’s short history is one of rapid growth. During 1941, a branch brush factory was established, the assistant supervisor of education arrived and organized a school, two agricultural administrators came and started farm operations, a carpenter and an electric shop were installed, and other maintenance details were organized as needed (since most of the work of this initial year consisted of making small changes and improvements conducive to the smooth function- ing of the institution). In the meantime, the unfinished land- Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana, Texas 76 Hog Production Is Taught Prisoners Constructed These Homes scaping, fence enclosure and other improvements were completed. During the latter part of 1941, the complexion of the institu- tion had began to change. By transfer and discharge, the narcotic offenders began to leave and were replaced by the short-term offenders mentioned before, a large percentage of whom were rural liquor-law violators. At present, there are very few narcotic subjects. One feature of life at Texarkana must be mentioned: the high morale. Although the institution has been operating some twenty months, there have been no disturbances, no attempts at escape. In fact, disciplinary action of any kind has been comparatively limited. The few offenders have been of minor nature. Reductions in grade (loss of privileges by reason of rule infraction) have never, at any time, been more than 2 percent of the population, and for the greater part of the time have been less than 1 percent. At the present time, the only industry at Texarkana is that of manufacturing brushes, most of which go to the Army or the Navy. There are 68 men employed in this industry and this is practically its capacity. Before the declaration of war, there were 57 men thus employed. Although the average number of workers employed has remained almost constant, the number of brushes has increased. In October 1941, 746 dozen broom sweeps were manufactured; in November, 922 dozen; in December, 1,053 dozen; in January 1942, 1,160; dozen, and in February, 1,260 dozen. These brushes, or floor sweeps, are made of birch or maple and horse hair, and in three sizes (14, 18 and 24 inch). Each size is made to government specifications and must contain exact specified amounts of material. These articles are hand-drawn and all inmates are employed on “piece work” and are compensated in money and receive indus- trial “good time” in accordance with Bureau of Prisons regulations. Although there are occasional periods of inactivity due to difficulty in securing materials, production has increased 20 percent since the declaration of war. Texarkana and the War Though the institution is located rather far inland, Texarkana is taking no chance on being caught unprepared in case of an air raid. An air raid precaution committee has been appointed and divided into subcommittees for the working out of plans covering the following factors: Siren signals have been arranged for blackouts and air raids, the signal to be given by the officer on duty in the control room. Exact instructions as to where to go and what to do have been given both officers and inmates. First aid, sanitation and health procedures have been for- mulated. Certain officers and inmates have been given instruc- tions in first aid and assigned to take charge of or assist in designated first aid posts. An emergency operating room has been installed. The mechanics necessary to the obtaining of supplies during an emergency and the setting up of outside grates for cooking as well as other similar functions have been placed in charge of certain selected officers. Nor are morale or education neglected at Texarkana. The school is already giving information calculated to induce a feeling of confidence in the staff’s ability to function for the joint security during any emergency. Bulletins, posters and pertinent items of information are regularly posted on inmate Continued on Page 84 Part of Texarkana’s Brush Plant Ready for Shipment to the Armed Forces 77 ALDERSON Erected: 1927 Population: 500 Average current population: 400 Per capita cost of maintenance: $501.50 Industrial products: Clothing, farm commodities Type of offenders: Female Warden Miss Helen Hironimus The Federal Reformatory for Women is situated amidst the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in a wholesomely rural farming region. The town itself has a population of some 1,500 persons, predominantly of early American racial stock. The climate is sharply varied, with cold winters and warm summers, but salubrious because of the altitude and the remoteness from metropolitan or industrial areas. Alderson, the very antithesis of the popularly morbid con- ception of a woman’s correctional institution, is literally “the last resort” for Uncle Sam’s wayward nieces. Up until recently, there were prisons for female federal felons at San Pedro, Calif., and at Seagoville, Texas, near Dallas,* but war exigencies necessitated other usages for these institutions and the inmates thereof were centralized at the West Virginia establishment. As intimated above, Alderson is no dismal dungeon. Its atmosphere is more that of a large and paternalistically oper- ated industrial establishment, with undertones of mild regi- mentation and unobtrusive discipline. There is order, there is obedience and there is the intangible implication of restraint. However, there is also pleasantly normal daily life, there is respect and sympathetic tolerance of the individual’s right to individuality and there is stimulation and encouragement of the interests and activities which give dignity and grace to the lives of women. The problem of rehabilitation, at Alderson, is not so complex as in the men’s institutions. With few exceptions, the three to four hundred girls and women lodged here are extremely amenable to the right kind of leadership and are not handi- capped by the antagonisms initially predominant in male prisoners. Their crimes have largely devolved upon circum- stance and with the circumstance no longer operative, they are, for the most part, eagerly receptive to other influences, especially those which promise the happiness or security which they forfeited, or never knew, in the pre-institutional past. For these reasons, and because of the nature of life at Aider- son, the morale is excellent and the rehabilitative attainment, on the basis of statistics as well as more perceptible results, extremely satisfactory. *Until 1939, some women prisoners were housed in the Federal Correctional Institution at Milan, Mich. tThe reservation is referred to at Alderson in this fashion; the inmates are referred to as “students.” Located in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains about midway between Washington and Cincinnati, the Federal Re- formatory for Women is a tranquil scene of verdant rural beauty. Groves of trees, so rarely seen in the orthodox penal institution, cover the campusf of the reformatory. No central structure dominates the reservation. Fifteen attractive build- ings, locally known as cottages, house the women of this community. In these, the population leads fifteen separate but integrated communal existences, cooking, cleaning and otherwise providing for themselves as units rather than as an overregimented mass. There is also a hospital, industrial buildings, facilities for an extensive educational program, an administration building, quarters for the staff and the certain structures necessary to the agricultural activities that contribute so materially to this community’s self-sufficiency. The campus is attractively landscaped, there are well-used playing fields, carefully tended lawns and no walls whatsoever to unnecessarily emphasize the nature of the institution. Federal Reformatory for Women, Alderson, W. Va. 78 Created by act of Congress, the Federal Reformatory for Women was completed in 1927 at a cost of $2,500,000, the first inmates arriving during that year. Citizens of the town of Alderson contributed some two hundred acres for the site, the government purchasing three hundred acres more to make a total area of approximately five hundred acres. The institution’s administrative pattern is practically iden- tical with that found in the institutions for male offenders. There is a well-organized classification program, and pursuant to information gained thereby every effort is made to assign women with dependents to paying industrial jobs. There is an extensive recreational program which is coordinated to (but does not interfere with) various morale-stimulative activities carried on spontaneously by the women themselves. And there is a vigorous realistic program of education and training. the inmates of the various federal institutions. Also manu- factured by the women are American flags and silk parachutes for the United States Weather Bureau. Other work assignments include laundering (the clothes of the inmates and staff at the Mill Point Prison Camp are washed here), dressmaking (the wardrobes of released women are made here), and, of course, the various maintenance tasks, clerical and otherwise. Many of the women are employed at wholesome agricultural activities, harvesting and planting, dairying, and operation of the institution’s piggery. A painting squad is kept busy on the barns, dairy and other buildings. During the winter months, those employed at these activities in the mild-weather months are put to work on a chair rebottoming project. Women who are unable to do the more vigorous tasks by reason of physical condition (and often because they are only recently released from medical quaran- tine as narcotic addicts) are employed on a “lame duck” squad which works on the lawns and flower gardens. Others, even more handicapped, are kept busy at cottage mending, quilting and at the cleaning and preparation of vegetables. The mowing of Alderson’s wide and beautiful lawns is accomplished by power mowers, operated, of course, by the women. This was a chore that was performed with old-fashioned nonmotor- driven machines until recently and was consequently an un- popular assignment; the new equipment has rendered it an extremely desirable job in the eyes of the population. Numbers of women are employed, also, in the cleaning, cooking and maintenance responsibilities connected with the operation of the fifteen cottages in which the women live. As related before, each cottage is, in effect, a separate community, cooking for itself, being held responsible for its own cleanli- ness and sanitation and providing much of its own recreation and social life. The moral tone and social attitudes of the women at Alder- son is excellent. There is an appreciative cooperation and a wholesome trend of group thought prevalent at the institu- tion that would do honor to many entirely different aggre- gations of women in the outer world. With practically no formal organization from the administration, Alderson’s citi- One of Alderson’s Steers-to-be Hits the Bottle The household arts are emphasized at Alderson although academic training is by no means of secondary importance on the school’s curriculum. The clerical skills and various handicrafts are also taught and with considerable effect. The largest group of enrollments are to be found in the vocational and home-making classes, which include training in the following subjects: Cooking Practical Nursing Dressmaking Beauty Culture Needlework Knitting Bookbinding Table Service Laundry Theory Candy Making Painting and Rug Making Academic classes (second largest group enrolled) include the following: Americanization Spanish Elementary English Art Appreciation Intermediate English Special Instruction Advanced English Supervised Reading Business English Music Appreciation Arithmetic Piano Pennmanship Voice and Choral Travel Violin Of the academic group, by far the greatest number of students are enrolled in the English classes, understandable in the light of the fact that 30 percent of those received by the school are illiterate or near-illiterate. The commercial classes teach typing, shorthand, filing, stenciling and mimeography. A considerable number of handicrafts are carried on under the patronage of the school—chair caning and upholstery repair, various kinds of needlework, the making of posters and so on. A few students are receiving valuable training in dietetics. Alderson’s principal industry is a power sewing project (coming under the administration of the Federal Prison Indus- tries, Inc.), which employs between 100 and 130 women. Shirts, dresses, underwear and other items of clothing are made for A Female Back-to-the-Soil Movement zens organize their own entertainment and recreation, plan occasional cottage parties, carry out theatricals, musicals and pageants and arrange dances. There are two excellent orches- tras. Intellectual and “special interest” clubs flourish and current events forums are frequently held. There are two ball teams, one for the white girls and one for the colored, and other similar recreational activities are available for the younger and more vigorously inclined members of the population. Alderson’s hospital staff is adequate in all ways. Complete facilities for treatment are available within the institution and every effort is made by the administration not only to cure invalid women but to correct conditions that may have led to incarceration. All forms of surgery and therapy are performed, all dental and optical assistances are administered and the most complete diagnostic routine is a component part 79 The Girls Learn How to Prepare Ham and How to Take Care of Babies of the institution’s medical program. A number of babies have been competently brought into the world at Alderson. The institutional hospital appears to be of even greater im- portance and of more vital function in a reformatory for women than in the prisons for men. Statistics indicate that more women prisoners are in need of therapy at commitment than is so with men; actuarial figures indicate that women— inside or out of institutions—are in more constant need of care and treatment of various sorts than are the members of the other sex. Alderson, for instance, treated more than fifty thousand complaints in its out-patient clinical department during a recent twelve-month period; this is about the number of treatments given at the El Reno Reformatory (for men), where the population is more than twice greater, and it is somewhat less than half the number of treatments that were given at the U. S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, during the same period, where the population is nearly seven times as great. These figures render it obvious that the hospital at Alderson plays a role of the highest importance to the popula- tion there and to society in general; that it plays the role well and with substantial effect is attested to by complementing statistics which prove that a relatively and proportionately extraordinary number of women leave this reformatory better able to cope with life than when they entered the institution. A little known and rarely accented fact, this is one of the ways in which Alderson lives up to its obligation as a correctional institution. In other ways having to do with the improvement of oppor- tunities for the individual, Alderson is broadly alert to its job. Because of the complex and delicate nature of social work for 409 WOMEN* LENGTH OF SENTENCES TYPE OF CRIME RACE AND NATIVITY MARITAL STATUS Counterfeiting and forgery 10.27% (42) AGE 1 year or under 2.94% (12) White, native-born 68.71% (281) Married 53.31% (218) 17 years 1.96% (8) 1 year and 1 day 31.22% (126) Immigration violations 1.47% (6) White, foreign-born 5.13% (21) Single 17.60% (72) 18 years .49% (2) More than 1 year, less than 2 29.83% (122) Liquor violations 27.14% (111) Negro 24.69% (101) Divorced 10.02% (41) 19 years 3.18% (13) 2 years and under 3 23.47% (96) Narcotic traffic 34.43% (139) Indian 1.47% (6) Widowed 13.69% (56) 20 to 24 inclusive 16.38% (67) 3 years and under 4 8.3 % (34) National Bank and Fed. Reserve Act Viol. 1.47% (6) Separated 5.38% (22) 25 to 29 inclusive 17.84% (73) 4 years and under 5 .74% (3) Motor Theft (Dyer Act) 3.18% (13) 30 to 34 inclusive 16.63% (68) 5 years and under 6 1.71% (7) Postal Law Violations 10.02% (41) 35 to 39 inclusive 13.45% (55) 6 years and under 10 .03% (1) Theft in Interstate Commerce .05% (2) 40 to 44 inclusive 13.45% (55) 10 years and under 20 .98% (4) White Slave Act Violations 5.62% (23) 45 to 49 inclusive 9.05% (37) 20 years and over NONE Juvenile Delinquency 1.22% (5) 50 to 54 inclusive 3.67% (15) Life .03% (1) Other Unclassified 5.13% (21) 55 to 59 inclusive 2.44% (10) During minority .74% (3) 60 and over 1.46% (6) *A break-down of pertinent information on 409 female prisoners, a year’s commitments to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (1940-1941) 80 women prisoners, greater skill and tact and understanding is neces- sary in attempting to adjust these misdirected destinies than is essential to the handling of male cases. Classification and case- work are highly developed at Alderson. Each woman is not only exhaustively studied at the time of her commitment but her case is reviewed every three months for the entire period of her stay at the reformatory. For such occasions, the woman herself ap- pears before the classification board, is enabled to have a part in the discussion of her condition and of plans for the improve- ment of her condition. But social service does not stop with institutional benefits, for the administration has evolved a splendid and vigorously functioning procedure for the creation of parole plans which will provide opportunities for security and usefulness for Alderson’s women after release. Social agencies, both private and public, of the various communities to which the reformatory returns its resocialized women, work cooperatively with the institution toward obtaining assistance without which many of the releasees would be helpless. In the past, the finding of satisfactory jobs for the women has been a difficult problem. The war, like an ill wind which brings some good, has helped solve this prob- lem, has opened vistas of employment to which the women of Alderson are responding with diligence and enthu- siasm. Alderson and the War The women of this institution, with the emotional fervor of their sex, are fully abreast of the Nation’s male pris- oners in their individual and collective reaction and response to the national emergency. Because few of Alderson’s citizens have large cash accounts and because most of them have dependents to whom they send the greater part of their earnings, few were able to purchase Bonds. Nevertheless, nearly a thousand dollars’ worth of Defense Bonds were purchased and $136.95 was contributed to the American Red Cross. Though the population has decreased, industrial production (indirectly for the war effort) has increased. In January of 1941, 99 women manufactured 25,256 garments. In the same month of the current year (1942), 70 women manufac- tured 27,268 garments. Volunteers, working after the regular working hours, have helped fill defense contracts calling for 39,000 squares of silk for parachutes for the Weather Bureau. Other voluntary workers have knitted (during their leisure hours) more than thirty-three hundred garments for the Red Learning How to “Take a Letter” Cross (sweaters, socks, helmets, baby layettes and children’s clothing). The various cottages have formed, among their numbers, an inmate defense council which is assuming responsibility for “increased production on all assignments, the education of others for today’s needs, conservation of resources, elimination of waste and increased community service.” This committee has recommended, and it has been so arranged, that the large upper campus—around which many of the cottages front—be converted into a Victory Garden wherein small vegetables for the cottage tables may be raised by the women during their recreational hours. The council has assumed responsibility for reducing operating costs by elimi- nating waste in the use of electricity, water and fuel; has made recommenda- tions for the conservation and most advantageous utilization of all cleaning supplies and materials and has pro- moted the collection of scrap metal, paper, rubber and other currently scarce or valuable materials. In addition, they are functioning as a “morale com- mittee,” to collect and pass on to others information that will keep the inmate body aware of national and in- ternational events, promote good health stimulate good thinking and keep the morale of the institution at its high standard. The administration has taken every precaution in regard to air raid protec- tion, and drills have been held and instruction in all phases of this activity made available to all inmates and per- sonnel. All women who wish to and are able to contemplate entering defense indus- trial work upon release from Alderson are being trained in fields that may be helpful to such plans, under a new plan being placed in oper- ation. No women have been paroled or released directly to war jobs, as yet, but letters received indicate that many have subsequently obtained employment in defense projects; one proud alumna is even working, under Civil Service appointment, as clerk-typist in the War Department at Washington. The foregoing, more in its intangibles than in its specific details, mirrors some of the wholesome conditions and the hopeful portent of the life at Alderson. As observed at the outset, this is no grim dungeon. Rather it is a peaceful and progressive com- munity of women trying to work their way back to happiness under competent leadership and sound policies. Its at- mosphere is probably no different than that which will prevail in the institutions which will house the fine, patriotic Women’s Army Volunteer Corps of the immediate future. The Warden, “Miss Helen” A Modern Betsy Ross 81 WEST STREET Area: One city block Capacity; 195 Average population: 220 Per capita cost: $750.08 Products: Laundry Type of offenders: Those awaiting trial or with short sentences Warden Edward E. Thompson Chief Clerk Wilbur R. Edwards Captain Jacob Adelson The Federal Detention Headquarters is located on the lower end of Manhattan Island in the center of the busi- ness and commercial district. It is close to transportation facilities of all kinds and convenient to the various gov- ernment agencies concerned in its function. All of the facilities of the greatest metropolis in America are available. The Federal Detention Headquarters in New York City is an institution of many functions and purposes. It is a jail for the custody of those being held for investigation and trial. It is a correctional institution for those who have been sentenced to serve short sentences. It is a domicile-cum-restraint for many hybrid types of prisoners (suspicious aliens, illegally disembarked foreign sailors, material witnesses and others) who could not be adequately or securely quartered otherwise. And, industrially, it functions as a large and efficient laundry which performs a major part of laundering for government agencies in the Manhattan area. The Manhattan headquarters (colloquially known as “West Street,” by reason of its address) has found its uses and responsibilities increased with the advent of the war. Wide- spread investigative and prosecutory actions in connection with subversive activity, sabotage and espionage have placed considerable strain upon its capacity. In view of the fact that a large part of the laundry work done by the institution is for the War and Navy Departments, it may readily be seen that such industrial output has been greatly augmented with the multiplication of military establishments in the district. “West Street” has most of the administrative and treatment functions which are present in the larger institutions; here they exist in more miniature form. There is a classification program (for those serving sentences longer than six months duration), there are physical and psychiatric therapeutic facili- ties, there are adequate means for recreation, there is (as in- dicated above) an industrial enterprise, and there is an excel- lent educational program. Here is a complete miniature penal community in the heart of the largest community in the Nation. More than a quarter of the institution’s population is assigned to the laundry (an adjunct of the Prison Industries, Inc.) and the men thus employed are paid wages which they may spend or dispose of in accordance with the regulations laid down by the Bureau of Prisons. (See Prison Industries, page 92.) Laundry equipment and practices are completely modern, and many inmates have received excellent vocational training in this department, which washes more than a million and a quarter pounds of clothing yearly. The laundry has operated continuously at a net profit over cost of maintenance and is, as in other federal institutions, the basis for good morale and the incentive for good work in the inmate population. It offers them constructive employment, good wages and the opportunity to earn additional “good time’’ off of their sentences. The New York headquarters faces peculiar custodial prob- lems. Some of the men whom it receives are not yet indicted, some are indicted but not yet arraigned, others are indicted and arraigned, while still others are sentenced and awaiting removal to other institutions. There are a few who are held pending appeals on their cases, a few in from other institutions on court writs, and a few incarcerated on civil contempt charges. Then there are the hybrid types (mentioned earlier in the aritcle) who fall into none of the foregoing classes. All of this differentiation in custody is productive of varying types of nervous and emotional unrest which are, in turn, creative of custodial problems of many kinds. In addition, more than a third of those received at West Street are narcotic addicts fresh from the fullest indulgence of their habits; no inconsider- able factor, by itself. Great tact, understanding and resource- fulness is required for the administration of such an institution. Of recreation, there is plenty. There is a library of more than a thousand volumes. On the roof of the structure, there is a screened area in which softball, handball, table tennis and similar games are played. The facilities are limited but extraordinarily adequate when one considers that the Detention Headquarters is located in a most crowded section of a very crowded city. Movies are held regularly and the inmates are stimulated to organize entertainments of various kinds, com- munity sings and other activities of a similar nature. Educational classes are carried on (despite the fact that the population turn-over is about 50 percent during a three-month semester. There are classes in English, public speaking, busi- ness practice, industrial mathematics, first aid and vocational laundry practice. There are also cell study courses, available through the correspondence division of the educational depart- ment at Lewisburg (Federal Penitentiary). “West Street” does a program of social work of a very high order. It is noteworthy that this institution has been designated as a qualified field training agency for social case work by the Continued on Page 8Jf Recreation ... in the Midst of a Metropolis 82 NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL The National Training School at Washington, D. C., houses federal delinquents from all over the United States and its territories who fall within the age group of 12 to 19 years. The average age at the training school is 17. Here, amidst surroundings that are wholesome and attractive if not as desirably rural as the Bureau of Prisons would prefer, some three hundred boys undergo a healthy, vigorous regimen, complete their education, learn trades and generally have their lives repatterned toward better ideals of citizenship. The school is administered according to the most advanced principles of juvenile reform. However, as a medium of resocialization it is still regarded as a “last resort” in the category of procedures which may be used in behalf of younger offenders. (“See Juve- nile Delinquency” on page 114.) The National Training School did not come under the juris- diction of the Bureau of Prisons until July of 1939, and though a great many advances have been made there and present ac- complishment is noteworthy, the Bureau is not satisfied that the location of the school within the limits of a metropolitan city (plus the institution’s plant limitations) are acceptable concomitants to the extensive plan for the treatment of juve- nile delinquents which is envisaged for the immediate future. Nevertheless, as intimated above, fine attainments are being accomplished. The task of the school is not an easy one. No more cosmopolitan or varied group of boys could possibly be assembled; there are lads from all sections of the United States, from every stratum of society and from every racial group. Many are committed under vastly dissimilar judicial proce- dures and will return to society or be released under a great disparity of conditions. Those, for instance, who are committed to the school as federal subjects are released by action of the United States Board of Parole, while those who are committed from the District of Columbia (about 30 percent of the popula- tion) are released through action of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. The boys are quartered and carry on their daily activities under the “cottage system.” Educational and vocational training receive, of course, strong emphasis and every effort is made to promote individual and group recreational activity of a type necessary to the sound development of growing boys. Corporal punishment (practiced in the school since its inception during President Johnson’s administration) has been abolished. Medical, psychological, psychiatric and nursing services have been installed and are being administered by the Public Health Service as in other federal institutions. Superintendent Harold E. Hegstrom Chief Clerk Michael T. Santa Classification and Parole Officer Donald D. Brewer Supervisor of Education Leo F. Cain The National Training School is located in the national capital. The institution stands at the top of a hill on the Bladensburg Road close to the Maryland line, a pleasantly suburban section that is fast becoming urban in nature with the encroaching tide of the city’s develop- ment. The physical plant is surrounded by extensive lawns and by areas given over to limited agricultural activity. The climate is warm in summer, mild in winter. A system of case records has been set up and all inmates are classified by the processes which prevail universally under the Bureau of Prisons. The personnel has been placed under civil service; new standards for recruiting and training employees have been evolved. New buildings have been erected and obso- lete ones have been removed. A dietary especially adapted to this group of boys has Men developed. Pursuant to a survey made by the National Recreational Association, a recreation and leisure-time program has been inaugurated. And probably most important, a plan has been put into practice whereby post-graduate students at local uni- versities with proper qualifications are recruited for the admin- istration staff as cottage leaders and parole workers. Education is of practical nature at the school. Academic instruction in primary and grammar grades is very strongly developed. High school courses are available on an individual basis of selection. There are also classes in printing, plumbing, electrical engineering, auto mechanics, bartering, laundering, tailoring, shoe repair and in the various forms of the machinists’ trade. A full-time recreational supervisor administers a well- developed cottage, intra-mural and school program of recrea- tional activities. The supervisor also plans and assists the cottage masters in carrying out the leisure-time programs. Each cottage has its own outdoor playground, well equipped, Continued on Page 121 