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University Daily Kansan Friday, Oct. 26.1962
The Prison Controversy
This time, it is the Democrats who are on the offensive. Dale Saffels, Democratic candidate for governor, raised the issue when he disclosed that a woman was released from custody after becoming pregnant while in prison.
Prisons and the handling of prisoners have become issues again in the Kansas gubernatorial race.
Two years ago, Gov. John Anderson—now on the defensive—was benefited by widespread criticism of ex-Gov. Docking's handling of pardons.
GOV. ANDERSON recently criticized Saffels for offering what he termed no constructive program and for "continual harassment and picking at little things."
We don't know exactly at what point the overpopulation would become alarming in the governor's mind. At the present time, nearly 2,000 prisoners are jammed into the ancient state penitentiary at Lansing, built to house approximately 1,100 prisoners. The population exceeded the prison's capacity in 1922, forty years ago.
He then went on to discuss crowded conditions at the state penitentiary, concluding that the situation is not alarming.
THE KANSAS PENTENTIARY has not had the riots that have broken out at penitentiaries in other states. Yet Warden Tracy Hand told a Daily Kansan reporter last spring that the crowded conditions make a riot much more likely.
The biggest need in Kansas at the present time is for a new maximum security prison, prison officials said last spring. The state penitentiary is a maximum security institution; yet there are many prisoners who are not maximum security material. Under the present setup, however, there is no way to separate the prisoners who
require maximum security from those who do not.
The Kansas penal system took a progressive step in 1956, when the present rehabilitation program was set up. This program included the classification of prisoners upon their entry into prison, as well as attempts to provide an education and teach a trade to prisoners.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
THE NEED FOR THIS type of program can be seen in the fact that 40 per cent of the prisoners at Lansing never have reached the eighth grade and about the same percentage never worked in an occupation of any sort for as long as two years.
Another big step will be taken when the Diagnostic Center is opened in Topeka. This center will utilize psychiatric aid in classifying prisoners before they are committed, and will attempt to determine the program of treatment most likely to rehabilitate the prisoner.
But this classification will do little good if facilities do not exist to provide for the differing needs of prisoners. And little can be accomplished when prisoners are crowded two to a cell designed for one.
THE KANSAS PENITENTIARY has almost reached the saturation point. Gov. Anderson has recommended additional facilities in past sessions of the Legislature, and an advisory commission—headed by KU Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe—recently studied possible sites for a proposed new vocational school.
Gov. Anderson apparently is aware of the problem of over-crowded conditions, but minimizing the problem is not helping educate the public and the Legislature to the need for new facilities. The situation at Lansing is alarming, contrary to the governor's recent statement.
—Clayton Keller
Personalities, Cuban Crisis Important in Colorado Races
By Arthur C. Miller
(This is the second in a series of articles on gubernatorial and congressional contests in the 1962 election.)
Sex appeal, seniority and the Cuban crisis appear to be the most important factors in Colorado political races this year. In two of these races — for governor and senator — this is especially true.
In the gubernatorial contest, incumbent Democrat Steve McNichols, 48, faces 45-year-old Republican John Love, who looks like a movie star. The other race, for the Senate, poses incumbent Democrat John A. Carroll, 61, a first-order, long-behind-JFK New Frontiersman, against Republican Rep. Peter Dominick, 47, a conservative Connecticut-born Yaleman who makes the women swoon.
COLORADO, normally a Democratie stronghold, might seem a good testing ground, then, for the acceptance of New Frontier programs. This, however, does not hold true, for there are a multitude of personal issues rendering Colorado a poor area in which to seek national trends.
On the one hand, there is personable Steve McNichols, who has run the state government with firm control. He has been a good governor. He has built more schools, highways and state institutional facilities than any governor before him. Colorado's employment is at an all-time high. McNichols' industrial program last year brought 50 new commercial plants to the state and helped stimulate expansion in 32 other plants. Employment and economic security are always important considerations for the voter.
PLASTERED ON billboards and fence-posts, on barns and buses, or cars and telephone poles, all across the state, are one-word signs calling for: "Love." Who can resist! John Love is a rugged, virile-looking mar with as much sex appeal as Dominick, and he's an articulate speaker too. He doesn't let himself get deer into the issues, and he proudly announces himself as backing "a voice
in the state's business for every citizen."
Sen. John Carroll's record of supporting big government is an open book (mainly the Congressional Record). In a recent campaign speech, Carroll said he deserved to be labeled a "spender."
