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Thy.San Francisco Sunday Call FIVE YEARS IN THE SOLITARY DUNGEOUN Jack Jungmeyer I'fT Is pretty ser.era.lly conceded that our present day penal institutions are little more than finishing schools for crim«. Even the most pronounced \u25a0.-.optimist is forced to this opinion. \u0084 Prison officials for the most part admit ;. It without an argument, and the man \u25a0• serving time within the gray walled :• indosure, the prisoner himself shrugs . bis -concession to the fact. Whether or '-.;rjot It Is possible, to create a practical .'. penal system that will operate for un questionable regeneration In moral de .-Jilnquents is a moot point and will not ;. be discussed here. The fact remains ' ithtLt at present these systems do not so : .operate, end that regeneration of the ."\u25a0criminal is accomplished only through .-\u25a0 his own unaided effort; it becomes a mat -. ter of pulling one's self from the slough • .'. by tugging at one's own boot straps. '- This unaided flght of an individual to -/\reach a new eminence of existence or to \u25a0 regain .th© lost former station of re . spectablllty is at best a difficult feat. •-'When it is accomplished by the • ' branded creatures of a penitentiary, • where the handicaps are almost Insur mountable. It becomes a veritable mir '•' acle. Much food for thought may be \u25a0'. gleaned from an interview with a man ..- who has brought such a miracle to ..pass. The Instance deserves wide pub licity. .' - The story of Edward Morrell, sen . * tenced to a life term in the California "state penitentiary at San Quentin for i his Identification •with tho famous Son t tag-Evans crang of train robbers and \u25a0 bandits who operated In this state dur ing the early nineties, and recently ': pardoned by Lieutenant Governor Por \u25a0 ter after having served 16 years of his : Kcntence, is the rstory of h man who tugged mightily a.t his boot straps. During the first few years of his im \u25a0-' prisonmest Morrell was pronounced one . of the most decperate incorrigibles that had ever served time at the institution. ..-.This unenviable reputation he earned ."•by his constant efforts to escape, his ' Intractability and his alleged complicity • In & plot to effect a general jail dc ' livery at Folcom, where he spent the V first two years of his incarceration. As -.-a -result of his behavior he was thrown Into solitary confinement In tho. Incor rigible ward, to remain there the rest of his days. Five years he spent in this dim, lone . cell, absolutely 6hut of! from every :' human contact — a grlui, hopeless con ' vlct, whom the officials and the other .". prisoners alike feared. Then came a •• <iay when a new warden assumed charge of the prison— a humanitarian ; tot such caliber that ho was willing to \u25a0 sire the sullen incorrigible another chance. MorreJl was released from solitary confinement and permitted to : ' jninarls again with his fellow prisoners, to share their work, their sweat and their play; to see the sun again after the years of gloom and to feel the wind that comes beating In 'across the walls •; of the yard; to smell the sod and to : .'watch the flowers of the prison garden .'• open to the touch of the spring warmth; to stand sometimes on that , spot within the trodden court whence '' the blue bulk of Tamalpals can be seen across the stone deadline* How Edward Morrell Saved Himself From Insanity While in the Silent, Darkened Cage by Inventing a Life Saving Device :-: ;-: \u25a0:•.• Straightway a remarkable change or conduct began to be apparent In the convict. Some quick metamorphosis \u25a0was beginning to take place. The offi cers of the yard and the higher offi cials took note of it. They began presently to look upon him as . a man \u25a0who might be trusted. He was watched for a long period, watched so closely, although he himself was unaware of the surveillance, that his slightest and most insignificant actions, were carried in a nightly report to the warden. The reports were satisfactory. By and by the man began to be trusted — more and more, in increasingly Important mat ters. One day the warden called Mor rell to his office and offered him the "head trustyship" of the prison, the highest position of trust to which a convict may attain. The man accepted. Four years later, on the strength of his conduct during his service as "head trusty," in March of 190S, he was granted an absolute pardon. The turn key opened the massive lock, the steel door swung back and the man who 16 years earlier had entered to serve his life out in the. massive eagre -..