The Institutional Band Making Model Planes for the Government 83 WEST STREET Continued from Page 82 New York School of Social Work. Advanced students of this fine school are received at the Detention Headquarters to act as internes in the office of the junior warden’s assistant. Despite the rapid turn-over in population and the varied nature of individual needs, considerable progress is made toward the assistance of men whose lives need better planning. “West Street” and the War Though its limitations have been narrow, the New York headquarters has enthusiastically responded to the call for the utmost in practical patriotism. In the words of its Warden, “The transformation of our great nation at peace to a deter- mined nation at war ... is reflected in the increased tempo of the laundry operated here. It was to be expected that the inmates employed in the laundry would recognize their respon- sibility, during the national crisis, for increasing laundry pro- duction. They knew the importance of the 100,000 pounds of laundered linens which they provided monthly for the use of the War and Navy Departments. They knew that the blankets, sheets and clothing which they provided for thousands of soldiers and sailors and Marines were perpetuating the health and morale of our fighting forces. These armaments, though of subtle nature, are potent contributors to the total victory effort which now engages our people. “With the addition of only several inmates, the total laundry output was raised by 43 percent from the standard average of previous times (70,000 pounds monthly) to the current standard of 100,000 pounds per month; and in the months to come, as our armed forces are mustered into full strength and the demand for our service increases, the inmates are pledged to further extend their efforts on behalf of their fight- ing brothers. “This evidence that even those members of society who have transgressed are cognizant of the larger concept of this war and that their contribution to its successful termination is offered with the same eagerness and willingness which char- acterizes all Americans may well give renewed faith not only in West Street Keeps the Doughboys Neat; Laundry for the Army our penological practices but also in our American way of life.” These fervent words of the Warden of the New York institu- tion tells best, by its spirit as well as its context, of the way that federal penal populations are joined hand-in-hand with their administration in an effort that cannot help but add up to victory. TEXARKANA of other days preceding it; the usual movie, the usual games, the usual superficial grumbling. As ever, the main topics of conversation were limited to the ramifications of trials, the unfair length of sentences and the proximity of that longed- for day of release. Any talk of the war was desultory, England coming in for about as many knoks as the Axis Powers. Even an admiring remark for Hitler could be heard now and then. “Suddenly all of this changed. On Sunday afternoon, the Pearl Harbor news began coming in over the radio. The true implications of the aggressor’s plans were finally becoming apparent. No longer was the war a topic for academic dis- cussion. It was now a personal matter with each and every man. Bitter imprecations against the Axis Powers were frequent, pungent and to the point. Patriotic fervor ran high. “In my opinion, this sincere patriotic fervor is the most interesting inmate reaction in our institution. Frankly, their war patriotism is of the type that puts to shame many groups and individuals on the outside. Their willingness to work extra time, to help salvage waste, and to accept certain cuts in their rations proves their sincerity. So do their numerous inquiries as to how they can best do their bit in the war effort.” Proof of the successful accomplishment of the rehabilitative plan as well as of wholesome Americanism at Texarkana is tacit in the fact that since the opening of this institution 138 men have been released under supervision (parole or con- ditional release) and only two men have been returned as violators. So it is evident that most of them have secured legitimate employment. It is also evident that Texarkana is effectively fulfilling its function as an agency for the redirec- tion of temporarily strayed American manhood. Continued from Page 77 bulletin boards. Gas mask and other similar instruction have been given. Finally, a manual covering all of these activities has been printed and posted or otherwise circulated. Although Texarkana’s industrial program is more or less in its infancy and is handicapped by limited shop space and the need for many improvisations, considerable coordination to the war industrial need has been made. The enthusiasm of the inmate workers, particularly since the war began, is largely responsible for this favorable result, the Warden reports. For instance, when it was made plain to the brush factory em- ployees that their product was badly needed by a rapidly expanding Navy, they really went to work, many of them working every minute that they were permitted in the shop. As related above, production increased 20 per cent. Incidentally related to the industrial program as Texarkana is a new project added late in 1941 (largely because of the war). The sudden demand for increased housing in the city of Texarkana (brought about by the construction of several large defense projects nearby) made it necessary to build small staff houses on the reservation sooner than was originally planned. Though some of this work is being done by civilian employees, Texarkana’s general foreman is in charge of the job and much of the work is being done by inmate labor. As to the direct effect of the war on the inmates, the reaction is best described in the words of the Warden, himself: “Saturday, December 6, 1941, passed off here just like dozens 84 The Federal Prison Camp at Dupont, Wash FEDERAL PRISON CAMPS . . . By ROBERT H. ARMSTRONG Supervisor of Prison Camps The federal prison camps are small, minimum-custody insti- tutions designed to effect, in long-imprisoned inmates who have good records and who are approaching the end of their sentences, a better adjustment to outside conditions. The camps are also equipped to care for inmates serving short sentences who might otherwise be compelled to serve their time in jails in idleness and perhaps in company with hardened criminals. A practical interpretation of the honor system is followed. The step from incarceration to society is made shorter and easier through these camps. Recognizing that few persons who lead lives of usefulness become involved in a life of crime, the creation of the work habit in inmates was set as one of the chief objectives of the camp service. Camp inmates are required to work approxi- mately the same number of hours they would in industrial or defense jobs. Production approximates the production of paid workers in civil life. It is our purpose to make industrious citizens out of camp inmates. If we can do this even in a small measure we have made a great contribution to society and to national defense. Work and training which will qualify inmates for defense jobs have been emphasized since the inauguration of the national defense program. The camp schools have centered their efforts on this objective. Illiterates are of little use to the Army, Navy or defense industries, so such men are taught reading, writing and mathematics in an effort to bring them up to an employable status in industry or in the armed forces. Work involving the maintenance, repair and operation of machinery, carpentry, electrical work, welding, tool dressing and air-hammer operation is utilized to equip inmates for defense work. Craft shops have been established in each camp as a leisure-time activity and instruction in the use of tools and power machinery is designed to promote mechanical skills and thereby raise the employable status of a number of inmates in important defense work. 85 Only two of our camps are fortunate enough to be engaged directly in defense work. DuPont and Montgomery are located on Army posts and perform vital work for the maintenance and operation of the Army facilities. The inmates of these camps have shown patriotic spirit and are proud of their opportunity to contribute to the defense effort. They have worked overtime and on Sundays and holidays when called upon to do so without a grumble or an objection. For the most part the inmates of the camps have no money and their contributions in a material way to the purchase of Defense Bonds, to the Red Cross and to Community Chest have been meager, but their attitude toward civilian defense, training in first aid and fire protection has been marvelous. They have participated wholeheartedly and effectively in making these programs a success. They have demonstrated a com- mendable spirit of patriotism. FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Dupont, Wash. T. J. BROCK, Superintendent The camp at Dupont was established in July 1930 on the Army reservation at Fort Lewis, Wash., and is the oldest camp now in operation. The inmates here perform important work for the Army. They are occupied with the maintenance of grounds, the oper- ation of a small nursery, the operation of a sawmill, the digging of ditches, the construction and moving of tent cities, the unloading of freight, the handling of stores in warehouses, and the construction of parking lots. The work at this camp is on a full six-day-per-week basis for the period of the emer- gency. The duties performed by these inmates releases combat troops for essential training and for warfare. The sawmill operated by the inmates of the camp has a capacity of 20,000 board feet per day and operates at near maximum capacity all of the time. A valuation of $22 per thousand has been placed on the lumber by the Army. This lumber is used to construct stables, loading platforms, tent foundations, bridges, culverts, and for other purposes where rough lumber is required. A planer is now being installed and the inmates will soon be able to provide finished lumber for other uses. The logs are cut on the Army reservation. Ap- proximately 10 cords of stovewood per day are obtained as a by-product from this sawmill and this is used as fuel on the post by the Army and the prison camp too. An excellent school has been conducted, teaching a variety of elementary and vocational subjects which improve the em- ployable status of inmates in defense industries. The camp craft shop has also been utilized for this purpose. Cooperation in defense activities, first aid and fire protection has been of the best. A “victory garden” cultivated after work- ing hours is an interesting demonstration of the attitude of the inmates. Men of Mill Point Gouge a Road Out of the Rugged Alleghenies FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Kooskia, Idaho D. A. REMER, Superintendent The Kooskia Camp, located in the Bitterroot Mountains in the Nez Perce National Forest at the junction of Canyon Creek and the Lochsa River, was established in August 1935. This picturesque setting is in the midst of one of the last large primitive areas in the United States and elk, deer, mountain goats, bear and other rare wildlife are frequently seen in the vicinity of the camp. The inmates are constructing a portion of the Lewis and Clark Highway between Kooskia, Idaho, and Missoula, Mont. Prior to the declaration or war this road project carried a No. 1 priority as a military highway. While this higlrway is still considered an important road project, more urgent work has replaced the Lewis and Clark Highway in priority. The opportunities afforded by the road construction work for training inmates in operating heavy road-building equipment, operation of jackhammers, maintenance and repair of gasoline- and Dielsel-operated equipment, operation, maintenance and repair of heavy trucks, and gas and arc welding, have not been overlooked. Efforts are concentrated on training as many in- mates as possible to perform work of this nature in civil life. One of the chief accomplishments of the camp is teaching inmates having no trade or vocation and no employment history to work. Practically all able-bodied inmates are qualified to obtain employment in defense industries when they return to their homes. The evening school and craft shop provide profitable and instructive training to many inmates. Illiteracy is decreased Kooskia’s Men Build the Lewis and Clark Highway The Federal Prison Camp at Kooskia, Idaho 86 Top panel: The Federal Prison Camp at Montgomery, Ala., and (inset) some of the work being done by the men of that camp; the flooring and sidewalls for a tent community that Uncle Sam’s warbirds will call home for the period of their training. The lower picture shows the inmates of the Federal Prison Camp at Dupont, Wash., operating their sawmill. It produces 20,000 board feet of lumber daily. and knowledge of the use of hand tools and power woodworking machines is promoted by these activities. A number of the inmates have volunteered to donate blood to the blood bank when facilities are available. Their cooperation in defense activities, first aid and fire protection has been all that could be expected. FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Mill Point, W. Va. JOHN FINN, Superintendent In September 1938 the Mill Point Camp was established in a beautiful scenic section of the Monongahela National Forest, 60 miles north of White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., for construct- ing an extension to West Virginia Forest Highway No. 39 between Marlinton and Richwood, W. Va. This is an important highway, making a direct connection with U. S. Route No. 60 leading to the West Coast and making access shorter and easier from the East to the industrial centers in the Great Kanawha and Ohio Valleys. The principal contribution of this camp to national defense is the fitting of inmates to assume important and vital places in defense industries upon their release. Their work is utilized in training them in operation of heavy road-building mac hinery, repair of automobiles, repair and operation of heavy dump trucks, tractors, bulldozers, Dielsel engines and in acetylene and electric welding. A vocational class in auto mechanics is conducted with ex- cellent results. The inmates, in connection with camp con- struction and maintenance work, are also being given experi- ence in carpentry, stone masonery and the operation of station- ary boilers. A definite program of instruction in the use of hand tools and small power-operated machines in connection with a craft shop has been established. An excellent school for illiterates is conducted with about 100 percent of illiterates attending. FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Montgomery, Ala. JAMES B. GAFFNEY, Superintendent The Montgomery Camp was established in September 1930 on the Maxwell Field Army Air Training Station three miles from Montgomery, Ala. The inmates of this camp, like the inmates of Dupont, are engaged in work in connection with the maintenance and operation of the Army post. The work that is performed in- cludes lawns and grounds, the construction and maintenance of runways, the construction and moving of tent cities, the oper- ation of a repair shop for post maintenance equipment, the 87 A Vigorous and Wholesome Background Against Which to Work and Live, the Federal Prison Camp at Tucson, Ariz. maintenance of Army recreational areas, the repair, mainte- nance and widening of roads, the digging of ditches, the clearing of brush, and flood control. The work crews are subject to call when needed for urgent defense work such as repair of run- ways. A considerable amount of overtime and work on Sun- days and holidays has been cheerfully and willingly performed by the inmates. They have demonstrated a patriotic and cooperative spirit in all such undertakings. Major contributions to the war effort consist of freeing, to purely military duties and training, soldiers who would, except for the work of the camp inmates, be compelled to devote valuable time to maintenance work. There are practically no fatigue details of Army personnel working on the post. Due to the great number of illiterates confined in the Mont- gomery Camp, efforts have been concentrated on teaching as many of these illiterates as possible enough of the fundamen- tals to enable them to hold defense jobs. Some work also has been undertaken in vocational training, especially in electrical work. Camp construction has afforded opportunities for a number of inmates to learn something about carpentry, house wiring and plumbing, thereby raising their employable status in defense work. FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Tucson, Ariz. CHARLES B. MEAD, Superintendent The Tucson Camp was established in June 1933 in an isolated section of the Catalina Mountains in the Colorado National Forest. The camp, originally estab- lished in tents, has been moved twice and is now located 28 miles northeast of Tucson, Ariz. The inmates are con- structing a highway lead- ing from the foothills to the summit of the Cata- lina Mountain range. The road started at an eleva- tion of 2,800 feet and will eventually reach an eleva- tion of 8,500 feet above sea level. The road will open up a vast area of the Colorado National Forest which has heretofore been inaccessible except b y horse or on foot. In ad- dition to opening up the road it will aid in developing the mineral resources in the areas. The efforts of the staff are centered on teaching inmates to perform productive labor and training them in trades which will enable them to take their places in industry upon release. All inmates who have worked on this project will have fundamental knowledge of some phase of construction work which will en- able them to contribute to the war effort. Those trained in the care and use of road-building machinery will find employment in the building of airports and strategic military roads. Those trained in the use of air drills may take their places in mines producing minerals and metals vital to the war effort. In the maintenance shops, inmates are becoming familiar with the repair of automotive equipment ranging from passenger cars and light trucks to huge Diesel-operated dump trucks and tractors. Experience in the operation of lathes, blacksmithing and welding, both acetylene and electric, is afforded in the shops for the repair of road construction equipment. Inmates working on camp maintenance and construction details are given an opportunity to become familiar with the care and operation of Diesel engines, electric generating apparatus, high- pressure water pumps, and with carpentry and stonemasonry. Every inmate who leaves this camp, if he has been physically able to perform the required work, has a working knowledge of some activity that will qualify him for a position in some work essential to the war effort. To supplement the practical mechanical training received in the performance of the work, instruction is given in an evening school in reading, writing and mathematics. Supple- mental reading and cor- respondence courses are also available. There functions, in each of these camps (within the limitations of the re- spective institutions), a modified form of the ad- ministrative and treat- ment set up to be found in the larger institutions, already described in this publication. There are also, of course, the usual social service functions and proportion- al adaptations of the ad- visory and administrative boards which, throughout the federal prison system, afford the completest un- derstanding and wisest supervision of institution- al life. The Federal Prison Camp at Mill Point, W. Va., an Invigorating Locale for Rehabilitation 88 SEAGOVILLE AND TERMINAL ISLAND The ranks of America’s federal prisons have not been exempt from the effect of wartime needs. Two institutions, formerly links in the prison system, have been turned over to other governmental agencies “for the dura- tion,” for uses more directly cogent to wartime purposes. Facing San Pedro Harbor on Terminal Island (close to Los Angeles) is a federal correctional institution that was one of the first of the medium-security institutions to be built in accordance with the Bureau’s reorganization plan. Like Dan- bury, Milan, Sandstone, and the others in this group, Terminal Island followed the self-enclosed pattern of construction. It was modern in every respect and housed, in separate departments, both male and female prisoners. Shortly after the inception of World War II, Terminal Island was turned over to the Navy for use as a naval receiving ship. At Dallas, Texas, the Bureau of Prisons constructed its re- formatory for female offenders convicted in the western part of the United States. (Alderson received women offenders from the eastern area, but now receives all female federal prisoners.) The Dallas institution (located at Seagoville, a surburban district of Dallas) was constructed and decorated from the standpoint of rehabilitation rather than mere incarceration. The persons shown in the photograph which appears on the next page are (left to right) Congressman Louis C. Rabaut (of Michigan), Congressman Robert Ramspeck (of Georgia), Attorney General Francis Biddle, Director of Federal Prisons James V. Bennett, and Warden Joseph W. Sanford. The picture was made upon the occasion of the Attorney General’s visit to Atlanta penitentiary and the group is inspecting war gear. The institution suggests a school campus rather than a prison. Early this spring (1942) Seagoville’s women were moved to Alderson and the reformatory was turned over to the uses of the United States Immigration Service. Even from the ranks of its personnel, from the highest to lowest brackets, the Bureau of Prisons has contributed to the war effort. Hundreds of custodial officers and other employees have responded to the call for men and many of these are now serving as commissioned officers in the battlefronts of the world. Some institutions, for instance, have contributed more than one-sixth of their personnel during the first nine months of the war. DANBURY Continued from Page 52 ing toward a lessening of the traditional penal atmosphere is the unusual fact that most of the buildings at Danbury are “named,” much in the way that college buildings are so desig- nated. The dining hall is named “Jackson Hall.” after the former Attorney General. The administration building is named after Justice Jackson’s predecessor, Homer S. Cum- mings. The auditorium is called Bennett Hall, after the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. Other buildings on the reservation have similar names. When Danbury was opened in July 1940 ceremonies unique to penological precedent took place. For a period of three days the institution was thrown open to the general public. On the first day nearly two hun- dred specially invited guests, persons of prominence in the prison world, were escorted through the institution. The second day some three thousand residents of the region and the State of Connecticut, admitted on invitation of local civic organizations, visited the institution, and on the third day the general public, nearly ten thousand strong, passed through the buildings and grounds of the prison. The import of this inno- vation is significant of the Bu- reau’s policy in connection with the edification of society in general as to the nature of prison life. The response of the public and press to their intro- duction to federal penal poli- cies, as exemplified at Danbury, was gratifying and portentious of a better understanding, on a larger scale, of the work being done in America’s prisons. Danbury is one of the out- posts of the new penology, a proving place for the doctrine that even in prison men must be treated decently if they are to be turned out of prison de- cent men. The truth of this per- ceptive axiom is being regular- ly proven at Danbury. a Dormitory Cubicle at Danbury ALCATRAZ Continued from Page 51 purpose, it would fulfill an adequate destiny by (in the words of Representative Wright Patman, of Texas) “just being there.” Congressman Patman told the House, in 1936, that the prison’s existence was “the best evidence that the Department of Justice is not going to permit a small number of prisoners to defeat it in its larger and more important purpose ... of rehabilita- tion of the reformable type of prisoner for the better security of society.” This is eminently true. Recent social trends and contemporary attitudes and public credos have created a vast network of laws which, in turn, has spawned great underworld popula- tions. Certain portions of these populations, by the very nature of life, develop greater tendencies for viciousness than the rest. Ways must be effected to deal with such social manifestations. Alcatraz is one of these ways. It is not a complete answer to the problem and the Bureau of Prisons would be one of the first to so admit. But like war, which has no place in the Utopian scheme but is the only known means of effectively dealing with international thuggery, the maximum-security prison is the only presently proven process for dealing with one of penology’s toughest problems. The federal prison system is no mere chain of prisons. It is an integrated organization of separate and dissimilar institutions for the accommodation of specifically dissimilar types of offend- ers. Alcatraz splendidly fulfills one of the most important functions of this system. 89 FEDERAL PRISON PRACTICALLY ALL OF THESE MATERIALS PROIDUCTS ★ ★ ★ AND PRODUCTS GO TO THE ARMED FORCES PRISON INDUSTRIES . . . From the very inception of the modern penological ideal, it has been believed that in constructive work programs lay the number one solution of how to redirect men, while in prison, from lives of indolence and crime into paths of usefulness and decent living. The emphasis, in this trend of belief, was placed upon the constructive nature of the work to be carried on. Mere “made work” was not at any time deemed desirable. Penal boon- doggling of this kind had vitiated rehabilitative attainment in prisons for generations, going well back into English and continental history (the treadmill and its variations). Nor were such evolutionary progressions of “made work” as the picking of oakum, the beating of hemp, the breaking of rock and other semifutile occupations regarded as properly coming under the heading of constructive employment. It was decided that work for prisoners should be useful, that it should be productive of skills that might provide individual economic security after release, and that it should have the elements of interest, dignity and distinction that would make it desirable and attractive to men of good intent. There was no question about the need for such employment. Prior to the introduction of employment processes in prisons conditions were malign for the prisoner, for the prison, and in ultimate progression, for society. Idleness or useless, time- killing forms of work bred stagnation, bad morale and a high rate of disciplinary infractions together with a low rate of rehabilitation. Few if any men were released from prison able to cope more competently with life than at the time of their commitment. With today’s many-times-augmented prison populations, the administrational problems would have been intolerable. Work for prisoners was instituted, but as in the cases of so many other fine and progressive innovations, the movement frequently fell into wrong hands and was perverted in the direction of excesses and exploitations of a nature and extent inevitable of condemnation. In some states, prisoners were worked under conditions more significant of financial aggrandizement than of the more intangible profits of rehabilitation. In some few states, prisoners were mistreated. In many states, the work of prisoners was leased to contractors who were in no way officially connected with the correctional systems and who had no other interest in their indentured workers than that of obtaining the maximum of work from them, at all or any costs. Economic adventurers of this stripe were enabled to bring commodities to the commercial market at prices far below competitive figures. The result was that both manufacturers and labor unions soon swung powerful influences into action against any and all commodity production behind prison walls and demands for legislation to this effect were widely voiced throughout the country. In 1929, Congress passed the Hawes-Cooper Act, which enabled any state to prohibit, within its borders, the sale of goods made in the prisons of any other state. State governments quickly followed suit with parallel legislation. In 1935, Congress enacted the Ashurst-Sumners Act, prohibiting the transporta- tion of prison-made goods into any state in violation of the laws of that state. The trend toward the restriction of prison industrial production reached its apogee in 1940 when a law was voted making it illegal to transport any prison-made goods, at all, from one state to another. Thus, because of misapplication of the principle of work for prisoners and the results thereof in terms of human suffering and threats to trade and free labor, a reaction of popular disapproval was set up which exists to this day (and in potential perpetuity) to stymie and hinder the more humane and socially useful possibilities of this great penological doctrine. The effect was immediately felt. At the turn of the century, with both good and bad work systems in operation in prisons throughout the country, between 65 and 75 percent of all prisoners were productively employed. In 1923, at the inception of the trend against prison labor, the ratio fell to 61 percent; in 1932 it fell to 52 percent, and it presently deviates at about 44 percent. Despite the fact that it has been authoritatively claimed that not more than 25 percent of an institutional population is needed for its maintenance and operation, despite the acknowl- edged benefits to be gained for all from the productive employ- ment of prisoners, only 36 percent of federal prisoners are contemporaneously assigned to industries work. Of the remain- der, 17 percent have maintenance assignments, some 13 percent are “sick or unable to work.” In many cases, the net result of the trend toward restriction was that prison industrial projects were threatened with becoming little more than frustrated and emasculated enter- prises with limited rehabilitative significance and decreased economic value. The most common disposal of prison indus- trial output now became that which was dictated by the so- called state-use system, a plan which rendered goods fabricated in penal institutions vendable only to other institutions within the respective system. The fullest potentialities of penal insti- tutions were, in this way, limited by the barriers thus created; barriers created in the public weal but reflecting no perceptive understanding or consideration for other social needs equally vital if less overtly pressing. Productive employment for federal prisoners decreased by 25 percent between 1932 and 1940 and revenues declined some 20 percent. In fact, compar- isons between 1885 and 1940 were not favorable to 1940’s Lewisburg Stamps Out Mess Trays for the Army 92 attainment; in 1885, 75 percent of all prisoners were gainfully employed, in 1940 the ratio was 44 percent. The situation was replete with ambiguity. Certainly the manufacturers and the labor unions were justified in their complaints. Certainly the public was justified in its demand that something be done about possibilities for inhumanity which existed under the system of indiscriminate con- tract labor. On the other hand, there was great good to be derived from a properly supervised and unfettered program of industrial production for prisons; a potential of good which the arbi- trary nature of hasty legislation failed to deeply consider and which was therefore temporarily deprived of development. As indicated in the foregoing, most penal institutions adopted various forms of the state- use system, and because