"We are spending $50 billion a year for military preparedness and foreign aid to provide for the defense of our nation and to stop the tide of Communism," the senator explained. "Space and rocket experiments and development (in which Colorado has a big stake) are costing additional billions. No Republican or Democrat can vote against these measures."
YET THE SENATOR'S record of big spending goes much further than defense and foreign aid. The New Republic magazine as well as Congressional Record rates Carroll 100 per cent in voting with the Kennedy administration. Carroll has been in Colorado politics a long time and people are accustomed to his face, his name and his amiable manners.
Freshman Congressman Dominick wants to bring a change to Colorado's Senate representation. If he's elected, and if his voting record in the house carries over into the Senate, there definitely will be a change. Peter Dominick's voting record is just the opposite of Carroll's, and the New Republic gives him an 8 per cent record in agreement with the liberal magazine's point of view.
The probable outcome is hard to predict. Most political observers in the Rocky Mountain state were predicting Republican gains before the Cuban crisis. Since the crisis no assessment of sentiment has been published.
Basically Dominick espouses the Goldwater-type philosophy that "centralization of more and more power in the hands of the executive branch of government deprives us of our individual rights and freedoms."
Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, Research Services, Inc., a private research firm, conducted a survey for the Denver Post by using 600 interviews with people from all sections
of the state. The poll showed Love favored by 53 per cent, McNichols by 37 per cent and 10 per cent undecided. Many political observers in the state, however, gave McNichols a slight edge over Love. No doubt the race will be nip-and-tuck, yet this writer has to give the edge to Democrat McNichols.
FIRST, McNICHOLS' accomplishments have been many and no doubt are appreciated. Second, if the Cuba crisis continues through election time—as it probably will—people will be a little more hesitant to disturb the status quo. Third, the Democratic organization in Colorado is strong and well-organized and can be expected to finish out the campaign with vigor and success.
In the Senate race, much of the same attitude should hold true. Carroll has brought a lot of federal money to Colorado. He and McNichols, along with many other Democrats and Republicans, were finally able to win congressional approval of the much-desired Frypingan-Akansas water diversion project. As mentioned earlier, Carroll's name is a familiar one and in most cases a trusted one. The attitude of "let's not rock the boat while sailing rough seas" could mean re-election for the present senator.
THE DENVER POST poll calls the race a toss-up. The political observers found Carroll lagging. But this was in the pre-blockade period, and many of the swooning females might pop back to reality. In addition, Dominick's main issue—the danger of big federal government and a powerful executive branch—has lost much of its punch. President Kennedy's move on Cuba has been met with wide acclaim and acceptance. In a time of crisis, it's comforting to have a powerful and determined leader at the head of the state. It's Carroll by a nod.
What can happen between now and Nov. 6 is impossible to predict. But the consequences of the Cuban situation might have a great bearing in halting what may have been tremendous gains by the Republican party in Colorado.
HER MAJOR PROF-1 HER BOY FRIEND 1 HER ROOMMATE.
It Looks This Way
Since last Saturday, when Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders convened at the Vatican in response to Pope John XXIII's call for an Ecumenical Council, the eyes of the world have been focused on a history-making drama emerging out of St. Peter's Basilica.
Hope for World Peace
Never before have so many religious leaders met, in one place, in an effort to establish closer Christian unity and peace among the people of the world.
THE OUTCOME of the council may well have a significant bearing on the threat of war now shadowing the nations. Although the participants of the council are of varied faiths, and though they practice their religion in numerous ways, they have one overpowering similarity: they all are Christians seeking guidance in how to establish peace and a means of steering the world away from the hate and destruction of war.
The answer to the present crisis lies not in the surrender of Berlin, retaliation over Cuba, or nuclear war. Surely President Kennedy, Premier Khrushchev, and Castro do not even pretend to believe that an all-out war would satisfy the desires of either side. How could it, when there would be nothing for the winner to claim following the destruction and disaster of a nuclear bomb?
THE PERMANENT solution will not emanate from government policies, negotiations, or peace treaties. If the world finally is to lay aside its claws and stop grinding its teeth, the nations must be willing to unite with all other people in friendship, cooperation, and brotherly love. Thus the responsibility lies partially with the only world organization that represents all three virtues and more: the church.
Pope John is perhaps one of the few really enlightened men of this generation. Through his initiative in calling the Ecumenical Council (the first in 92 years), he has demonstrated that he is sincerely concerned about the present problems and is attempting to mend the world's fences with unity and love rather than by blasting them down with nuclear power.
—Janice Pauls
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
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