XIV.

CARE OF THE CRIMINAL.

BY

SUSAN HAMMOND BARNEY.

When Elizabeth Fry, in 1815, rapped at the prison doors in England, she not only summoned the turnkey, but sounded a call to women in other lands to enter upon a most Christlike mission. The reports of her work in Great Britain and on the Continent, published at intervals during several succeeding years, extracts of which found their way into American papers, not only awakened admiration for the fearless courage manifested in the self-denying efforts, but marvel at what she was able to accomplish, and, from the reading, a few women in our land arose to ask the question, “Lord, what will _Thou_ have me to do?” and in the answer found new light upon the words, “I was in prison and ye visited me.”

There was no talk about “going to work,” but, from their knees, two or three women in New York, as early as 1830, began in the quietest manner possible to visit the district lock-ups and prisons, making careful inquiries concerning these places and their inmates, thus gathering up food for thought, which sent them back to their prayers with something definite to ask for.

In 1834 these women, with a few others, organized “The New York Moral Reform Society,” with Margaret Prior for their first missionary, and they made systematic prison visitation a part of their regular work. From their own records, “Our Golden Jubilee, 1834–1884,” we quote: “Our prisons were at that time in a sadly demoralized condition,—as our missionaries went through these public institutions, gathering facts relative to the spiritual condition of the inmates, they saw an urgent necessity of reform and gave themselves no rest till it was accomplished.” To their memorials, petitions, and personal appeals, the State Legislature at length responded, and several reforms were inaugurated, among them better arrangements for separation of the sexes and the placing of matrons over the female departments. At this time Mrs. Dora Foster was given charge of women at the Tombs, then used as a police district lock-up, and she proved of such exceptionable character and qualifications as to continue in favor and in office more than forty years. A great change in the moral atmosphere of the place was effected by her discreet management, and many and sore evils were prevented.

SPREAD OF WORK.

Reports of the work were taken to other cities, and in 1839 the society became national in name, with vice-presidents in seventeen different States, and in the next few years, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, we find the women prominent in anti-slavery and other reforms, giving special thought and personal efforts, toward the amelioration of the condition of persons confined in our various institutions. Thus quietly was the leaven working in many places, hindered, hampered, and limited by prejudice against woman’s work, and the fear of their seeing too much, if once admitted and allowed the privilege of inspection.

It is recorded, that on one of the ladies being denied the opportunity which she sought of seeing and ministering to a sick _female_ prisoner, while a minister was allowed to go in and on his asking the reason of it, “Why,” said the official, “it wouldn’t have done, she’s too sharp; _she_ wouldn’t have come in here and just prayed and gone away about her business as you have; _she’d wanted to know the cause_”; and another time when those in authority had been solicited by a public-spirited gentleman to grant permission for women to go in and out these places on their errands of mercy, they explained their refusal by saying, “That until the State was ready to expend money enough for several changes, it would only be inviting trouble to have such women spying round and seeing everything, as they were sure to do.”

NEW YORK PRISON ASSOCIATION.

On November 23, 1844, a company of gentlemen gathered in a private parlor in New York City “to take into consideration the destitute condition of discharged convicts”; then a circular was issued, calling for a public meeting on December 6, at which time the following resolution, among others, was offered by Isaac T. Hopper: “_Resolved_, That in the foundation of such a society (the New York Prison Association), it would be proper to have a female department to be especially regardful of the interests and welfare of prisoners of that sex.”

Public meetings were held, and in June, 1845, a house was taken, two matrons placed in charge, and a committee of ladies organized to superintend and control its operations. A sewing department and school were established, and at a later day a laundry.

In 1854 the women dissolved all connection with the New York Prison Association, and were incorporated as “The Women’s Prison Association and Home.” Up to this time the Home had averaged about 150 inmates per year. We quote from one of their reports: “We will not dwell upon the many years of up-hill work through every possible discouragement, but proceed at once to the results of a pre-determined endeavor to take by the hand the unfortunate of our sex and lead them to a better life, where by patient industry they might earn an honest livelihood.”

