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The Complete LLM
Engineering Handbook
A Guide for Developers and
Engineers
Dr Mohamed Karim
ISBN: 978-82-94051-95-3
Preface
The realm of artificial intelligence has long captivated the
imagination of scientists, engineers, and philosophers alike. Within
this vast domain, the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs)
represents a quantum leap in our ability to interact with, utilize, and
leverage the vast expanses of human knowledge encoded in natural
language. "The Complete LLM Engineering Handbook: A Guide for
Developers and Engineers" is conceived as a bridge between the
theoretical underpinnings of LLMs and the practical realities of
engineering them.
This book is a compendium of knowledge, practices, and insights
aimed at providing a comprehensive guide for those who seek to
understand and build LLMs. The content spans the full spectrum—
from the mathematical foundations that underlie LLMs to the ethical
considerations that accompany their deployment. The handbook
serves as a primer for the uninitiated, a reference for the
practitioner, and a forecast for the visionary.

The field of LLM engineering is rapidly evolving, with new discoveries
and advancements emerging at a breathtaking pace. This handbook
endeavors to capture the current state of the art while providing a
solid foundation that will remain relevant as the field grows and
matures. Each chapter is meticulously structured to offer a deep dive
into specific aspects of LLM engineering, ensuring that readers come
away with a robust understanding of both the technical and
contextual elements of these powerful models.
How to Navigate This Handbook: The book is structured to facilitate
both sequential reading and targeted inquiry. Each chapter is self-
contained, allowing readers to focus on areas of immediate interest
or need. The sections within chapters are designed to build upon
one another, providing a layered approach to learning. Readers are
encouraged to engage with the book in a manner that best suits
their learning style and requirements.
Acknowledgments and Contributions: The creation of this handbook
has been a collaborative effort. I am indebted to a multitude of
individuals whose contributions have been invaluable. Researchers
who have advanced the field of LLMs, engineers who have
implemented these models in the real world, and educators who
have distilled complex concepts into teachable moments—all have
played a part in shaping this work. Their collective wisdom is woven
throughout the pages that follow. As you embark on the journey
through this handbook, it is my hope that it will serve as a reliable
companion, illuminating the path to mastery in the field of LLM
engineering. Whether you are a student, a developer, an engineer, or
simply an enthusiast of artificial intelligence, may this book equip
you with the knowledge and insight to excel in your endeavors.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Large Language
Models
Section 1.1: History and Evolution of Language Models
The odyssey of language models began with the quest to
understand and replicate the human faculty of language. This
journey's inception can be traced back to the earliest days of
computer science, with figures like Alan Turing contemplating
whether machines could emulate human conversation. Over the
decades, this contemplation transformed into a concerted effort to
create models that not only mimic speech but also comprehend and
generate human language with a high degree of fluency.
Early language models were simple and rule-based, capable of only
the most rudimentary forms of pattern recognition and response
generation. The leap from these early attempts to the contemporary
landscape of Large Language Models (LLMs) has been nothing short
of revolutionary. The transformation was fuelled by advances in
machine learning, particularly the development of neural networks
that could learn and adapt from vast amounts of data.
The emergence of the Transformer architecture in 2017 marked a
significant milestone. It introduced a mechanism known as attention,
allowing models to weigh the importance of different parts of the
input data differently. This breakthrough facilitated the development
of models that could handle long-range dependencies in text,
capturing nuances that were previously elusive.
LLMs like GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and BERT
(Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) built on
this architecture. They demonstrated unprecedented abilities in a
variety of language tasks, from translation to question-answering.
The pre-training and fine-tuning methodology employed by these

models enabled them to transfer knowledge learned from one
domain and apply it to another, a process analogous to human
learning.
The evolution of LLMs has been marked by a consistent trend: the
models grow ever larger and more complex, as do the datasets they
learn from. The latest iterations boast tens of billions of parameters
and are trained on diverse corpora sourced from the expanse of the
internet. This has allowed for a degree of linguistic fluency and
versatility that is both impressive and, at times, unsettling in its
implications.
As we continue to push the boundaries of what's possible with LLMs,
it is vital to reflect on the trajectory of their development. From
Turing's early questions to today's sophisticated models, language
models have grown from a theoretical possibility to a transformative
technology. They are reshaping industries, from customer service to
content creation, and redefining our relationship with machines.
This section not only charts the historical path LLMs have taken but
also sets the stage for understanding their current capabilities and
potential future developments. As we delve deeper into subsequent
sections, we'll uncover the technical advancements that made LLMs
possible and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Section 1.2: Overview of Large Language Models
At the heart of modern AI's narrative are Large Language Models
(LLMs), a class of machine learning models designed to understand,
generate, and sometimes translate human language. These models
are 'large' not just in their physical size, requiring substantial
computational resources, but also in their capacity, characterized by
the vastness of their training data and the complexity of their neural
networks.
An LLM functions by predicting the probability of a sequence of
words, often by generating a subsequent word given a series of

preceding words. This predictive capability is honed through the
training process on enormous datasets comprising diverse text
samples. The model's architecture is composed of layers of
interconnected nodes or 'neurons,' each layer learning to represent
different aspects of language. As information passes through these
layers, the model learns to recognize patterns and nuances in the
text.
The transformative power of LLMs lies in their versatility. Pre-trained
on a wide array of text data, they possess a broad understanding of
language, which can be honed further for specific tasks through a
process known as fine-tuning. In fine-tuning, the model is further
trained on a smaller, task-specific dataset, allowing it to adapt its
general language understanding to particular applications.
A distinctive feature of these models is their use of the transformer
architecture, which enables them to handle long-range dependencies
in text. This is crucial for understanding context and meaning over
longer stretches of text, allowing for more coherent and contextually
relevant text generation. The transformer's ability to process all parts
of the input data simultaneously, as opposed to sequentially, has
also significantly sped up the training and inference processes.
LLMs are at the forefront of numerous applications, from simple
tasks like spell checking and grammar correction to complex ones
like summarizing legal documents, writing code, and creating
content. They have become an integral part of search engines,
helping to understand and predict user queries. In customer service,
they power chatbots that can handle a wide range of customer
inquiries with increasing sophistication.
Despite their capabilities, LLMs are not without limitations. Their
reliance on large datasets can lead to the propagation of biases
present in the training data. Moreover, their outputs, while fluent,
may lack deep understanding or originality. As we advance through
this book, we will dissect these challenges in detail, exploring both

the inner workings of LLMs and the broader implications of their
integration into society.
Understanding the overview of LLMs provides a foundation for the
subsequent sections, where we will delve into the mathematical
backbone that supports these models, the data that feeds them, and
the ethical framework that must govern their use.
Section 1.3: Core Principles of LLMs
To grasp the essence of Large Language Models (LLMs), one must
understand the core principles that govern their operation. These
principles are the bedrock upon which these sophisticated models
are built and are critical to their ability to process and generate
human language.
1. Statistical Language Modeling: At their core, LLMs are statistical
models. They calculate the probabilities of word sequences, making
educated predictions about which word comes next in a sentence.
This is based on the patterns they have learned from the vast
amounts of text they have been exposed to during training.
2. Transfer Learning: LLMs utilize a concept known as transfer
learning, where knowledge gained while solving one problem is
applied to a different but related problem. For LLMs, this usually
means pre-training on a large corpus of text and then fine-tuning on
a specific task, like translation or question answering.
3. Attention Mechanisms: The advent of attention mechanisms
allows LLMs to focus on different parts of the input sequence when
predicting each word, similar to how humans pay more attention to
certain words when comprehending or generating speech. This
attention to context is what enables models like the Transformer to
excel.
4. Deep Learning Architectures: LLMs rely on deep neural networks,
which are composed of multiple layers of neurons. These layers