-alked out into the open. So much for what it availed this man to pull on his bootstraps. So much for externals. Now for a glimpse at the obscure life in the cell, for the under current of determined striylng and right living which made this consum mation possible — tho miracle of liberty to the lifo termer. I will repeat his' story as he told it to me. JjWlien I received my pardon and was s.-iying goodby to the boys.- one of my fellow prisoners, ;inother life t°rtn er, said to me; 'How did you ov«r do it, Ed? 1 renumber you when you looked like old Robinson Crusoe with your long hair and wild eyes down In tomb 14, doing solitary for life. And now you're going out! Tell me how you did it. T certainly thought you \u25a0 would never see sunlight again.' "That man expressed .the general surprise of ray prison fellows at my release. Almost to a man they enter tained tho idea that a struggle toward better manhood was not alone useless, but that was a bitter joke, an abso lute waste of energy. To drift along with the currents of least resistance — for the most part brutalizing currents — that was all they considered left to them, especially the men who were in for life; to driXt, to plot escapes and to give their intervals of thought to the fashioning of crooks* devices. , They used to laugh when they first learned of my determination to think right and to live right In that stagnant lifo eddy of the prison. 'What's tho -use?' they laughed.. And in their cynicism was revealed the general attltudo of the penitentiary convict toward all self effort at regeneration and wholesome ''\u25a0-activity. In fact, this was my own .at titude for tho first few years of my time. I, with the rest, thought .that manhood and decency had no meaning unless accompanied by liberty— and for me there was no hope of ever regain ing my freedom. Then, very gradually, I bfegan to see that it was better/Tor a man to preserve or to regain the faith with his superior self, even in a soli tary cell, than to fall into those hor rible depths of degradation that I saw opening all about me. This was at first an indirect result of my struggle to re tain sanity in the twilight of my exile to the solitary tombs. BREAKIXG, A MAX'S SPIIUT "When *a man has been relegated. to the bleak emptiness of the 'isolated donjon, there to remainfor the rest of his years, 'there to remain without change, without hope,' without any In tercourse with his kind until he dies and is carried out along the road that leads up to the Uttle fieldof headboards that mark a prisoner's parole, madness begins to leer at himffom the cell cor-; ners. It becomes the paramount issue to fight It off. Not a few of the so called Incorriglbles succumb to it I ; have heard their ravings through tho ; walls. To retain my balance I knew that I toad to keep my mind busy with , wholesome considerations. I began to indulge in regular mental gymnastics.* Problems in mechanics, intricate spec ulative feats' 1 in engineering *and in- , ventlve ' considerations occupied my . time and brought me some measure of solace. "T.'icse speculations began to take a definite trend, and finally a clear cut ambition stood out before me: I would become an inventor. "Lr-tbor with my hands was denied me, was to be forever denied. Inventive la bors of my mind could not bo so re strained. "Whether "or 1 not they would ever materialize in practical shapo, whether or not they would accrue to any benefit more tangible, than the sol ace they brought me, did not matter just then. They would at least keep' me busy with something of accumula tive interest. This was for a. time enough. "Straightway it came to me that the hopo I tried to deny was not dead, for a man can not work without hope. It would not die. Where before it had ex pressed itself in attempts to escape, it now exerted itself in another kind of emancipation. It was fashioning a key that might unlock my cell door some day, though • the. key. was not one of iron. Thus the beginning of a new era was ushered into my life. "I did not permit the fearful handi caps that were against me to daunt. I silenced the hopeless voices of dis couragement that kept dinning in my ears. I simply worked on. blindly, pa- " tiently. Surely, something must hap pen to give me the chance to put into practical shape and application this new product of my activity. My brain continued to busy itself with the new pictures." I was patient with