In 1859 the association adopted as a distinctive name for its house department that of “The Isaac T. Hopper Home.” The work has gone steadily on, the women of the association having been to the front in every effort for prevention of crime, and reform of the criminal girls and women, and in their forty-fourth annual report, we find, “During the year 119 women have been sent to service in families in the State, and 31 out of the State; 4 were returned to friends.” Only those who can read between the lines can understand all that these items mean. To those who talk glibly about “abandoned women” and the “utter hopelessness of trying to save them,” the subjoined lines from the same report might seem “mere sentiment,” but to those with clearer vision it is the secret of their success. “We believe that woman, in her deepest degradation, holds something sacred, something undefiled; and, like the diamond in the dark, retains some quenchless gleams of the celestial light.”

The prison committee, through its chairman, gave in 1887 an exhaustive report upon the condition of prisons and station houses, and in 1888, through their prison visitor, a female M.D., a careful report, both of which contain items which are strange reading for nineteenth century civilization and progress.

PERSONAL WORK.

In the autumn of 1844, Margaret Fuller Ossoli accepted a position on the New York _Tribune_, and became an inmate of the Greeley mansion. The prison on Blackwell’s Island was on the opposite side of the river, at a distance easily reached by boat, and Sing Sing was not far off. Margaret was to “write up” these places, and gladly took the first opportunity to visit them. Her biographer says: “She had consorted hitherto with the _élite_ of her sex, she now made acquaintance with the outcasts to whom the elements of womanhood are scarcely recognizable. For both she had one gospel, that of high hope and divine love. She seemed to have found herself as much at home in the office of encouraging the fallen as she had been, when it was her duty to arouse the best spirit in women sheltered from the knowledge and experience of evil by every favoring circumstance.” She herself said of a meeting where she addressed the female prisoners, “All passed, indeed, as in one of my Boston classes.” This was after Mrs. Farnum had been appointed matron, a woman of uncommon character and ability, and the women already showed the results of her intelligent and kindly treatment. Through the letters published in the _Tribune_, on “Prison Discipline,” “Appeal for an Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners,” “Capital Punishment,” and others, public attention and interest were awakened, and Mr. Greeley says, “I doubt that our various reformatory institutions had ever before received such wise and discriminating commendation to the favor of the rich as they did from Margaret’s pen during her connection with us.”

Dorothea Dix, of blessed memory, whose specialty seemed the caring for the insane, gave much thought and gracious ministry to those in bonds; and many were indebted to her personal efforts in their behalf, both while in prison and in the trying time of their release. She was also fearless in lifting up her voice against abuses, and in favor of needed reforms. She was so persistent in reiterating her protests, that attention had to be given, and her demands secured changes which are thankfully remembered.

In Rhode Island, as early as 1830, a young and gifted woman, whose heart had been stirred by accounts given by her father, a prominent lawyer, began to visit the institutions of the State; and through a long and eventful life has continued her ministrations. Even now, in her ninety-first year, she has not entirely laid down her work. By voice and pen she has appealed stoutly against wrongs and abuses, and while she has been the spiritual mother of numberless men and women, she has not neglected the financial aid so important to those who emerge from prison life. She was the originator of the “Rhode Island Prisoners’ Aid Association,” and the founder of the “Temporary Industrial Home” for released female prisoners, which was opened in 1880, and bears her name, “The Sophia Little Home.”

Among the special workers should be named Miss Linda Gilbert of New York, who has devoted much time to prison work, and in fifteen years has procured employment for over six thousand ex-convicts; six hundred of the better class of these she has by her own individual aid established in business in a small way, and in speaking of the results of her ventures in thus assisting them, she says, “I am happy to state that not ten per cent. of the number thus aided have turned out unsatisfactorily.” She has also presented twenty-two libraries to prisons in six different States, and among other projects which she hopes to accomplish is the establishing of a national industrial home for ex-convicts, where various branches of labor can be taught and the inmates put in the way of becoming self-supporting. When a little girl of only eight or nine years, she used to visit the prison nearest her home and take some little gift, if only a few flowers, to cheer the prisoners, who learned to look upon her visits to their dark abode as they would a stray sunbeam from heaven.

