The Reform School With No Prison Walls

Situated about a mile south of Chehalis are the beautiful grounds and buildings of the State Reform School. No frowning prison walls are here to constantly remind an inmate that he is regarded as an enemy of society and cannot be trusted out in the free, open air, but all bright sunshine and pleasant surroundings. Thomas P. Westendorf, who presides over the destinies of the school, has his own ideas of what a reform school should be, and any visitor to the Washington state school must feel that here is a man fitted by nature and education for such a trust. Perfect discipline prevails, at the same time there is an air of freedom about the place which rather suggests some splendidly conducted private school than a state institution of restraint. In many Eastern reform schools watch towers are erected and armed guards pace up and down high stone walls to prevent escapes. Here, boys sent to the school as incorrigibles are made night watchmen and given other positions of trust and responsibility, and not in a single case since the school was opened has a boy betrayed any trust reposed in him by Prof. Westendorf. Regular hours of work, study and recreation, with all the elements of his better and higher nature appealed to and developed, has sent over a hundred boys paroled from this school out on the world with firm resolves to do right, and with a sort of test at least, developing into good citizens and worthy members of society. Without the high training and environment developed through the school, many of these boys would undoubtedly have become criminals, and a source of endless expense to the state. Since the opening of the school many boys have been received, and of these some are now out on parole, reporting every month by letter to Prof. Westendorf until they reach the age of 21 years. After a sojourn under the eye of Prof. Westendorf the boys go out into the world with new ideas of life and, in many cases, they are so changed they can hardly be recognized as the same boys. About fifty young girls have been received into the institution, who are under the direct control of the matron, Mrs. Westendorf. About twenty young girls have been paroled, and all of them are leading good lives, some of them married and others being taken into good families. No praise can be too great for the thorough and efficient manner in which Mrs. Westendorf performs the duties of her department.

When a boy is first received into the school he is given a complete change of clothing and introduced to the bath house, which is fitted up with shower and swimming baths, and then he is allowed to fall into the regular round of duties and recreations, which he does very naturally. He is not bullied or browbeaten, but is kindly talked to and given to understand that he is there for his own good and that he will be treated like a man if he acts like one. To have to deal with a level-headed, sensible man who has at the same time a kind and firm nature is generally a new experience for the boys, and their manhood being appealed to, they rise at once in their own estimation. If they show the proper disposition they are soon trusted away on messages and allowed other privileges compatible with proper discipline. If a boy presumes on the consideration shown him he is brought up with a short turn and seldom needs a second warning. Prof. Westendorf does not believe in making martyrs of boys in the minds of their companions by dressing them up in some costume of disgrace or other methods which are sometimes used in a harsher way. No boy can possibly become a hero in the eyes of his companions by reason of the punishment inflicted for any transgression of rules, for no boy is too big to receive a good, sound spanking if the occasion seems to demand it, and that utterly annihilates any pretension he may have had to be considered a hero.

There are several buildings on the grounds for the accommodation of the officers and inmates, and a farm in connection is worked by the boys, who thus become practical farmers. All the clothing, shoes and stockings worn by the boys are made by themselves, and thus a big bill of expense saved the state. Almost all the minor improvements about the place are done by the boys, who are in healthy condition of mind and body by the rotation of exercise in the field, workshop, school room and playground. Boys are employed in subordinate positions of trust and allowed small salaries in some cases. They are not paid money, but in state warrants, which are held in trust for them until they are discharged, when they start out in the world with some money, and in almost every case make good use of it. The board of trustees consists of John Dobson, of Chehalis; Henry Drum, of Tacoma, and W. V. Rinehart, of Seattle. Dr. T. J. Sullivan, of Chehalis, is physician. Speaking of the state reform school a member of the recent legislature said: 'The money spent by the state in keeping up this institution has, I am satisfied, been saved to the state in making good citizens out of boys who, without such training as they receive, would soon develop into criminals, to say nothing about saving the boys themselves from a life of crime.'

The first girl paroled is married and has a pleasant farm home in Kansas. She writes bright and thankful letters to Mrs. Westendorf, whom she regards as her mother. Letters are constantly being received from former inmates, breathing gratitude for the care and instruction received, and hope for the future to otherwise darkened lives. There is probably no reform school in the world for which more can be justly said in the way of praise than that of Washington at the present time.