of the limitations im- plicit to this plan, quantity and quality of pro- duction fell off and the numbers of men employ- able were materially decreased. The Federal Government has met the restric- tive trends with more initiative and resourceful- ness. Prior to 1919 there was no centralized industrial control in the prison service. Each federal institution did whatever work it did, independently and on local authoriza- tion, creating only what it could use within its own walls. During World War I there arose a great need for cotton duck. In this need was born a penal industrial system which is now, a quarter of a century later, earning millions of dollars annually and performing social service of a high order. Pursuant to the need for duck, Army, Navy, Post Office Department and Justice officials conferred upon ways and means to create a large duck goods factory and from their conferences eventuated the modern and extensive textile mill of the United States Penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga. Shortly after- ward, brush and broom plants and a shoe factory were estab- lished at the Leavenworth Penitentiary and a foundry and chair factory were authorized for the United States Reforma- tory at Chillicothe. More industries have followed in the other institutions, and now no institution is operated by the Bureau of Prisons that does not have, or for which is not planned, some industrial activity which is compatible with and suited to its own respective condition or circumstance. At the time that the first industries were inaugurated, sepa- rate revolving funds were established for each of them. To these funds all receipts were deposited and from them all expenses were paid. Products were sold only to departments and establishments of the United States Government and all sales were made at current market prices so that private com- merce and industry would not be adversely affected. Such prices were ascertained and fixed by examination of bids and quotations in local and trade journals, and by direct contact with private manufacturers. In 1930, this process was varied to some degree when the industrial set-up was centralized at Washington and all work- ing capital funds were consolidated into a single revolving fund (Public 271 of the 71st Congress). The new law broad- ened the scope of industrial possibility in federal prisons and enabled the Attorney General to diversify the activities carried on behind the walls of his institutions. It also permitted him to create new ones as such seemed indicated, and required certain governmental departments and agencies to purchase from the prisons, products which met their requirements and were available. Lists of articles fabricated by the federal prisons were ordered filed with the General Accounting Office, and vouchers submitted for the purchase of such commodities from private industry were not to be approved unless accom- panied by a statement from the prison industries to the effect that these items could not be supplied by them. It was not until 1934 that all of the lessons learned from the past and all of the speculative theories gained therefrom were translated into procedures which, after considerable Prison Industries Work, Day and Night Making War Goods study and eclectic formulation, were crystallized in the agency and authority now known as the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. The widespread depression which was being suffered in the country at that time had accentuated public resentment of any possible source of economic discomfort. The clamor against prison industrial activity was resumed. The problem was con- sidered objectively: consideration was given the interests of all possible elements, and a plan was created and proposed which had the support of congressional leaders, of capital, of organized labor and of private industry. Under the plan, the industries of the federal prisons would be operated by a cor- porate body whose policies would be dictated by a Board of Directors representing the various parties concerned in the problem. No fairer gesture toward social and economic equity could have been conceived. On June 23, 1934, this administrative ideal became law (Public 461, passed by the 73d Congress). On December 11, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6917 which created the corporation known henceforth as the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. He named to its first Board of Directors Sanford Bates (representing the Attorney Gen- leral), Thomas A. Rickert (representing Labor), John D. Miller (representing Agriculture), Marion Luther Brittain (representing Industry), and Sam A. Lewisohn (representing Retailer-Consumers). In later years, Mr. Rickert left the Board and Mr. Emil Schram, of New York, replaced Mr. Miller. Mr. James V. Bennett, Director of the Bureau of Prisons, was designated as Commissioner of Industries to act as chief administrative officer of the corporation. Other administra- tive personnel were appointed. On January 1, 1935, the Federal Prison Industries took over the operation of all industrial production in federal prisons (with the exception of farming, road construction and for- estry). Since that time, numerous industries have been added to the category of services performed in the federal prisons, the latest of which has been a shipyard at McNeil Island, Wash. The policies of the new federally sponsored corporate enter- prise were sound and clear-cut. The Federal Prison Industries, at inception, decided to base its operations upon a policy that recognized eight considerations, namely: 1. All inmates not needed for the maintenance of institutions, or not engaged in important educational activities, should be given the opportunity to work in “the industries.” 2. In determining the nature of a diversified industrial pro- gram, the government market alone will be considered. The industries will engage to supply a pro rata proportion of the demands of other governmental agencies (in addition to an unlimited production for federal correctional institutions). 3. Industries set up in prisons must be practical of operation within that institution and cannot require skills not available therein. 93 4. Industries established must require a maximum of hand labor and have a definite vocational training value. 5. Industries established must give promise of a fair return on the investment after deducting overhead charges (including depreciation), contingencies and wages to inmate workers. 6. After providing most institutions in need of employment for their inmates with industrial establishments, the Board will attempt development along lines of diversification “to eliminate undue competition with free industries and to com- ply with the language of the statute requiring the more effec- tive diversification of prison industries.” 7. Production of industries will not be permitted to develop at any time to a degree that is inconsistent with contempo- raneous conditions. (The Board’s policy was framed during the height of the 1929-1936 depression when such considera- tions had special significance.) 8. No prisoner shall be employed more than 40 hours a week. (The practical exigencies of the defense effort and of World War II have temporarily abrogated the observance of this condition. In step with the rest of American society, workers in the Federal Prison Industries do considerably more than JfO hours weekly work.) In addition to the foregoing tenets, it was decided that the corporation would pay claims for industrial injuries to its workers under a scale and according to conditions approxi- mating those of the U. S. Employees’ Compensation Act. It was also decided that hearings should be inaugurated at which complaints of labor and private industry, if any, might be aired and arbitrated. This, then, was the nature of the first penal industries organization ever to be created. The benefits, in terms of smoother operation and greater effect, were felt at once. Today, the Federal Prison Industries operates approximately 25 separate industries in 12 of the 27 institutions of the Bureau of Prisons.* Considerably more than six thousand men and women are employed at productive work. More than 70 high-grade products are manufactured (the combined market value of 328,697 pairs of shoes and 4,846,306 yards of duck and canvas, each in excess of $1,000,000, t represented 35 per- cent of all goods produced in 1940, a peacetime year). Valuable skills were developed on a large scale among men who had theretofore been considered useless members of soceity. Valu- able equipment and installations of a permanent nature were acquired and paid for from the earnings of the corporation. Vocational training courses and equipment were installed in adjunction to the industries themselves. Inmates and their families were paid wages aggregating $340,700.34 in 1941.$ Of probably even greater value and significance are the intangible benefits gained and improvments made, for the cor- poration has proven itself as much a force for social service as an abundantly effective industrial organization. To be an industrial worker, in the federal prisons, is the most desirable of occupational assignments. The status of the industrial worker has been so raised, from the standpoint of technical competence and resultant prestige, that men are proud and often vain of their function in the institutional industrial organization. Men seek such assignments and are granted them upon a basis of good conduct and proper attitude. With a high premium thus placed upon the opportunity to work, individual and group morale is bound to be good and has, as a matter of fact, proven increasingly better with the passing of time. With the good morale, with the development of sound work habits and interest in trade skills, and with augmentation of the prestige of the good worker, rehabilitation was certain to accrue. Criminals became useful citizens without being aware of their meta- morphosis. This is one of the major intangible benefits that were made available through the industrialization of the federal prisons. There are two others. Two-thirds of the wages paid federal prisoners goes to their dependents at home. Most of this money reaches homes with submarginal standards and does an im- mense amount of good toward sustaining families that might otherwise suffer greatly because of the enforced absence of their breadwinner. Of related importance is the concurrent contribution to self-respect made available to family men who are thus enabled to bear a portion of their domestic respon- sibilities, though serving time as prisoners. There is also another factor: the wholesome tone and atmosphere which a vigorous industrial installation lends to the prison establishment. Prison administrators say that the presence of sound industry helps to remove the dismal and stagnant atmosphere traditional to the prison scene and makes of the penal community a social group more nearly like that of a large and well-administered industrial community of the outside world. And, of course and not least considerable, there is the factor of easement to the taxpayers. Industries, in the Federal Govern- ment, materially help to support the penal structure. World War II has proven an ill wind which has not been unproductive of good for the cause of prison industry or for the men in prisons. The war has brought increased opportu- nities for service, increased opportunities for demonstrating the real value of well-administered penal industries, increased opportunities for rehabilitation through patriotic industrial usefulness. The prisons, the industrial management and the men have been quick to seize these opportunities. Excellent vocational schools that would prepare men for skill-requiring defense jobs have been installed. Federal job-placement bureaus have been created to route such men into war-production jobs. And the men themselves have responded with fervor and eager patriotism. At the inception of the war, it was easily seen that production would play a major part in the winning of the ultimate victory. Already, during the period when America was making its so- called “defense effort,” the prisons of the Federal Government had, with clear vision into the future, stepped up their pro- duction of all commodities. Where four million yards of cloth were produced in 1940, nearly six million yards were produced in 1941, and in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, more than nine and one-half million yards of cloth were fabricated. This trend (which is speeding up in tempo with each passing day) is symptomatic of federal prison reaction to the emergency. New industries have been added to those already function- ing and old types of products have been readapted to more contemporaneous usages. A heavy emphasis and priority has been placed upon the manufacture of articles for the military. Because of the excellent nature and quality of the goods made by the prison industries, more and more contracts are being made available to them and, as this is being written, a consid- erable backlog of orders—mostly military—is rapidly becoming even more extensive. The Federal Prison Industries, with reasonable anticipation and justifiable confidence, looks forward to the peacetime possibilities of this now greatly expanded penal industrial organization, now tested and proven in the crucible of war. It is hoped and believed that these opportunities for service to the national economy and to the country’s social welfare will not be permitted to wither when peace has come to the land, when every possible individual and group will be needed for the vast reconstruction to come just as all are now needed in the job of working or fighting for the victory. Not the least important is the success of the Federal Prison Industries as a weighty factor in the creation of a better American penology. A tremendously better understanding of the problem of work for prisoners has been gained, for all prisons within the Nation, from the efforts, set-backs, successes and cumulative experience of the Federal Government. It has been truly demonstrated that the mooted evil of prison labor does not lay in its nature, but in the nature of its adminstra- tion; that properly and perceptively and socially minded administration makes of prison labor one of the few forceful and effective contributions to the resocialization of criminals in our time. ♦With the progress of the war, these figures have been materially- increased. Some industries that existed have been replaced with others more useful to the war needs. Other industries have been added. tThese figures have also been tremendously increased. At Atlanta, alone, more than a million yards of cloth are produced monthly to meet wartime needs. tWith increased work hours and production, considerably greater wages are now paid. 94 SO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT PRISON LOOKS LIKE? Most laymen foster conceptions of prison life that are some- what remote from the truth. Lurid moving pictures, melodra- matic fiction and even the cartoons which appear in popular periodicals aid and abet in the growth of these misconceptions. The mental picture of “a prison cell” that flourishes in the mind of the average citizen is that of a dank, dismal, stone- constructed cubicle, lighted by a small steel-fretted window and entered through a door of ponderous impregnability. An uncomfortable pallet, a stool and a water jug may complete this picture. There are still, in some parts of the country, old-fashioned and harshly uncomfortable quarters for prisoners. Most of the state prisons have, however, made great strides in the matter of providing housing which conforms with the most advanced trends of mod- ern penology. New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and New Jersey are especially noteworthy in this respect. The Federal Government has, despite its heavy her- itage of old-style prisons, provided a standard of housing for its prisoners that is adequate for a program of mod- ern penology. In the first place, there is no single type of housing that predominates in the institutions of the federal prison system. With classification and specific segregation providing the motif and keynote for the creation of living condi- tions in federal prisons, there are almost as many types of domicile as there are general types of prisoners. This means that there must be housing for the ordi- nary inmate, for vicious troublemakers and for well-adjusted ‘‘trusty type” pris- oners, also for older men, for impres- sionable younger men, for invalid types, for degenerates, and for those who re- spond most satisfactorily to the com- munal existence of dormitories. The commonest type of quarters is the inside cell block. In this type of accommodation, all of the cells are usually built into a single unit, like a honeycomb. There are most frequently between three and five tiers of cubicles, the doors of which open onto galleries that are reached by means of staircases at one or both ends of the structure. Plumbing and electrical (and radio) facilities are made conveniently avail- able (especially for repairs) through areaways which stem through the cen- ters of these cell blocks. The arrange- ment is comparable to two egg crates stood back to back and provided with galleries for egress and ingress. Hous- ing the entire structure but adjoining it nowhere (like a soap box placed over the egg crates) is the cell house proper. Such cell blocks, generally considered on their way to obsoletion insofar as general use is concerned, may provide accommodations for as many as a thousand men apiece. In the federal prisons, such structures contain one-man cells, two- men cells, eight-men cells, and ten-men cells. Locking or un- locking these cells is usually accomplished through the medium of control boxes located at the end of each tier. The more modern variation of the cell block is designed with its cells built into the outer wall of the building. This arrangement permits more light and air to reach the occupants and is considered more desirable in a number of ways. The dormitory, however, is considered the most advanced and most practical form of penal housing. It is least expensive of construction or maintenance. It offers greater opportunities for supervision and the most advantageous use of the least An Inside Cell Block (Atlanta) space. It is the housing most desired by inmates and it is generally considered productive of the most normalizing influence possible behind prison walls. There are dormi- tories in all of the federal prisons (except Alcatraz), in the institutions of lesser restraint, and all inmates of prison camps are quartered in dormitories. For prisoners whose conduct and attitude have earned the trust of their respective institutions, there are “honor rooms.” These are private rooms, very similar to ordinary hospital rooms, whose doors are unlocked and whose windows are unbarred. At the other extreme, at Alcatraz Island there are maximum-security cells, large, commo- dious but strongly barred and completely escapeproof quarters designed for men whose temperaments, record, or length of sentence makes necessary this type of hous- ing. Some of these are large enough to permit the instal- lation of workbenches, lathes and other equipment, so that their occupants may live and work and amuse themselves, if necessary, for indefinite periods of time. The federal prison cell is well equipped and furnished. There are usually spring beds (double-deckers in cells for more than one occupant), wooden or metal work or study tables (the metal ones are manufactured in prison shops at Lewisburg and Chillicothe) and comfortable chairs. Each inmate has his own locker for clothing and personal effects. Cold running water is available in all cells and in many of them hot water is installed or is being installed. There is invariably a modern commode and all cells are well lighted from within and without. In most of the institutions, radio is available, usually through dual channels wired directly into the cells. Inmates may plug their headphones into jacks which afford reception of either of the two major network programs. There is no vermin to be found in federal prison cells, a unique feature of prison administration. Measures are constantly taken toward this end; lice or bedbugs simply do not exist. Cockroaches, mice and rats are eliminated through the enforce- ment of rules which prevent food from the dining hall from being taken to cells and which limit the nature and quantity of A Single Cell, Quarters in an Inside Cell Block commissary items which may be kept in the inmate’s lockers. The living quarters are kept scrupulously clean, beds are made military style, excess clothing is stowed out of sight, and all other paraphernalia and possessions are arranged in an orderly manner. Every effort is made to maintain living quarters in an extremely neat and tidy manner. At the same time, every measure is taken to increase the liviability of cells, dormitories and quarters of all kinds. All surfaces are painted cheer- fully and with an eye to good decor. Blankets, sheets, pillowslips and mattresses furnished inmates are of excellent quality and their cleanliness is rigidly insured. Heat and ventilation are carefully and conscientiously provided and every effort is made to the end that inmates shall be comfortably and healthfully quartered. The foregoing may provide a more adequate picture of the housing of federal prisoners for those whose opportunities have not included an inspection of one of the Nation’s correctional institutions. Federal prisons do not offer luxury quarters; neither do they impose upon prisoners housing relatively incompatible with the Amer- ican way of life. Such cleanliness extends, with even increased rigor, into the departments where food is served and prepared. The kitchens of the federal prisons and their butchering and baking departments are criteria of culinary sanita- tion and cleanliness in respects that do not disparage comparison with the finest hotels or with the super-clean perfections of any of the high-class chain restaurants throughout the country. There are none of the odorous, dingy, grease-infected scenes of institutional tradition to be found in these kitchens. There are gleaming surfaces of tile and brass and chromium. Steam cooking, so common to prison culinary practice, is not the only means of preparing food; there are broilers, griddles and capacious ovens. There is every modern device for the economical, nutri- tious preparation of food. Recreational Facilities in a Reformatory Honor Dormitory WARTIME PRECAUTIONS Large or small, remote to national fron- tiers or close to them, all of the federal cor- rectional institutions have taken steps to protect life and property in case of air raid. Many of them are directly within “target areas.” McNeil Island is directly within the Puget Sound military area, close to defense installations of many kinds. Alcatraz stands at the front gate of Japan’s hypothetical “number one objective” in North America, San Francisco harbor. The Atlanta Peniten- tiary is situated at the major railhead of the Southeast, in the midst of industrial and mili- tary concentrations. Danbury, Petersburg, Lewisburg, Chillicothe, Tallahassee — all of these and others are within range of possible enemy air invasion. The Detention Headquar- ters at New Orleans and at New York City are both located in large metropolitan centers which are reasonably conjecturable objectives for attack. All of the institutions, however, no matter what their location may be, have carried out intensive programs of preparation for any and every eventuality. Measures taken fall under three classifications; Protection from Direct Damage, Medical and Surgical Preparations, and Morale Stimulation and Instruction. PROTECTION FROM DIRECT DAMAGE — Within this subdivision of defense activity falls the creation of equipment and materials for the extinguishing of fire bombs, the teaching of fire-fighting techniques, the appointment of crews to per- form this function, and the holding of practice drills where possible. Methods and measures for dealing with gas bombs receive consideration (of a limited nature). In the federal prisons, those responsible for such protective programs have foundationed their activities upon the basis of thorough surveys of their local physical plants. MEDICAL PREPARATIONS — Under this heading comes the establishment and equipment of emergency operating rooms and first aid stations in sections of institutions least likely to suffer raid damage; also the training of first aid and rescue squads. Considerable attainment has been made in respect to such activities. First Aid Is Taught Prison Officers and (below) Inmates MORALE STIMULATION AND INSTRUCTION — Every effort has been made to inform inmates of federal penal insti- tutions of the exact nature, effect and extent of jeopardy of air raid attack. Lectures have been given, information has been published (via institutional magazines and bulletin boards) and government-issue movies have been shown. News broad- casts and war bulletins have been made increasingly available, for such information is regarded as importantly contributive to good morale. Committees have been formed to undertake morale-stimulative activities that will be carried out if and when attacks occur. In these and other ways, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has met the challenge of the times, has taken steps to insure the safety of every man and woman confined within its various institutions, has fallen in line with the American institutions and groups, public and private, who are not waiting for a first attack to do the things they should have done long before. 97 PRISON MEDICINE . . . DR. JUSTIN K. FULLER, Medical Director, U. S. Bureau of Prisons For 150 years prison work in this country, as elsewhere in the world, was a neglected and misunderstood function of society. Not until 1929, when a series of violent uprisings in American prisons brought public attention in the right direc- tion, was any serious effort made toward the reform of these conditions. It was then discovered that much could be done to improve medical administration and practice in the prisons, that vastly more modern and more extensive equipment was required, and that many of the badly understood factors partially responsible for the current unrest were problems solvable only by competent medical authority.* Following research and investigation, it was decided by the newly organized Bureau of Prisons that radical departures from tradition were in order. Negotiations were carried on between the Justice and the Treasury Departments with the result that the Secretary of the Treasury subsequently acceded to a request from the Attorney General that the responsibility for all medical work in the federal prisons be taken over by the United States Public Health Service. Because the Public Health Service had not the authorization, the personnel nor the funds for such augmentation of their service, it was necessary that such measures should be taken, and in May 1930 Congress passed and the President approved an act authorizing “the Public Health Service to provide medical, psychiatric and other technical services in the federal prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.” Since this innovation, the Public Health Service has kept pace with the rapid advancement and improvement of the institutions of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, providing a modern and alertly conscientious function of therapeutic usefulness to a rehabilitative program unequaled in the history of penology. Though largely devolving about two main responsibilities (the first of which is to provide adequate medical care and the second of which is to conduct investigations into the causes of conduct delinquency), the Public Health Serv- ice’s contribution to the program has not been restricted to routine objectives. On the basis of initial recommendations of the Mental Hygiene Division of the Service, a former Army disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., was acquired by the Bureau of Prisons and designated as an institution for the treatment of prisoners addicted to the use of narcotics, and 1,800 such prison- ers were centralized there from all of the federal institutions throughout the United States. Benefits in morale and smoother operation of the prisons were felt at once. Other similarly productive suggestions were made and acted upon and the development of the penal activ- ities of the Public Health Service has been keynoted by a progression of at- tainments of importance and permanence. Dr. Walter M. Treadway, Medical Director of the Bureau at the incep- tion of the program, developed certain policies and principles which have satis- factorily formed the basis for the ac- complishments of the past decade. Essentially they were: . . that a loyal, cooperative spirit must be maintained between the officials of the two departments so that differences may be adjusted when they arise and improvements in work assured. “It is obvious that inmates of prisons are subject to the inter-current physical and mental illnesses, diseases, or defects as are seen among those who comprise the general population. A properly organized medical service, therefore, must be both general and special in character to meet these needs. “A well-organized medical service in a modern prison can contribute to the welfare of inmates and employees ... by rendering advice and counsel respecting sanitation and personal hygiene; by helping to organize and guide recreational, educa- tional, occupational and vocational activities with a view to promoting the health of both inmates and employees; and by giving assistance and advice for maintaining a wholesome and well-balanced dietary. “When officers and employees of the Public Health Service are detailed to the Department of Justice ... it is essential for them to recognize that the wardens or the superintendents of the respective institutions are the administrative heads thereof and that safekeeping, discipline, occupation, mainte- nance, parole and discharge of prisoners are functions devolving upon the Department of Justice. Officers and employees of the Public Health Service shall assist wardens or superintend- ents and their representatives in carrying out these functions by lending their wholehearted and loyal cooperation, and they Major Operation *The Mental Hygiene Division of the Public Health Service was among the first to rec- ognize that narcotic addiction is essentially a psychiatric problem as are many other forms of conduct which society has in the past looked upon merely as derelictions of morals. 