the strange patience that comes with- life imprisonment. I waited. "And then, after those horrible years in solitary confinement, I was rewarded. Substantial return - was ..mine; for my, persistence; hope had not mocked inc.' I had given the lie to the skeptical laughs and sneers. For a man of au thority had walked past my coJl, had looked in. had in some subtle, fashion detected the changed attltudo I bore to ward the scheme of things and had then restored mo' tw comparative liberty among my stripe clad follows. Aiid . the patent" office at Washington had very shortly thereafter granted mo ex clusive right to a/,useful. device the markets of the. world had heretofore never held— an invention I had worked out In the glomn of my incorrigible's cell. "Here was one answer to* niy fellow con's query: 'What's the. use?" "And now. hnying unlocked the door of my solitary roll. I begnn to entertain a hope that I might. in similar fashion unlock even the outer door of the prison, the last portal to tho outer world. I regulated niy conduct to that v end. It was at this time that the cap- taln of tho' yard, as he afterward told me, watched me so closely. that I did not so much as spit but that he heard :of It. I did not, however, at this time : know that I was being watched. That right liying and thinking, the direction of one's energies into tho'proper chan-; * nels, is more potent -in: unlocking dun geon doors than any. material device i the' convict might attempt to fashion \» : borne out by the fact of my subsequent pardon; by that of many similar Ye- AMBITION'S HANDICAPS "A. word about tho handicaps .that tend to discourage; a prisoner in ap plying himself to creative labors of the useful,', legitimate sort; while" in con finement: ; \ "In the first place, the very nature of his habitation Is bound, to act as x a powerful deterrent .against ambition - and wholesome mental as well as phys ical life. The little cell to which -I was confined for five - years' Is ,a. tombt'of ": 9x4% feet. It ;ia absolutely bare except \u25a0\u25a0 for the mattress v and two blankets; spread on the steel floor as bedding. The light, of- the sun never enters. ] Gloom -pervades until It gets asort of : weight. All thought is at ; first' pressed from the confined man's \u25a0'\u25a0 .mind. ."\u25a0; Then -horrible fancies and brutalizing.concep * tions begin to come.'; Every vestige of ' humanity he , may i have; left. Is stran gled. , In no r d6es the con demned man have; any intercourse, with \u25a0 his kind. Twice a" day^ tho silent guard * shoves a can of food A through slot atlthe bottomof[the;cellidoor-4at'feed- " ? ing. time: This and ; the" whisper -of the \u25a0 guard's shoes ! in his (ceaseless patrol -is Y. the - only evidence; th« 'solitary* \u25a0 has s Ifc^iiiiiTti i nriiit i i t* i in iinrr , i that he Is In a world of life and kln-f dred beings. \u0084; , ' "When a man has gained the fearful distinction of 'incorrigible' he is placed' In this solitary confinement to break his spirit. But the perpetual solitude and the gloom that is neither day nor night generally does more than subdue -a man. What it does I have "seen and heard many a time in those other living tombs about me. It will not, bear writ- \u25a0' Ing about. All this is hardly con- ducive to clear or creative thought. Vengeance and the growth of such j . savage feuds as the average mind can] scarcely comprehend are the . products < that flourish behind these stone walls; 1 weeds that crush out all other mental | activity. . "In the second place I, as Mncorrl-" gible,' was not permitted to have pa- 11 per, pencil or instrument of any kind' that might have assisted me in my ef-|| forts, aids which are absolutely ineces sary to the prosecution of invention. ' All books were denied me. Materials "' with which any might be'| worktd out and made concrete were,, ns inaccessible to me there in tho cell t as was liberty itself. No slight deter- ? rents these, < you] will' admit. It can? scarce be a matter of wonder that no 1 good "thing can come from a penal in-j stltutlon which provides no incentive f \u25a0 toward the deflection into wholesome ' channels, of that illegitimate cxpros- ' sion of energy for which the convicted, felon has been imprisoned. > "There is very little, if any, assist- |' ance in a penitentiary when a convlc f t. attempts the construction of an; eiec-' 1 trig motor; some labor saving device, \u25a0, i or anything that might accrue to' his \u0084 own and society's lasting benefit, Butt there