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Show lBfl PlS " n ONE ; j Reforms Urged in Penal Institutions; In-stitutions; Joliet Called the "Very Worst." NEW YORK. Dec. 11. Thomas Mott Obborne, prison reformer, recently eu-trayed eu-trayed in lnterviewiiig former prisoners, ' guards and assistant wardens in JolU-t I'ridon, caiied by convicts the "no man's land'' of Illinois, with a view to ending a!lei;ed abuses there, has started a na-tiou-wido campaian to put each of the fifty-nine state prisons and five federal penitentiaries "upon a humane basis," , it was announced here tonight. '. The fortune of a wealthy ex-convlct ' "known from one end of the country to the other;" a man of Influence in Washington, but who for the present is mentioned only as the "arav brother," is j said to have been placed at the disposal i ! of Mr. Osborne to finance his venture. Sixteen hundred former prison inmates ! now in New York City, all of whom are with reputable firms, and Jiving , , "straight," are devoting their attention : 1 to the crusade. Joliet is described by I them as "the worst institution in the I country" and they say it is known in ! the underworld as a ton to one place, i meaning that the chances are ten to j ; one that if a convict comes out alive he 1 i will be so badly broken in health and ! spirit he will be unable to earn a living. 1 j Osborne, it was said, is In contact with i i in,vflO former convicts throughout the 1 United tales, who have belonged to prison mutual welfare leagues, the organization or-ganization he started when he was warden war-den at Sing Sing in opposition to the old time "honor system," These freed men, now organized in what la known as tho Gray Brotherhood, who have re- , deemed themselves and many of whom 1 now are holding responsible positions in the business world, are cooperating with Osborne. The prisons which, it Is said, will be Investigated after the "clean-up" of Joliet will be Moyamensing, where the solitary system is still in vogue; Trenton, N. J., Clinton, known as the "Siberia of New York," and Wethersfield, Conn. |