eavoring not only to
crystalize my own views as to the prisons but to get others to turn their
thoughts in the same direction.

Finally came an appointment by Governor Sulzer to a State Commission on
Prison Reform, suggested to the Governor by Judge Riley, the new
Superintendent of Prisons. My position as chairman of the Commission made
it seem desirable, if not necessary, to inform myself to the utmost as to
the inner conditions of the prisons and the needs of the inmates. I do not
mean that it was necessary to reinvestigate the material aspect of the
prisons--it is known already that the conditions at Sing Sing are
barbaric, and those at Auburn medieval--but that it was desirable to get
all possible light regarding the actual effect of the System as a whole,
or specific parts of it, upon the prisoners.

I began to feel, therefore, that the time had come to carry out the plan
which had been so long in the background of my mind. I discussed it long
and earnestly with a certain dear friend, who gave me needed
encouragement; the Superintendent of Prisons and the Warden at Auburn
approved; and, last but not least, an intelligent convict in whom I
confided thought it a decidedly good idea. None of us, to be sure,
realized the way in which the thing was actually to work out. It became a
much more vital and far-reaching experiment than we had any of us expected
or could have dared to hope. We were not prepared for the way in which the
imaginations of many people, both in and out of prison, were to be
touched and stimulated.

Originally I had intended to enter the prison in disguise. In that way I
thought one could learn the most, as one would stand a much better chance
of seeing the System in its normal working order. Upon mature reflection,
however, this idea was given up. The Warden felt strongly that there would
be danger of the best possible disguise being penetrated where so many
pairs of sharp eyes were on the watch; and I agreed with him that in such
event I could not avoid being set down as a spy by both officers and
prisoners, and my real object fatally misunderstood. The little additional
knowledge I might secure by being unknown would not pay for the danger of
complete failure. In this conclusion the intelligent convict joined, for
he had pointed out from the first that, while there were certain obvious
disadvantages in being known, yet there were also certain advantages great
enough to more than counterbalance.