is plenty of information, and -as- ? j sistance when, instead, he desires; tot; equip himself further toward the,,; prosecution :of criminal ventures. ; In,, this there is no trouble. Reference 1 volumes, bound in cloth,, are "\u25a0 many — a complete" encyclopedia of | crook knowledge. They are open t0 , . . any one who shows himself a 'good' fellow' among his prison associates. "No one man or set of men connect- | ed with any penal institution can be, held to blame for the existence of < these conditions; they are the result of our present day inadequate rpeni- " tenliary system. • | "'The key that unlocked my prison, cell'— that is what I call my first pat- \u25a0\u25a0 rnt, perfected and granted while »t Sanf Quentin. .It is a rubber life saving suit, V designed for use in all 'marine disasters.] The first directing impetus toward its > conception and creation came as a: re suit of overhearing two guards;, re hearsing the terrible Valencia disaster J outside my cell door. The crying need of something more dependable In such • contingencies than tule or cork life* belts suggested a profitable line ofj speculation. This was at the time when « I first began to wonder whether there! might not be a ray of hope for me in* the patent offices at Washington; per-f haps not hope for ultimate liberty and? a source .of revenue, but hope that 1 1 might still in some way have an active, part in the destinies of life and of,my< kind. In the , new pride of craft that came with the granting of ti patent on | my device, all crlmirial.promptlngs were' forever allayed in: mp. The promptings; to commit crime now appeared in'- the < < light of a 10 cent bribe offered to a' man Whose daily earning is $10. \u25a0 .|| "Tlio rubbcrsult is inflatable and [is,! adjusted : : like an ordinary suit" of,, clothes. Th« inflation of tho different,' air chambers Is accomplished ..through ? valves that ." opera t«; by: tho lifting and lowiiriiif? I'f'tlio arms after tho suit, isi adjusted. Surplus air. inhaled through I a mouth' tube, would, in an extremity, sustain life for a, period of fully 30 minutes under water. Pockets inVthe suit contain tnblojd foods, compass^ rocket, trumpetvarid fish, knife. . H re quires only> ; three r minutes to adjust.' arid when not in use folds up to such proportion that it can' be carried In; an ordinary traveling -bag. Kncasod in such a suit th<r wearer could keep afloat Indefinitely." \u25a0:,;\u25a0;\u25a0' " :-'/: -'/ • . . >; This Is- a;, concrete example of :what may bo accomplished with oven the so called "Incorrigible when his restless energies are directed* into the right channels. " A significant commentary. During tho four years in which Mor rell ; served as. "head trusty" : at San Quentin he began to encourage other convicts; toHurn their attention' to" in vention ; \tlio II fo : prisoners "fo r -;-,t ho wholesome distraction it would vide,; if for nothing: .; else; the limited sentence \ men for the eventual -profit that might attach to it after their ref lease. v.;^ ' ; • , --: \u25a0-' £• SWITCIIIMi TIIK TKKMJ W \ A CIUJIINAI/S RNEIUJIES \u0084 ? "There was a young; fellow."? con tlnucs Morrell, "who camotoineduririg' my trustyshlp- arid asked mo for some] information \u25a0 lie ; needed to .perfect ,-.'-\ ti I counterfeiting mold /he ;.was secretly^ working on. ,l ; so succeeded in direct" Ing. that 'boy's proclivities ; ; .that ;he^ shortly t"- gave ; over/his "plan to presume counterfeiting as - soon; as : : released; and .• devoted", hlmse'lf •' to I legitimate ; channels # .of :\u25a0 effort;^- He ' is ' out; of > Jail \ now,* arid i has to his credit itoday; three fine pat ents ' that not only -; insure him a ' sub stantial living, I but provide him with further incentive to an honest life. ':_ "Another case: - "Some ; years ; ago a young crook, uri-/ der" 21,; was sent Htoy San . Quentin - from the lone j reform^ school.'!: He, hadjbeen pronounced -\u25a0 by " the atl- loneßla^ burglar; •whose \ regeneration Iwaa " hope-* ! less.; Somevmbnths after his ;. transfer ; to the '\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 penitentiary ; the; boy./ came'*; to me with -the V request : that I give , him 'sonic 'assistance in perfecting^ a;; safe; smashing "tool. His -device > Was? .very: • .ingenious. It shad, taken'no^mean^qual-: ,ity/of: brains ito^conceiveyandi: perfect' it. This boy ,waa utilizing: his ! time; he FROM STRIPES TO UNIFORMS Vinny Vincent WITH pick and drill and bar. 400 convicts at San Quontin strain at the stubborn rock, digging bit by bit the trenches for the foundations of a new cell building to contain 800 additional cells. The struc ture will be 600 feet long and concrete and; iron are the only materials to be used in building it: As the wallß mount higher and grow solid under the hands of this; striped garbed army of men a structure to stand for genera tions will evolve. 