Elizabeth Comstock, of Michigan, upon whose head in childhood Elizabeth Fry placed her hand as she said the kindly words, “Remember what I tell thee, dear Elizabeth; to be Christ’s messenger to those who know him not, that is the happiest life,” has so well carried out her avowed purpose, “To bear our Father’s message of love and mercy to the largest household on earth, the household of affliction,” that in thirty years, mid duties urgent and varied, she has visited over 120,000 prisoners, awakening hope and giving direction to many lives.

A long list of other names might be added, but our space is otherwise needed.

REFORMATORY PRISONS FOR WOMEN.

In the year of 1873 startling revelations concerning immoralities connected with the Indiana Southern Prison led to the immediate occupancy of the buildings in Indianapolis, which had been under way for two years and which were to be known as “The Reformatory Prison for Women and Girls.” The institution was officered entirely by women, with Mrs. Sarah J. Smith, one of its chief founders, for Superintendent. The project was looked upon as a doubtful experiment, and the speedy relinquishment of the idea prophesied. The board of managers consisted at first of three gentlemen and two lady visitors. In 1887 Governor Williams approved an act of the Legislature by which the general supervision and government were vested in a board of women managers. This was, at that time, and we believe still is, the only governmental prison known, either in the United States or in Europe, under the entire management of women.

The safe transfer of the women prisoners, seventeen in number, under the charge of warden, chaplain, and matron of the Jeffersonville prison, was considered a great event, “as two were dangerous and others below hope.” The present Superintendent says: “We have no weapons of defense, not a gun or pistol about the premises. Kind words and gentleness of manner are almost sure to win. We have eleven lady officers, women of refinement and Christian character, lending every thought to the uplifting of their sex.” The financial showing in the seventeenth annual report reflects great credit upon the management, while the large percentage claimed as “permanently reformed,” attests to the thoroughness of work and wisdom of methods.

In 1870 a number of influential ladies of Eastern Massachusetts—among whom was Mrs. E. C. Johnson, the present Superintendent of the reformatory—petitioned the Legislature for a separate institution for the reformation of female prisoners, but it was not until the fall of 1874 that ground was broken at Sherborn for the erection of the buildings. In September, 1877, these were occupied, and the work has been eminently successful from the start. The system of grading adopted in 1881 has proved very satisfactory, and over two hundred and thirty inmates, ranging from fifteen to seventy-five years of age, find in it an incentive to order and decorum. The aim is to prepare them, if found trustworthy, to do good work as servants, and this is so far a success that the demand is greater than the supply.

No one familiar with the old régime in connection with women prisoners but would hail with thankfulness the improvements shown under the present administration. Said an English critic after a visit: “I remarked, ‘These people are almost of a hopeless type’; the reply came quickly, ‘_Hopeless_ is not a permitted word here, we hope for all.’ I came away glad to have seen such an experiment, hopeful for its success, and confident that women had undertaken for women a beneficent work.”

Women in other States are agitating the question of separate prisons for women, and in several feel assured of success in the near future.

In 1887 at Hudson, N. Y., The House of Refuge for Women was opened, and an efficient lady superintendent placed in charge. The results reached, even at this short period, have been encouraging in the highest degree, and emphasize the wisdom of the arrangements, which are largely due to the persistent efforts of women in philanthropic circles. We quote from report of “Standing Committee on Reformatories,” of which Josephine Shaw Lowell is a member: “To any who have visited even once one of the county jails in this State, and know the condition of young women in them, kept in idleness, in the midst of degraded companions, under the charge of male keepers, frequently not out of sound, sometimes not out of sight of the male prisoners, nothing can be more affecting than to see the young women in the House of Refuge, neatly dressed, always occupied, and constantly under the care of refined and conscientious women.”

WOMEN ON STATE BOARDS.

In New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Wisconsin there are women on the State Board of Charities.[201] In Pennsylvania, the board appoints women visitors to public institutions, and in Rhode Island the Governor appoints a board of women visitors to all institutions caring for women and girls. Massachusetts stands alone in the honor of having women on “Boards of Commissioners of Prisons.” This was inaugurated in 1880, and their gracious womanly influence is felt in all the institutions of the State.

