THE COURTS' RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRISON REFORM

In practice, it is indicated, the courts' responsibility for prison reform is limited to the adjudication of such cases as prisoners, or perhaps wardens, may present. But if the courts are to serve with honor, they must say what they expect the prisons to do, & try to make them do it. The limitations of prisoners' suits & the courts' relationship to the prisons are discussed. It is suggested that, if the courts are to fulfill their responsibility for prison reform by making their sentences more effective, there are 2 efforts in which they should engage: (a) The courts must recognize that the warden is a part of the court's business & review his assertion that something is "necessary" in the light of a prisoner's assertion that it is not "necessary." The court must also define what it expects the prison as its agency to achieve. (b) A self-respecting judicial branch has the re sponsibility to ask for means & instruments to combat ineffective functioning of the prison system if public loss of confidence in the judicial process is to be avoided. The state Supreme Court might petition the legislative & executive branches to appropriate funds & otherwise act so as to improve the prisons. Efforts undertaken in Pa, where the Supreme Court has most extraordinary power over the lower courts, are discussed. The courts thus far, rather than looking, have too often tended to close their eyes. M. Maxfield.