7 -But even then the builders build better' than they know: for. with the completion of that mass of masonry there AvilT be inaugurated at San Quen tin one of the most sweeping prison reforms that /has been attempted In the United States. The aim is to make the^prison the. most advanced reforma tory to be found from, the. Pacific to the: Atlantic. " At best a penitentiary is a poor place to put a man on the right, track. Thb ideal reformatory would be no prison at. all. That wilt como with the mil lennium. But until humankind has reached such a stage of beatitude we; will -have to struggle on' with places where ; those cursed with peculiarly; angled minds which makg them crim inals can be conJTned'and rendered \ harmless. . • , Our. prison population is divided > roughly into two classes: the criminal and the -law breaker. There is a dls ' tinction .beTween th- two. They ; are ! widely different. The" criminal is in; , nately, vicious;- a degenerate. E The.law • breaker; is of normal .mind, ( but one 'who from seeming necessity or on irri- ' pulse .overstepped the bounds. . | The law is an artificial barrier erected ,by the mass to protect itself- from ' the; vicipus minority, the criminals^ In 1 elastic, it states definitely what is and ' what is nota crime. The law does not | take Into account circumstances. That .is left to the Judge in giving sentence. • A man is either, guilty or Innocent. 'Because of the very exactness of the [statutes It is safe to say that few men | have)' lived; at really «iw abiding life. .Businessmen, lawyers, and other pro • fessionnl menjiave,, umler the lash of ! keen ' <ompi:titiun. broken;, laws /for [wliicli tht-yLworo liable to a tiMiri in tho Ipriiltentlary. Vet these men can not i bo;;(**aHed crlminnls, except under the. • law's definition. f •':• Ho it ; Ik with the majority of onr 'felons. Thoy have 'committed a breach [of law of uiagnlttido sufficient to sond itheinto stato prison.;'' That, hpwever. . idoes .not augur that they are crimi nals, i Their- Incarcerntion |i»1 usually traceable to three causes— evil envlron jmerit, liquor,, "or. nonetriployment:. Non employment .and '.. t wiilsky predominate [as";tho .impelling causes for crime. This \u25bais true •particularly of .thoT first terrn^ fmen.V The hounding, of the police and consequent; exposure' of - their records haßlthrovvii many an "ox^con" from the workers', ranks : back '; Into the destroy ing-maw '.til: our -ponitentlaries. j ; 1 1> is these, the 7 . law ;. breakers, that California-is going to save. To :_that : end ; tho prison directors and. Warden John i-Hoylo of San Quentin arc formu lHting::plans for a now,' far.reaching scheme.- \u0084This, This reform., in conjunction wlthrthe.' splendid parole system,. which saves" men; every" day . from returning toJcrime.'Vis* expected materially to* re tiuce; the . number of felons.'- - ..: f ' There is nothing - sentimental übout fthft? movement.- Tlie .reform .is being instituted by. hard headed' businessmen. Based onthe broad psychology of every \u25a0day; experjencep." the on tiro schomo will be. built on practical; lines. Under the was putting; in the years of his sen tence, in conscientious application"-, at the i- perfection ; : of ; the :• tools iof a pro fession whereby bread "and meat should not fail \u25a0•'him; : at;the;-tlme'of! his libera tion V|to a harsh,: outside world. ;i; did myvbest to change ;the bent ;of his industry. .: "I gave, him the information he de sired. ;That made me a good ,f fellow ir^i his ? eyes. ': He', would : trust : me. : '; He .would f- bank \u25a0; on what : " I '.would v subse quently ;tells him— rthis^l. know., , Now' it was 7 not | my purpose to :aid- this boy^lri thejprosecutionl of; his.; criminal ''desires' Far? o therwise. ;; v As s tactf ullyi as I \ know how. I ; begarp to ; discourage : him'in f ur ther.,jeffort/along!the; line;!: he i was, fol lowing. •;! Then' I \u25a0, gradually : lbegan -;; to substitute; /Stoj;. direct ;:his^ attention: 1 to legitimate :. forms 7 of } inventiveness. ;In less itlme i. than ;" a^ year; he ; had "' given*! up all|th6ught|of sjburslaryTand t the , tools A