all. He faces the world again with a serious handicap
that he did not have at first. If he had just recovered from a severe
illness, everyone he met would do all he could to help him; his
environment would be made easier than before his confinement in the
hospital; and especially from the conditions that placed him there, both
society and his neighbors would try to see that he should, as far as
possible, be saved. If he had been one of those who could live only by
means of his own work, and if on account of himself or his family he had
been obliged to over-strain, an easier place would probably be found
for him. The chances of going to the hospital the second time would be
very much less than they were the first time. Even his experience in
confinement would be of use, and through that experience he would be
taught to live and preserve his health.

The discharged prisoner is met in an entirely different way. The
ex-convict is under doubt and suspicion from the start. On the slightest
provocation he is reminded of his past. He is always under suspicion
unless, perhaps, he professes a change of heart. Such a change implies a
physical process which is impossible. Some sudden exaltation may furnish
him a new emotion for a time, but this can last only while the stimulus
has power to act. It will soon pass away and the man will be himself
again. It may be possible that here and there is a nature of such an
emotional temperament, that religion or socialism or single tax or some
other strong conviction may possess him until such time as his feelings
begin to cool and change, when he will be safe. But most men are
inherently the same when they come out of prison as when they go in.
Under right treatment they may gain a little more wisdom as to life that
will help them make adjustments; or they may be relieved from some
burdens, or placed in an environment of less stress and strain where it
will be easier to live. In those cases, the attitude and help of the
community are all-important.

Society is not entirely to blame for looking on him with suspicion. It
knows he once failed. It has been taught that this failure was due to a
moral delinquency outside the law of cause and effect, and society is
naturally suspicious that he will offend again or molest the community
in some other way. Had he been confined because he had not the strength
to meet his environment; had the law put him in custody under expert
control until he gained