Behind Bars

Warden Lewis Edward Lawes of Sing Sing Prison was in London last week inspecting Scotland Yard. Consequently the nation's most publicized penologist was not on hand to celebrate the initial appearance of a monthly magazine called Prison Life Stories, of which he was billed as editor.

Prison Life Stories seemed to be trying to do two mutually exclusive things at once. In "A Dedication" Warden Lawes soberly hoped that "those who are interested in a more rational approach to the problems engendered by delinquency will more clearly understand its many aspects. ... As a result of our efforts, I trust that the public will be more fully enlightened on the subject of crime, and thereby able to formulate definite policies concerning that important social question." Farther back in the magazine Publisher Theodore Epstein, who runs a printing plant, took a more sensational tack by advertising: "SING SING . . . ALCATRAZ . . . JOLIET . . . SAN QUENTIN. Do these names and others, mean anything to you? A quarter of a million men and women are behind the bars today of Federal, State, County and City jails or reformatories. Their true stories comprise a veritable book of Arabian Nights for romance, adventure, love, excitement, passion, bravery, thrills and courageous sacrifice. These stories are being written for WARDEN LEWIS E. LAWES. . . ."

This dual aim to inform readers solemnly on the problem of crime & punishment, and at the same time raise their hair with tales of gangster grue ran through 100 pages of Prison Life Stories. Director Sanford Bates of the U. S. Bureau of Prisons contributed an earnest description of "Our Island Fortress, Alcatraz." Two pages later came a lurid account of "Ohio's 'Bathtub Crime,' " complete with a provocative sketch of a murdered woman in the nude. Cheek by jowl with a learned discussion of "Scientific Crime Detection" from Assistant Superintendent H. J. Martin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was the life story of Los Angeles' Thomas M. White, the "Rattlesnake Bandit." John J. Bennett, "New York State's Fighting Attorney General," sounded the war cry against "Commercial Racketeering," while in the penny dreadful manner Editor Lawes himself began a novel about New York City's criminal classes entitled "Legal Larceny."

On Page 8 Chief J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation observed: "The average layman likes to believe that he could be an expert in solving crimes. But as with any other profession, only a small percentage of those who rate themselves qualified are fitted for criminal investigation." On Page 72, an old-fashioned advertisement urged: BE A DETECTIVE Earn big money Work home or travel Experience unnecessary

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