enable the model to learn a hierarchy of features, from basic
patterns in the lower layers to more abstract concepts in the higher
layers. 5. End-to-End Learning: LLMs are designed to learn directly
from raw text to final output without the need for manual feature
engineering. This end-to-end learning simplifies the model
development process and enables the model to automatically learn
features that are most predictive for the task.
6. Scalability: The scalability of LLMs refers to their ability to improve
performance as more data and computational resources are made
available. This principle is at the heart of why LLMs have grown in
size and capability, as larger models trained on more data tend to
perform better.
7. Contextual Understanding: Unlike earlier models that treated each
word in isolation, LLMs consider the full context of a word within a
sentence or even across multiple sentences. This contextual
understanding is crucial for tasks that require a nuanced grasp of
language, such as sentiment analysis or sarcasm detection.
8. Generative Capabilities: Many LLMs are generative, meaning they
can produce new text sequences. This generative ability is not just a
matter of predicting the next word in a sentence but can extend to
creating entire paragraphs and documents that are coherent and
contextually relevant.
9. Multitasking: A single LLM can be trained to perform multiple
tasks. This multitasking capability is efficient and powerful, allowing
the same model to switch between different tasks, such as
translating text and answering questions, with minimal changes to
its structure.
10. Continuous Learning: Finally, LLMs are not static. They can be
updated with new data over time, allowing them to stay current with
language trends and usage. This principle of continuous learning is
vital for maintaining the relevance and accuracy of the model.

Understanding these principles is key to unlocking the potential of
LLMs and to appreciating the complexity and power of these models.
As we delve deeper into subsequent sections, we will explore each
of these principles in greater detail, examining their implications for
the design, deployment, and governance of LLMs.
Section 1.4: The Impact of LLMs on Modern AI
The introduction of Large Language Models (LLMs) has significantly
altered the landscape of artificial intelligence, setting new standards
for natural language processing (NLP) capabilities and applications.
Their impact is vast and multifaceted, influencing both the
development of AI technologies and their implementation across
various sectors.
Innovation in NLP: LLMs have pushed the boundaries of what's
possible in NLP. Traditional models that struggled with understanding
context and generating coherent long-form content have been
eclipsed by LLMs, which can compose essays, poetry, and even
computer code. Their ability to understand and predict human
language has led to substantial improvements in machine
translation, summarization, and text generation.
Human-Computer Interaction: As LLMs become more adept at
understanding and generating natural language, they enhance the
way humans interact with machines. Voice assistants, customer
service bots, and interactive chat platforms have grown more
sophisticated and human-like, thanks to the integration of LLMs. This
has improved user experience and expanded the accessibility of
technology to wider audiences.
Advances in Search Algorithms: Search engines have evolved from
keyword matching to understanding the intent behind queries,
thanks to LLMs. They now provide more relevant and contextually
aware results, understand conversational queries, and even generate
answers to questions directly, rather than just providing links.

Content Creation and Curation: The generative capabilities of LLMs
have opened new avenues in content creation. They are used to
draft articles, create poetry, generate creative writing prompts, and
even assist in designing software. LLMs also aid in content curation
by summarizing articles, categorizing content, and personalizing
feeds to user interests.
Research and Development Acceleration: LLMs are valuable tools in
research and development. They accelerate literature review
processes by summarizing texts and extracting relevant information,
aid in hypothesis generation, and even write experimental code,
thereby reducing the time from ideation to discovery.
Education and Learning: In the education sector, LLMs offer
personalized learning experiences, generate practice material, and
provide instant feedback to learners. They also serve as tutors and
can adapt to individual student needs, helping democratize access to
educational resources.
Challenges and Considerations: Despite these benefits, the
deployment of LLMs also raises challenges. The computational
resources required to train and run LLMs have environmental and
economic implications. There are concerns about the perpetuation of
biases present in the training data, which can lead to unfair or
harmful outcomes. The potential for misuse, such as generating
disinformation or impersonating individuals, also poses ethical and
legal questions. The impact of LLMs on modern AI is profound and
ongoing. They have not only advanced the technical capabilities of
AI systems but also raised important questions about the future
direction of technology and its role in society. In the following
sections, we will explore the technical intricacies of these models, as
well as the broader implications of their use.
Section 1.5: Key Players and Platforms in LLM

The field of Large Language Models (LLMs) is driven by key players
and platforms that have made significant contributions to its growth.
These range from academic institutions to tech giants and
specialized AI research labs, each pushing the envelope in
developing more sophisticated and capable models.
Academic Institutions: Universities and research institutions have
been pivotal in advancing the foundational research underlying
LLMs. Institutions like Stanford University, MIT, and the University of
Montreal have produced seminal research, particularly in the
development of neural network architectures and optimization
techniques.
OpenAI: OpenAI has been a forerunner in the development of LLMs,
with their GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) series setting
new standards for the capabilities of language models. Their work
has not only advanced the state of the art in AI but also sparked
discussions on the ethical use and societal impact of such powerful
models.
Google AI: Google's AI division has contributed significantly with
their BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from
Transformers) model, which enhanced the understanding of context
in language processing. Google's research has been instrumental in
developing models that are not only powerful but also efficient
enough to be deployed at scale.
Facebook AI Research (FAIR): FAIR has been involved in various
aspects of LLM development, including multilingual models and
models that can handle multiple tasks simultaneously. Their work on
models like RoBERTa has pushed forward the boundaries of what
LLMs can do.
Hugging Face: This AI company has democratized access to LLMs
through their Transformers library, making state-of-the-art models
available to the broader AI community. Hugging Face's platform

allows researchers and developers to collaborate, share, and build
upon each other's work, accelerating innovation.
Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS provides cloud infrastructure that
enables the training and deployment of LLMs at scale. Their machine
learning services and tools support the development and
implementation of LLMs across various industries.
Microsoft: With platforms like Azure AI, Microsoft has integrated
LLMs into a suite of tools that empower businesses and developers
to build intelligent applications. They have also been involved in
groundbreaking research in the field.
AI Startups: A myriad of startups are specializing in niche areas of
LLMs, such as industry-specific applications, efficiency
improvements, and novel training techniques. These companies are
often at the forefront of translating research into practical solutions.
Community and Open Source Projects: Beyond these organizations,
the broader AI community contributes through open-source projects
and collaborative research. Platforms like arXiv and GitHub serve as
repositories for this collective knowledge, enabling the rapid
dissemination and evolution of LLM technologies.
The landscape of LLMs is dynamic, with ongoing contributions from
these and many other entities. They represent the collaborative
nature of AI research and development, where shared knowledge
and open-source tools lead to collective advancement. As we move
through this handbook, the influence of these key players will
become evident in the technologies, techniques, and practices
discussed in the development and application of LLMs.
Section 1.6: Understanding Model Architecture
The architecture of Large Language Models (LLMs) is a cornerstone
of their ability to understand and generate human language. The
term 'architecture' in machine learning refers to the network
structure, including the types of layers used, how they are

