Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/672

 652 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

classified the inmates into three grades, and when a boy was committed to the reformatory he was placed in the second grade, so that he might rise or fall according to his merits or demerits. The marking system was adopted, and if a boy made a " perfect record" (i. e., three marks a month for good conduct, three for labor, and three for study) for six consecutive months, he was promoted to the first grade, and six months of similar record in the first grade placed him in the "parole grade," when he was given a hearing by the managers with a view to his parole. In school work 75 per cent, was reckoned a perfect record.

If while in the second or neutral grade the inmate persists in behaving badly, he falls, in time, to the third or penal grade, in which he dons the red garb of disgrace, marches in lockstep, is deprived of coffee at meals, of light in the evening in his cell, and of the privilege of visiting or receiving letters or visits from friends. But to all in this grade is offered the inducement to climb out of it into a higher grade.

In 1894 eight large schools, divided into four sections, were organized, and as the number of inmates increased more schools were organized, until now they number sixteen, with an attendance of over eight hundred pupils. Instruction in all the essential branches of an English education is given by competent teachers, who must hold a first-grade teacher's certificate, and must have been successful teachers elsewhere before coming to the reformatory. All inmates are required to attend school half a day, unless they have already passed the grade established for those who are eligible to parole. During the winter months the junior portion of the smaller boys spend six hours a day in the schoolroom, and in the summer months three hours. During the latter period they are employed a part of the time in light work in the garden or on the farm.

If anyone doubts that ignorance is one of the chief causes of crime, his doubt may be removed by reading the records of our reformatories. Thus we are informed that of 989 boys commit- ted to the Illinois Reformatory, of whom 208 were between ten and sixteen years of age, and 781 between sixteen and twenty- one years of age, only II had attended high schools ; 198 had been in the common schools, and 780 had received little, if any,