98 shall be guided by the administrative policies and . . . regulations of the Department o f Justice concerning such matters. The reg- ulations governing the United States Public Health Service, how ever, shall be the guid- ing principle of all of- ficers and employees of the Public Health Service in matters having to do with the supervision and fur- nishing of medical and psychiatric and other medical and scientific services to federal pe- nal and corrective in- stitutions.” These were the poli- cies which laid the basis for the coordi- nated attainments of the Public Health Service within the structure of the Bureau of Prisons. Medical staffs have been on a par with those functioning with the military. Equipment is equal to that available in civilian hospitals. Medical service available to inmates of federal prisons is such that statisticians have increased the rated longevity of federal prisoners, on the apparent basis of decreased mortality within the group and the immediacy and thoroughness with which all physical dis- orders are treated. Basic medical staffs in the larger penal institutions comprise a full-time medical officer, a full-time psychiatrist, a full-time dentist, and three full-time medical technical assistants, each of whom is qualified in nursing and essential laboratory tech- niques. The basic personnel thus listed is modified in the smaller institutions (road camps, detention headquarters, etc.) and augmented at the larger stations (Atlanta, for instance, possesses a staff of four full-time physicians, two trained nurses, and three medical technical assistants). Throughout the penal division of the United States Public Health Service, there are approximately 466 full-time employ- ees, probably one of the most complete medical services rendered any prison system in the entire world. Such service is based upon needs indicated by the fact that approximately 10 percent of the total prison population require daily sick- line medical assistance and that about 6 y2 percent of the population are carried as hospital in-patients. In federal prisons, a rather unorthodox degree of consider- ation is accorded “sickline” patients (those who present them- selves and their complaints to the medical staff at the daily interview session). Despite the fact that such liberality in- vites malingering, prisoners are not discouraged from “making the sickline” as often as they wish. In this way, the medical staff is enabled to keep its finger on the pulse of the popula- tion, to detect illnesses in their early stages, and give the inmates more complete confidence in the willingness of the medical staff to give all help that is needed. The hospital’s facilities and duties are manifold. There is always complete modern X-ray equipment. There are adequately stocked and staffed clinical laboratories. Each hospital has its own kitchen for the preparation of special diets (diabetic, arteriosclerotic, gall-bladder disease, fat-free, high caloric, gastric disease, and soft food or liquid diets). There are complete dental laboratories (with facilities for the manufac- ture of dentures), hydrotherapeutic and electrocardiographic equipment, and of course, fully equipped operating rooms. Glasses are furnished inmates with visual disorders and artificial limbs are furnished those needing such aids. All service and material is furnished inmates without cost; there Modern Dental Service Is Available to All are no charges of any kind in federal prisons, no way at all in which a prisoner may spend money for any service whatsoever. The primary duties of the Service are the examination of prisoners upon admission to institutions, the administration of therapies for both immediate disaffections and for chronic conditions (in line with the Bureau’s policy of rehabilitation in all of its many forms) and the treatment of psychic disorders wherever possible. Advanced physical and mental illnesses are transferred to the Medical Center at Springfield for treatment. The secondary services are of equal importance. The Public Health Service keeps a careful eye upon sanitation within the prison, advises the chief steward on dietary considerations, undertakes antiepidemic precautions, checks the fitness of water supply and carries out a widespread program of educa- tion in personal hygiene and other subjects important to the health of individuals and the community. In wartime, the medical staff finds that its responsibilities are expanded; air raid surgical facilities must be provided, first aid instruction given and other similar responsibilities and precautionary measures carried out. Prison psychiatry is also enjoying considerable success both as an adjunct to the classification and disciplinary system and as an agency through which one may obtain relief for individual problems. Psychiatrists cooperate closely with the classifica- tion board, offer material assistance in locating potentially troublesome persons before they actually become troublesome. Psychiatrists sit in with disciplinary boards to advise in cases where purely psychic factors are involved. Psychiatrists are immediately available to inmates with overwhelming personal problems; with increasing faith and confidence inmates ap- proach these specialists with their unhappiness and obtain relief. Some idea of the magnitude of the job of the Public Health Service in the federal prisons of America may be gained from these figures: In the 26 hospital units in use (2,313 beds, better than one bed for every ten inmates), 10,704 surgical operations were performed in the year ending June 30, 1941; 1,295,503 treatments were administered, and 251,225 separate examina- tions (of all kinds) were made. With the advent of World War II, the responsibilities of prison medicine are many times expanded, the responsibilities even greater than in peacetime. Not only must the various penal communities be protected from the consequence of air raids, but the health of this portion of the manpower of the Nation must be conserved for its participation, present and future, in the winning of the victory to come. The Public Health Service is abundantly fulfilling its responsibility in this respect. 99 ,nd nature of the processes xistence of several thousand prepares ten thousand meals ly 1,700 pounds of vegetables id more than that weight of of time. Approximately 900 twenty-four hours and each hose upon which wheat cakes or biscuits are on the menu, e to Atlantians on the average wui Limes a wee*, vil Lanes u50 pies, 65 large pans of cake, 6,000 cookies or 5,200 dinner rolls to feed the population for one meal. The institution cans a tremendous amount of food, obtaining its commodities from its own or other federal prison farms, or from the open market, when price and quality are advan- tageous. Its newly equipped canning department has, during its short period of operation, preserved 26,000 cans of apple- sauce, apple jelly, spiced crabapples, crabapple sauce, pickled pears, pear butter, bread-and-butter pickles, dill pickles, bell peppers, okra, sauerkraut, string beans, chili sauce, and other foods. It is anticipated that the institution’s equipment is potentially capable of preparing 75,000 cans of food (number 10) yearly. Add to this enormous task of provisioning, the responsibility of getting 2,500 pairs of feet in and out of the dining hall three times a day with a maximum of speed and a minimum of friction and it is apparent that, of itself, feeding a large population is a chore of considerable magnitude. There are, because of the demands of the institution’s industrial routine, considerably more than the conventional three-meal formations daily; the feeding of inmates is stag- gered throughout the day from 5:30 in the morning until 10:30 in the eve- ning. The kitchen and dining hall are almost constantly in operation. The clothing issue department con- cerns itself not only with supply but also with maintenance; rips and tears are mended here and every effort is made toward adjusting garments to the proper size of the wearer. Inmates are not permitted to wear ill-fitting clothes. Each month, about 150 pairs of shoes, 550 pairs of pants, 560 shirts, 760 suits of underwear and more than a thousand pairs of socks are issued. And every thirty days, with the departure on parole or conditional release of some one hun- dred and thirty-odd men, that many complete civilian outfits are provided. A total of nearly four thousand gar- ments are issued monthly. In addition, the clothing issue depart- ment repairs some three thousand articles of wearing apparel, mends more than five hundred pairs of shoes. The institutional laundry is capac- itated to do the work for a city of ten thousand population. Actually, more than 350,000 items of clothing (about 360,000 pounds) are washed and prepared monthly. The process requires the use of tnousanus or men co nouse, or stomachs to nn, or uuuies to clothe, of lives to direct in the manifold and complex considera- tions of daily life. His obligation is rendered no less difficult or urgent because of the circumstance that the citizens of his community have recourse to no other source agenc/vv han their respective administrations for all of the services commodities of their existence. The prison r administrator, therefore, becomes very nearly ‘'all things to all men” of his community. To render this aspect of penal administration more materially graphic, let us examine the operation of a federal institution which may be regarded as essentially representative of the other units of the federal prison system, each conforming to the pattern in ratio to its size. Let us consider the United States Penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga. As indicated in the section of this book devoted to that institution (see page 30), this is a prison capacitated to accommodate some 1,900 inmates, though its present popula- tion is nearly 2,500 and it has, during peak population years preceding the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, housed more than 4,200 men. A Modern Bakery 100 addition to handling several thousand dollars in money orders and effecting the delivery of more than 7,000 periodicals monthly. Consider the inmate commissary which does a monthly retail business best characterized by read- ings from its supply requisitions for a thirty-day pe- riod ... 16 cases of cigarettes, 5 cases of cigars, 1,200 cases of smoking tobacco, 99 cases of candy, 10 cases of safety razor blades, 63 cases of peanuts, 22 cases of apples, 8 cases of toilet soap, 4 cases of toothpaste, etc. . . . the list is long. Such goods are purchased by inmates with their own funds. On the other hand, more than 22,000 bags of tobacco are issued gratis each month; more than 26,000 boxes of matches and over a thousand pounds of chewing tobacco. The maintenance of the cell houses and dormi- tories as “livable” living quarters; that alone is a task of no small magnitude and consequence. This involves such factors as the inspection and frequent overhauling of cells, the maintenance of plumbing and the frequent washing and airing of blankets, the painting and repair of furniture, walls, railings and other parts. There is the regular testing of bars to determine whether or not they have been tampered with. Windows must be opened under certain schedules and heat must be turned on and off so that a healthful temperature can be maintained at all times, night and day, in the living quarters. Cooks, powerhouse firemen and other inmates working at irregular hours must be let in and out of their cells at the proper time. And disci- pline, order and a reasonable freedom from noise must be maintained at all times. Cell house administration is no small part of the housekeeping responsibility. These facts and figures may serve to give some adequate idea of the immense job involved in the administration and operation of a large penal institution from the angle of “house- keeping.” There are many other factors; the maintenance of extensive networks of sewer conduits, the gardening and landscaping, the cleaning and janitoring and disinfecting, the painting and occasional repairing . . . the chores are endless. These in addition to the many intrinsically penological functions. The Kitchen (Atlanta) about a ton of soap chips, considerably more than a ton of alkali, and a half ton of starch. More than two and one-half million gallons of water are used monthly. There is also an efficient dry-cleaning plant. The penitentiary’s utilities themselves are worthy of separate consideration. Atlanta operates power and lighting facilities capable of providing for a city with a population of ten thousand. A plant which functions with either coal, oil or gas, generates 42,026 kilowatt hours of electricity daily. There is a thirty-ton ice plant working regularly and easily at 70 percent of its capacity. Towering high above the institution are two enormous water tanks (125,000 and 250,000 gallons capacity) which are served by a million-gallon reservoir located a quarter of a mile from the prison. There are two deep wells on the reservation, each boring 1,500 feet into the earth. Adjoining the powerhouse is water-cooling equipment capable of cooling water at the rate of 36,000 gallons a minute.* The plant has an average monthly pro- duction of considerably over a million kilowatt hours of electricity and nearly 19.000. pounds of steam for power purposes alone (29,000,000 gross out- put). To do this job, more than 16.000. gallons of water are needed monthly, enough to float a squadron of destroyers. These are only a few of tremendous functions requisite to the operation of a large institution. Consider the respon- sibilities of Atlanta’s “post office,” or mailing department, which handles more than 40,000 pieces of correspondence monthly (an average of 1,325 a day) and receives, checks, censors and routes to the recipients nearly 600 pieces of inmate mail each day. All of this in The Laundry (Chillicothe) *There is a five-section cooling tower and a two-section induced draft cooling tower. For those who like technical details, the equipment of the power plant is two 500- horsepower General Electric turbine genera- tors, two 1,000-horsepower General Electric turbine generators, one 1,000-horsepower Moore turbine General Electric generator and eight 307-horsepower Keeler water tube boilers (six of them gas- and oil-fired, the other two coal-fired). 101 PRISON PERSONNEL . . . It has been said that an army is no better than the quality and intent of its rank and file; equally true is that a correc- tional system is no more effective than the character of its personnel. Much of the accomplishment of today’s federal institutions of correction is directly attributable to the men and women who work in subsidiary capacities in the institutions, those who wear the uniform, those who teach and supervise and direct, those who deal with the inmate at first hand. The “prison guard” of popular tradition is one with the lock-step, the shaven pate, and the ball and chain; today’s federal custo- dial officer is a professional man in the fullest sense of the term. When the federal prisons were reorganized in 1930, it was decided that the old-time guard, as a type of employee, must be developed into something more closely in affinity with the spirit of the new penological ideals. He must become truly a custodial officer in all of the implied connotations of that term. No mere sop to euphemy was this, for standards of attainment and attitude were set that compelled qualifications and per- formance of the highest caliber. Two factors were necessary of accomplishment for the acqui- sition of such a personnel: that the job should be made suffi- ciently desirable, and that an extended degree of selectivity should be exercised at all times in the procurement of men and women for the varied categories of employment necessary to the operation of the institutions. These factors were satisfac- torily met and the results thereof became immediately appar- ent in terms of a high quality and quantity of attainment. In the direction of better employment conditions, a better salary scale was effected (from $2,040 to $3,200 for custodial officers), better working hours were established (an average of 51.7 houre weekly),* Civil Service tenure was placed in effect, and various other improvements of circumstance were accom- plished. Less materially tangible but of no less importance, the nature and prestige of penal custodial work was made such as to attract the interest of men with good educational backgrounds. It was recognized by the Bureau that success in creating a complete and adequate personnel depended upon securing a complete and well-balanced corps of specialists rather than operating prisons with officers who were assigned to the various specialized jobs within the prison community merely because of seeming adaptability, individual inclination or simply because “there was no one else who could handle the work.” The prison establishment, like any like-sized community in the free world, requires police officers (or in the prison terminology, “custodial officers”), but it also requires trades supervisors, teachers, industrial foremen, clerical executives, purveyors of subsistence, and others capable of performing or supervising the perform- ance of the multiplicity of specific tasks requisite to the life and well-being of the community. Specialists in these and other categories were enlisted. But here again a swing to the other extreme (of overspecialization) was avoided; men with specialized backgrounds were not appointed as specialists, but as custodial officers. All function primarily as units of a unified penal personnel, secondarily in the performance of such specific work as their abilities may suit them for. Thus, all of the employees serve not only within the orbits of their individual specialties but also as agents of their respective wardens in the operation of their respective institutions toward the accomplishment of the Bureau’s broad policies of regeneration. This procedure applies not only to assignments for jobs of General’s “Release Procedures,” 1936. Prison Personnel Must Keep Fit (A Physical Training Class at McNeil Island) 102 a technical nature (trades supervisors, plumbing and electrical foremen, etc.) but also to those for positions requiring pro- fessional knowledge (teaching, social service, etc.) and non- custodial executive assignments (administrative clerical jobs). Practically all of those who enter federal prison work, today, enter as custodial officers, receive standard basic training, and are paid at a universal rate of compensation. Such employees must pass through a twelve-month proba- tionary period and, during this period, demonstrate a fitness to be permitted to remain in the service. In this fashion is a premium placed upon the employment. When approbation is granted and the appointment is confirmed, then starts for the individual a career that may well take him to the top of the ladder. For all advancements, up to and inclusive of the post of Warden, are predicated upon ultraequitable systems of competition and selectivity. As indicated in the foregoing, men entering the service are appointed as junior custodial officers at a salary of $2,040. Without being advanced to the next promotion grade (senior custodial officer) such men may have their pay augmented (by rating and examination) to as high as an annual $2,500. This is known as within-grade promotion. The senior custodial officer may also receive within-grade promotions ranging from a base of $2,200 to a maximum of $2,800. Promotions from grade to grade are determined (when vacancies occur) by oral examinations given in order of pri- ority to those who have attained better-than-passing grades in the competitive general averages which are continuously for- mulated and maintained by the personnel division of the Bureau. Independent of personal qualifications and the nature of their performance of their duties, employees further their ratings and their opportunities within the prison service by their attainments with the training program which is so effectively a factor of the Bureau’s advancement plan. The training program comprises three features: study course lessons (penology, prison administration, etc.), physical in- struction (boxing, jiujitsu, etc.), and instruction in the use of firearms. The ratings received by employees upon their per- formance in this course, plus on-the-job competence and certain other factors, determines competitive general averages govern- ing promotion. In fixing such averages, study-course attain- ments (adjudged through written examinations) count for a weighting of 40 percent, service ratings (the employee’s day-by-day work record) count for 60 percent. The foregoing is significant of the ever-fluid condition of prison service em- ployment; there is at all times the opportunity for advancement. The possibilities for men of capacity and initiative are as manifold as they are manifest. Within the life of the foregoing plan (it was inaugurated in 1936), employees who entered upon service in the minimum grade now function as lieutenants, captains, assistant farm managers, institutional parole officers, and record clerks. Many who started at $1,680 (the basic rate for junior custodial officers prior to 1936) have already been to the upper rungs of the ladder; one now serves as business manager at $4,600, another has become warden of one of the secondary institutions at $4,600, and a third has become associate warden of one of the major prisons at $5,600 a year. Of a group of nine associate wardens paid salaries of $4,600, six entered the prison service within the past five years as junior custodial officers at salaries of $1,860. Contemporaneously the warden of Atlanta penitentiary reports that the entire staff of his parole department, an agency outstanding in its attain- ments, was recruited from the ranks of the custodial force. The Bureau of Prisons has successfully sought to provide in-service training that would enable specialists to further adapt their knowledge to the precise needs of prison life and procedure. There have been maintained, as needed, “schools” for bakers, for storekeepers, for record clerks, for farmers, for mechanics, and for many of the other specific crafts. In many cases, promising candidates from within the ranks of the cus- todial force (but who have no previous experience in this field) are enabled to participate in such instructions. The Bureau of Prisons has adopted the policy of in-service training for all divisions of personnel and has found the formula to be eminently successful, particularly in respect to custodial officers. Appointees go into actual service immediately upon their arrival for duty. They are uniformed, instructed as to the rules and regulations, introduced to their fellow officers, and then put to work at routine assignments (under the special supervision of instruction officers) to learn the job from doing the job. In this way, men receive information and training that would be almost impossible to give them by word of mouth or through publications. And in this way the unfit are quickly recognized. It is obvious, of course, that there must exist in such institutions as are designated for training, both a high state of personnel morale and definite procedures and facil- ities for training. There are five such training centers. The McNeil Island penitentiary trains employees for Alcatraz, Denver (Engle- wood), Kooskia and Dupont. Leavenworth trains men for the medical center at Springfield, for the institutions at Terre Haute, La Tuna, and Tucson. Atlanta, which has been partic- ularly fortunate in the grade of employee its training processes have produced, trains men for Tallahassee, Texarkana, Mont- gomery and New Orleans. Chillicothe trains employees for Milan, Sandstone, Mill Point, and the reformatory for women at Alderson. Lewisburg is the training center for Petersburg, Danbury, Ashland and New York. At El Reno, a training center has been established, but this institution only trains employees for its own use. In the words of Mr. W. T. Hammack, Assistant Director of the Bureau (in charge of personnel training and placement), the following objectives are paramount during the period of training (from two to four months) immediately after appoint- ment and after which the employee goes to his ultimate point of duty to serve the remaining eight to ten months of his probationary period. The objectives are: 1. To acquaint the trainee with prison conditions involving the supervision of inmates. 2. Give him the initial physical training course. 3. Instruct him in the use of firearms. 4. Give him the preliminary study course and require that he participate in one of the bi-monthly examinations. 5. So arrange his work assignments that he may be em- ployed under all the different working conditions that prevail in the prison. During this period he serves under the general supervision of two or three different lieutenants and probably under a score of regular officers. 6. Build up a service record that will enable us (the Bureau) to determine the aptitude of the trainee, his habits of industry, his attention to duty, his interest in the work, his demonstrated qualifications on the job, and in particular, his ability to get along with others. This information enables us to place the recruit in the institution where he would be of the greatest possible value to the service. In these objectives are very neatly and completely summed up the standards and hopes of the Bureau of Prisons insofar as its personnel is concerned. The study course is so formulated to facilitate and supple- ment the practical experience which new employees undergo in their daily assignments. It comprises seven series of topical instructions and its formulation is a continuous process, new series being added yearly in conformity with administrational needs. The first series deals with the basic elements of prison service, of which many of the titles of the ten subheadings are indicative and significant (Protection as a Penal Policy, The Classification Program, Medical and Hospital Service, Prison Industries, Parole and Probation, Everyday Problems in Penal Administration, and writings on other similar sub- jects). Each of the topics are dealt with in separate pamphlets. In the second series, the refinements of the custodial officer’s duties are discussed (Discipline and Custody and The Place of the Officer in the Rehabilitative Program, etc.)- The titles of other pamphlets in succeeding courses give some idea of the wide scope of the course (The Officer and Public Relations, The Custodial Officer in the Culinary Department, An Analysis Continued on Page 122 103 FEDERAL PAROLE The United States Board of Parole is to society what the Civil Service Commission is to the Federal Government. It weeds out the fit from the unfit, places in functions of useful- ness men and women who have passed tests and demonstrated certain qualifications, and guards the public from those who would traduce it. The Board of Parole possesses one of the heaviest (and sometimes most onerous) responsibilities in the federal penal set-up. Yearly it must consider some ten thousand cases and, delving beneath the superficialities, irrele- vancies and other misleading details, decide which are the worthy and which the unworthy. The responsibility is not a light one; the task no sinecure. In years past and in certain political areas of the country the principle and practice of parole has been subjected to (and has subjected itself in many cases) extensive abuse from public and press. In some cases, parole releases have been unwisely administered; in other cases, parole has suffered the sincere but unfair criticism of badly informed individuals and agencies. In all too many cases the parole structure in general has been attacked for reasons more political than scrupulous. The net result of this has been a decreased effectiveness of a procedure that, of all penological measures, offers the greatest hope for salvaging of reformable adult delinquents. Undisturbed by such criticism, the United States Board of Parole has steadfastly pursued a “conservatively liberal” policy of administration, has not permitted itself to be drawn to either extreme of procedure, has built up a record of success that is fast becoming a criterion for parallel procedures in the state governments. In the twelve-month period ending June 30, 1941, the Board considered the applications of 9,463 men and women. A total of 3,036 were granted parole, and of this large number but 222 violated the conditions of their releases (less than 8 percent and a very encouraging average). In recent years the Board has found itself able to release between 32 percent and 39 percent of those who came before it. With the advent of the war and the great current need for manpower, every rea- sonable effort is being made to increase this percentage. (See Judge Wood’s article on next page.) The general procedure for consideration of parole applicants is standard and immutable within all federal institutions. The same regulations apply to all. Inmates become eligible after completion of one-third of their sentences. The Board holds hearings in each of the institutions once every three months. The inmate who applies for parole is heard by the Board at the meeting closest to his parole eligibility date. The hearing has been pre- ceded by the most careful and complete scrutiny of the individual’s pre-prison and prison background. The formulation of such material is the obligation of the parole de- partment in the institution in which the inmate is confined, and every attempt is made by this agency to afford the Board a complete, graphic and impartial picture of the subject, physical, moral, mental, social, and vocational. The prospective parolee must have perfected a plan of life, inclusive of employment. He must also have obtained the agreement of some reputable person in his community to act as his parole adviser. (For detailed information on other parallel serv- ice performed by the parole officer, read “Rehabilitative Procedures,” page 11.) Pa- roled inmates are supervised by officers of the United States Probation Service, who come within the jurisdiction of the Office of Administrator of United States Courts. Both of these agencies—the Bureau of Prisons and the Office of the Administrator of United States Courts—are cooperating agencies in the administration of federal justice. The United States Board of Parole is au- thoritatively regarded as one of the most successful agencies of its kind. Its success is based upon a reversal of the popular con- ception (or misconception) of its function. The public regards parole as a form of “reward” for the good prisoner, forgetting that the man who has conformed is not al- ways the man who has reformed. The United States Board of Parole makes its decisions, not as a form of reward for good conduct, but as a progression of the treatment pro- gram, seeking to restore to useful life beyond the walls those who have responded to and been intrinsically improved by the rehabili- tative program of the Bureau of Prisons. JUDGE ARTHUR D. WOOD, Chairman U. S. Board of Parole 104 These Officials Select Men and Women from Federal Prisons for New Opportunities on Parole Judge Arthur D. Wood, Chair- man of the U. S. Board of Parole since its inception in 1930, has had a bi-vocational career; he has put in fifteen vigorous years of parole work and for a great many more years he has been a newspaper editor and publisher. He was born in Little Falls, Minn., on October 3, 1876, joined the staff of the local newspaper as a reporter at the age of 18, and in the course of time became the publisher and owner of it and another newspaper (The Grand Marais Herald and The Munissing News). In 1908, his fellow citizens made him juvenile judge of Alger County (Michigan), a post he held until 1927 when he resigned to become State Commis- sioner of Pardons and Paroles. In 1930, with the reorganization of the Bureau of Prisons, Judge Wood became Chairman of the newly created U. S. Board of Parole. He is one of the founders of the American Parole Association, a director of the American Prison Association, the Washington Child Guidance Clinic, the Washington Institute of Mental Hygiene, and a member of the advisory council of the Osborne Association, and of the National Economic League, the Michigan Academy of Science and Arts, the American Probation Association, and other leading so- cial and penological organizations. Judge Thomas Webber Wilson has had a varied career of useful- ness to his country and to society. He has served at home and abroad and as judge, legislator and pros- ecuting attorney. Born at Cold- water, Miss., on June 24, 1893, he was graduated from the Univer- sity of Mississippi in 1913. He was immediately admitted to the Bar and began the practice of law at Laurel, Miss. In 1915, at the age of 22, he was elected prosecuting attorney of his county and four years later he became district attorney of the Twelfth Judicial District of Mississippi. In 1923, while still a very young man, he was elected to Congress and served in this capacity until 1929, achiev- ing a distinguished record of legis- lative attainments during that period. In 1933, he was appointed judge of the Federal Court for the Virgin Islands and served there until 1935, subsequently accepting his present appointment to the United States Board of Parole. Judge Wilson is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Woodmen of the World, and the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and an active student, writer and authority on practical penology. Judge Edward Philip Reidy brings to the Parole Board a vast experience in education and social work. He was born in Worcester, Mass., on January 9,1898, educated in the public schools of that city and in 1923 he graduated from Boston University. Additional scholastic honors were earned by him at Clark University. He then spent a number of years as a high school teacher in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, becoming, in 1928, head of the Department of Social Science of the High Schools of Providence, R. I. Shortly after- ward, he became director of public welfare for the City of Providence and in 1937 was appointed to the same capacity for the State of Rhode Island. Two years later, he accepted an invitation to head the Council of Social Agencies of Providence, doing valuable work in this field and accomplishing social gains of considerable magni- tude for this community. Simul- taneously, he served as an instruc- tor in the Graduate School of Social Work of Boston College. In 1939, Judge Reidy became a member of the U. S. Board of Parole. He is a member of the Ameri- can Public Welfare Association, the American Association of So- cial Workers, and various other sociological and penological or- ganizations. Judge Arthur D. Wood, Chairman of the U. S. Board of Parole, Describes the Processes, Factors and Objectives of PAROLE SELECTIVITY Parole selection can be discussed most clearly in conjunction with the indeterminate sentence. With this type of sentence the element of time is not pressing upon the practical admin- istration of parole. Consequently, for the sake of expressing guiding principles, it is useful to assume for the moment that the prisoner has been sentenced “to prison.” He will stay there until cause is found for the Board of Parole to transfer him from incarceration to parole custody. Under this circumstance, the procedure would be for the Board to wait until the correctional service in the prison and in the field had developed a change in the community and in the prisoner and developed the record to state the original status and the current status of the situation. Then, with this record of change complete, the Board would examine the record and the prisoner in the light of the record to determine whether it could safely transfer the prisoner from custody in prison to custody in the community. The distinctive feature of this theoretical procedure is that the Board would not act until the record was complete and a favorable situation had been developed and continued for a time sufficient to remove all reasonable doubt as to the suitability of the plan for parole. It would act on accomplished facts. In a general sense the Board would apply the test: Is the community willing and able to receive this prisoner, and is this prisoner willing and able to be controlled by the resources of the community which control its reputable citizens? However, the federal service does not as yet have the indeterminate sentence. There is no jurisdiction which uses in practice a sentence without determining elements. The closest approach is the sentence used in at least one jurisdic- tion, from one year to life. Most jurisdictions have a minimum- maximum or indefinite type sentence—from one year to life, from two to ten years, etc. Practically all sentences are affected by other statutes than the one used by the court. This is true in the federal service. In one sense, a federal sentence is fixed, or definite; that is, the sentence reads “six years, or 25 years, etc.” But the length of time which is indicated in the sentencing code is only one aspect of the sentence. The statute which defines the length of sentence is modified by other statutes, all of which give expression to the time to be served in custody. When all these statutes are considered, it becomes clear that the sentences in the federal system are actually indefinite as to type of custody but they are definite as to length of custody. Plan Restriction—When an effective date is set, every such date is conditional upon the satisfactory completion of the plan for supervision. If a plan sufficient to maintain effective custody is not completed, then the prisoner is not released on parole. There are first to be considered, however, certain problems which exist which may be called problems of application. They represent what the Board actually sees as it looks at the sentence, and as it considers the application of the stated principle. 