interconnected, and the flow of data through the model. In LLMs,
the architecture is designed to capture the complexities of language
by learning patterns from vast amounts of text data.
Transformers: The most significant architectural advancement in
recent LLM history is the Transformer model. Unlike previous
sequence models that processed input data sequentially (like RNNs
and LSTMs), the Transformer processes all parts of the sequence
simultaneously, allowing for more parallelization and, thus, faster
training times. This architecture is based on self-attention
mechanisms that weigh the importance of different parts of the
input data when predicting each part of the output.
Self-Attention Mechanisms: At the heart of the Transformer
architecture is the self-attention mechanism, which allows the model
to focus on different parts of the input sequence for each word it
generates. This mechanism gives LLMs the ability to handle long-
range dependencies, making them particularly effective for tasks
that require understanding context over large spans of text.
Layers and Depth: LLMs are characterized by their depth, with many
layers stacked on top of each other. Each layer typically consists of a
self-attention mechanism followed by a feed-forward neural network,
and the output of one layer becomes the input for the next. This
depth enables the model to learn a rich hierarchy of linguistic
features, from basic syntactic patterns to complex semantic
representations.
Parameters and Size: The size of an LLM is often discussed in terms
of the number of parameters it contains. These parameters are the
weights that the model learns during training, and they encapsulate
the knowledge that the model gains. LLMs can have from hundreds
of millions to hundreds of billions of parameters, with larger models
generally exhibiting better performance due to their greater capacity
to learn and memorize.

Fine-Tuning and Task-Specific Heads: While the base architecture of
an LLM is generally task-agnostic, it can be adapted to specific tasks
through fine-tuning. This process involves additional training on a
smaller, task-specific dataset. Additionally, task-specific heads
(additional layers or modules) can be added to the base model to
tailor its outputs to particular applications, such as question
answering or sentiment analysis.
Efficiency and Scalability: Despite the successes of LLMs, their size
presents challenges in terms of computational resources and
efficiency. As a result, much research is focused on developing more
efficient architectures that can deliver similar performance with
fewer parameters and less computational cost.
Understanding the architecture of LLMs is essential for appreciating
their capabilities and limitations. It is also crucial for those looking to
develop, implement, or improve upon these models. The subsequent
sections will delve deeper into the components of these
architectures, the innovations that have driven their evolution, and
the practical considerations of working with them.
Section 1.7: Datasets and Their Importance
The efficacy of Large Language Models (LLMs) is largely determined
by the datasets they are trained on. These datasets are massive
collections of text that provide the raw material from which LLMs
learn language and its intricacies. The design, quality, and diversity
of these datasets are critical, as they directly impact the model's
performance and its ability to generalize across different tasks.
Volume and Variety: LLMs require an extensive amount of data to
learn effectively. The volume of data helps in capturing the long-tail
of linguistic phenomena, ensuring that even rare words or structures
are represented. Variety in the dataset ensures that the model is
exposed to a wide range of language uses, styles, and contexts,
which is essential for building a robust model.

Quality and Cleanliness: The adage "garbage in, garbage out" is
particularly apt for LLM training. High-quality datasets are crucial
because models learn patterns present in the training data, including
any errors or biases. Data cleaning and preprocessing become
essential tasks, involving the removal of noise, such as typos or
irrelevant information, and the standardization of text to ensure
consistency.
Representativeness and Bias: A representative dataset accurately
reflects the diversity of the target population's language use. This is
important to prevent the amplification of biases—models trained on
unrepresentative data can perpetuate and exacerbate biases in their
outputs. Addressing this requires careful dataset curation and a
conscious effort to include underrepresented languages and dialects.
Sourcing and Ethics: Data sourcing involves the collection or
generation of datasets. Ethical considerations come into play here,
as it is essential to respect privacy and intellectual property rights.
Publicly available texts, licensed corpora, and data generated
through user interactions are common sources. The ethical use of
this data requires adherence to data protection laws and user
consent where applicable.
Annotation and Labeling: For certain tasks, such as question
answering or sentiment analysis, labeled data is required. Annotation
involves assigning labels or tags to parts of the text to indicate
categories, sentiment, or other attributes. This process can be time-
consuming and requires human labor, but it is vital for supervised
learning tasks.
Synthetic Data: In cases where real-world data is scarce or difficult
to obtain, synthetic data can be used. This involves creating artificial
data that mimics real-world data, often through the use of LLMs
themselves. While synthetic data can be useful, especially in fine-
tuning models for specific tasks, it must be used judiciously to avoid
compounding errors or biases.

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Review,
Vol. 1, No. 3, March, 1911

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you are located before using this eBook.
Title: The Review, Vol. 1, No. 3, March, 1911
Author: Various
Publisher: National Prisoners' Aid Association
Release date: October 6, 2017 [eBook #55686]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REVIEW,
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VOLUME I,
No. 3.
MARCH,
1911
THE REVIEW
A MONTHLY PERIODICAL, PUBLISHED
BY THE
NATIONAL PRISONERS’ AID
ASSOCIATION
AT 135 EAST 15th STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
TEN CENTS A COPY.
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
A YEAR.

E. F. Waite,
President.
F. Emory Lyon, Vice
President.
O. F. Lewis, Secretary
and Editor Review.
E. A. Fredenhagen,
Chairman Ex.
Committee.
Charles Parsons,
Member Ex.
Committee.
G. E. Cornwall,
Member Ex.
Committee.
Albert Steelman,
Member Ex.
Committee.
A. H. Votaw, Member Ex. Committee.

A VALLEY OF LIFE[A]
If some one of the prison officials of New York were to suggest the
turning out of hundreds of the prisoners on Blackwell’s Island and
Sing Sing into a colony in the fertile valley along the Hudson or the
Mohawk river, under the care of a superintendent and a half dozen
assistants without an armed guard, the inhabitants not only of New
York state but of all the states in the Union would immediately hold
mass meetings of protest and set their political organizations to work
to have the official making the suggestion removed from office and
incarcerated in an insane asylum. This would be the action taken in
this far advanced, civilized country.
Yet in the Philippine islands this very thing has been done, and done
with success. It has been done with a people said by leading officials
of this country and other countries to be incapable of self-
government.
To be explicit, there are today 1,423 prisoners, or “colonists,” as they
are now termed—prisoners of all classes and sorts, serving terms of
from five years to life imprisonment, and for crimes from petty
thievery to murder—living without a guard in a small, fertile valley
along the river of one of the islands in the archipelago just south of
Luzon, the largest island, of which Manila is the capital.
Here the 1,423 convicts live, not alone, isolated as the prisoners of
Siberia are, but much the same as they would have lived had they
never committed a crime against the community—in peace,
prosperity and happiness, with their families, engaged in the pursuit
of agriculture-and the only guns on the place are those mounted at
the superintendent’s office for saluting purposes and the “six-
shooter” the superintendent keeps locked up with his cash in the
safe of the penal colony office.