In some other States women are coming to be recognized factors in these lines of work, and are cordially invited to fill places of trust. The _Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy_, published by the Pennsylvania Prison Association, in its issue of 1886 says: “This society has profited largely by the recent admission of competent women into the acting committee. Their suggestions have proved of marked advantage, and with the time, intelligence, and high moral force they have given to the work, both in and out of the prison, there has been a gain which promises incalculable good.”

DEPARTMENT OF PRISON, JAIL, AND POLICE WORK OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

This department is in the eleventh year of organized work, which, under the same Superintendent, Mrs. S. H. Barney, of Providence, has steadily increased until now her parish is the entire country. The plan of national, State, and local superintendents insures system and supervision all along the lines, and brings out annually the general summary of work attempted and work accomplished.

In the spirit of the department’s motto, “_Not willing that any should perish_,” the investigations have extended to State prisons, penitentiaries, convict camps, city prisons and jails, houses of correction or refuge, police stations and lock-ups, and reformatories for adults and juveniles.

In many of these places were found a brutality and neglect of the common decencies of life which were disgraceful beyond description. Criminals of all grades herded together irrespective of age, sex, or degrees in vice. Youths of both sexes confined with those hardened in crime, while awaiting trial, became schooled in vice. Thousands, who for some first and trivial offense were lodged in the calaboose or the county jail, exposed to the contaminating influences of indiscriminate companionship, became hardened, and lost all self-respect as they yielded, day by day, to this mind-poisoning, moral miasma.

The first visits of the women to many of these places, where they went unheralded, were unwelcome, and they were sometimes repulsed by officials with, “We don’t ’low any women round here; leastwise, only them that’s sentenced.” Entrance at last secured, it would have been a picture worthy of some master hand when these women stepped, pale-faced but brave-hearted, into those miserable, crowded corridors. The lewd and profane conversation was hushed, but it could _be felt_, as plainly as could be seen the vilest of obscene prints and the most dangerous kinds of literature.

Nothing was more disheartening than the condition of _women_ in these places. Having become criminals, they were generally deemed hopeless, and, on being released, it was expected they would drift back again after a longer or shorter period.

The _call_ to the work gained emphasis as it was realized how little this age of boasted civilization and philanthropy had done for unfortunate and degraded women. Arrested by men, given into the hands of men to be searched and cared for, tried by men, sentenced by men, and committed to our various institutions for months and even years, where only men officials had access to them, and where, in sickness or direst need, no womanly help or visitation was expected or allowed.

In one of the New York cities, in a jail, eleven women were found to be in the care of men, and the keys of “the women’s quarters” in the hands of one of the _male convicts_. The women, with the intent of being ready for their release, which was near, had removed most of their clothing “for the wash,” and were in a semi-nude condition.

A visitor to a county jail in Pennsylvania, writes: “The scene that met our gaze when we entered the jail was indescribable. The prisoners—twenty-six men and two women—were allowed to associate in the open space between the vestibule and the cells. In appearance, they might have been a gang of bandits in a cave. The men were in groups, playing cards on low boxes on the floor. The jail was deficient in ventilation, also in light and cleanliness.”

In a New England jail two boys were found under fourteen years of age. The months which would elapse before their trial would be ample time to complete their crime education under the tutelage thus provided for them. Similar sights may be seen in many of the prisons and jails of our land, proving conclusively the need of womanly forethought in these matters, which from a merely economical standpoint need prompt attention. The better care of our juvenile offenders cannot be deferred without irreparable loss, for in a few years we shall have missed our chance to save them, so they will then be found in the ranks of confirmed criminals. Perhaps no work of the department will prove more fruitful in results than the effort to secure _Matrons for the Police Stations_. The movement began in 1877 and has been adopted in one or more cities in twenty States, while in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania all cities over a given number of inhabitants are required by law to provide matrons to care for arrested women. We quote from an article furnished the _International Review_ in 1888 by the present writer:

POLICE MATRONS.