Sweeping Prison Re form Which "Will Be In augurated at San Quentin When the New CeHhouse Is Completed x :-: present arrangement. all convicts from "fish" (new 'corners) to old felons are herded together. It has long been recognized that this is one of the cry ing evils of the present mode of caring for prisoners. Many times cellmates will be a callow youth of 17 serving a short term and a sneering monster who hateg free men with all his de praved mind. It Is easy to see what the lajter's Influence on the boy is. There are nearly half a hundred boys in San Quentin under 20 years of age. They are forming their characters — . now. Degraded to the stripes, believing themselves disgraced for life, it is nat ural that a fellow feeling should grow up «mnng the prisoners. They are out casts, a few against the many. The prison officials battle against this sym pathy. Once let a law breaker get the idea firmly fixed that the world is down on him and ;he degenerates into a criminal. Henceforth his hand 'is against every man. • In time a first termer grows calloused to his position. A dull hate for the law and the people who took from him a portion of his life makes it easy to cast the die for crime-. Very few men take punishment philosophically even when -it is most deserved. Many times his imagination is fired by stories told by boastful yeggs of the many "tricks" they turned before getting caught. T-he tales finally bring him to believe that the law is an easy thing to beat. Under such delusions many weak youths and young men have left the prison doors with rriin'ds made up fully to become part of the underworld and live Its life. They usually return. But the contagion of crime resulting from this ill advised way of massing the prisoners Is not the only evil atr trlbutable to the system. .It permeates the ; very blood. Because of this con glomerate mlxibg.of the better with worse elements in the penal commun ity, discipline is harder to preserve, morality is shattered, and the health of the prisoners, bodily and morally. Is demoralized. Recognizing, this and. a number of additional reasons not gone into here, the first step In the reforma-, tlon Is the segregation of prisoners. Three divisions aro to be made. The first class Is^-conflned to the best be haved and most intelligent prisoners. From: their ranks only can a man be • paroled. Greater privileges will be al lowed them. suH^ as tlie right to com municate with outsiders, yard liberties. et<\ Their labor is planned to be light er and more congenial, and more time for recreation and consequent liberties .are to be given. There the convicts will wear neat uniforms, as will those ln^the second class.. The Intermediate division is the clearing house. There the new entries are destined to remain six months. Then, according to their behavior., and. general deportment, they will be placed either in the first or .; third class. Less liberties. mor« work and shorter time for recreation is for, this division. The- Incorrlgibles and the worst ele ment of prison* population will com pose .the third section. Hard work is to be their portion. From morning bugle" until lock up time at evening It. will be labor, incessant. Communi cation with the outside world will be cut "off absolutely. No play time Is to be allowed: only labor, hard manual -drudgery. • 'These will be garbed in the hateVi, stripes. 'These alone will receive physical punishment for rules broken. These \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0'•will- be sent to the dungeon, when prisoners In the higher grades would be merely reduced to ; lower ranks; - ' But for the lowest there will be hope .always. ' Even the one In tho black arid dirty white barred garment is to of its prosecution. He had begun work on a new form of "steam turbine. He fairly -enslaved himself to his new creation." Day" and night, during all his : spare time, that turbine "occupied his thoughts.