There is a guard on the reservation, but it is only a police guard, and
the only arms its members carry are a small policeman’s club, which
is more ornamental than useful.
With this lack of military display on the part of the authorities, there
has been but one outbreak or attempt at escape, and that occurred
soon after the colony was first established and before the valley had
been drained and rid of malaria and cholera. Since that first
outbreak and the subsequent capture of all but one of the nineteen
who escaped (and that one died) there has been peace and quiet on
the reservation.
It was in 1904 that George N. Wolfe, then warden of Bilibid, the
“bastile” of Manila, now director of the bureau of prisons of the
Philippine islands, found the prison fast becoming overcrowded. He
had male and female inmates confined there who were serving
sentences for all manner of crimes. He was confronted with the
problem of finding an additional housing place. He took the matter
up with the superintendent of prisons with the result that it was
determined to establish a colony of prisoners under a guard.
Accordingly, in November, 1904, the superintendent of prisons
appointed Warden Wolfe, Prof. William S. Lyon, horticulturist of the
bureau of agriculture, and Dr. Arlington Pond, star pitcher on the old
Baltimore Oriole baseball team in the McGraw and Keeler days, then
city health officer of Manila, to select a site for a penal colony.
After hunting up and looking over several sites the committee finally
selected Iwahig, a small valley on the Iuhuit river on the southern
point of the island of Palawan and directly opposite the town of
Puerto Princesa. The valley is about ten miles long and contains
something like 270 square miles.
The site selected, sixty prisoners of all classes and confined for all
manner of crimes, most of whom were hardened criminals, were
sent there under an armed guard.
At first health and discipline were not good. Malaria and cholera
made great inroads upon the little band. The valley, while of fertile

soil, was covered with water more than half the year, and that which
was not under water was densely overgrown with bamboo timber.
The first sixty dwindled down to less than one-third that number.
Others were sent to take their places and they, too, became either
infirm or more hardened criminals. Conditions got worse, and one
day there was a mutiny, in which nineteen of the prisoners made
their escape. All but one of the nineteen were captured and sent
back to the colony. Things became so bad that Warden Wolfe
decided to make a change in the superintendent of the colony, and
he made a request therefor to the superintendent of prisons.
At that time the penal institutions of the Philippines were under the
jurisdiction of the secretary of the department of commerce and
police. They were later placed in the bureau of public instruction and
under the bureau of prisons.
The governor general of the Philippines in 1906 appointed Major
John R. White of the constabulary superintendent of the colony.
Major White immediately set to work to cure the evils. He got
several physicians and sanitary officers of the Philippine government
to lay out general plans for draining the valley, so as to rid it of the
malaria and cholera. He was more than successful; in fact, in 1907,
when he turned the colony over to the present superintendent he
had obliterated both diseases. Major White also started a radical
reform in the system of handling the prisoners, and instead of
driving them and herding them in a few buildings he used kindness.
The real change from a penal colony to a “Golden Rule” colony took
place in the latter part of 1907, when Carroll H. Lamb was appointed
superintendent.
Mr. Lamb had ideas of handling the prisoners that were different
from those of his predecessors. He exercised from the first a
humanitarian policy, and instead of asking for the worst behaved of
the convicts of Bilibid he asked for the “trusties,” who were the
greater in number. His requests were granted.

Superintendent Lamb consulted with sociologists and leading
criminologists, after which he laid down for himself and the prisoners
the following principles by which a good convict might be made a
good citizen:
“Proper environment and association, fixed habits of conduct and
industry, intellectual and moral instruction and industrial and
practical teachings.”
He instilled these principles into himself and into the convicts, as the
method to fit them soonest to return to society, cured mentally and
physically, and to teach them to be law-abiding and self-respecting
citizens.
Mr. Lamb devoted much study to the character of the Filipino and
found him, as many others have found him, easy to manage,
especially where tact and kindness is used. He also found that the
primitive civilization of the Filipino people and their natural bent
toward agriculture aided in the application of the principles he laid
down.
He began by reducing the restraints and increasing the
independence of the colony as a whole. He also began the utilization
of agriculture as the burden of the convicts’ labors, and impressed
upon them the idea that not only were they working for the
government against which they had committed offenses but for
themselves. He pointed out that they would not only gain virtual
freedom at once, but would participate in the earnings of the colony.
His first lot of prisoners numbered more than 100, and they were, as
in the early history of the colony, made up of all classes of criminals,
but men who had been given certain liberties in Bilibid for good
behavior. He had as assistants two Americans, the oldest of whom
was less than 30, and the youngest of whom was but 21, a Filipino
band director, a Filipino physician, a Spanish padre for chaplain, and
a matron. The matron was necessary, as among his prisoners were
some twenty women.

Today, three years since Mr. Lamb first went to Iwahig, there are
1,423 prisoners. He still has his two American assistants and the two
Filipino assistants. In addition he has thirty-one petty officers, all of
whom are prisoners. Two of these petty officers are “lifers,” serving
sentences for murder in the first degree; two more of them are
serving long terms for offenses almost as serious as murder, and the
rest of the thirty-one are men who have more than five years yet to
serve.
Every one of these thirty-one petty officers lives in his own home,
has his wife and family, and is a director in the colony’s bank,
established last year for the deposit of the colony’s funds and the
gratuities saved by the prisoners. These gratuities are paid monthly,
and as the convicts raise everything they use, even to beef and to
the leather shoes they make from the hides of the cattle, their
gratuities amount to a considerable sum.
Each of these petty officers is in charge of a certain number of
prisoners called squads. The squads in turn are formed into brigades
or battalions and commanded by the superintendent and assistants.
The distribution of all prisoners is about the same as in a military
garrison, where a company of soldiers is divided into squads in
charge of a corporal and a sergeant.
The petty officer is responsible to the superintendent for the
deportment of the members of his squad. The general orders, which
are really regulations, are known by every colonist, and once a
month must be recited by him to his petty officer.
In the Philippine islands there are many more holidays than in the
United States, and on each of these holidays all work is suspended
and the colonists are allowed to engage in sports, church fiestas and
social intercourse. The American game of baseball is the principal
sport. There are four crack teams in the colony, among the players
being several American convicts. Each dry season the superintendent
gives a pennant to the winning team and a small sum of money to
be distributed among the players. The rivalry for the “flag” is

sometimes as keen as in some of the games between teams in the
United States.
The colonists have their own court, too, with the superintendent as a
supreme judge. He acts finally and independently of the lower or
convict court, but with one or two exceptions his action has always
confirmed that of the lower court.
At this court are tried such cases as the police report to the petty
officers. Last year there were 102 cases before this court, ninety-
four of which were minor, or for slight infraction of a rule. The
punishment meted out was generally a loss of gratuity and a mark
against the individual to be used against him for any future offenses.
In each of these the convict court sentenced the culprits to be
returned to Bilibid, and Superintendent Lamb approved their decision
and returned them. Six of the eight have since been sent back to the
colony at their request and on their promise of good behavior.
A bill appropriating $50,000 for a reformatory for women, and
authorizing the government to appoint a commission to secure plans
and specifications has been proposed in the Connecticut legislature.

DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS
[Abstract of Recent Article in The Outlook]
The undoubted presence among so-called juvenile delinquents of a
considerable number of mentally defective children, the utter lack of
proper institutions to which to commit such defectives and the
inadequate provision made for a timely discovery of such
defectiveness, were treated recently before the New York Academy
of Medicine by Mr. Ernest K. Coulter, clerk of the Children’s Court of
New York County. After calling attention to recent studies which
show that 33 per cent. of the inmates of Bedford Reformatory for
Women, and 39 per cent. of the inmates of Elmira Reformatory, are
said to be mentally defective, Mr. Coulter, out of his own experience
with 80,000 cases, adopted two per cent. as a conservative estimate
of the proportion of mentally defective children among the total of
those arraigned for conflict with the law.
This percentage would bring annually into the Children’s Court of
New York County alone, two hundred defective delinquents. Mr.
Coulter then stated that “while there are more than thirty institutions
to which the court in New York County can commit children, there is
not one where those of the mentally defective type can be sent on
legal commitments.” The only course open to the court, therefore, is
to thrust the mental defective into an ordinary reformatory
institution. In providing no other treatment for this type, “the state is
blind,” said Mr. Coulter, “to its cruelty to the child, the injustice to the
institution, and the menace to the community. In this blindness and
parsimony the state is thus sowing a continuous crop for its prisons
and alms houses. If the public cannot be aroused to the human
rights violated by this course, perhaps the money cost will one day
stir it from its lethargy.”

There is no adequate provision for even the discovery of such
deficiencies among those children who are taken into custody, said
Mr. Coulter. “If while these defectives were still children,” he
declared, “the causes of the abnormal mental condition which
predisposed them to prey on society could have been removed,
many of them would have been saved to useful citizenship. With
such cases the time for relief, if curative or ameliorating remedies
are possible, is in youth and at the first indication of criminal
tendencies. * * * The causes of the overwhelming tendencies that
array them against society may often be determined by pathological
and physiological and psychological examination. Such causes, for
instance, may be the existence of adenoids, which retard normal
development, render the child irritable and mentally lazy; they may
be the absence of thyroid glands, which brings about cretinism; they
may be due to hereditary syphilis, which often results in a lesion of
the brain. The children of this class are not responsible for the acts
that lead to their commitment to reformatories. Taken in childhood,
these causes may often be removed and the victim restored to
society a normal being. A correct diagnosis is absolutely essential.
Without a correct diagnosis no rational treatment is possible.”

AN INMATE’S STORY
It is a principle of evidence that the testimony of a witness with a
favorable bias is to be taken at a discount, whereas the admissions
of one with an unfavorable bias are of face value. Therefore, when
an ex-prisoner speaks good of the prison in which he has been
incarcerated, we listen with nearly full credence. Recently the
Philadelphia North American published the story of a forger who had
served his term in the state prison at Charlestown, Mass.
“That was a red-hot prison fifteen years ago,” says the North
American. “It was infamous as a hell on earth, from the
punishments, which included stringing up by the thumbs, the
humiliating paddle and the water cure by means of the fire hose
turned on the recalcitrant in his tiny cell, to the prisoners’ own
contribution to the pandemonium in the way of riots and stabbing
affrays. The discipline was as shamefully farcical as the prison
officials were brutal.”
Then the conscience of New England rebelled, continues the North
American. A change in wardens made General Benjamin F. Bridges
head of the institution and N. D. Allen deputy warden. These men
abolished all cruel and inhuman punishments, stopped regarding the
prisoners as they would wolves, treated them like men of “decent
honor and probity,” and established, in a word, the “friendship
system.” The spirit and atmosphere of the place changed.
The story of the treatment now accorded the prisoners in this
institution, as told by the time-expired forger mentioned above, is in
part as follows:
“The convict learns, the minute he enters, that the whole world is
not against him.

“‘I don’t care,’ Mr. Allen says to him, ‘what your past life has been.
We intend to take you as you are, and we’ll treat you as a man until
it is shown by your actions that our confidence is misplaced. Your
treatment here will rest entirely with you. We will give you every
help in our power to equip you for the struggle you will have to face
at the time of your release.’
“Can you conceive the effect of such an exordium on a man whose
spirit is sullen in its resentment against the society that has begun to
punish him? His feeling of antagonism vanishes. He realizes that no
needless humiliation awaits him. He is known by his name, not by a
number. He can wear his hair and beard as he chooses. He can
shave with his own razor—or he can go to the prison barber. There is
no lockstep march to mess. He quits work ten or fifteen minutes
before dinner and chats with his fellow-workmen as freely as if he
were on his job outside.
“Apart from the regular school there is a correspondence school
service, which teaches languages, mathematics, bookkeeping,
stenography, custom tailoring, designing, arts and crafts and
mechanical and electrical engineering. The convict can join the
prison band or orchestra, or take a course in painting, if his talent
inclines either way.
“There are two first-class baseball teams and Saturday afternoon in
the prison yard lets everybody loose to root as joyfully for his
favorite team, and as loudly, as if he’d paid his half dollar to chase
the pennant at home. During the winter, vaudeville and moving-
picture shows take place in the chapel, which I have known to be
completely darkened, simply on the word of honor of 860 convicts
that they would take no advantage of the gloom.
“The visits of friends are not the cruel mockeries of a steel screen
and a keeper’s open eye and ear. The prisoner can sit side by side
with his visitor and talk free of jealous watch, for a full hour. He is
permitted to buy luxuries—fruit, pies, candies, tobacco—and the
prison will take care of them for him so that they sha’n’t spoil. He
has his private bank account and can earn money by work for

himself after the regular hours. They can even trade among
themselves, by a special transfer system. When their private supplies
arrive—two and three tons some days—the prison office looks like a
grocery store.
“If a system has ever been devised which has succeeded in
transforming a convicted criminal into an honest man, this is the
one. There are very, very few men who go out of Charlestown prison
who, at the time, are not honest, law-abiding citizens.”
Once, when a visiting warden saw General Bridges’ convicts pass
him and his host, he remarked:
“Why, say, general, these men don’t look like prisoners. They walk
upright and look you straight in the face. I haven’t a man in my
penitentiary who doesn’t look hangdog.”
“They look at us like men,” rejoined Bridges, “because they feel like
men. And they feel like men because they are treated like men.”
“Oh, that may all be, general. I have men that stare at me
sometimes, too. But these prisoners actually smile and laugh at you.
Maybe they’re just feeling good. But what gets me most is that you
speak to them just as they do to you.”
That criticism took all the wind out of the general’s intellectual sails.
All he could do was to answer lamely:
“Why, my dear sir, if I didn’t speak to them they’d be offended.
They’d imagine I was angry over something.”