1. The expression of the court, that is, of the judge and prosecutor. 105 2. The intention of Congress as expressed in statutes and committee hearings, (a) in separate statutes, (b) in statutes collectively, (c) in expression of purposes. The Expression of the Court—The expression of the court is made in several ways. There is, first, the evidence of the court’s intent expressed in the imposition of sentence. Within the legal restriction of the nature of the crime and the jury’s finding and the coincident statutory limits of sentence avail- able, the court selects a sentence which it considers meets the needs of the situation. Just what may prompt a specific choice of length of time may vary with different judges from case to case and from time to time. Whatever may be the time selected it seems reasonable to state that the court selects that time which, in its judgment, within legal limits is adequate to satisfy the public’s sense of security and its sense of fairness. If the court may impose 90 years but elects to impose 30 years, this expression presents one phase of the situation. If it may suspend the sentence and place on probation but does not do so, another aspect of the situa- tion is presented as the court sees it. In addition to the formal judgment of the court, there is also a comment which may be expressed with respect to parole. This is made following sentence, usually within thirty days thereafter. This is an expression by the judge and prose- cutor as they may be distinguished from the court. In many instances the judge and prosecutor make no comment. In other instances, the court will say, “Parole two years on a three-year sentence”; or “all factors were taken into account when imposing sentence and the prisoner should be denied parole”; or “parole may be granted at one-third”; or “parole is for the Board to determine.” These comments are varied. Frequently circumstances are known to the trial officials which cannot legally affect the length of sentence but which, however, do indicate in some part of the type of person who is being tried and the situation of which he is a part, viz., intimidation of witnesses, other improper obstructions to jus- tice in the conduct of the case, etc.; comments regarding these given to the record clarify the problems involved. Practical Aspects of Selection—Just how can the Board make judgments which will reflect accurately the community’s sense of security and sense of fairness, and how will it deter- mine the extent to which the prisoner is a party to this com- munity situation? There are two possible bases of judgment. First, the Board may require that the record be developed in the field and in the prison to show all the facts as they appear: 1. When incarceration began, 2. At the time of hearing. The Board can deny if these facts do not reflect clearly that security and fairness warrant selection. Second, the Board may view the record which is available and in its discretion evaluate the trends which this record indicates. If the record suffices for this purpose, the Board may then act in accord- ance with the indications as it would act if the record showed accomplished fact rather than a trend toward accomplishment. It appears reasonable to expect that the Board would act with greater certainty, that is, to effect transfer to parole at an earlier time, when it had the first basis of judgment rather than the second. The Board may grant, if the trend of the record or the facts in the record satisfy it, that it is properly preserving the public security; that is, that the risk taken is reasonable. To safeguard the Board in all cases against a change in the trend or the addition of contrary facts and other dangers, even when an effective date is fixed, it is always fixed con- ditional upon the development of the plan in accordance with the carefully protected system. When doubts exist in the mind of the Board, it is reasonable to expect that it will resolve these doubts in the interest of public security. The prisoner has previously been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and the incarceration imposed on that fact. Whereas this doubt at the time of the trial operates in favor of the prisoner, it is now time for any doubt to be resolved in favor of the public. In other words, a parole grant should result from affirmative records, more extensive than the current crime. The Formal Basis for Selection—Practical considerations modify details of procedure, but these are not permitted to nullify the principles of community protection which is funda- mental to the entire correctional process. Prom the point of view of the public, a prisoner is sent to prison for punishment, and to get this he must serve “enough time.” Also, in some measure he should be reformed, and to do this he must “become penitent.” These quoted expressions may lack universal meaning, but they are the expressions which to a wide extent are used in approximating feelings of security. The public imposes on the Board the task of inter- preting these expressions case by case. A very difficult problem faces the Board in its evaluation of the public’s sense of fairness. It is well known and prac- tically universal experience that “youthful first offenders,” “women,” and “tools” are considered to be less dangerous than the adult male. This is an unfortunate generalization but it exists. The Board faces a case-by-case, strictly individualized consideration with peril if it fails to recall that the public “will want to know how does it happen that John Doe was paroled at one-third and Richard at one-half” ? The wardens are concerned when the prisoners ask, “How does it happen Bill got out at one-half when I got four-fifths?” These difficulties are traceable to misconceptions of parole, it is true, but since a general “sense of fairness” can affect successful parole favor- ably or destroy it, the factor of equalization cannot be dis- carded until all persons concerned understand the desirable individualization of parole work. Progressive parole minimizes this “equalitarian” measure, but it avoids it with peril. More exactly, this idea is part of every consideration. The sentences may vary on the facts that were known at the time of the trial. However, when the Board faces a sentence of a year and a day for an income tax evasion and the record reveals a long period of public terrorism in which this prisoner was a party, the fact that an issue exists is very clear. Or, when the youthful first offender was given a very short term and his adult companion in crime was given a long sentence, the problem becomes clear when the continued work of the staff shows the real facts are that the youth was the director and the adult the tool. When the person of apparent respectability, good friends and family, and all the advantages of training, is being considered just after a man who had few advantages, the fact that a problem exists is inescapable. There is no mystery or magic in parole selection. The record must satisfy the intelligent judgment of the Board that it is in the public interest to permit custody to parole. The certainty that the prisoner will be kept behind bars cannot be interpreted with safety unless the Board in its own mind can interpret the facts of the record affirmatively. It is relatively easy to experienced parole officials to deter- mine which cases can be granted and which can be denied. Between these extremes, a large number of cases fall. The fact that violations of parole by noncommercial homicides and by bank cases are practically unknown is not sufficient evidence that an early grant of parole is possible. The entire relationship of length of sentence, restitutions, community activity, emotional surges, notoriety, etc., enter the situation and need to be solved. Administrative Consideration—The fact that the Board visits prisons once in three months affects the situation. Some cases have had very little time for changes to be made in the community or in the prisoner; the record may be incom- plete. The choice may be between a denial and a tentative favorable grant. The practical answer may be to deny because of uncertainty, or it may be substantially to postpone decision by setting a deferred date, thus relying on the system to complete the records. If they support the indicated action taken, then it will stand; if the development of the records give contrary indications, then the action will be modified. Specific Procedures—Selection adds definite principles to the parole problems found in preparation and supervision in parole. While these three elements are interdependent, the 106 fact that selection is predicated largely on community aspects of each case may make it appear to be a separate procedure. This becomes noticeable especially where the prison conduct is good, the prisoner is well behaved, has a previous good record, and where he is known to be intelligent, of good presence and, in terms of prison observation, reformed. Such a case may have included with it severe public condemnation which all efforts to improve have been ineffectual. Then, again, the entire situation may suggest that the prisoner is gen- uinely a part of all the planning that has been done. The Board must carry the community to the prison and by its skill determine whether a given case, community, family, associates and prisoner, permits a transfer to custody within the community. If a prisoner is sick and a few months are needed for recov- ery, or if by correcting his teeth he will be more adequate, or if in a few weeks a faulty situation at home will be cor- rected, or if contagious disease is in process of control in the prisoner and his family, it is evident that incarceration should continue for a time rather than make such benefits as it may have given to him be dissipated. Field service and community resources vary. This is usually reflected in incomplete records or deficient changes in the community. It may also indicate a greater difficulty to retain custody. In some cases it may affect a decision of the Board at a given time. If at the one-third date the prisoner has completed four months and has been a drug addict for years and no sub- stantial changes occurred in the community, it is not probable that a grant would be made; but if in a few more months significant changes were effected, a grant may be possible. If a “gang” is in process of dissolution in the community, the Board may estimate the time required for the change to be effected and this may be a future time for a grant then to be made in the interest of motivated planning, knowing that the checks of the procedures for supervision will bring the case to it again with any significant changes. Attitudes of the prisoner, of his family, associates, and of the public may be compared with those habitual aspects of attention which addicts and habituals of other character present. In retrospect, it appears then that if the grant is made, there should be certainty, but that it may be possible in practice and with skilled attention to interpret community situations in terms of trend and that the postponement of a date may serve a purpose of providing motivation when it is coupled with the general principle that all trends must remain consistent and that all later material facts would have the opportunity to be presented to the Board. This is one form of reconciling principle and practice. It is evident from the above that administrative aspects of problems of selection are accentuated in short-term cases. Federal Practice in Summary—With these various aspects of the federal situation in mind, it is apparent that there is a form which might be called the indefinite sentence with a lim- ited period in which the Board of Parole may exercise its dis- cretion in selecting parole cases. In an effort to reconcile the demands of the principle that it acts only on the established facts, it is able through intelligent interpretation of the record to evaluate the degree to which the prisoner is genuinely a party to the plan and to which the community is participating in that plan. In doing so, it may in substance give a postpone- ment of action by using what has been referred to as the deferred date. When this is used, it is understood that in all instances no such action becomes effective until evidences of satisfactory controls for supervision are established. Substan- tially, then, the issue of a certificate evidencing the grant is based on actions which are ever the facts, and this is done when the fact is established that the estimates of trend made by the Board are consistent. In addition to the extensive experience following after long training and more generalized experience, the parole service has tested various devices, scales and measures through which it might be found possible to reconcile various com- plexities of cases with specific action, case by case. However, in a test of many thousands of cases to which categorical meas- ures were applied, no adequate consistency was found which would justify reliance on such scales. In addition, however, continued experimentation is in process in further efforts to reconcile the differences between these principles of action which call for an equalitarian procedure as distinguished from one of individualization. This can be expressed also in those differences which appear in a community’s point of view as distinguished from that of the prisoner. Through experience it is quite evident that consideration of the prisoner as an individual is totally unacceptable and incomplete. In an effort to devise ways of measuring the relationship of the individual who is the prisoner within the situation in the community of which he is a part, both in terms of the measure of security, that is, the ability to be controlled under supervision, and in terms also of those selec- tive features which deal with deterrent factors in selection, there are many problems all of which are being faced insofar as opportunity can be found. It seems to be unwise to give the appearance of oversimplicity to complex judgments for which measures have not been developed. While it may be a form of speculative truth that all things which exist can be measured, it does not follow that those things which can be measured represent all the truth. This is of importance now when we see in the literature so much reference to measures which evaluate the prisoner alone. Such measures are fre- quently overemphasized. Policies Relative to Selection and Denial—Since we have fixed a sentence and the majority of sentences are short, cer- tain estimates of situations may appear reasonable. This estimate adds difficulty. The best practice is to defer action until all indications have been established and tested. In view of the short sentences, the Board may risk a grant to first offenders in certain cases. However, revolting crimes serve to accentuate the need that care be exercised in remitting sen- tences which have been imposed upon young men for first offenses. The Board’s first concern is, will the community and the public welfare in general accept a parole as being fair, and does it accord with their feeling of security. The current crime, the criminal record, and the entire social character and rep- utation of the man and his family are considered. If parolable, does the record show that community custody can be maintained ? If sentences were long enough, grants would follow after the facts were proved as to community change. As it is, the Board must interpret certain factors: Of the court and prosecutor in the sentence and recommen- dation, as an evidence of the public fear and what punishment satisfies; The criminal record and prosecutor’s report, to indicate what the prisoner’s social character is as reflected in criminal acts, and the public reaction thereto; The record of the conduct of the trial, the correspondence list and other proved evidence of his social desires and actions. When these reports give a consistent picture, the Board may feel secure to act on the records, plus the interpretation of the prisoner as seen in the institution; that is, the laboratory examination and observation. Genuine first offenders, noncommercialized, where circum- stances make the crime cause understandable, will be granted provided there is reason to believe the prisoner is now com- posed and the punishment has satisfied the community need. Where the criminal record is concentrated within a short, recent, restricted period, the prisoner may be considered sub- stantially a first offender. Repeated arrests, whether for felonies or not, accompanied by uncertain explanations of the crimes, argue for denial. Where the crime as committed has been re- stricted in its effect on the public, or where restitution has satisfied the public of substantial penitence, a grant may be made. Persons of high social standing, public officials, or others in whom trust has been placed, injure security relatively more than others, and consequently will be considered with caution. Notorious figures, regardless of the current crime, will be considered with great caution. 107 Voluntary sponsors will be identified and the Board will be cautious to distinguish between sponsors for personal gain as distinguished from those with genuine social interest. Policies in Fixing Effective Date—Where a case appears safe, but the record shows the situation is not crystallized, it may grant, but at a deferred date. This is to give a definite time objective to assist crystallization, and to strongly moti- vate the prisoner’s participation. Also, where the situation appears secure but the prisoner is reasonably emotionally dis- turbed, a deferred date may be given in place of a denial. Also, a deferred date may be given to test the community reaction, for the Board’s guidance, to the public reaction as to the fairness in the situation. If granted, and thereafter the prisoner misbehaves, the Board will postpone or deny. Suggestions—Factors indicating denial unless contra- indicated. Aggravated offenses: Kidnaping, Extortion, Armed, Commercialized, Gang-connected, Deliberately defiant of law, Malum in se accompanied by short sentence, i. e., under 18 months. Factors indicating favorable, unless contra-indicated: Technical violation, Malum prohibita-restitution, Urgent conscientious planning, Favorable or absent court comment, Family situation favorable, Physical and mental record clear, or sufficient, Controlling factors are present. The Six Questions Pertinent to Selection—It is obvious that the public is concerned with what people do, regardless of what may be an explanation of conduct in any record which may be devised. There are certain questions which can permit generalization in terms of stating the problems facing selection. These are: 1. What characterizes the prisoners to be selected for a parole at the first opportunity? A correlative question: What evidence is acceptable as valid in determining whether or not the particular prisoner under consideration meets this requirement ? 2. What characterizes the prisoners to whom parole is refused at any time ? 3. What characterizes the prisoners to whom parole would be refused at the first opportunity, but which indicates the date that consideration could be given? To each of these the same subquestion as under 1 would be asked. 4. What characterizes the community situation which would permit a parole to a prisoner at the first opportunity and what can be accepted as evidence of this situation? 5. What characterizes the community situation which would prohibit parole at any time? 6. What characterizes the community situation which would reject parole at first opportunity but which indicates that later consideration be given? The main subquestion as attend- ant to 4 would be applied to 5 and 6. To these questions must be applied the tests of community situations and to the prisoner who is a part thereof. Also, there must be brought to bear upon the question the interest of the community which is nearest to the situation as well as that which is remote and represented in the general community which expresses itself in the law. It is quite evident that there is not a single “yes” or “no” answer easily found after many reconciliations of apparently conflicting interests have been resolved. Where ponderable doubts exist in any case, the decision automatically should weigh in favor of society. Where the entire preparation of a case has begun in the community at the time of sentence and continues coincident- ally with the services within the prison, it is quite apparent that the opportunities for the facts to be so developed and the situation so changed than thereafter represented in the records that the Board can be better advised and counseled by the facts than is otherwise possible. Parole and Its Relation to Crime—Another factor which engages serious consideration in the matter of parole selection is to just what extent it may affect the increase in crime when improperly applied. Penal and parole authorities are agreed that both premature and successive grants of parole not only fail to deter but actually act to encourage men to re-engage in crime. And in this connection we deem it fair to say that the public of today recognizes merit in parole, but it is by no means convinced that the system is efficiently administered in a great majority of the jurisdictions. They also agree that the practice of releasing prisoners almost automatically at parole eligibility is a libel on parole and contributes rather than deters. Any automatic setting aside of a sentence is not parole in the generally accepted sense of that term. Such a custom thoroughly ignores the spirit of the law, of reform, and of effective parole. A real parole system is one in which release of a prisoner is made only after a substantial portion of the judgment has been served, and conditioned almost solely on a favorable prognosis as to the role he may be expected to play in society after he leaves prison. In such a system, if administered effectively, parole has nothing to do with scales and mathematical formulae balancing specific number of days off against specific acts of good behavior; it means that a careful study of the individual prisoner has indicated that he is now ready and willing to play a useful and honest role in the life outside. It is only for such prisoners that the institution of parole was designed. Parole of prisoners who evidence contrition and reformation is laudable. But the fact cannot be overlooked that the law has set up prescribed punishments through which society hopes to protect itself against those who have no regard for the rights and persons of others. The man who violates the grace of parole in the first instance, or who reverts to crime after completing the periods of supervised parole custody and returns on a supplemental sentence, forfeits all rights to future consideration. And on the subject of Federal Parole and the War, Judge Wood says: The subject of parole, with respect to the part it should properly play by way of coordination in the present emergency and for the duration, has received considerable attention of late, particularly from the penal press and forums. This discussion has followed in the wake of the admirable showing which has been made generally by inmates employed in prison indus- tries, and particularly the signal contribution to the war effort made by the inmates of the Atlanta Peni- tentiary. Also meriting special mention is the Avia- tion School for Mechanics at the Federal Reformatory, Chillicothe, Ohio. This important course of technical training for young men was inaugurated by the Bureau of Prisons, the Army and Navy cooperating, over a year ago. The response on the part of the selected group of boys from the reformatories at both Chillicothe and El Reno has been excellent, while the success of the enterprise can best be illus- 108 trated by the fact that this Aviation School for Me- chanics has been placed on the approved list by the Civil Service Commission. No small credit is due Warden Bixby for his tireless and intelligent efforts in the planning, promoting and supervising this school. It is but natural that both the public and the in- mates of the twenty-seven federal penal and correc- tional institutions are desirous of being apprised of such changes as may be made in the policies of the Federal Board of Parole as a result of the existing conflict. At the outset, the Board is cognizant of the fact that a substantial portion of the physically and men- tally fit men and women confined in our institutions today are sincere in their manifestations of patri- otism and are desirous of lending their energies in support of the war effort, both during confinement and following release. There are others, of course, who are merely taking advantage of the situation by using patriotism as a subterfuge in an attempt to bring about a diminution of the Court’s judgment. In separating the wheat from the chaff in this group, the Board will exercise its very best judgment. And in this connection, I think it significant to note that in face of marked improved employment conditions during the past year and even since Pearl Harbor there has been no perceptible reduction in the rate of default of both parole and conditional release. As a general proposition, the Board will liberalize its normal policy to meet present emergency condi- tions with respect to the initial offender who is other- wise a favorable parole prospect by granting parole at an earlier date for the purpose of entering military service. The same policy, but perhaps to a somewhat lesser degree, will apply to those who have trained themselves for work in war industry and who have formulated definite plans for such employment; and in like manner a more liberal policy will apply to those prepared and able to enter agricultural pursuits. In the case of the venial, occasional and nonviolent offender, the Board will accord most candid consider- ation in any such case in which formal acceptance for military service is shown at some point in the sentence subsequent to parole eligibility. Those of this group who are skilled craftsmen but ineligible for military service, but who are otherwise suitable for mechanical employment in the metal or kindred trades and who have formulated definite pre-parole plans providing for employment acceptance in war production, will also be accorded special consideration with respect to parole issuance. The habitual, nonviolent offenders whose crimes have not involved moral turpitude, whose present sen- tences are deemed justifiable (but are more extended than those which would have been imposed on initial offenders for the same or comparable overt acts), who have accepted what is becoming known generally as the Sanford Plan,* who have served the major por- tion of their sentences, and who have been formally accepted for military service, will be accorded special consideration with respect to parole issuance. Others of this group who are ineligible for military service may be considered for skilled work in war industry as well as in agriculture. Those undergoing servitude for the commission of vicious crimes, who in the considered judgment of the Board are imbued with pronounced antisocial at- tributes, and who therefore could not be released through the medium of parole except at great peril to the social order, will not be extended parole under any circumstances. It follows that in all cases classified for special consideration as a result of the emergency and com- ing within the above categories, in addition to the re- quirements herein set forth, the individual applicant must be looked upon with favor as a safe prospect for parole treatment by the professional group of the respective institutions for the purpose upon which the petition is predicated. Those of the federal inmate body who, due to mental or physical disabilities or because of emotional instability, do not fall within the groups selected for the foregoing liberalized wartime parole policy, may still make a most important contribution to the Stars and Stripes and the cause of the United Nations by lending their wholehearted moral support and material effort in the production of war materials in the prison industries which are vital to a successful prosecution of the Allied cause. It must also be understood that while a general policy for the period of the duration may be outlined by the Federal Board of Parole in its desire to cooper- ate in the all-out effort against the dictators, each case must of necessity be studied and disposed of individ- ually and solely upon its respective merits. Inmates desiring further information with respect to the foregoing are requested to contact the institu- tional parole officer. The Board of Parole appreciates the opportunity afforded to make known the policies which it has indicated as a result of the existing peril to our national freedom. We have a common goal—the prose- cution of the war effort to a successful conclusion. *The Sanford Plan was inaugurated at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga., by Warden Joseph W. Sanford about two years ago. The plan provides for a carefully selected group of nonviolent recidivists serving substantial terms who indicate a desire through word and action to rehabilitate themselves and who have approximately five years remaining to complete the term. These men are given an opportunity to accept assignment to paid industries, provided they enter into a covenant whereby the major portion of their industrial earnings is to be conserved during the remaining period of servitude; and, further, that upon release the amount of accrued earnings is to be placed in a joint account subject to expendi- ture for proper purposes only upon the joint signatures of the subject and the respective probation officer. The Board of Parole has cooperated with WTarden Sanford in several of these cases and over the rather brief period the plan has been in operation it has worked out to the satisfaction of all con- cerned. It goes without saying that the success achieved by any plan of this character must of necessity depend upon the vital foundation of selection. It should be stated that these men are made no promises whatsoever, other than that the plan provides a supervised financial backlog for the early period of readjustment following release. And in this regard, it may be stated that it closes the door to the excuse—in some cases valid—of a relapse to crime by reason of unemployment and lack of funds. 