Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1936, Page 9

Hospital and Inebriate Farm Urgedto Ea® Prison Problem Would Save District Money as Well as Rehabilitate Many Drunkards, Capt. Barnard Believes. This is the sixth of a series of stories describing over- -erowded conditions and problems at the District’s institutions—the reformatory at Lorton and the work The stories are based on an_erhaustive survey at Occoquan. enal ouse at the- institutions and interviews with both officials and prisoners. BY JAMES OUBLED in the last five years, inals now overcrowding the - the workhouse at Occoquan, growth in the next 10 or 15 tinless drastic steps are taken to remed, to the increase. ‘The population at the reformatory E. CHINN. , the population of imprisoned crim- District reformatory at Lorton and is destined for another 100 per cent years, according to penal authorities, y some of the conditions contributing and workhouse totals 2,700. This fig- ure does not include 100 women quar-g—————————————————————— tered in the woman's dormitories on the workhouse reservation. Careful studies of penal authorities fail to in- dicate any prophetic signs of a re- duction in the near future. On the contrary, they foresee on the horizon of: the coming year a decided rise that will further intensify existing congested conditions. ¢+ The unprecedented jump in popu- lation is attributed by penal officials rimarily to the unemployment situa- ion arising out of the economic crisis of the last few years. Continued improvement of the eco- | nomic situation, penal authorities ad- mit, will, of course, stem the ever- growing procession to prison. There are other factors, however, the offi- ¢ials point out, which must be reck- oned with in any move to cut down the population at either the reforma- tory or workhouse. Capt. M. M. Barnard, veteran warden of the District’s penal institu- tions, as well as Col. William L. Peak, superintendent of the reforma- tory, believes the first step should be 1t's here, fellows! Saturday lasses, ar The Varsity Shop and the high graduates book. tomorrow). school lad who takes @ greater use by the céurts of proba- tion for first offenders. ‘Three hundred and fifty of the in- mates at the reformatory now are first offenders. Many are mere youths —not criminals at heart—who in a moment of weakness violated some law. Penal officials believe they should be given another chance to “go straight” rather than imprisoned | with case hardened criminals who have passed the stage of rehabilita- tion. Col. Pesk believes many of these first offenders are contaminated by the veterans of prison life. Some of those at the reformatory have been imprisoned 10 times before. When these first offenders are released after a long period of association with the hardened criminals, he said, “they are 10 times worse.” Col. Peak has found in his long experience in handling criminals that many of these first offenders do not care to associate with the “old- timers” and efforts are made at the reformatory to keep them segregated. Varsity The 1936 have contacted We| known uni ol we‘hqtnthe fraternity Football games g ters for the headqufl‘:o‘ from the will be the GER OUNGE These Campus Athletically season. in subdued 3 GLEN PLAIDS in subgtey aB':enslcd Sport Pleats! pleated grays, brow Shop W 5 FEStreci at Seventh : life. 1 i’s j right 1 e gt\\e 3 Social Light of Fall fabrics are patterns. Gusse Two Inclined or ,‘he The outstanding Backs! g _fronts! ‘weeds, Ages 17 to Fioor, The models! Op¢ Wrinkle-"i".'u“ plain. and one Folue grays- (Varsity Shop, Second A\ e here It's Convenient: versities fo th day for l;e new Cheviots_and —Park Where THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 1936 Esthetic Side of Prison Life Scene in the art class at the Lorton Re, ing art. The men in the class have sacrificed A r and have turned out some surprisingly good paintings which cover the class room walls. formatory, where 20 prisoners are studying the paint- numerous sports and recreation to work with the brush —Star Staff Photo. Under existing conditions, however.' that is difficult to do. Prisoners entering ‘the reformatory are grouped into three different classes for dormitory assignment. An attempt is made to keep the recidivists in one group, the first offenders in another and the men who have served workhouse terms in a third. But during the day all three groups neces- sarily are thrown together in the in- dustrial shops. On the athletic fields, likewise, they play together. oung men Opens Shop for ;.-ominen* under- r their sug- man oung CO! yCollege Under- of things around i 1aded, Aude\r;%b Varsity Cl ingle and Double tSS\:evesl Inverted Trousers; one Cassimeres 10 22; Chests 33 t0 38. Hecht Co.) pair Capt. Barnard feels the morale of the prisoners would be improved materially and their rehabilitation hastened if the courts would impose more uniform sentences and make a more careful study of the history of the cases in which the men are involved, as well as their home life, before imposing sentence. He points out that some men now draw com- paratively long sentences for small offenses and others comparatively short sentences for major crimes. and s and biue grays. SIZe 14 zovn- e led There's Room—Use HECHT Charge Account! | Shop, Second Fleor, Heeht Co) Qur En\urgéd Parking Lots. Such a situation, he declared, is not conducive to the reformation of a young man sentenced, for instance, to five years for joy-riding, while an- other is imprisoned for two or three years for a serious felony. Establishment of a hospital and inebriate farm at the penal colony for the care and treatment of ha- bitual drunkards, Capt. Barnard also believes, would be another way. ulti- mately to reduce the population at the work house. A bill for that pure mittee .at the last session of Con- gress, but it died from inattention. These confirmed inebriates, who constitute a large percentage of the ‘workhouse population, draw short sentences, ranging from 10 days to six months. At least 50 per cent of them turn up at the workhouse many times every year. 47 were released at the same time. Two days later 41 of them were back for ap- other term. Capt. Barnard is satisfied that if the proposed hospital and inebriate farm is established approximately one-half of these habitual drunkards could be cured in from six months to a year. The District, as a result, would save money and at the same time rehabilitate men who are now headed for destruction by booze. _ Killed on Safety Lesson. ‘While giving a safety first lesson to police students, Josip Pastushenko did not see a train approaching at a rail- way crossing near Zemun, Yugoslavia, | and was killed. NAtional 5100 EDTOR 1S GALED INSTRKEHEARNG Reasons for Dismissal of Two Seattle Newspaper Employes Sought. BY the Associated Press. SEATTLE, September 11.—Exam- iner Robert Watts, denying a request to prove that attacks of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on communism caused its suspension, listed the city editor today among the first witnesses to be called in a hearing on the pa- per’s news room strike. ‘Watts, associate general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, which is conducting the hearing, told attorneys for the newspaper that the board was not concerned” with the| cause of the strike. Rather, he ex-| plained, was it concerned with reasons for the dismissal of two men, Pho- tographer Prank Lynch and Dramatic Critic Everhardt Armstrong. The American Newspaper Guild, which called the strike four weeks ago, contended the dismissals were because of guild activity. The Post- Intelligencer said the men were dis- charged for cause. Yesterday’s hearing was marked by four motions of * dismissal, made by Edward G. Woods, head of the newse paper’s counsel. All the motions were denied. Joseph Corbett, teleg-aph editor of the Post-Intelligencer, admitted un- der questioning by Woods that he was & guild member. Watts questioned Corbett at length on matters of Hearst policy and how editorials were handled. Corbett said editgrials were received over the Unie versal Service (Hearst) wire with de- tailed instructions as to what page they were to appear on and the size of type in which they were to be set. o Nearly $5,000,000 has been borrowed by British local authorities in the last year for public swimming pools. THE Air- Coo/m’ {ECH'T CO.