THE BOSTON NEWSBOYS’ TRIAL
BOARD
After four months of existence the Boston Newsboys’ Trial Board,
though still an experiment, is justifying its existence. A glance at its
nature and functions may be of interest.
It was formed to deal with newsboys under 14 years of age who
were charged with violation of the terms of their licenses. The
licensing of newsboys in Boston is entirely in the hands of the
Boston School Committee, and that body alone has power to revoke
such license. Therefore, under the former system, even after the
offending newsboy, with his parents, had been summoned before
the juvenile court and the heavy judicial machinery of complaint,
summons, service, investigation, hearing, and verdict had been
brought to bear on a trivial offense, before the boy’s license could be
revoked the finding of the court had to be reviewed and approved by
the school committee. This procedure took the boy away from
school, took his parents from their work, cast a stigma on the boy
and his family for having been called to court, and called for
activities out of proportion to the offense.
The Trial Board, devised to meet these conditions, is composed of
five members—two adults, appointed by the school committee, and
three newsboys, elected by the licensed newsboys in the Boston
schools. The only connection between the court and the Boston
Newsboys’ Club is that the latter offers two rooms for sitting of the
court, this circumstance operating, of course, to bring the tribunal
closer to the confidence of the boys themselves. The court sits once
a week—every Friday night at 7:30. An aggrieved newsboy has
previously brought his case before the clerk of the Trial Board, who
calls it to the attention of the judges, and if the case can be settled
without formal procedure against the accused, this is done.

Otherwise, the court will hear the testimony and render a verdict. In
effect, the court can, by way of punishment, revoke or suspend the
license of a guilty newsboy. As a matter of fact, it can only
recommend to the school committee that such action be taken, but
such is the confidence of the committee in the court that the
recommendations of the latter are always carried out. In cases
where the offender defies the Trial Board, the latter can, of course,
always fall back on the police and the juvenile court.
The Trial Board thus has power to do everything which the juvenile
court may do to the offender, except to fine him. Special
summonses, warrants and other court papers have been formulated
and printed for the Board. It is not part of the legally constituted
judicial machinery of the city or state, yet its findings have all the
weight of finality.
Since its organization ten years ago, the Prisoners’ Aid Association of
Washington, D. C., has benefited over 28,000 prisoners, 9,000 of
whom were returned to their homes. The records show that 90 per
cent. of those aided financially have returned every cent advanced to
them by the association, while the majority of the others were
unable to repay the association.
A recent report made by the parole officer of the Board of Public
Welfare of Kansas City, Mo., shows that 547 persons are paroled
from the workhouse and Leed’s Farm. These persons are earning an
average of $10 per week. All have been put at work except 70, and
of these 20 are too ill to be employed. The parole system is said to
be saving the city $392 a day.

IN THE PRISONERS’ AID FIELD
THE MARYLAND PRISONERS’ AID ASSOCIATION.
(Although the following article is an account of a single association,
it contains material of such general interest that it seemed desirable
to print it in full. The article appeared in the forty-first annual report
of the Prisoners’ Aid Association of Maryland, for the year ended
April 30, 1910.—The Editor)
The objects of the Prisoners’ Aid Association of Maryland are the
uplift and rehabilitation of the criminal.
When we consider that it is the only agency in the state whose
mission is that of giving aid to hundreds of discharged prisoners
each year and the only organized body equipped for the work of
systematically caring for offenders who are placed on probation by
the courts, we believe it important that information should be
carefully compiled by the Association upon the actual work that it is
doing and upon the larger subject of the treatment of the criminal.
Morrison has well said, “The supreme if not the only object of a
properly constituted penal system is to prevent the offender who has
been once convicted from repeating the offense,”—so the
importance of our work; but just as important are the methods used
in our penal systems in aiding rehabilitation of the prisoner.
Our prison and reformatory managements should stand in the same
relation to the violator of the law as does the management of our
insane hospitals to the inmates entrusted to their keeping.
The purpose of both is the protection of society; the aim of both
should be such treatment as will if possible rehabilitate the
unfortunate so that he may regain his position in society.

In the prisons and reformatories the inmates should be taught the
habits of industry and obedience to law and order, under humane
and strict discipline.
There should be a complete separation of the first offender and the
individual subject to reformation, from the weak-minded, physically
deformed, and old and confirmed criminals; a reformatory for boys
and first offenders, a separate prison for women and an industrial
school for girls, with a parole system in each of the institutions.
In many of our states, including our own, the definite sentence still
remains as a part of the criminal code, the prisoner being discharged
at the end of his sentence, less good time allowed.
Many of our states, however, are adopting the indeterminate
sentence with provisions that the prisoner may be released on
parole. There is a great difference in the attitude of the public
towards the individual released and known by society as a
discharged convict and the individual released on parole.
How fortunate the person who under the indeterminate sentence
has served one-third or one-half of his allotted time and by his
advancement in industrial training and education and obedience to
the rules of the institutions when he leaves on parole, with the
management back of him stating to his employer that it believes in
him and advises giving him a trial. The employer of labor will not
only give such a person a position when he comes so recommended,
but will take a friendly interest in the probationer and assist him to
regain his lost position in society.
The recommendation handed by the prison management to a man
the day he is discharged from the institution under the old law of
fixed sentences bears for the critical eye the inscription of dishonor,
doubt, discouragement.
The recommendation of the management given to a man released
under a parole system bears the words of confidence, faithfulness
and obedience to the laws and regulations of the institution. It is
only natural that the person vouched for in this manner will receive

consideration at the hands of the public while the person who has
only the reputation of being a discharged convict and who has paid
the penalty must move on.
The life of men when they come to the Home of the association at
334 St. Paul street, is made as simple and as homelike as possible.
They rise at 5:30; hours for meals are:—breakfast 6, dinner 12,
supper 5:30. At 10:15 the lights are out and the doors are closed.
Everybody is supposed to be in at this hour.
Each guest of the Home must make his own bed and assist in
cleaning up the Home before breakfast.
At 7:30 each man not employed must be ready for the position
secured for him by the employment secretary.
Smoking is allowed in the reading room of the Home; no cigarette
smoking, however, is allowed. No profane or obscene conversation is
tolerated. No person is allowed in the Home with the odor of
intoxicants on his breath or who is in an intoxicated condition. No
loafing is permitted in the Home.
We have a library, with books and periodicals, where the men may
read after supper and on Sundays.
All men who are temporarily making this their Home are urged to
attend religious services on Sunday at such place of worship as they
may choose. All of the men are invited to attend the weekly religious
services held at the Home, but they are not compelled to do this.
The food given the men is plain but substantial and wholesome, well
prepared, and there is no limit as to the amount for each man.
The religious and literary meetings held on Tuesday and Friday
evenings of each week in the assembly room of the Home have
done much for the uplift and rehabilitation of the unfortunate men
who have come to us. These meetings have grown in favor until the
attendance at times has been seventy-five; our total attendance for
the year reached two thousand five hundred and eighty; the number

who asked for prayer at these meetings was four hundred and sixty-
two.
In finding employment for those who come to us the adaptability of
the men or women for some particular trade, clerkship or
housework, is always taken into consideration, as we feel that it is
much better to have people working in their special line of work than
to be attempting something with which they are not acquainted. We
also try as far as possible to see that the environment where we
place them to work is of the best.
We have been greatly assisted in placing these men by the co-
operation of the employers of labor in the city, for which we are very
grateful. Without the help and good-will of those who employ labor
it would be almost impossible for us to secure positions for them.
We have placed many of our men in positions of responsibility and
trust, and their employers speak of them in the highest terms.
Maryland was one of the first states of the Union to adopt a system
of probation for first offenders, and its juvenile court has
accomplished splendid results. The operation of the system for adult
probation is yet to be worked out along correct lines.
The Prisoners’ Aid Association hopes that probation of adult
prisoners by the courts will be more extensively used. Much good is
now being accomplished along this line by the courts recognizing the
services of the association in acting as parole agent for the adult
offender. We are now frequently asked by the courts to make a
careful study of a case on hand before the prisoner is sentenced.
When a man has been paroled we endeavor to find him suitable
employment, better his home conditions, if possible, and wield a
helpful and friendly influence over him, having him make to us
monthly reports regularly until such time as the courts deem
advisable to give him his final discharge.
Prisoners convicted of embezzlement or larceny are often paroled on
condition that they pay back the amount of the theft in instalments.