109 FEDERAL PROBATION By VICTOR H. EVJEN Assistant Chief of Probation Probation originated in the United States. It was applied for the first time in 1841 when a Boston jurist placed a defendant on probation. In 1878 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted the first probation law. Other New England states followed. Gradually, probation legislation was spread to every state in the Union and eventually to many countries throughout the world. However, it was not until March 5, 1925 (47 years after the first probation law in the United States), that an act was passed by Congress to provide for the establishment of a probation system in the United States Courts. Under the provisions of the Probation Act the power of appointment is vested in the judges of the district courts. Section 4a of the Probation Act (as amended June 6, 1930) delegates to the Attorney General,* or his authorized agent, the responsibility of investigating the work of the probation officers and making relative recommendations to the respective judges; to prescribe record forms and statistics to be main- tained by the probation officers; to formulate general rules for the proper conduct of the probation work; and to endeavor by all suitable means to promote the efficient administration of the Probation System and the enforcement of the probation laws in the United States Courts. In 1927 the first salaried probation officers (eight in number) were appointed. No additional positions were allotted by Con- gress until 1930 when 54 probation officers were appointed. Courts which lacked salaried probation officers found it expedi- ent to appoint the offender’s counsel or some federal law- enforcement agent to supervise the offender during the period of probation supervision. Such an impractical and undesirable procedure today would be held in sharp disfavor by penologists. As of June 30, 1942, 245 probation officers located in 94 field offices serve the District Courts of the United States. Twenty- five additional probation officers are to be appointed during the fiscal year 1943. A total of 42,658 probationers, parolees, and persons on con- ditional release were under the supervision of the United States Probation System during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941. The average supervision load for the same year was approxi- mately 29,000 probationers, and 5,700 parolees and persons on conditional release, or a total average case load of about 35,000 persons. A decade ago there were only 4,281 proba- tioners under supervision (as of June 30, 1931). Because of the close interrelationship of probation, prisons, and parole, the Probation System maintains the closest cooper- ation with the Bureau of Prisons and constantly endeavors to coordinate its work with the correctional program of the Bureau. In their investigative and supervisory work with parolees and persons on conditional release, the probation offi- cers are subject to the direction of the Bureau of Prisons. Probation and parole frequently and erroneously are referred to interchangeably as though the two concepts were synony- mous. Parole is a form of release granted a prisoner who has served a portion of his sentence in a penal institution. Proba- tion, on the other hand, when properly applied, is granted an offender without incarceration. It may be defined as the post- ponement of a final judgment or sentence, giving the offender an opportunity to improve his conduct and readjust himself while living in normal family and community relationships, subject to certain conditions imposed by the court, and under the firm, friendly, and understanding guidance and supervision of a probation officer. If the probationer successfully completes his period of supervision as set by the court, he need not undergo imprisonment. Probation is not a gesture of leniency nor a coddling of seri- ous offenders. It is not punishment, for punishment is not inherent in the concept of probation. But it is a tested, scien- tific, constructive, and humanitarian method of administering criminal justice. Basic in the philosophy of probation is the deep conviction of the reformability of the wrongdoer. Pro- bation is not a “cure-all” for crime, but when properly admin- istered it is effective in results. Experience has demonstrated that retributive justice does not protect society and that many offenders are more in need of sympathetic understanding, encouragement, counsel, and social acceptance than punish- ment. By instilling the probationer self-worth, self respect, and a sense of belonging; by helping him to acquire socially approved habits, attitudes, and values essential to make necessary adjustments to his home, community, and society; by giving him insight into the motives underlying his behavior; by helping him to understand that he as an individual in society must accept certain socially imposed responsibilities, restraints, and deprivations, the probation officer restores the probationer to social usefulness. By this method only can probation truly fulfill its primary objective—to protect society against the depredations of the offender. Those in charge of penal institutions will be the first to admit that in general no offender should be sent to a jail, reformatory, or penitentiary if there is a good chance of his making a satisfactory adjustment on probation. The average penal institution today is not the best place for the average offender. Some of them, notably county jails, are ill-admin- istered. Of the 3,097 county and independent city jails in the United States, 2,287 have been disapproved because they do not meet the minimum standards required by the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the detention of federal prisoners. Apart from inefficient administration, poor physical plant and equipment, inadequate program, mass treatment, and the restraining features of prisons, the mere removal from home and com- munity life is a disorganizing and disintegrating experience. It is a dismal picture that Federal Prisons Director James V. Bennett paints when he says that “just about half of the 70,000 to 80,000 men and women who are leaving the prison gates this year will be back within the next five years, if we can judge the future by the past.” t If this is an accurate interpre- tation of the trend, one can only conclude that prisons as gen- erally administered are not the answer to the crime problem. What is more, prisons cost from 10 to 20 times as much as probation—ranging from $300 to $500 per capita per annum as compared with $15 to $50 for probation. In the federal system prison care amounts to $1.32 per day in contrast to the cost of 9 cents per day for the supervision of a federal probationer. The probation officer is probation in his community. The success of probation is in direct ratio to the type and quality of personnel to which its administration is entrusted. Probation is meaningless, and even dangerous, if the person- ality, training, and skills of the probation officer are not of high quality. As pointed out by Mr. Chandler, Director of the Administrative Office, probation is a specialized educational task, t Probation is a career service. Like other professions, pro- bation work requires qualifications of the highest order. X-ray and radium, in the hands of radiologists, can be most helpful in the treatment of disease and disorders, but can be dangerous and even fatal in the hands of an inexperienced person. Pro- bation is analogous, in this respect, to the X-ray and radium; if it is entrusted to untrained and unskilled persons, the results are likely to be ineffective or even disastrous. Just what is the probation officer’s part in the federal pro- bation program? Following a plea or conviction the probation officer’s first 110 task is to assist the court in the selective process. The pre- sentence investigation is the instrument which enables the court to determine whether probation or some other form of treatment is for the best interests and welfare of both the offender and society. The presentence investigation report is not only for prospective probationers; it also assists the court in determining the extent and type of commitment for those for whom incarceration is deemed essential. An adequate presentence investigation, therefore, requires a high degree of tact, resourcefulness, objectivity, insight, and training on the part of the probation officer. Only trained and skilled persons should be entrusted with this delicate and responsible task. What information does the probation officer seek in develop- ing his study of the offender ? What areas does his investiga- tion cover? How does he go about finding the information which will assist the court in writing out the 'prescription which will rehabilitate the offender? First of all, the probation officer knows that crime arises from an attempt to resolve a difficult problem or to satisfy some personal want or need. He does not treat the crime itself any more than a physician treats a fever or a headache. Just as the fever and headache are symptoms of some under- lying organic or functional disorder, crime is a symptom of some disorder resulting from any one or a combination of psychological, physical, environmental,’ and emotional disturb- ances. When a youngster truants from school the probation officer is not interested in the truancy per se. He wants to know what there is in the boy’s school experience and relation- ships that disturbs him and eventually finds expression in truancy. Truancy to the probation officer is merely sympto- matic of some unpleasant school situation (sometimes deplor- able on the part of the school) with which the boy is unable to cope. The boy may be impressed with the inflexible curric- ulum; he feels the need for change and adventure. He may find difficulty and embarrassment in keeping up with his class- mates in his studies; his need for personal worth is frustrated. He may lack sociability and consequently is denied a sense of belongingness when his classmates engage in activities dur- ing recess. He is unable to acquire prestige and status in school or on the playground through any special abilities or skills he might possess. His fundamental needs, and wants, all of them common to mankind in general, are being thwarted or are unsatisfied. Truancy is a way of escape from the unpleasant—a means by which he can find satisfaction through other channels. So it is with delinquency and crime. A sense of guilt, per- sonal inadequacy, disapproval, and rejection results when the fundamental needs for feelings of self-importance, social acceptance, achievement, self-worth, and personal and economic security are not satisfied, and often finds expression in delin- quent and criminal conduct. During the presentence investi- gation the probation officer tries to discover those psychological drives which underly the offender’s behavior, and what personal and social needs are not being satisfied in socially approved conduct. A diagnosis of the offender’s needs, like the diagnosis in medicine, is essential before the probation officer can chart the course therapy. In developing his presentence investigation the probation officer studies the offender’s present and past status, experi- ences, and relationships. They include (1) offense; (2) prior record; (3) family history; (4) home and neighborhood; (5) education; (6) religion; (7) interests and activities; (8) health; (9) employment; and (10) resources, t He clears the arrest record with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the local police department, the juvenile court. Through the Social Service Exchange he determines what community services and agencies know the offender and have rendered some type of service. He calls on members of the immediate family and relatives. He interviews the neighbors, the doctor, the pastor, the employer, and any individual, agency, or institution who may know the offender personally or may have had dealings with him. He studies the attitude of the offender toward his offense and toward society and life in general. He observes the offender’s traits, psychological reactions, intelligence level, judgment, emotional adjustment—in fact all that contributes to an understanding of his personality make-up. When the basic problems and needs are involved and difficult to diagnose and understand, the probation officer seeks the counsel of a specialist in behavior. After the probation officer has surveyed all possible avenues of investigation he studies, analyzes, and summarizes the problems and needs, determines what course of treatment should be followed, and submits his findings and recommenda- tions to the court. § Upon consideration of the facts of the case and the findings of the presentence report the court writes out the "prescrip- tion for treatment.” The judge may suspend the execution or imposition of sentence and place the offender on probation, prescribing certain conditions which he regards as essential to treatment and to which the probationer must conform during the supervision period. If the offender is committed to the custody of the Attorney General and is placed in one of the Federal Government’s 30 penal institutions, the presentence investigation findings are transmitted to the institutional authorities to assist in developing a program of treatment which will as nearly as possible meet the offender’s health, social, intellectual, emotional, recreational, and vocational needs. The presentence findings also aid the institution in parole selection and in developing a parole plan. In-service training has a prominent part in the program of the Federal Probation System. The in-service courses are not training for the job, nor a substitute for training. The train- ing program is primarily a means of keeping abreast with the latest developments in the correctional field. It also serves as a medium for exchanging experiences, raising standards, and developing common aims. In conjunction with the Bureau of Prisons the Probation Division of the Administrative Office publishes Federal Pro- bation, a 60-page journal of correctional philosophy and prac- tice. The magazine is widely recognized as one of the most helpful current periodicals concerning the treatment of delin- quency and crime, and serves as another channel through which the probation officer may keep up with the latest findings in the correctional field, exchange significant experiences and tested techniques, improve the quality of his work, and develop common goals. Nationally known judges, lawyers, criminol- ogists, sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and admin- istrators in correctional and public welfare activities contribute to its pages. Federal Probation is edited by the Probation Division of the Administrative Office and is published by in- mates of the U. S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kans. Rapid growth and progress mark the first 15 years of the Federal Probation System. The next 15 years will witness progressively higher standards of personnel selection, gradual reductions in supervision loads through enlargement of the field office staff, increasing use of presentence investigations, greater opportunities for psychiatric diagnostic and treatment services, wider enlistment of community resources, closer coordination with federal and state correctional and law-enforce- ment agencies, and larger realization and acceptance by society of its responsibility for the rehabilitation of the offender. As these are achieved and new frontiers are explored, the Federal Probation System will provide a progressively more effective protection of society against delinquency and crime. *On July 1, 1940, pursuant to the Act creating the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (U. S. C., Title 28, Sec. 444-450) and a resolution of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, the Adminis- trative Office took over the functions of Federal Probation previously performed by the Bureau of Prisons, the authorized agent of the Attorney General. The headquarters of the Probation System are located in the Supreme Court Building and operate as a division of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Henry P. Chandler is the Director of the Administrative Office and Richard A. Chappell, formerly acting Chief of Probation and Parole in the Bureau of Prisons, was named Chief of Probation when the probation service was transferred from the Department of Justice to the Administrative Office. t James V. Bennett, “Of Men Who Have Failed,” Federal Probation, August-October 1940. t ibid, p. 4. § See “The Presentence Investigation Report,” a monograph prepared by the Federal Probation System, which summarizes the outline and contents suggested in preparing presenteftce investigation reports. PRISON AGRICULTURE . . . tage of cooperative planning and pooled information. Though control was centralized, supervision was not of an expert nature and all advisory assistance was only such as could be obtained from the Department of Agriculture. While well informed within their own field, advisers from this department could not be expected to possess an additional understanding of importantly related penal problems and considerations and their counsel was consequently something short of completely adequate. In December 1935, therefore, a conference was called in Washington, D. C., for the purpose of creating a policy and an authority that might be productive of a better and more effective farm program. Wardens, superintendents, farm man- agers and agricultural experts attended; the problem and potentialities received full discussion and from this initial conference developed the Bureau’s concept and practice of agronomy. A full-time supervisor of farms was appointed and an expanded and integrated program was evolved which, Consideration for two salient factors within the purview of the Bureau of Prisons renders a specialized and somewhat intensified farm program a matter of considerable significance and importance. The first is that a relatively large proportion of federal prisoners come from (and must or should return to) agricultural communities. The second is that the subsist- ence economy of the federal penal structure requires that the maximum of food be raised, within certain limitations and where possible, by the prisons themselves. With the advent of the war and the attendant importance of food conservation and maximum production of all commodities, the second factor takes on multiplied importance. The Bureau of Prisons therefore makes every effort in the direction of a fully developed agricultural program, both from the standpoint of a fullest potential of production and in respect to modern conditions and techniques of operation. Prior to 1935, agricultural activities in many of the federal prisons benefitted by no program enabling them to take advan- 112 though still not developed to fullest potential, has resulted in production of a highly satisfactory nature. Prospects for the future places agriculture among the most important of penal productive employments. In more than two-thirds of the institutions (including the largest) there is agricultural activity, and on or adjacent to most of the institutions there is still considerable land which has not, as yet, been developed. (Sandstone is situated amongst 2,885 acres; McNeil Island possesses more than 4,500 acres.) Thus it may be seen that agricultural productivity in the federal prisons is still at an early stage of development. Nevertheless, relatively large productions have been accom- plished. In 1941 foods and ma- terials were produced in the following quantities: Fruits, 509,766 pounds; pota- toes, white and sweet, 2,083,029 pounds; other vegetables, 4,223,481 pounds; hay, 6,453,520 pounds; ensilage, 5,755,574 pounds; field corn, 4,251,591 pounds; other stock feeds, 2,702,884 pounds; milk and cream, 5,667,465 pounds; eggs, 60,595 dozen; honey, 1,213 pounds; sirup, 43,522 pounds; nuts, 10,990 pounds; beef, 146,916 pounds; pork, 1,084,126 pounds; veal, 3,745 pounds; poultry, 33,642 pounds; wool, 55 pounds. The foregoing figures indicate that, even at present, federal agricultural productivity is a project of no inconsiderable magnitude. During the same year, the livestock census for the institutions included 151 mules, 64 horses, 944 head of dairy cattle, 169 head of beef cattle, 5,552 swine, 4,251 poultry and other miscellaneous items including a small number of sheep. Fullest advantage is taken of every advanced technique for the production of better commodities at less cost, modern methods for the prevention of soil erosion are instituted wherever they promise beneficial results, and every effort is made to make of the institutional farms not only media of employment, training and production but sound economic ven- tures in every sense of the term as well. In dairying particularly the Bureau has sought to develop conditions and procedures that are in close conformity with the best commercial standards. The most modern milking equipment and sanitary instal- lations are available. Milk processing machinery is in uni- versal use. Scientific techniques as recommended by the Depart- ment of Agriculture and lead- ing “cow colleges’’ are taught. All breeding is done with an alert eye to approved principles of genetics so that institutional herds shall continuously im- prove. The benefits subsequent to such care and effort are vividly apparent in the high rate of production within lactation periods; 31 cows in federal prison herds give between 18,000 and 31,000 pounds of milk, respectively, during the periods when they are “fresh.” Another contemporaneously developing phase of progress and proof of perceptive initiative is the use of institutional canneries in conjunction with prison farms that produce com- modities in great quantity. At McNeil Island, Atlanta, La Tuna, Petersburg, and a number of other institutions canneries have been operating with great success and abundant output. In the future, installation for the preserving of products will doubtless be considered an essential complement to the farm organization in federal institutions. The Bureau’s agricultural objectives are, of course, primarily to provide employment for inmates and thereby, also, to pro- duce food for institutional consumption, yet the objectives can be more definitely described in the following analysis of purpose. The federal penal agricultural program aims to: 1. Provide a large portion of the food needed for the sub- sistence of prison populations. 2. Provide employment for men interested in agricultural occupations. 3. Provide fresh vegetables of a type that would not ordi- narily be purchasable within the limitations of the prison budget. 4. Provide training for agri- cultural type prisoners so that they may better carry on in such activity after release (and perhaps provide the incentive and initiative for the return to the soil of men who have drifted from farms into urban areas and who would be better off in agriculture). 5. Provide opportunities for agricultural experimentation and research to agronomic government agencies. Thus the prison farm, at its best, has many obligations and responsibilities other than those of a literal nature. In terms of material attainments, the federal prison farms* lay emphasis upon four productions: dairy, vegetable growing, swine raising, and poultry production. Other products are presently being produced and it is intended to develop still other commodities in the future in conformity with the needs of the times. In the dairying field of activity, virtually all milk needed by the institutions is produced, but no attempt has yet been made to create the conventional by-products (cheese, etc.); this, however, is envisaged as part of projected development. The penal agricultural program of the future, as presently envisaged, possesses even greater potentialities of service, both economic and social. It is hoped that prison farms will be capable of production that will enable complete and ade- quate distribution of commodi- ties within all of the institu- tions of the system; perhaps that there may be surpluses for advantageous sale to other non- penal government agencies. It is not impractical nor undesir- able to look forward to expan- sive programs of forestry, ero- sion control, public works beau- tification, and livestock breed improvement. The vistas are without horizon. At present the war looms as a determining factor in the formulation of the Bureau’s program. Food becomes increasingly a premium product. Where the federal prisons can reduce the levies which they must make upon the Nation’s food stores, they are performing a patriotic service. They are presently bending every effort to perform that service. Dinnertime at Atlanta’s Farm pQrk Chops on the Move ♦There are twenty institutional farms with an aggregate area of 7,178 acres presently under cultivation. Considerably more land within prison reservations is being made tillable. Federal prison farms are as small as 250 acres, as large as 3,500 acres. 