Word: van
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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LoPresti also made plain his views on penology. "Everybody seems to agree that the institution there (Framingham) is in an awful mess. But, they all add,what can you do about it?" he complained. He had opposed Dr. Van Waters' methods "in legislative hearings and from the floor of the Senate," but "no previous Commissioner has dared to differ with Dr. Van Waters. Even members of the legislature kowtow to her." LePresti's interest in Framingham was hardly limited to an investigation of the suicide. He felt that the Reformatory was a sinkhole of immorality and favoritism...
...Senator said that McDowell, who had taken office three months previously, was not going to be another cringing Commissioner. McDowell had responded to LoPresti's pressure by sending Deputy Commissioner Dwyer out right away to "probe all phases of this crime," as LoPresti put it. McDowell also opposed Dr. Van Waters' methodology, LoPresti claimed, and the new Commissioner's LoPresti claimed, and the new Commissioner's record indicated that he had been trained in more traditional ways of running reformatories...
Dwyer made a quick investigation of Framingham, without bothering to keep in touch with the reformatory officials. He interrogated inmates privately, and Dr. Van Waters testified last month that his questions were "shocking" and reduced many girls to tears. He had asked "indecent questions" about the relationships between inmates, officers, and workers. In one instance, Dwyer questioned a released inmate who was so drunk and drugged when he talked to her that later she couldn't remember what she had said. Dwyer's report was handed to McDowell, who passed it on to Governor Bradford early in the summer...
...June 4, the Commissioner Began to lay down his own concept of reformatory work to Dr. Van Waters. He sent her a number of directives that severely cut into her rehabilitation program. Dwyer complained that new inmates shouldn't be told they are "students" when they enter. That was falsifying their legal status, he said. According to the McDowell Dwyer concept, inmates were prisoners, and must be treated accordingly. That meant no special treatment of special cases (which to Dwyer looked like favoritism) and no liberal graduation of inmates back into society (which looked like dangerous laxity regarding "hardened criminals...
...apparently unwilling to leave investigations up to the Department of Correction. By June 15, he had persuaded the Legislature to set up a commission to look into Framingham. This commission subsequently gave him considerable trouble. He claimed that the three non-legislative members appointed by the Governor were pro-Van Waters, and intent on whitewashing her administration. The commission met a couple of times and visited Framingham, but refused to give LoPresti's accusations any support. In November, the commission decided that the new Legislature would have to finish the job. Over LoPresti's violent protests, Dr. Van Waters...