We hope that the parole system will be extended throughout the
state, and believe that when its benefits are more fully understood
the system will become general.
The Association provides religious services for the inmates of the
House of Correction and Baltimore City Jail, representatives of all
denominations assisting in making these meetings interesting and
instructive. It is estimated that not less than 12,000 unfortunate
men and women pass through these two institutions each year.
The proper observation of religious services and the doing of
personal work in the institutions of the state bring to those of the
respective faiths a power for good which nothing else can bring.
Such work systematically carried forward is the greatest factor in our
penal system for the reformation and uplift of this class of our
neglected and unfortunate citizens.
Resume of Year’s Work.—Number placed on probation, 265; number
terms expired, 151; leaving a balance on probation April 30, 1910,
114; estimated wages earned by men on parole, $36,395; number
of women on parole April 30, 1910, 7; number of night lodgings
given at the Home, 5,631; number of meals furnished, 17,532.
Applications for assistance received at the Home for the year as
follows:
From the Baltimore City Jail, 186; from Maryland House of
Correction, 133; from Maryland Penitentiary, 22; from probationers,
15; from miscellaneous, 21; total 377.
Work of the Employment Department.—Families visited, 32;
temporary employment found, 221; firms interviewed, 74; men
interviewed in Baltimore City Jail, 927; men interviewed in Maryland
Penitentiary, 10; paroles interviewed, 45; visits made for
investigations, 41; total, 1,353.
Receipts from all sources, $9,260.28; Expenditures (see Treasurer’s
report), $8,647.04; balance on hand and in bank May 1, 1910,
$613.24.

SOME INTERESTING THINGS IN
VIRGINIA.
As compared with 864 whippings administered to prisoners in the
Virginia penitentiary during the first eight months of 1909, only 133
were administered during the corresponding period in 1910,
according to the second annual report of the Board of Charities and
Corrections of that state. The report states that this more humane
administration has resulted in greatly improving the discipline of the
institution.
It is one of the duties of the board to visit paroled prisoners, though
lack of money has hindered this phase of the work.
Recommendations looking to an improvement in the present parole
system will be made to the next General Assembly. During the year
ended September 30, 1910, the parole work of the board was as
follows:
No. paroled prisoners reported to Board 270
No. investigated 161
Dead 4
Satisfactory 90
Unsatisfactory 46
Returned to the Penitentiary 3
Ran away from employers 13
Failed to report to employers 5
The Board favors the establishment of a home for inebriates, for
whom no state provision is made at present. Seventy-five inebriates
and drug fiends are cared for yearly in hospitals for the white insane,
at a cost of $9,000 per annum.

The Board finds a need of larger co-operation between the persons
in charge of institutions for delinquent and dependent children, of
which there are 49 in the state. Studies of the causes of juvenile
destitution and of the amount of juvenile defectiveness have been
undertaken by the Board. An investigation of 31,640 school children
in the state revealed that 17,830, or 56 per cent. of those examined,
were more or less defective, either physically or mentally.
WORK OF A MUNICIPAL PAROLE BOARD
The board of pardons and paroles of Kansas City, Mo., has issued the
following summary of its work during the period from January 1,
1909, to April 13, 1910:
Total persons sent to work house, 3,202; white men paroled, 770;
white women paroled, 47; colored men paroled, 267; colored
women paroled, 25. Total number paroled, 1,109. Number re-
arrested and returned to work house for violation, 114; amount paid
through this office for the support of families, $2,975.67.
The board of pardons and paroles, which was created by an
ordinance of the city of Kansas City, began its duties about January
1, 1907. It consists of three members, unpaid, who are appointed by
the mayor. It has a paid secretary. It is the duty of the board to
recommend that paroles be granted to misdemeanants convicted in
the municipal court and sent to the work house, whenever, in their
judgment, such parole seems wise. The mayor must grant the
parole. Paroles may be revoked, however, at the discretion of the
secretary of the board.
Paroled prisoners are asked to make written reports to the board
once a week. A man who fails to report is notified by mail, and if he
continues delinquent in this respect, his case is handed over to a
parole officer. The board employs one investigator and one parole
officer.

The board has under its direction a municipal farm of 135 acres,
which is used in both the physical and moral rehabilitation of a
number of the paroled men.
YEAR’S WORK OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
SOCIETY
During the year ended Nov. 30, 1910, 2,114 male offenders who had
served terms of imprisonment varying from eight days to twelve
years, in the prisons of Massachusetts, were aided in their efforts to
regain in society a place that would provide for their future support,
according to a report recently issued by George E. Cornwall, agent
for the Massachusetts Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts. One
thousand and thirty-one of these men from the Massachusetts
reformatory and 457 from the Prison Camp and Hospital at Rutland,
were assisted as follows: Railroad fares to homes or places of
employment, $1,996.67; board while seeking work, $2,420.24;
clothing, $1,284.01; tools, $194.65; miscellaneous purposes, $32.75;
total, $5,928.42. One hundred and sixty-three men from the state
prison, 129 of whom came out last year, were aided as follows:
Railroad fares, $352.34; board and family stores, $1,021.20;
clothing, $353.31; tools, $100.21; miscellaneous, $33.50; total,
$1,860.56. In addition to these who were aided from the state
appropriations, 463 others, released from the jails, houses of
correction, state farm, and in two cases United States prisoners,
have been helped from the funds of Society for Aiding Discharged
Convicts, at an expense to that society of $1,690.12.
Of the 129 men released from the state prison last year, 5 have been
returned for other offences. Four of the 5 are known to be
intemperate. The report contains the following suggestion:
“Fortunately, but a small percentage of the men released from state
prison or the Massachusetts Reformatory use liquor to an extent that
interferes with their ability to earn a living. There is, however, a very

large number constantly coming out of the jails and houses of
correction and from the state farm who by their habits of
intemperance are deprived of employment and are ever shifting from
place to place. If a permanent home could be established for these
unfortunate human derelicts, where they could not obtain liquor, and
where they would be obliged to live indefinitely, doing such work as
might be provided by intelligent overseers, I believe it would tend
much to purify our cities. The money that is expended for their
repeated arrests and conviction, under the present plan of dealing
with them, would be saved; and this, with what labor they might
learn to do, would contribute towards their support. Furthermore,
the existence of such a resort might tend to keep away some of the
undesirable population who now gather in the cities in constantly
increasing numbers.”
DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS AND THE NEW
YORK ASSOCIATION
The New York Times printed recently the following:
The Prison Association of New York is taking up the study of
mentally deficient criminals, and has appointed several committees
to inquire into what can be done to deal with their cases. An average
of nearly four out of ten inmates of Elmira Reformatory are below
the ordinary standard of intelligence and are not able to take
advantage of the institution, but there is no place to which they can
be sent except such establishments as Dannemora State Hospital for
the Insane, where association with hardened criminals will destroy
all hope of their reformation. The Prison Association believes that
special institutions should be established for the delinquents.
At a meeting of the Committee on Defective Delinquents, held last
Thursday, a letter from Dr. Frank Christian, senior physician of the
Elmira Reformatory, was read, in which it was stated:

Daily contact with our inmates must impress one that a large
proportion are far below a normal status. Our examinations show 39
per cent. mentally defective and 70 per cent. below a normal
physical standard. We have always made allowance for these
defectives and have excused their failures in school and overlooked
their shortcomings in deportment. The superintendent of the
reformatory has recommended that a law be passed at the present
session of the Legislature allowing us to transfer the imbeciles to a
custodial asylum. They really have no place in a reformatory, and are
a hindrance to its work for the brighter boys.
Dr. Robert E. Lamb, Superintendent of Matteawan State Hospital for
the Insane, has also written to the Prison Association stating that
certain cases under his care are “practically on the border line
between criminal and lunatic, sometimes with intermixing of the
two,” and declaring that proper study of this class of criminals would
be of service to the commonwealth. Dr. North, Superintendent of the
Dannemora State Hospital for the Insane, in advocating a thorough
study of the delinquent, especially the adolescent delinquent, from
this point of view, has said:
“From time to time we receive patients from the reformatories who
are so defective that they could not by any possibility enter the
reformatory routine and benefit by it. As they are under sentence,
there is no place for them but this institution, but here they meet
more hardened criminals, and while we can improve their condition
in some ways, their stay in a hospital of this character should not be
prolonged. Had they been recognized as defective at the time of
trial, as it would seem that they should have been, they could have
been more suitably provided for elsewhere.”
At the meeting of the Prison Association’s Committee, Joseph P.
Beyers, ex-Superintendent of the House of Refuge, Randall’s Island,
argued that every juvenile reformatory should have expert advice
available on the mental development of its inmates, and Ernest K.
Coulter, clerk of the Children’s Court, and Thomas D. Walsh,

Superintendent of the Children’s Society, gave information of the
work done for defective children.
WORK OF THE “HOPPER HOME.”
An interesting feature of the work of “The Women’s Prison
Association,” New York, is the “Hopper Home,” situated at 110
Second avenue. The first “Home” of the Association was opened in
June, 1845, “as a place of shelter for liberated female prisoners.” It
was before the day of the sewing machine and ready-made clothing
was not thought of in those days. This was the main industry. The
association was very poor and at one time had but two cents in the
treasury. It was then that Miss Catherine M. Sedgwick, the first
director, said: “Well, Mrs. Gibbons, I think even you will be ready to
give up now.”
But Mrs. Gibbons answered, “When you are ready to give up, I am
ready to take up,” and she went out that afternoon and raised
eighteen hundred dollars, with which she stocked workroom and
larder. From that time there was no talk of “giving up.”
For many years the main source of income has been the laundry.
The treatment of inmates consists of work in the laundry as soon as
possible, good food and general hygienic care. When a woman
applies for admission, the understanding is that she shall give a
month’s labor to the institution. At the end of that time she is
generally in good condition and is sent out to service, preferably to
the country. Often she remains in her place for many months and
sometimes even for years, returning from time to time to make
additions to her bankbook, the policy being to encourage such thrift.
That the habit of drink is a disease requiring prolonged treatment is
an accepted fact in these days, and it is for this reason that the
“Women’s Prison Association” has obtained by act of legislature an
appropriation for a state farm for women misdemeanants over thirty
years of age. It hopes, by outdoor work, medical attendance and

good food to make many of them self-respecting as well as self-
supporting members of society.
The average amount earned by eighty-eight women during the year
previous to their entrance to the “Home” was $91.37. The average
amount the same women are capable of earning per year is $207.36.
Our sixty-sixth Annual Report presents full statistics of our work.
SARAH H. EMERSON.
SOME RESULTS AT BEDFORD (NEW YORK
STATE) REFORMATION FOR WOMEN.
What has been accomplished with a thousand girls committed to her
institution is shown in the Survey for Feb. 18, 1911, by Katherine B.
Davis, superintendent of the New York State Reformatory for
women, situated at Bedford. Miss Davis prefaces her article with the
following statement: “Now, there is nothing quite so difficult to
measure in figures as change in character. We can say how many
have kept their parole; how many we know have been re-arrested;
of how many we know the whereabouts and believe them to be
doing well; but the changes in character, the establishment of higher
ideals, the doing of more efficient work as a result of the training
received, these things can never be measured.” This inability to
measure results is regarded by Miss Davis as the weak point in our
reformatory system.
The first of the 1,000 commitments dealt with by Miss Davis was
received at Bedford May 11, 1901; the last November 26, 1909. The
percentage of foreign born is 29.1, of whites born in the United
States 52.7, and of colored born in the United States 18.2. Twenty-
two and one-tenth per cent. were committed for misdemeanors,
26.4 per cent. for felonies, and 51.5 per cent. for other offences,
such as being a common prostitute, habitual drunkenness, etc.

So much for the nature of the thousand cases. In November, 1910,
the disposition which had been made of these cases was as follows:
Paroled 668
Still in institution 111
Escaped 3
Died in institution 12
Transferred 47
Deported 16
Served entire term 80
Discharged by court 63
It will be noted that 668 out of the thousand cases have been
paroled. The status of these 668 in November, 1910, was as follows:
On parole 110
Discharged, having done well 393
Violated parole, not found 52
Broke parole and returned 102
Transferred to Auburn Prison while on parole 1
Discharged by court while on parole 2
Died on parole 8
Immorality has been the largest single cause of violation of parole. A
comparison of those placed with their families and those placed in
positions at the time of their parole shows that the percentage of
the former who violate their paroles is twice as great as that of the
latter. This is not surprising when it is reflected that if home
conditions had been what they should be, the girl might not have
come to the reformatory in the first place.
The following table shows the present status of the 393 girls who did
well on parole and received their discharges:
Known to be doing well 127
Known to have criminal record 38

Known to have been immoral 53
Known to drink 9
Dead 12
Whereabouts unknown 154
The occupations of those who are doing well are as follows:
Married (44 since leaving here) 58
Dressmakers 3
Keep house for members of family 3
Assist at home 6
Nurse 1
Office clerks 2
Salvation Army officer 1
Laundry 1
In sanatorium in poor health 1
Attendant Institution 1
Piano accompanist 1
Factory operatives 6
Saleswomen 5
Domestic service 38
In conclusion Miss Davis points out that one reason why the results
are not more satisfactory than they are is the fact that the period of
legal control which the reformatory has over a girl is fixed at three
years. In the case of a girl of the worse sort it may be over two
years before the reformatory can begin to exercise an influence over
her. The period of its after-supervision is then inadequate to secure
effective results. The reformatory should be allowed, Miss Davis
thinks, at least one year of after-supervision, no matter what the
length of confinement may be.

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