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. ~~ “SPRKERS..CLUB OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON: In 1943 an organiza~ tion was formed in San Quentin Prison by a group of mon and named the "Scckora Club*, Purposs ef the clud ia to “promote the solf-bettor~ ment of men in prison"; to render mutual help through open ciccuscione The group claims to be “seeking the truth" about themselvcs. Somoe- times they are quite brutal with each otner in pointing out their Gefects and weaknesses. Truth ane honesty is éenanded; a man must admit he is rishtfully in prisen, prying his cebt to society, in order to be oa mower. uelf-pity is shunned and tho ultimate air to tha group is to help a fellowman straighten out his slant on life so that when he gets out he will havs a better chance of gotting on with his neighbors, of living correctly in society. One of the founders writcs, We admit that our program will “not make honest men out of cach and cvsry momber, but we firmly boliove that a certain percontage of them will nevor again cross swords with the law. In tho final ayalysis thoy have discovered. thomselves to be their own worst onenies,. " ; My offico was invited to send a representative to attend the Saturday afternoon meetings of the club. Sevoral ceputies and mysolf have attended on various occasions. There are about 200 mom- bors; betweon 6O and 80 attending the weekly weotings. The invitation was issucd to my office so that we might become acquainted with tho club's plan for reducing juvenile colinquoncy. She Seckors Clud has sugcested that every Juvenile offend- er de unofficially sentenced to onc cay in San Quontin. He should be taken on a ccmpl:te tour through tic prison, shown the grim realities of prison lifc, the drab, tiresoms, ciscouragin:, cepressing routine; he woule soe th? cells whero the mon live, would seo death row and the gas chamber, Syccially selected nembers of the Seckors Clud would go i on the tour, vould attompt to quictly implant in the young minc the : \ ‘@ismal horrors, the hopclesanese of a life of crimo; the sacrifice of freedom woule be umphasized, Selected men who have served fiftoen and . twenty years boline bars would address the youths along the samo vein. ( I have @iscussed this mattor with sovernl psycholosists, and. although the plan has nerit, £¢ also has potentialitiss for harn, in their opinion, They agros that the offect of such 2 visit woulda vary greatly with the individual juvenile, With somo juveniles it would ve just the right thing. To others the shock to thoir nervous system, through such s morbic scen., would be harmful, : . In tho scesnd part of their program tho club makos tho further surncestion that evory sinsle parent involvec in a divorco ac~ tion be brought to San Quentin for a visit, ‘iet thorn talk to these products of broken hones, lct thei hear how lack of parontal guidance, lack of normal home life, knocked these men off the beam, lanced them in here 1" ; : Tre meetings of this club wore intorosting, instructive. Each meeting is presided over by a cifferent momber, A plan of char- acter analysis by chart has boon doveloncd. I am improszed vy tho sincerity of these nen, believe they aro working hard to accomplich the sims anc purposes of the clud, and are eonscquently reclaimin: some who hnve been scnt to the penitcntiar;. GANG ACTIVIE¥: One gang in San Francisco has been causing troudle curing the 9ant four yours. Their criminal recerds and histor- fes were cxamined. There ave 37 members of thic gane, aged between 18 anc 36 years; about a dozen are fonales, typical "“zanzster molls". The crimes committed run all the way from crimes of a less scrious nature to murder. Nost of the memoers of tiis ganz live in the Mission Dis- trict, and most of their criminal activities take place in that eis- trict. Only vigilant an‘ unceasing police surveillance keop the pre- dations of this gan; from being more outrageous. Wo attempted te learn why these persons coulan't be rehad- ilitatac, One invéstizator whe has watehec this gang operate reported to nes "they are all phonics", They don't want to work. Tisy want to be big-time criminals, Their cesign of living is predicated upon rob= 8. we A ee