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About The news-review. (Roseburg, Or.) 1948-1994 | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1949)
Psychological Factor Behind Alcatraz Federal Prison Outweighs Its Heavy Maintenance Cost, Congress Is Told Bv CLARKE BEACH WASHINGTON Has Alcatraz outlived its usefulness? Fewer prisoners than ever before are now being held in the escape proof federal prison In San Fran cisco Bay, and it's very expensive to operate $8 a day to main tain each desperate guest. In other federal prisons the "bean money" is only S3. But the main consideration is the restraining effect of Alcatraz on the inmates of other jails and on men outside who might be plotting a great crime and yet decide against it because of their dread of "The Rock."- The issue Is now being pon dered by the House Judiciary Committee. James V. Bennett, di rector of the U. S. Bureau of Prisons, has made no firm rec ommendation. He has only point ed out that one or more federal prisons must be closed to keep within the proposed budget, that operation costs at Alcatraz are excessively high but that the psychological factor behind Al catraz is the big question-mark. Abandonment of Alcatraz wouldn't be a total saving in any case. The Federal government still would have to establish in one of Its 25 other prisons a "maximum security block" where incorrigible prisoners could be lant eafoli, an4 anai-t from nfha W .. -Tisoners for whom there is some J hope of rehabilitation. All large penal jnsiuuuuns nave such dun geons called by criminals "Klon dikes," "Siberias," "solitary" or "deadlock." Alcatraz was established In 1934, when the government was at the peak of its battle against kidnapers, racketeers, bank rob bers and imperious gangs. Hosts of the underworld were slain or imprisoned. By 1939 J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was able to say that not one nation ally organized gang was left. What part did Alcatraz play in the victory? Will criminals become bolder if there is no more Alcatraz? No one really knows. That's why Congress intends to do a lot of thinking before it lets Alcatraz go. As to whether Alcatraz, or any other prison, deters criminals, Di rector Bennett has only the broad convictions: (1) That they do not deter those who commit accidental crime or crimes of passion, physehopathi or alcohol ics; (2) That they do deter many persons who are tempted to do such things as steal or file fraud ulent tax returns. "But whether it deters the average criminal," says Bennett, "the prison system is the only system we know," Criminals Fsar Alcatraz Of one thing he is sure: That all hardened criminals live in mortal fear of winding up on Alcatraz. He permits no brutal ity against inmates there, but prisoners are allowed the mini mum of privileges, and the disci pline is more severe than in any other American Institution. Those "who enter it have no hope of delivery or parole. No one has ever escaped, although two men once did dive into the cold, swift currents that sweep the rock. They are believed to have drowned. No one has ever been paroled direct from Alca traz. They can, however, work their way back to some other prison by years of good behavior. Alcatraz now has 228 prisoners nearly all of whom Bennett knows personally. This Is 26 per cent fewer than the peak year, 1938. The total population of all federal prisons is now about the same as in that year, a little more than 17,000. Apparently there is now a smaller propor tion of the hardened, intractable, desperate type who need the Al catraz treatment. The chief reasons Alcatraz Is so costly are that it requires one custodian to every two prisoners (instead of one to five as in New Chair Eliminates Hand-Power huijMay 12, 1949 The Newi-Revlew, Roieburg, Ore. 3 r-w"-"! : : ....... w.tj Gene Kinkle, right, of Wilmore, Ky shows his new electrically driven wheelchair to fellow disabled veterans Dexter Aylesworth, left, of Oxford, Pa, and Ernest Jensen, of New York, at Walter Heed Hospital In Washington. The new-type wheelchair, which has twe speeds forward and one reverse, was presented by two Keyser, W. Va., residents. other prisons) and that there Is no water on the island. All water has to be transported by barge from the mainland. Even soil has to be shipped to the Rock if a warden decides to raise a few flowers or vegetables. Alcatraz cost $3,000,000, and It would cost $7,000,000 to replace it. No other government agency wants it, says Bennett, so if aban doned it would soon deteriorate in the briny air. 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