s" in prison shows the effect of this
kind of a living death upon the inmates. To be branded as a criminal and
turned out in the world again leaves one weakened in the struggle of
life and handicapped in a race that is hard enough for most men at the
best. In prison and after leaving prison, the man lives in a world of
his own; a world where all moral values are different from those
professed by the jailer and society in general. The great influence that
helps to keep many men from committing crime--the judgment of his
fellows--no longer deters him in his conduct. In fact, every person who
understands penal institutions--no matter how well such places are
managed--knows that a thousand are injured or utterly destroyed by
service in prison, where one is helped.

Very few persons seriously believe that offenders are sent to prison out
of kindness to the men. If there were any foundation for this idea, each
prisoner would be carefully observed, and when he was fit would be
returned to the world. Not even the parole laws, which provide various
reasons and ways for shortening sentences, ever lay down the rule that
one may be released when he has reformed.

A much larger class of people offers the excuse that punishment deters
from crime. In fact, this idea is so well rooted that few think of
questioning it. The idea that punishment deters from crime does not mean
that the individual prisoner is prevented from another criminal act. A
convicted man is kept in jail for as long a time as in the judgment of
the jury, the court, or the parole board, will make him atone, or at
least suffer sufficiently for the offence. If the terms are not long
enough, they can be made longer. The idea that punishment deters, means
that unless A shall be punished for murder, then B will kill; therefore
A must be punished, not for his own sake, but to keep B from crime. This
is vicarious punishment which can hardly appeal to one who is either
just or humane. But does punishing A keep B from the commission of
crime? It certainly does not make a more social man of B. If it operates
on him in any way it is to make him afraid to commit crime; but the
direct result of scaring B is not to keep him from the commission of
crime, but to make him use precautions that will keep him safe from
discovery. How far the fear of detection and punishment prevents crime
is, of course, purely theoretical and cannot be settled either by
statistics or logic. One thing is