113 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY ARTHUR JAMES Not the least of the problems with which the Bureau of Prisons must deal is that of the Juvenile Delinquent. With the increasing criminal precocity of large numbers of American youth and the more general availability of motor cars combining toward a social trend definitely menacing, the Federal Government finds itself faced with increasing frequency with the responsibility of dealing with boys and girls too young for even institutions like Chillicothe and yet incipiently antisocial to a degree that requires action and treatment. What to do with the “wild” youngster who has stolen a car and traveled in it a thousand miles or more from home? What to do with the junior offender whose conduct has placed him within federal jurisdiction and who is a resident of a community where facilities for the improvement of adolescents are meager or non- existent? These and many other ramifications of the problem are discussed by the Supervisor of the Juvenile Section of the Bureau of Prisons. To ms erring nephews and nieces of lollypop age, Uncle Sam is more than just a figure of speech. He is a fondly stern avuncular parent who, in the best tra- dition of unclehood, takes over the care and correc- tion of his adolescent proteges where other auspices fail. Little is commonly known of this phase of the Federal Government’s paternalism as it exists in the work of the Bureau of Prisons for under-age delinquents. Although the United States does not stand in the relation of parens patriae to minors, the parent- hood over delinquent, dependent and neglected chil- dren, or of children of inadequate natural parentage, exercised in chancery by the English kings and later by the states, the United States in reality has adapted the juvenile court procedure to the criminal law in the disposition of juvenile offenders’ cases under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act of 1938. Prior to the enactment of this statute there had been no definition in federal law of juvenile delin- quency, the juvenile offender of whatever age having come into federal court as an adult notwithstanding that juvenile court law and procedure had been in operation since the establishment of the Chicago Juvenile Court in 1898. The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, with com- mendable simplicity, provides that a juvenile 17 years of age and under who elects to waive his right of trial by jury under criminal procedure shall be prosecuted by information on a charge of juvenile delinquency rather than on the specific offense alleged to have been committed by him other than offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment. Under the act the federal judge sits in chancery to determine whether or not the offender is a juvenile delinquent. If the court finds the offender to be a juvenile delinquent and not suitable for probation, only one disposition is left, namely, commitment to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for either a fixed sentence or for minority, but the period of custody in either case may not exceed the term for which he could have been sentenced if the juvenile had been convicted of a specific offense. In juvenile cases the court has the power elsewhere pro- vided to dismiss and to divert to state authorities. Under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act ap- proximately one-third of the 2,000 juvenile offenders charged annually in court with offenses against the laws of the United States have been committed to the custody of the Attorney General, one-third having been placed on probation and one-third having been dismissed and diverted, the number of diversions to state authorities during 1941 amounting to 11.5 per- cent of the total. The placement program of juvenile offenders under the act was formulated with the help of leaders in the child welfare and juvenile court fields. The use of foster homes, camps, public and private academic and vocational schools, state and local training schools for juvenile delinquents, and other approved treatment agencies and practices as well as the National Training School for Boys and the federal reformatories was approved. From its inception the program has been supervised by per- sonnel chosen from the juvenile court and social serv- ice rather than from the penal or correctional fields. Diversion to state and local authorities is a basic conception of the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, although the level of state training schools is lower in instances than that recognized as a desirable stand- ard for federal approval. At best, it must seriously be asked to what extent a federal court is justified in relieving a state or locality of its responsibility for the treatment of the juvenile delinquent who merely adds a violation of federal law to a record of previous delinquencies, and to what extent such a policy re- tards improvement of state and local resources? After all, the period of custody by the United States is com- paratively short and the subject must eventually re- turn to his locality for readjustment. The condition of the home or community is rarely improved by a commitment to the federal authorities. Consequently, in the administration of the Juvenile Act, effort is made to develop and improve local facilities in every appropriate way. Few commitments under the Federal Juvenile De- linquency Act are received from the New England and certain other states and political subdivisions for the reason, apparently, that resources in these states and localities are considered by the United States courts and probation officers to be adequate to justify diversion. The extension of this situation to the entire country is surely an ideal of the Federal Juve- nile Delinquency Act program. To illustrate the possibilities of contributing to the improvement of state and local facilities and institu- tions in the administration of the Juvenile Act and 114 the use of federal funds for care, subsistence, educa- tion and training of federal juvenile offenders, it may be pointed out that during the past two years classi- fication and social service were developed at several state and local schools being used for federal juvenile offenders by increasing the federal per diem allowance and population. In one instance, a state training school lacked only a professional classification service to bring it to a high degree of excellence, comparatively speaking. The school had been unable, however, to provide this service from its regular budget, but by an increase in the per diem allowance for federal subjects from $1 to $1.45 and by increasing the federal population from an average of 17 to 25 in number, sufficient income was made available to enable the school to develop these services. As a result, a graduate social worker with competent experience in institutional psychological and social work was added to the staff. The admission summaries, progress reports and re- lease plans from this school now compare favorably with those of the federal reformatories and the National Training School for Boys. In another instance, an increase in the per diem and in the average population was responsible for the employment of a child guidance psychiatrist in a local institution. Much concern is felt in cases of Alaskans and Puerto Ricans regarding the possible effects of insti- tutionalization in an environment so radically differ- ent from that in which they have been reared and in which they will likely have to be readjusted follow- ing the completion of their sentences. Transferring Indians and Eskimos from Alaska to the states has been discontinued recently in the belief that it is “sociologically” unsound. In the case of Puerto Ricans it is quite likely that they learn the English language and continental customs and manners more rapidly by a period of care in the states, but at the same time they undoubtedly fall behind in their edu- cation in their native language and lose out in their adjustment and growth in the localities to which they return and in which, as a rule, they live the remainder of their lives. In making designations, the first step, of course, is to study the individual and his needs, but after this is done, even where the conclusion seems very obvious as to the treatment indicated, the Bureau frequently is confronted with the problem of finding a suitable institution or agency for the indicated treatment. Although the majority of commitments lend them- selves to rather definite classification, there are border-line cases which present special difficulties. As a rule, the commitment of the extremely youthful offender, those from 10 to 15 years of age, to train- ing schools is avoided; an effort is made to adjust such juvenile offenders in foster homes, noncorrec- tional schools or in delinquency treatment agencies. Juveniles up to 18 years, whose previous offenses are not dangerous in character and who are apparently the victims of unwholesome family and community social situations, are sent to the National Training School for Boys at Washington and other training schools willing to accept federal subjects. Boys in the age group of 17 to 18 years who have been in more serious difficulties but who have not already had training school treatment are likewise sent to training schools. Finally, those older boys with records of serious offenses, some of whom have al- ready been to training schools or penal or reformatory institutions and have not been straightened out, are sent to the United States reformatories. All are sub- ject, however, to transfer on the basis of subsequent progress and needs. Designation of state and local training schools, public or private, is limited, of course, to those per- mitted by law and which are willing to enter into con- tracts with the Bureau of Prisons, and which meet standards regarded as essential. Foster home and noncorrectional school placements have proved highly satisfactory as a whole and are now beyond the experimental stage. Procedures gov- erning selection and designation of the home or school, the making of contracts and payments of allowances, supervision during placement, preparation reports and parole applications and other administrative details have been developed. In the jurisdictions where this type of treatment has been inaugurated and the proc- esses perfected, new cases are being adjusted with comparative ease and apparently to the satisfaction of the judges, district attorneys, probation officers, and marshals. In fact, there seems to be a real enthu- siasm about the program where it has been tried, which is easily understandable, this being a highly advisable and measurable type of constructive delin- quency treatment. It is a challenge to the probation officer’s faith and skill in his profession and an oppor- tunity to maintain continuous responsibility and supervision in a case from first contact to final read- justment of the subject in society. In the development of foster home placement, the Bureau of Prisons, in its exercise of the Attorney General’s power to “designate any public or private agency for the custody, care, subsistence, education, and training of the juvenile during the period for which he was committed,” has entered into an agree- ment with the United States Children’s Bureau, which brings to the probation officer the assistance of the Child Welfare Service division of the state, county, and city departments in selecting the home and in placing and supervising the offender therein. When this type of treatment is indicated in a case as a result of the presentence investigation it should be developed in cooperation with the Child Welfare Service and recommended to the supervisor, juvenile section, Bureau of Prisons, in cases of commitment, in order that it may be considered in making designation. In foster home cases, either the state or the local welfare department, or its children’s division, is desig- nated as the custodial agency rather than the foster home itself. However, an approved private welfare or children’s agency may be designated where the public agency is not available. This enables the agency to make replacements in the case without further 115 change of designation by the Bureau. In most cases, the marshal contracts to make payments to the agency rather than the home for the same reasons. The authority and responsibility of the Bureau is main- tained through the probation officer, the agency be- coming a social service facility of both. The responsi- bility for effectuating contracts, making payments, providing medical services, transportation, etc., rests solely with the marshal, who receives special instruc- tions from the Bureau in each case. In reality, making such a placement is very simple. The probation officer recommends the agency and home and approximate costs, and the Bureau and marshal take care of the administrative details. Progress reports, parole eligibility, etc., are governed by Bulletin No. 455 as in other cases. In a foster home case the probation officer does practically everything except make an arrest. If he can prevent a breakdown and straighten out the situation, in cooperation with the Welfare Department or Child Welfare Service division with which he is working on the case, he should go ahead and do that. This would become merely a part of the record in the case, unless it were of such a serious nature that the probation officer or the Welfare Department concludes that the situation should be reported to the Juvenile Section of the Bureau of Prisons for information and advice. If the probation officer should feel that a proper adjustment or readjustment had not been made in the case and that a change should be made which he is not able to work out with the supervising agency, or if r.i should think the case should be transferred to a 1: lining school or institution, he should then so recom- mend to the Juvenile Section of the Bureau of Prisons. In the event that these measures failed and the juvenile escaped beyond the control of the supervising agency and the probation officer, the matter should be reported to the marshal. In the federal and state training schools and in the juvenile institutions and agencies, public and private, which are being used for the custody and treatment of federal juvenile offenders, runaways similar in nature to those of the normal child leaving home but in which they do not get beyond the jurisdiction are handled merely as matters of supervision routine and are not made the subject of formal arrest, although regulations require that the Bureau will be advised of such difficulties. The area or reservation of a foster home is not marked by a wall or fence, or even a line. Intention, distance and the element of time should all be considered in determining the matter of escape as a legal proposition from a matter of supervision, discipline and social responsibility. In foster home placement it is contemplated that the resources of probation, social service, family and community resources, professional experience and so- cial service technique can adjust the case during the period of sentence to the benefit of the offender and without serious danger to the community, without the necessity of sending the offender to a training school or reformatory. Within the possibilities of the total of such resources no strict line or regulation can or should be drawn short of a complete breakdown which conclusively proves that such placement is not suitable in the individual case. At the children’s village type of institution, such as the Louisville and Jefferson County Children’s Home, Ormsby Village at Louisville, Ky., runaways of a few hours or even a day or two in which the subject is returned to the institution by its own field service personnel or the cooperating local authorities are treated as matter of “campus disci- pline.” A foster home program should be as broad, comprehensive and sympathetic, to say the least. In Department of Justice Circular No. 3388, the Administrative Assistant to the Attorney General stated that so far as possible United States marshals should forego the mixing of juveniles with adult prisoners and should not refer to them as “prisoners.” In the same circular it was further suggested that in each case the marshal should endeavor to discuss juvenile cases with the probation officer for helpful information in determining the best method of han- dling the juvenile offender. Conclusion In the administration of the Federal Juvenile Delin- quency Act, we are attempting to ameliorate the haz- ards of modern society as far as possible by a social- ization of the judicial, constabulary and custodial processes in juvenile cases. The realization of the ideal of the act will depend more largely on the degree of socialization attained in the states and communities than in the Department of Justice. The development of resources for diversion of cases to state and local authorities, the elimination of the law’s delays, the development of foster home and noncorrectional school placements, the planning of release programs, and the coordination of federal, state and local welfare and delinquency prevention agencies and programs will determine the ultimate success of the federal juvenile offender’s program. We know now there is little hope in the historical and conventional attempt to reduce and prevent crime by imprisonment. Programs designed to increase severity, certainty and speed of punishment have their day and soon are abandoned. They succeed less where the need is greatest, and at best reach only a small percent of the delinquent population. In the field of general health as well as in the pre- vention of contagious and infectious diseases, medical science has proved that prevention is superior to treat- ment. Although we have not discovered or isolated the germs of delinquency, we are in the laboratory. In the rapprochement between social work and medical science, much has been achieved and much more is promised. In work with deliquents before rather than after the law gets them; in social programs for under- privileged groups and communities; in the readjust- ment of our public school curriculum to the needs and capacities of the maladjusted individual; in the better use of our resources for those who need them most —in these and in many other ways we must under- take the more hopeful effort of prevention. BUREAU LEGISLATION . . . Not the least important of the reforms instituted by the Bureau of Prisons following its organization in 1930 are those within the realm of penal legislation. The Director and his associates have, with the passage of the decade since reorgan- ization, sought to inform themselves as to the true nature of conditions within the prisons that might be improved through legislative action. Research committees have been appointed in various subdivisions of prison administration and have fur- nished valuable information. The advice of recognized peno- logical authorities has been sought and gained. Surveys have been made by respective institutional heads and facts thus garnered have been correlated into comprehensive cumulative reports. Out of this fact-finding has come much good. Through author- ized channels, the Bureau of Prisons has urged the enactment of legislation, the necessity of which was indicated by the information which came to light. Better working conditions for personnel have resulted. More effective attainment within the institutions was subsequent to the legislated establishment of departments and functions which had not existed in the past. The operation of parole and conditional release supervision was made more efficient and fruitful of result. The advent of the war and concurrent legislative exigencies has, to a great extent, made necessary the postponement (“for the duration,” perhaps) of many of the Bureau’s most desired legislative reforms, chief among which are the following sug- gested acts: THE INDETERMINATE SENTENCE LAW* The indeterminate sentence is an effort to make punishment truly reformative. Its theory is that one who has been guilty of serious infraction of the criminal laws should be imprisoned for such time as is necessary to cure him of his antisocial tend- encies and should then be conditionally released under parole, with adequate supervision, for such time as is necessary to restore him to the normal life of the law-abiding citizen of the community. Since it is impossible to foresee what term of imprisonment and supervision may be necessary to accomplish this result, sentence is not to be (under the suggested law) for a definite term but for such time as may be necessary to rehabilitate the offender and restore him to society. Release is to be determined by a board which will have expert advice and assistance and which will give the prisoner an absolute release only when satisfied that a changed social attitude on his part justifies it. At present, in the federal system, a prisoner sentenced for a term of more than one year is subject to parole when he has served one-third of his sentence. This permits the release of prisoners under supervision before the expiration of their sen- tences, where it appears that their antisocial attitudes have been changed, and furnishes opportunities for them to be re- established in society under the protection of the parole author- ities, instead of being released without supervision to return to a life of crime when surrounded by their old associates and subjected to the temptations and hardships which their prison experience is reasonably certain to bring forth. The defect in the federal system is the lack of integration of the sentencing and the paroling functions. Some sentences are for too long a period; others are so short as not to allow sufficient time for rehabilitation through parole. And, of course, it is impossible at the time of sentence to fore- cast what the prisoner’s reaction to imprisonment will be or when it will be wise to release him under parole. The Parole Board, on the other hand, acts in a very large measure inde- pendently of the judges. While recommendations from the judges are asked, there is no obligation on the part of the Board to consider them, and many judges do not think it worth while to make a recommendation. The proposed act leaves the matter of sentence in the hands of the judge, without change of existing law, except as to sen- tences of more than one year. Where the judge is of the opinion that a sentence of more than one year shall be imposed, he is required by the act to impose at first a general sentence of imprisonment which shall be for the maximum term prescribed by law; but he is empowered to modify this sentence after he has had opportunity to be advised by the Board of Corrections with regard to it. The act provides that the Board of Correc- tions, in those cases, shall within six months after the offender begins service of his sentence, recommend what, in its opinion, the definite sentence ought to be, and that the judge shall there- upon fix the definite sentence, which shall be the sentence to be served by the prisoner. The Board shall state its reasons in its recommendation. If the judge disapproves the sentence recom- mended, he shall be required to state his reasons, but is not bound by the recommendation and may proceed to fix the definite sentence to be served by the prisoner in accordance with his judgment. If the Board fails to recommend sentence within six months, the judge acts without its recommendation. If he fails to act upon its (the Board’s) recommendation within sixty days, the recommendation becomes the sentence. The merit of the bill already endorsed! is that it provides a scientific and intelligent approach to the question of sentencing. Under it the sentence is deferred until the prisoner can be thoroughly studied and his reaction to prison ascertained. Opin- ions of psychiatrists and criminologists, as well as prison officials, are available to the Sentencing Board; and the Board will be the same body that will ultimately have the power of parole with respect to the prisoner. Definite policies in punish- ment can be carried out on a nation-wide scale and shocking disparities in sentences can be avoided. With respect to all offenders, the proposed act leaves in the hands of the judge, as it is now, the power to admit to probation, without the power on anyone’s part to review the judge’s action. A separate subdivision of this proposed act would provide for what would be known as THE YOUTH AUTHORITY The Youth Authority would control the punishment and re- habilitation of offenders under 24 years of age committed to it by the courts. Such persons, under the act, remain in the custody of the Authority for not more than six years. The Authority may release him or her conditionally at any time, and is required to so release him at the end of four years. The Authority is required to classify youthful offenders com- mitted to it, to provide institutions of varing degrees of security in accordance with their needs, and to provide for the proper separation of youthful offenders. This plan conforms to the system recommended by the American Law Institute; one like it (the Borstal system) has been found very successful in England. These and other improvements the Bureau of Prisons is seeking to have enacted into law; legislation that would increase the use of prison camps for short-term offenders (to the partial dereliction of the traditional “county jail”), to extend parole supervision periods where such periods are un- reasonably short, to make it possible for guilty offenders to waive indictments (at a great saving of time and money and as a means to reduce county jail contaminations), and many other reforms of similar nature. This is an abridged presentment of a report on Senate Bill 1638 made to the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court by a committee of circuit and district judges in the spring of 1942. (Endorsed by the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges. 117 PRISON PUBLICATIONS . . . One of the finest proofs of the good morale existing in the federal prisons of America is to be found in the pages of the publications edited and printed by inmates of these institutions. In virtually all of the penitentiaries, reformatories, correc- tional institutions, and even in the prison camps, some form of publication is permitted. It would be less of an understate- ment and more precise to say that such activities are stimu- lated and encouraged, and that every facility for their best attainment is made available. In the smaller institutions, these periodicals are mimeographed; in some of the larger institu- tions, multigraphy and lithography are employed, and at At- lanta, a full-scale press-printed magazine is published. The staffs for such publications are, for the most part, chosen for aptitude at editorial work, but these function only as inter- mediaries in the preparation and editing of material conceived and written by individual members of the inmate populations. Inmate publications are, therefore, the most democratic of establishments; they function only as media for the expression of the best thought available in the population they serve. It would be easy in the circumstance of penal restraint, for sycophancy or insincerity of expression to develop in such publications. Overactive censorship would also tend to stifle initiative or independent thought and expression. An intrinsi- cally bad morale within the populations of institutions would result in perversion and misuse of the editorial prerogatives. None of these things have occurred. The prison periodicals have been noteworthy for the whole- someness of their thought, the spontaneity of their expression and the courage and independence of their initiative and selection of subject matter. They have espoused causes of their own choice, they have attacked ideas which they deemed antipathetic to their best interests as a group, and they have successfully sought to propagandize the public and the press on the real nature of the prisoner’s problems. No attempt has been made to hinder or distort the nature of material which has appeared in federal prison publications so long as there has occurred no breach of good taste, no defamatory or libelous presentments and no affronts to those principles or symbols which most Americans venerate. Rarely, if ever, does the need for such censorship transpire. Each of the publications is under the direct supervision of the educational department of the institution it serves, and a great deal of the credit for the high standards attained goes, therefore, to these agencies within the institutional administration. The magazines serve a number of valuable purposes other than those of cultural and morale stimulative importance. They provide the inmates with a forum for the discussion of their ideas. They provide the administration with agreeable opportunities for the dissemination of suggestions and informa- tion not applicable to bulletin boards and other media. They provide the families of inarticulate inmates with the opportunity to better understand the life their imprisoned relatives must lead while behind the walls of federal institutions. They provide an excellent barometer of the thought and intent and attitude of inmate populations. Not least important, in recent times the leading magazines published within federal institutions have intelligently and concertedly sought to provide the general public with valid and valuable information about men in prison and life in prison. Out of such publicity has come a considerable amount of good, an easing of the traditional prejudices against prisoners and an amelioration of the conditions which made employment so difficult to obtain for paroled or discharged prisoners. Not all of the projects undertaken by the editorial staffs of prison publications have been successful and many of them have been idealistic to extremes of impracticability, but all of them have evoked the interest and sympathy of those to whose attention they have come, and in many cases consequential impressions have been made in influential quarters. Inmate publications have beaten the gong, at one time or another, for a multiplicity of causes. At present, the principal objective of the majority of them is, of course, the opportunity for prisoners to serve in the armed services. Even in this common cause, there is no slavish conformity to pattern; some of the magazines advocate the formation of special fighting groups; others ask that prisoners be enlisted on the same basis of nondiscrimination as free men, while others plead for mili- tary training behind prison walls. Still others request the crea- tion of labor battalions. In the more peaceful past, prison publications have espoused a manifold variety of causes. There have been editorial pleas for projects ranging from the granting of larger release gratui- ties to the creation of industrial enterprises for the exclusive employment of former prisoners. Probably the most practical and beneficial of the many plans propagandized through the columns of prison publications has been the job-placement bureau, a plan that is now becoming a successfully accomplished fact throughout the federal institutions. Institutional publications are not, of course, limited to the federal prison system. There are, in America’s state prisons, more than a hundred publications of various kinds. Many are printed, some are mimeographed and a few are multigraphed. More than half of them are monthly publications, the remainder are weekly or bi-weekly. Some are merely house organs, offering their readers local gossip and more or less successful inspiration articles. Others make their strides in the direction of literary or intellectual attainment, and in this group there is a small number of periodicals of outstanding quality. Most of the publications, however, seek to represent their constitu- ents by spirited and conscientious (if not always well-informed) discussions of their joint problems, and by the advancement of plans for the solution of these problems. The federal publications have played an influential, if not dominant, role in the discussion of problems of interest to the prison press and have exerted a considerable effect toward elevating the standard of these publications. In these and in other ways, these periodicals have importance and significance, but most significant are they as a symbol of the freedom of thought and speech that America gives even her prisoners. Publications Issued by the Institutions of the Bureau of Prisons THE OUTLOOK, Federal Reformatory, El Reno, Okla. THE BEAM, Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery, Ala. THE BEACON, Federal Reformatory, Chillicothe, Ohio THE ATLANTIAN, United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga. THE EMANCIPATOR, Federal Correctional Institution, Dan- bury, Conn. ROCKY MOUNTAIN BREEZES, Federal Correctional Insti- tution, Englewood, Colo. DUPONT EVERGREEN, Federal Prison Camp, Dupont, Wash. THE TERRESCOPE, United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, Indiana THE PIONEER, Federal Prison Camp, Mill Point, W. Va. THE NEW7 ERA, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas THE ORANGE BLOSSOM NEWS, Federal Correctional Insti- tution, Tallahassee, Fla. THE LOCHSA PIONEER, Federal Prison Camp, Kooskia, Idaho THE BORDER SENTINEL,* Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, Texas THE ISLAND LANTERN, United States Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Wash. THE GIST, Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone, Minn. THE PERISCOPE, United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pa. THE OZARK ECHO, Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Mo. THE EAGLE, Federal Reformatory for Women, Alderson, W. Va. THE BAROMETER, Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, Kentucky *The Sentinel also publishes a Spanish edition for its Mexican inmates. Note—Some of these publications have been suspended for the dura- tion ; some of them have become bi-monthly. All of them can be obtained by responsible citizens interested in prison conditions by application to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons or to the Warden of the institu- tion publishing the magazine desired. 