Shall we have police matrons? seems no longer an open question. With the reform inaugurated in twenty cities, and under advisement in as many more, the _idea_ may be said to be established. How wide is to be the influence of such an officer, and how effective her work, depend upon the place and the woman. “The place” should be central, with requisite accommodations for the comfort and convenience of the matron, in order that she may economize her time and strength. Official recognition of her work and its importance, with ready co-operation in various ways, will necessarily have much to do with its success; and these have sometimes been won under very trying circumstances. Other points, more or less essential, will occur to those interested, for every conceivable objection and obstacle will be presented, emphasized, and duly magnified while the effort is being made to secure a place.

That secured, then comes the question, “Where is the woman to fill it?” There will be applicants enough, and for them “friends at court” to push their claims, but “the right woman” will have to be sought; and it is better to wait for her, than to inaugurate the movement under too great disadvantages. A middle-aged woman, scrupulously clean in person and dress, with a face to commend her and manner to compel respect; quiet, calm, observant, with faith in God, and hope for humanity; a woman fertile in resources, patient and sympathetic. She could hardly be all this without possessing a generous endowment of “good common sense,” and she cannot possibly do the work required unless that is sanctified. It will be seen at once that “the place” is indeed, in a very real sense, “missionary ground,” and that “the woman” must necessarily have these qualifications and spirit in order to fill it and meet the demands of the time. Competent and conscientious, the influence of such a woman, in such a position, can hardly be overestimated. Her duties, serious and responsible, but legitimate to the office, will naturally develop as she is given opportunity to work out the problem, “What can be done for women in police stations?” under methods demanded by Christian civilization.

Of course, she will be “on call,” and every woman brought to the station will be committed at once into her care, and every duty connected with search, locking-up, and necessary attendance, will be performed by her. The cells for women (entirely separate from the men) will be in her charge, and she will be accountable for them and their occupants. Just what she will need to do in every case, no one could possibly outline. Said the chief of police in ——: “I wish you to state definitely all the duties of a police woman.” For answer, I said: “Will you first describe to me the duties of a policeman?” “Impossible,” was the reply; “he must be ready for everything.” Just so, within the limitations of her office, must the matron be ready for everything.

Women brought to stations are not all drunk, or even bad. Girls or women suddenly set adrift; one who has lost her train and is penniless; or who finds herself deserted; or who, by reason of sudden illness, fainting, or temporary aberration, cannot give her name and residence; the partially insane; attempted suicides; persons arrested on suspicion (and frequently found innocent); young girls taken up for disorderly conduct or because found in questionable company,—all these are liable to be brought to the station-house, a place which officials represent as “wholly unfit for a decent woman.” These arrested women are often irresponsible for the time being, careless of their person, and regardless of the commonest laws of decency. Their clothing is often disarranged and unfastened, and they are liable to be in a condition totally unfit for appearance in court. The matron should be provided with such articles as womanly thought will suggest, and she should accompany her charge to the court room and remain by her until release or sentence removes her from her care. Among these will be found some for whom the matron may intercede, and who, upon her representation, may be taken to some “home,” and life for them thus receive an upward lift, instead of the almost fatal plunge downward of the police court. There will be children of varying ages, from the babe born in the station-house to the poor child in short dresses, the victim of home neglect or of some one’s vile lust; and drunken women with infants in their arms, who need some woman to rescue them, for the time being, from their own unmotherly grasp, and to prevent them from nursing the alcoholized milk which would be offered them. Night will sometimes be made hideous by women raving with drunken delirium, or maddened by the fiery draught to foulest deeds of rage and shame; but “the right woman” will not fail in such emergencies or be dismayed by such depths of degradation, but rather see in it the _why of her calling_. Any one of the classes named will be better off for the matron’s presence, and the worst will be found more amenable to her touch and voice than to the average policeman, be he ever so well disposed. How far police duty and supervision may be combined with the missionary work needed, both in the station and in following up special cases, will depend, of course, largely upon the locality, the number of arrests, and the general demands of the service.

Whatever else may seem uncertain at the beginning of the work, there is one thing sure—“the right woman” will find her time occupied, and exercise for all her tact, patience, and consecration; and any one who takes the position merely for the salary or from sentimental notions, will pretty surely resign at the end of the first quarter, or those interested in the success of the movement will seek for some one else to fill the place. Difficult as it may seem to secure one who combines these qualifications, yet it will doubtless prove, as in many another important position where much is demanded, that the best available person is selected who, under the emergency, develops unexpected fitness, and who in time comes to compel approval and indorsement even from those who hesitated in committing to her this trust.