- The regeneration of the boy began to be evident at once— the boy who had been considered .hopelessly degenerate. . It began to show even in his physical appearance and habits.' -A brand new ambition had been born like" a lily. in a mire." The call of burs lary.had been smothered for good and all' in: tho - pursuit of legitimate me chanics; his energies' had been given the light direction, : that ialall.' The result Is that /up '.to the present time this former "crook .has been ' granted three/ patents; ; that \u25a0 he is living an honest life; that, he has made a man ; of himself.' -iSffffiiBfeBKJM :"I f could f cite scores of similar . cases. They . all \u25a0 point . to one moral: \u25a0 Direct have a chance. By good ncrtnvior h« can work up to the second class and then may become a first division pris oner. One would Imagine that despair would be depicted only on the face of a man mounting the gallows to death. It is not so. With staring eyes, open wide, face set in tense lines he totters after the chanting priest to the trap. It is not despair, but animal terror that marks bis dazed chalky face. For a week his guards and the priest ha.v» been keying him up for the last terri ble moment. Religion has comforted and has promised him life "after death. He believes and has a great uncon querable hope. But in the noisy Jute mill, the prison yard, in solitary con finement where a scant six feet Is left for exercise, there is found despair: it is the despair of felons who have served previous terms. Many are yet law breakers, not criminals. The rea son for tneir return is monotonously alike: "I tried to work, but the polled got on to" me and told my boss. Then 1 was fired." The. remainder of th© downward slide Is read every day. According to the law. these men can not hope for a parole, less for a pardon. Usually they have years before them still before the expiration of their term. Even with the credits for good behavior to shorten the time they will be old men before liberty will be theirs. It is too late to start again. Those men are in hell, for they exist in the land of no hope. Despair en graves deep: on their gray stone faces it chisels. Here again will reform step in to help. It Is planned to make San Quentin a place of hope. Every man is to be given his chance. To do this it will not be necessary to> change the parole law at all. For a man ineligible because of previous con viction, however, the following plan probably will be put into execution: When a convict has proved himself worthy of release and has fulfilled all requirements before his term has ex pired, his sentence will be commuted pending good behavior, and a parola will be granted him. This, however, will be done only with the sanction of the supreme court and the governor. It is really a conditional pardon. By thi3 means every felon will have a chance to earn liberty. The whole re sponsibility rests with himself. But the reform will ero further. A nisrht school Is to be started. All pris oners will have th«* opportunity to learn and advance. The Illiterate onea will be compelled to attend. In ad dition se-veral other minor changes are to be brought about tending toward the general betterment of prison con ditions and those In servitude. By these, means the moral ton* of San Quentin will be raised. The bet ter men will not be allowed to asso ciate with the vicious, even at their meals. The health of the penal com munity now numbering over t, 700 men. will be better. Convicts will contlnuo to be men in spite of their degradation, and some criminals might learn to abide by the law. In any event, the law breakers, potential criminals, will have the chance to learn that the law can not be beaten for long, and San Quentin, the tomb of the living dead, will become an assistance and not.. a destroyer of man's moral fiber. These changes, however, will not make San Quentin any more attractive than it Is now. Life there is grim and as colorless as the gray walls that surround the yards. It la unnatural. No man ever gets used to it quite. There is always that unceasing desire for liberty, .the unrest of restraint. Prison discipline will be as strict and existence as hard. Xo laws will bo broken by any enthusiast merely that he may be reformed there. \u2666 he convict's energies in the right channels and you make a desirable, de pendable citizen of him in ninety cases out of a hundred." , In speaking: of the present adminis tration at San Quentin. Morreil has this to; say: "Warden Hoyie is an excep tionally wide awake and competent official. He is striving with all his power to better conditions: to bring about that condition of affairs which will insure society not. alone harmless but positively reclaimed citizens In its released prisoners. He has shown him self at once capable and broadly symp athetic; a warden in whom prisoners making an attempt to straighten up can have confidence; an official of whom the state may well be proud. With men of his caliber as officials of reforma tive Institutions, the reclamation of , moral delinquents would m»vo much ; more swiftly and auxeljV*