118 AIRPLANE MECHANICS . . . As recently as two decades ago anyone suggesting vocational training in the skills of airplane repair for convicted felons would have been derided. Today, at one of the Nation’s largest institutions for younger reformable offenders, such training is carried on with abundantly successful effect. At the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, the airplane mechanics’ school is a proven penal vocational triumph. Young men, grad- uated from its courses, are satisfactorily serving the Nation’s vital aviation needs as plane builders and as maintenance and repairmen. The visionary courage which made possible this tradition- shattering innovation and the utmost in circumspection in the choice of men for the classes together with the formulation of curricula of instruction has impelled successful attainment. Only the best are chosen; these must maintain a high stand- ard of attitude and performance over a sustained period of time, or they are dropped from enrollment. There are no dilettantes, no half-hearted workers, no scatterbrained ineffectuals. There are only serious, intent, determined men with ability, willing- ness and mechanical aptitude in proportionate quantities. The course is definitely no sinecure. (Full details are fur- nished under “Chillicothe” page 36.) Private airlines, the mili- tary air forces and the Department of Commerce have lent the institution their fullest cooperation toward keeping up to date the methods and techniques taught in the school. Instruc- tions are not permitted to deviate too far into the theoretical phases of aviation engineering, yet there is sound classroom Welding Is an Essential Collateral Skill preparation on all subjects that require such study. The col- lateral trades (welding, steam fitting, machine-shop practice, etc.) are rigorously taught and all candidates become good machinists before they are permitted to develop into aviation mechanics. One of the reasons for the success of this new type of instruction is that it offers men the oppor- tunity to do something they very much want to do. As such, it stands in refresh- ing contrast to many of the occupations tra- ditional to prison employment; occupations which, by their lack of vocational value and by the meagerness of their appeal in terms of workmanship and general desirability, ener- vate and inhibit inmate workers to the point where efficiency is extremely low. It is true that all work performed in prison cannot be made ultradesirable from the standpoints afore-mentioned, but it is also true and com- pletely in line with the policy of industrial diversification followed by the Bureau of Pris- ons and the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., that occupational activity and vocational training can be so devised as to inspire the interest and increase the job-eligibility of inmates. The success of the mechanics’ training school at Chillicothe is generally rather spe- cifically significant. It proves that departures from vitiating and vitiated penal tradition are as feasible as they are desirable. It justi- fies the initiative and experimental foresight of the Bureau of Prisons. It is symptomatic and axiomatic of an entire new era of work and vocational education behind the walls of the Nation’s prisons. And it presages a time when the Bureau of Prisons may possibly provide society and industry and commerce with replacements in proportion to the num- ber of those removed from society because of their inability to function usefully. A Motor Gets an Overhauling 119 JAIL INSPECTION SERVICE By MISS NINA KINSELLA, Executive Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons There are more than three thousand federal prisoners, at any given time, who are not in the actual custody of the Federal Government, nor are they housed in federal institutions. Some of these are men and women serving short sentences for the crimes of lesser importance. Some of them are persons awaiting transfer to the larger federal institutions. Nearly 64 percent of them are people who are, as yet, untried and therefore legally innocent of wrongdoing. Many hundreds of such prisoners will never be convicted and will ultimately be released. Some are merely material witnesses to crimes com- mitted by others. Toward such prisoners, the government has obligations which it observes with rigorous circumspection. Unable to house those who offend against its laws, during investigation and trial, because of the prohibitive cost of maintaining nation- wide detention quarters, the government is forced to lease accommodations in the various jails maintained by individual communities. Some of these are excellent, many are satisfac- tory, but a very great number of them possess very poor facilities. Some of them are, it has been found, “quite unfit for human habitation.” In 1930, the newly reorganized Bureau of Prisons decided that something should be done to bring about a better condi- tion of life and treatment for those confined in such places. Representations were made and in May of that year Congress passed an act setting certain standards for prisoners confined in nonfederal institutions and providing for a “jail inspection service” to function within the structure of the Bureau of Prisons. With alacrity, the Bureau immediately developed the service as planned, divided the country into ten inspection areas, and appointed capable men to report on jail conditions in each of these areas. Federal inspections are definitely not casual proceedings, nor are any rule-of-thumb techniques used for the evaluation of institutions visited. The inspector is required to obtain com- plete and realistic answers to a questionnaire which asks specific questions, a thousand tough and hard-boiled questions which brook no evasion, permit no sophistry nor “glossing over” of conditions. After the initial inspections, federal pris- oners were removed from a considerable number of jails and housed in others wherein conditions came up to Bureau stand- ards. Since then, conditions in these and other jails have been materially improved; in fact it may safely be said that the standard throughout the country has been materially bettered, by reason of the efforts of the Jail Inspection Service of the Bureau of Prisons. Jails are rated for the conditions existent within them in the following respects: Administration and discipline, building and equipment, personnel, food, medical service, hospital facilities, cleanliness and sanitation, personal hygiene, rehabilitation, em- ployment and industries, and religious instruction. When the inspector visits a jail (without having given notice of his intended visit), he visits every part of the premises, asks whatever questions he deems necessary and creates a report concerning some 416 particulars which covers every phase of operation. He also furnishes a summary of his general observations, a sketch of the physical plant, and photographic views of both the interior and exterior of the establishment. (In addition to these regular inspections, the Bureau’s regional representative investigates escapes, complaints of a derogatory nature, and matters concerning the custody and treatment of federal prisoners.) The Bureau of Prisons makes its evaluation on the basis of Top, the women’s quarters of a jail NOT approved by the Bureau of Prisons. At bottom, a disapproved cell for males before and after (inset) a visit from a Bureau inspector. the detailed report thus received from the field. The jail reported on is rated and upon that rating depends the number and kind of prisoners to be quartered there, the amount of subsistence to be paid for them, and, most important, whether federal prisoners are to be housed there at all. A total of 3,142 jails have been inspected by the Inspection Service of the Bureau of Prisons at the time of this writing, and of this number 2,289 have been disapproved for federal use. Only 523 of them won complete approval; 330 more re- ceived “restricted approval.” Jails are disapproved for a wide range of reasons: inefficient or untrained personnel, insanitary quarters, poor food, lack of custodial security, corrupt or venal administration, inadequate facilities for children or women (the Bureau demands that federal women prisoners be quartered under the supervision of a matron), lax disciplinary measures, the existence of “kanga- roo court” procedures, inadequate medical facilities, and other factors of a like nature. Rating by the Bureau of Prisons carries with it conditions of a nature to obliquely bring about constructive improvements in even the most venial quarters. The Federal Government has established a sliding scale of rates for the maintenance of its prisoners, a rate that is commensurate with the services ren- dered. The allotment for the upkeep of nonfederal prisoners is considerably less than that for federal prisoners in most communities. Therefore, the compensation provided by the government, in many cases, amounts to a virtual subsidy which sheriffs and jailers are sorry to lose. As the quality of their establishment goes down, so decreases the amount paid by the government for the upkeep of its prisoners. Local governments are therefore usually anxious to obtain and keep high ratings and some of those which have received poor ratings go to every effort to redeem their standings. The Bureau’s procedure is to advise local authorities of the existing deficiencies, make specific recommendations and then wait a reasonable time before disapproving the jail and removing its prisoners. When jails are disapproved and prisoners are re- moved, no further inspections are attempted until such time as responsible and representative requests for reconsideration are received. These requests are usually not slow in arriving. In the last year, for instance, 29 jails have been reinstated because of such action on the part of citizens and officials who were completely dismayed to find the reputation of their local establishment was so unfavorable and who took immedi- ate steps to compel improvement. Unfortunately, however, a large number of jails are indifferent to the situation and continue to maintain conditions far too poor for the housing of human beings, and regardless of whether the Bureau of Prisons condemns an establishment, it is used by the local authorities for the housing of city, county and state prisoners. Probably the most flagrant violations of the Bureau’s code are in respect to untrained and inefficient personnel, food, sani- tation and poor custodial security. Many jails (especially those at which surpluses go into the sheriff’s pocket) serve only two meals a day and these of a nature insufficient to preserve the health of the inmates. The Federal Government requires that there be three wholesome meals. Most jail sanitation is an insult to the American standard of living. The Burpau requires facilities for clean, healthful living and the minimum essentials which make for self-respect and ordinary decency. Many jails—especially those in rural regions or in certain sections of the country in which there are lax jail traditions— permit custodial laxities out of all conformity with reason. In some institutions, the entire control of the inmates is turned over to the so-called trusty prisoners. When this type of management exists, kangaroo courts with all of their numerous abuses flourish; certain prisoners are allowed undue and improper liberties, some have special food while others go hungry, and all of the purposes of incarceration not to mention security—are frustrated and defeated. All in all, the Bureau of Prisons, through its Jail Inspection Service, has made and is making tremendous gains for decency in a subdivision of penology that has received disproportionate attention from both the public and officialdom. That this is no unimportant phase of federal penal administration can be readily perceived from the fact that during each year more than 40,000 persons charged with offenses against the United States are held in local jails for some period of time.* The war has had its effect, too. New types of offenders have to be housed, including Selective Service violators, conscien- tious objectors and women who are euphemistically known as “camp followers.” In states where the May Act has been in- voked, a further increase in the incarceration of this type of woman is anticipated. Most of such women stand in need of intensive medical treatment, treatment which is available in but few local institutions. The Bureau will insist that all federal women prisoners be housed where such treatment may be obtained and that they be at all times under the supervision of a matron while in custody. The stress of wartime conditions will not be permitted to depress or distort standards whose value has been well proven during the years since the inception of the Jail Inspection Service in 1930. The Federal Government has led the way in the development of progressive policies for the treatment of meji while in prison and for the supervision of men after they leave prison. In extend- ing its service to the man in jail, the Bureau has advanced a sociological ideal. It represents an altruistic enterprise in civic and social betterment whose only purpose is the obliteration of one of the most sordid and iniquitous phases of society’s treat- ment of those who are alleged to have transgressed its laws. *The daily average of federal prisoners in local institutions during the fiscal year 1942 was approximately 3,611, representing about 1,317,982 jail days and 41,356 individuals. THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL Continued from Page 83 where the boys spend much of their free time. During inclement weather, an indoor recreational program features table games, hobbies, group projects and group instruction in such activ- ities as harmonica bands, Red Cross training, and dramatics. Music plays a large part in the school’s activity, a fine band having been developed among boys many of whom had no previous training of any kind. The band has frequently traveled into the city for concerts and recently performed on the lawn of the White House. The boys of the National Training School have responded to the war with the same enthusiasm and patriotic fervor of American boys everywhere. The Superintendent is very proud of their attitude. He says: “Handicapped as we are, without industries to produce the necessities of war, almost every boy old enough to volunteer his services to his country has offered to enlist, and an all-out cooperative effort between the school and the United States Board of Parole has enabled us to enlist many outstanding boys in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine . . . and . . . we are able to report unusual successes. Among our Coast Guard volunteers, three have al- ready attained a rating of petty officer. During the Pearl Harbor tragedy, we were represented in Hawaii in both the Coast Guard and the Army. On Mother’s Day, the school was honored in Hawaii by having our representative of the Coast Guard in the Hawaiian Islands selected to speak over a nation- wide hook-up to his mother in an eastern state.” The foregoing statement is doubly revealing of the nature of procedure and effect at the National Training School. It re- veals not only the good morale and attitude of the institution’s boys; it also reveals the sympathetic and socially alert attitude of an adminstration which is functioning, not for a punitive present, but for a useful and abundant future. 121 BIBLIOGRAPHY American Prisons, Blake McKelvey (University of Chicago Press). Behind Prison Walls, Francis F. Planisheck (Meador). Canadian Penal Institutions (1930), Coral W. Topping. Causes of Crime, Arthur E. Pink (University of Pennsylvania Press). Chinese Prisons (1925), Extraterritorial Commission. Coping With Crime, Marjorie Bell (National Probation Asso- ciation ). Crime and Community, Frank Tannenbaum (Ginn). Crime and Criminals, William A. White (Farrar and Rinehart). Crime and Its Treatment, A. E. Wood and J. B. Waite (Amer- ican Book Company). Crime and Society, Nathanial F. Cantor (Holt). Crime and the Man, Ernest Albert Hooton (Harvard University Press). Crime Is a Business, John C. R. McDonald (Stanford). Criminal Behavior, Walter C. Reckless (McGraw). Criminals We Deserve, Henry T. P. Rhodes (Oxford). Curing the Criminal, Jesse O. Stutsman (MacMillan). Dilemma of Penal Reform, Herman Mannheim. Education Within Prison Walls, Walter M. Wallack (Columbia University Press). Five Hundred Criminal Careers, Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (Knopf). Human Nature and Management, Ordway Tead (McGraw-Hill). I Knew Them in Prison, Dr. Mary B. Harris (Viking Press). Medical Aspects of Crime, William Norwood East (Blakiston). Men At Their Worst, Leo L. Stanley (Appleton-Century). Negro Crime, Jess Spirer (Johns-Hopkins Press). Notes of a Prison Visitor, Gordon Gardiner (Oxford). One Thousand Juvenile Delinquents, Shelden and Eleanor Glueck (Harvard University Press). Parole With Honor, Wilbur LaRoe, Jr. (Princeton). Predicting Criminality, Ferris P. Laune (Northwestern Uni- versity Press). Principles and Methods in Dealing With Offenders, Helen Pig- eon and others (Public Service Institute, Department of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). Prisons and Beyond, Sanford Bates (MacMillan). Prisons and Common Sense, Thomas M. Osborne (Lippincott). Prisons and Prison Building (1930), A. Hopkins. Prison Life Is Different, James A. Johnston (Houghton-Mifflin). Problems in Prison Psychiatry, Joseph G. Wilson and M. J. Pescor (Caxton Press). Reformatories for Women in the United States, E. C. Lekker- kerker. Report of Penal Institutions, Probation and Parole, National Crime Commission. Report on the Causes of Crime, George W. Wickersham (Gov- ernment Printing Office). Shackling the Transgressor, Oswald C. J. Withrow (Nelson). Should Prisoners Work? Louis N. Robinson (Winston). Stone and Steel; The Way of Life in a Penitentiary, Lewis E. Lawes (Peterson). The American Prison System, Fred Emory Haynes (McGraw- Hill). The Education of Adult Prisoners, Austin H. MacCormick (Na- tional Society of Penal Information). The English Prison System (1921), E. J. Ruggles-Brise. The Story of Punishment, Harry Elmer Barnes (Stratford). The Prison Community, Donald Clemmer (Christopher). The Prison System in the Czech Republic (1930), Czech Min- ister of Justice. The Roots of Crime, Franz Alexander and William Healy (Knopf). They Were in Prison, Negley O. Teeters (Winston). Trends in Crime Treatment, Marjorie Bell (National Probation Association). Women in Crime, Florence Monahan (Washburn). Youth in the Toils, Leonard V. Harrison (MacMillan). SURVEYS, OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS, REPORTS, ETC. Correctional Education, American Prison Association. Federal Offenders, annual reports of the Bureau of Prisons. Federal Probation Quarterly, publication of the U. S. Probation Service. Handbook of American Prisons, published by the National Society of Penal Information. Prison Administration: An Educational Process, American Prison Association. The American Prison Association Directory of State and Na- tional Correctional Institutions. The American Prison Association Proceedings. The National Probation Association Proceedings. The Osborne Association, Handbook of American Prisons and Reformatories. The Prison World, official publication of the American Prison Association and National Jail Association. The Social Work Yearbook, published by the Russell Sage Foundation. V. 8. Department of Justice, Attorney General’s <(Release Pro- cedures” (5 volumes). U. 8. Prison Service Study Courses. WORKS BY FORMER PRISONERS Grimhaven, Robert Joyce Tasker. My Life in Prison, Donald Lowry. Prison Days and Prison Nights, Victor Nelson. Prison Memoirs, Alexander Berkman. Walls and Bars, Eugene V. Debs. We Who Are About to Die, David Lamson. You Can’t Win, Jack Black. Press). ciation). PRISON PERSONNEL of the Custodial Officer’s Job, Training and Promotion, and others). Each employee is furnished his own copy of each of these issues and subsequently required to undergo examination in respect to his study of the texts. Not merely are literal answers accepted but questions are so devised to permit examinees a wide latitude of opinion and eclectic thought; even sound speculative suggestion is welcomed. The examinations attend- ant upon the study course thus serve two purposes: they enable the Bureau to gage the capabilities of its personnel and they create the media for the upward dissemination of practical ideas for penal administration. And, of course, to the employee, they represent the opportunity for attainment of ratings that will lead to advancement. In these and other ways, every effort is made to render procedures and policies of the prison service nonstatic, fluidly improvable, favorable to betterment at all times. From top to bottom, the employees of the Bureau function as one integrated, ultracoordinated and mutually dependent unit; neither crystal- lized nor hide-bound at the top by reactionary or bureaucratic attitudes, nor vitiated and impaired in the lower ranks by repression or the lack of opportunity for advancement. Continued from Page 103 Contemporary conditions and different methods of recruit- ment have brought many excellent and unusual types of men into the prison service: professional men, technical experts and many others of considerable intellectual and moral stature whose entrance into prison work is an interesting and refresh- ing break with tradition. There are also the many fine men of long experience who have emerged from the nonprogressive years of American penology with a deep understanding of the need for better methods and who now bring to the job at hand the practical wisdoms which they have garnered through the years. Together, these groups, supervised and motivated by leadership which has no other purpose than a better and more effective penology, are accomplishing material miracles in a field that has never been conspicuous for progressiveness. Real results are being attained by the men and women of the Bureau of Prisons. With America’s advent into the war, an even greater strain —and greater responsibilities—are being placed upon these employees. Many of them have gone, or been called into the services. This makes even more important the responsibilities of those who have had to remain at their posts. Truly, these are America’s defenders of the home front. 122 INDEX A Agriculture 25, 28, 35, 54, 55, 59, 65, 67, 71, 73, 79 Agriculture, Department of 42, 112 Air Raid Precautions . 29, 40, 43, 57. 71, 75. 77, 97 Alcatraz 48 Alderson 78 American Law Institute 117 Armstrong, Robert H. 10, 85 Army (see War Department) Atlanta 30, 103 Atlantian ..... 35, 109 Ashland 72 Ashurst-Sumners Act ... 92 Aviation Mechanics' School 38, 108, 119 B Bates. Sanford 11, 41. 93 Beacon. The ., 38 Bennett, James V, 7, 10, 11. 25, 37, 40, 90, 93, 110 Biddle, Francis 6, 25, 57, 90 Bixby, Dr. Lovell F, 36, 38, 109 Borstal System 117 Brittain, Dr. Marion Luther 93 Brock, T. J 86 Bucknell University 41 Bureau of Prisons 7, 9, 119 c Canneries 24, 25, 100 Chandler, Henry P. 110 Chaplains 13 Chillicothe 36, 103, 119 Civil Service (see U. S. Civil Service). Civilian Defense 29, 40, 43, 57, 71, 75, 77, 97 Classification 12, 18 Congress 7, 9, 92, 106, 110 Correspondence Courses (see Education). Correspondence Courses 13, 33, 42, 50, 79* Cox, Dr. Ora M 62 Commerce, Department of 119 Cummings, Homer S 89 Custody (see Rehabilitative Procedures, p. 11) D Daily Routine 18 Dallas (see Seagoville), Danbury 52 Dental Service 99 Discipline 19 Dupont 86 E Education 11, 18, 32, 46, 65, 67, 78. 83* El Reno _ 55 Enemy Aliens 69, 75 Englewood 66 Evjen, Victor H 110 F Federal Bureau of Investigation ... .... Ill Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act 114 Federal Prison Camps 85 Federal Prison Industries, Inc.* 9, 10, 24, 28, 33. 38, 92, 119 Federal Probation 110 Federal Probation Act .... 110 “Federal Probation Quarterly” 110 Finn, John 87 Flashlight, The 38 Food 95 Foremen Training 35 Fort Leavenworth . 26, 98 Fort Worth 8 Fuller, Justin K. 35, 98 G Gaffney, James B. 87 H Hagerman, Dr. Robert P. 66 Hammack, W. T. 10, 103 Harrison Narcotic Act 27 Hawes-Cooper Act 92 Hegstrom, Harold E. 8, 83 Hiatt, William H ...: r 41 Hironimus, Miss Helen 78 Hopkins, Alfred .' 41 Housekeeping 95 Housing 95 Humphrey, George W 60 Hunter, Walter A 26 I Interior, Department of 42 Interstate Commerce Commission 42 Indeterminate Sentence Act 117 Industries (see Federal Prison Industries). Industrial Products . 90, 91, back cover In-Service Training (see Personnel). Institutions— Roster of 8 Map of 22 J Jackson, Robert H. 89 Jail Inspection Service 120 James, Arthur W. 10, 114 Job Placement 14, 20, 35, 39, 44 Johnston, James A 48 K Key, The 35 King, Dr. M. R 8 Kinsella, Nina 10, 120 Kooskia 86 L La Tuna 70 Leavenworth 26, 103, HI Legislation , 117 Lewisburg 41, 103 Lewisohn, Sam A. 93 Libraries 14, 50* M McNeil Island 23, 103 Mead, Charles B 88 Medicine (see U. S. Public Health Service) 35 Milan 58 Mill Point .... 87, 79 Model Airplanes ...57, 67, 83 Montgomery 87 Music 14 N Narcotic Addicts 58, 61, 62, 77, 82, 98 National Recreational Association 83 National Training School for Boys 83, 114 Navy Department 30, 33, 37, 42, 51, 59, 93, 108, 121 Nelson, Donald 15 New Orleans 74 New York School of Social Work 84 New York 82 Nicholson, C. O. 68, 83 o Office of Civilian Defense (see Civilian Defense). Ogram, Alfred 53 Orthopedic Appliances 63 P Parole 9, 12, 20, 104, 117, 121 Patman, Congressman Wright 89 Pennsylvania State College 42 Periscope, The .*. 43 Personnel— (Institution) Rosters of .23, 26, 30, 36, 41. 45, 48, 52, 53, 55, 58, 60, 62, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82, 83. Petersburg 68 Post Office Department 93 Prison Press 118 Psychiatry 12, 18, 34. 63 Public Health Service ... 9, 18, 34, 42, 61, 62, 97, 98 R Reception Center 32 Recreation* 14 Reforestation 60 Regional Training Centers 27 Rehabilitation .11, 26 Reidy, Edward P. . 10, 105 Religion 13 Remer, D. A. 86 Rocky Mountain Breezes .... 67 Roosevelt, Hon. Franklin D. 93 Round Table 25 Ryan, John J. 74 $ Sandstone 60 Sanford, Joseph W. 30, 90, 109 Schilder, Leo C. 55 Schram, Emil 93 Schwanz, A. E. 76 Seagoville 39 Selective Service Act 121 Shipyards 23, 93 Shuttleworth, Cecil J. 58 Social Service* 12, 18 Social Service Exchange ill Springfield 62, 99 Squier, Paul J. 23 State-use System 92 Statistics 16, 17, 21, 80, 100 Stimson, Henry L. 57 Swope, E. B. 45 T Tallahassee 53 Terminal Island . 89 Terre Haute 45 Texarkana 76 Thompson, Edward B. 82 Town Hall 14, 19, 33, 38 Trades Training (see Vocational Training). Treadway, Dr. Walter M 98 Treasury Department 98 Treatment 12, 13 Tucson 88 u University of California 50 University of North Dakota 64 U. S. Board of Parole 9, 12, 20, 104, 117, 121 U. S. Children’s Bureau 115 U. S. Civil Service Commission 9, 15, 102, 109 U. S. Coast Guard 121 U. S. Employees’ Compensation Act 94 U. S. Employment Service . ..13, 15 U. S. Lighthouse Service 49 U. S. Marine Corps 51 U. S. Merchant Marine 121 U. S. Office of Education 56 U. S. Public Health Service 9, 18, 34 U. S. Veterans Bureau 37, 4 U. S. Weather Bureau 79 V Vocational Training* 13, 19 w War Department (Army) 24, 27, 33, 38, 42, 51, 53, 71, 81, 86, 87, 93, 108, 121 War Production Board .15, 24 Watson, L. J 72 West Street 82 White, Thomas B. 70 Wilson, T. Webber 10, 105 Women’s Prisons 58, 78, 89 Wood, Arthur D 10, 104, 105, 108 Works Progress Administration 45 Y Youth Authority 117 *These subjects are also treated individually in the articles on specific institutions. 123 THE COMPOSITE FEDERAL PRISONER Continued from Page 17 institutionally issued brush isn’t good enough, but because it makes him feel like more of an individual to have bought his own. He carries a cheap dollar watch; this and a metal nail clipper and a cheap fountain pen constitute the extent of his personal estate while in prison. He plays softball, handball and he does nothing at all in alternate, sporadic spurts. He is an inveterate spectator at institutional ball games. He plays dominoes with his cellmates the first part of his sentence and is heartily sick of the game before his time at the prison is half over. Because of the avail- ability of facilities, he probably takes more exercise of various sorts than he has since he was a boy, more than he ever will again. He listens to and likes Major Bowes, Eddie Cantor, Red Skelton and each and every news broadcast. Some of these he takes great delight in noisily disbelieving; the verity of others he will defend with logic, emotion and stridor. He listens to and detests the Hour of Charm and the Rudy Vallee program. He noisily despises Walter Winchell and will drop all other activities in order to hear him. On the subject of war, he is vigorously American and believes himself willing and able to make any sacrifice for his country were be enabled to do so. His present desire, equaling almost his desire for unconditional liberty, is for the opportunity to fight in the armed forces. He is scornful yet somewhat alarmed at what he regards as public apathy to the war. He follows all phases of the conflict with keen interest and has surprisingly intelligent and well-informed opinions in this respect. He is easy prey for a rumor. He will believe and pass on the wildest kind of a story (especially those concerning pros- pects for any form of early release), and yet is relatively impervious to sounder and more conservative .information. He works harder in prison than he has ever done previously in his life before and finds that he likes it. Usually he grows intensely proud of the job assigned to him and resents calls or interruptions that take him away from his work. He does good work and takes somewhat overmodest pride in the nature of his production. He has few, if any, lodge or club affiliations in his past life, was not insured, and possesses no property in the outside world. When he arrived in Atlanta, he brought with him about $15. His lawyer got the rest of his money and he still owes “a balance.” Though he may be superficially callous, cynical and without grace, he is actually and inwardly well meaning, fully aware of his shortcomings, willing to be set in the right direction, eager for a better existence. Though he would be the last to admit it—except to himself—he would like to become what he calls “a squarejohn,” and given the opportunity, will probably do so. Personally, he is definitely sure that this is his last taste of prison life and he clearly foresees that the life to which he is to be released is a glamorously happy and contented mode of existence. Unless he takes advantage of the opportunities made available to him in prison, however, he will find himself on the wrong side of the odds which say that 55 out of every 100 ex-prisoners return to the fold within five years. SOURCE OF STATISTICAL GRAPHS ON PAGES 16 AND 17 Data for graph on “Type of Crime” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 1-B, page 50. Data for graph on “Intelligence Level” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table J, page 46. Data for graph on “Recidivism” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 20, page 97. Data for graph on “Marital Status” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 18, page 92. Data for graph on “Ages” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 16, page 88. Data for graph on “Length of Sentences” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 15, page 86. Data for graph on “Race and Nativity” obtained from “Federal Offenders, 1941,” table 17, page 90. APOLOGIA The forbearance of readers is requested in the matter of staff names which may have undergone change or been omitted through oversight or lack of space. (For instance, the name of Edwin J. Lloyd, associate warden at Leavenworth, was unfortunately omitted from that institution’s roster of personnel.) War conditions and pursuant adjustments in personnel have rendered difficult such considerations. The editors also request indulgence for any errata which may have inadvertently been permitted. The Bureau of Prisons wishes to extend cordial thanks to all who have contributed, in time or material, to this publication, especially to Editors Rudensky and Jordan of The Atlantian, who have had the task of arranging and editing the great mass of materials involved; to Willis L. Gill, instructor- foreman printer, who is responsible for the lay-out and typography; to Atlantian Artist Nick Tag, who is responsible for the cover and art work; and also to all those wardens and officials who have so graciously given of their time, knowledge and advice toward the accomplishment of this objective. JAMES V. BENNETT, Editor in Chief. 124 THESE ARE SOME OF THE PRODUCTS Manufactured in the Federal Prisons of America, Operating Under the Administration of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. Aviator kit bags Azimuth cases Bomb fins Bomb racks Boots Bristle brushes Brooms, corn Canvas hampers of all kinds Canvas water tanks Clothing of many kinds Cotton duck for military purposes Double-decker beds Fiber furniture File and transfer cases, steel shelving Furniture Gloves, cotton and leather Hospital beds Hospital furniture License plates Mail bags, canvas Mattresses Metal castings Office and barrack chairs Paper weights Rubber mats Sea bags Shell covers Shoes Silk parachutes Sputum cups (steel) Stainless steel trays Stretchers Tarpaulins Tents Towel receptacles Truck covers Waste baskets (steel) . . . And Most of These Products Are Manufactured Specifically For Use By OUR ARMED FORCES m, ATLANTA—6-IS Ai—18,000—29*6