PRISM 350 PRISREND in pitched battles. The region was, however, impassable to heavy artillery, so that neither side was able to break the deadlock created by the nature of the country. Across this swamp region the two belligerents continued facing each other until the end of the war on the Eastern Front. PRISM, in geometry, a solid having similar and parallel bases, its sides form- ing similar parallelograms. The bases may be of any form, and this form (triangular, pentagonal, etc.) gives its name to the prism. In optics, any trans- parent medium comprised between plane faces, usually inclined to each other. It is used to refract and disperse light, re- solving it into the prismatic colors. PRISON ASSOCIATION, AMER- ICAN, an organization of officials of American prisons, founded by Dr. E. C. Wines, of New York, in 1870, at a con- ference in Cincinnati, 0., and incor- porated under the laws of New York in the following year. The object of the association was the general improvement of conditions, not only for the officials and employees of such institutions, but for prisoners as well. Until 1877 the organization developed a vigorous growth, issuing reports in 1872, 1874, and 1877 of considerable value to stu- dents of penology. The death of Dr. Wines, however, at this time, caused a notable decrease in the activities of the association, which lasted until 1883, when it again showed signs of revival. The organization is now an influential factor in all movements toward prison reform, and has standing committees on criminal law, reform, prevention, proba- tion, parole, prison discipline, dis- charged prisoners and prison statistics. With it are affiliated five other national organizations, comprising wardens, prison physicians, prison chaplains, women officials and employees, and crim- inologists. PRISON REFORM, the growing ten- dency to regard the imprisonment of crimmals as a preventative measure, rather than as punishment inflicted by society as revenge. In England prisons were largely based on this latter theory, until the social consciousness was first awakened by the writings of the popular novelist, Charles Reade, and most nota- bly by his novel, "It is Never Too Late to Mend." In the early days of last cen- tury prison conditions were exception- ally bad in the United States. As an in- stance, for years after the Revolution convicts in the State of Connecticut were confined underground in an old, abandoned copper mine, at Simsbury, Conn. One of the first moves toward better conditions was represented in the building of the Eastern Penitentiary, in Philadelphia, in 1817, and the Auburn State Prison, in Auburn, N. Y., in 1816, both of which institutions were con- ducted on a comparatively humane basis. The movement was still further stimu- lated by the discussions at the Interna- tional Prison Congress, held in Frank- furt, Germany, where the United States was strongly represented, among the delegates being Dr. E. C. Wines, the founder of _ the American Prison Asso- ciation, •which had a very strong inllu ence in this country, after its formation. One of the strongest exponents of prison reform at the present time is Thomas Mott Osborne, in charge of the naval prison at Portsmouth, who first excited a more general interest in prison reform by himself entering Sing Sing Prison, in the guise of a convicted criminal, and obtaining a first hand knowledge of prison conditions, from the point of view of the inmates. It was he who, as governor of the prison, first instituted the parole system, whereby prisoners of good con- duct were allowed entire liberty on leaves of absence, being placed on their honor to return. "Self-government" in prisons is another feature of Mr. Osborne's gen- eral system, which is now practiced at Portsmouth, under his personal direc- tion, and at Sing Sing, the State Prison for women, at Auburn and at the Pres- ton Industrial School, in California, with such a high degree of success that other prisons throughout the country are adopting the practice. A noteworthy ex- ample of legislative eft'orts toward prison reform was the effort of the Prison Re- form League, of Pennsylvania, which in 1917 caused the appointment of a special commission to study prison conditions, w^ith the object of recommending legisla- tion with the object of prison reform in view. The report of this commission was rendered in 1919, but the recommenda- tions made were so far-reaching that they have not, as yet, been embodied in any legislation. PRISREND, a city of eastern Ser- bia, close to the frontier with Albania, 75 miles E. of Scutari, and fourth city in size in the whole of Serbia, with a pop- ulation, in 1911, of 21,244. The city has a citadel 1,100 feet above sea level, and 24 mosques. It was part of the territory taken from the Turks during the Balkan Wars, in 1912. Through this city fled the broken remnants of the Serbian Army, after the invasion of the country by the forces of the Central Powers, in the fall of 1915, this being the last ave- nue of escape left open after their final