In every city where the appointment of a police matron is secured, there should be a committee from the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, upon whom the matron can rely for such help as she will assuredly need, and an “Open Door” or “Temporary Refuge” will prove an absolute necessity if much rescue work, which was the primary thought in the reform, is to be undertaken.

In time, there will be womanly supervision in the transportation of women to the various institutions to which they are consigned; and the police matron will hasten the day, by her womanly forethought, for the women passing from her care, besides strengthening her influence over them. Indeed, _the presence_ of the police matron will often prevent carelessness on many points, and deliberate wrong in others. Ten years ago the movement was sneered at; ten years hence no city will be without one or more such officers.

All along the lines of the National Department advanced plans are yearly sent forth, and every State and Territory made some attempt to carry them out. During the last year hundreds of services have been held in hitherto neglected places. These were of a varied nature, preaching, prayer and conference meetings, Bible classes, Sunday schools, literary and musical entertainments; in some of which young people and children assisted. Said the keeper of one of the most desolate places: “It’s funny to see how the men try to clean up for the women’s meetings.”

One of the convicts told an officer, “I can stand the chaplains preaching, but those women, with their tearful pleading, break me all up; home and mother seem realities again.”

The Prison Flower Mission, cared for and directed by Jennie Carsuday, from her sick room in Louisville, Ky., has proved a blessed ministry to hundreds, and an opening wedge for the gospel message of hope and help.

Great numbers of bibles, testaments, helps for Bible study, prayer, hymn, school, and library books have been supplied, and millions of pages of gospel and temperance leaflets and papers distributed, thus displacing dime novels and cards. Book-cases, wall-rolls, illuminated mottoes, and pledge cards have been furnished, with Christmas boxes and Easter offerings by the thousands. Organs have been given, and others loaned for chapel services.

Petitions for needed reforms have been widely circulated, co-operation with other organizations gladly given, and scores of articles furnished the press, all of which have helped to arouse to action those not identified with the W. C. T. Union, and who perhaps had larger influence in certain directions.

Letter writing, to and for the inmates, has proved helpful. Visiting the friends of prisoners, giving sympathy, advice, and aid, have proved a practical illustration of the words, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and _so_ fulfill the law of Christ.”

Several States have inaugurated the “Prison Gate Mission,” which is an important branch, and aims to have its missionaries meet the prisoners on their release, with _help_ and _hope_, in the most practical ways. “Temporary Homes” and “Open-Doors” are offering shelter and work, and thousands of lives redeemed attest the genuineness of these varied efforts put forth in quietness but with great faith.

Many of the State superintendents of this department have given years of untiring labor, often furnishing their own supplies at great personal sacrifice. Brave, true-hearted, and practical, they have disarmed criticism, walked unharmed in dangerous places; never dropping into sentiment or refusing attention to established rules, they have won recognition from all right-minded officials and citizens.

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

Thus, glancing backward, and passing in hasty review what has been attempted and accomplished since 1830, we catch a glimpse of what is now waiting to be done, and the call is so imperative, that we must express our thanksgiving for the past by bringing all the force of combined action to bear upon needed reforms in the present. We believe that woman has special endowments for these lines of work, and that her absence from them has been a source of weakness and failure.

We must familiarize ourselves with the questions of penology, the relation of the State to its vicious and dependent classes; contract labor and the lessee system with their attendant evils; congregate and separate imprisonment; prison discipline, with reformatory measures and institutions.

We should demand the absolute separation of the sexes, and juvenile from older offenders; also _matrons_ to care for women arrested or committed.

Visit unannounced police stations and courts, with county jails, where women are under care of men, or “left to themselves,” and compare their looks and manners with those in similar places where the right kind of matron bears sway with a firm hand and dignified presence. Women should be associated with men as prison inspectors, and women physicians on boards to care for women and children. Greater efforts should be put forth in the lines of _reclamation_, opening the way to a return to honesty and self-support; but double diligence should be given to _removing the varied causes_ of _crime_, thus proving ourselves wise citizens in the truest sense of the word.