In an interview in the New York Sun, O. F. Lewis, general secretary of the prison association of New York, said recently: “The principal prison needs of this State are a separate cell for each prisoner in State prisons, employment for eight hours a day for all able-bodied men in State prisons, the marketing of all prison-made products in this State to the State and its political subdivisions, such as counties and cities; the introduction and development of industries in our county penitentiaries and jails; the centralization of administration of our penitentiaries and jails under a proper department of the State; the abolition of idleness and filth in many of our jails; the development of the women’s farm and the farm colony for vagrants and tramps; the creation of a separate institution or separate wings of an existing institution for feeble-minded criminals, not the insane criminals--and other things too numerous to mention. “They had just such a jail situation in England thirty years ago, when the State took over all the local prisons, that correspond to our county jails. To-day all these institutions are under the management of the prison commissioners of England, a body that no one would think of accusing of the least bit of graft, and the institutions are run with regard to the rights of the prisoner and the welfare of society. That is our great need--that the state should manage the correctional institutions within its borders through boards of managers, at least in part.” FOOTNOTE: [1] Abridged from the last issue of the society’s publication, “The First Friend.” EVENTS IN BRIEF [Under this heading will appear each month numerous paragraphs of general interest, relating to the prison field and the treatment of the delinquent.] _Going to School at Charlestown, Mass._--The Hartford, Conn., Times, tells of a summer school for illiterate prisoners which was started this season by Benjamin F. Bridges, warden of the state prison at Charlestown, Mass. A school has existed in the state prison for many years, but it was Warden Bridges who placed it upon a practical basis, such as has made it a power for good. In the correspondence school, as in the other, the teachers are all prisoners. As soon as a man is sent to the prison and has become accustomed to his surroundings he is interviewed by one of the teachers to ascertain if he wishes to study and improve his mind while in prison. If he does, he is given an application blank, and he fills out the list of studies he wishes to pursue. If there is doubt as to his ability to enter some classes he has a private examination by the teacher in elementary subjects. If he shows ability to enter the correspondence school he receives material and lesson blanks, and works out his exercises in his own cell in his spare time, sending his answers to the school office. There his work is carefully inspected, and if it is satisfactory new work is sent to him.