People ex rel. Bradley v. Illinois State Reformatory

Citations

• 148 Ill. 413

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal law—State reformatory—constitutionality. The act entitled “An act to establish the Illinois State Reformatory, and making an appropriation therefor,” approved June 18, 1891, is a valid and constitutional enactment, except as to the provisions of section 15 thereof. The intention of the act is to afford a means for the reformation of youthful criminals.</p> <p>2. Same—a. criminal enactment. This statute is a criminal enactment, and a sentence under it must be regarded as a penalty and punishment for crime of which the party committed has been convicted.</p> <p>3. Same—judgment under, not void for uncertainty. A judgment or sentence of imprisonment in the State reformatory, without fixing any limit to the duration thereof, and the mittimus issued thereon, are not void for uncertainty, as the judgment and mittimus are to be read and interpreted in the light of, and under the restrictions imposed by, the statute upon which they are based. That statute provides that although the sentence is a general one, yet that such imprisonment shall not exceed the maximum term provided by law for the crime for which the prisoner was convicted.</p> <p>4. The fact that the prisoner may, in accordance with the provisions of the act, be sooner discharged by an order of the court, on the recommendation of the board of managers of the reformatory, or by the pardon or commutation of the Governor, will not have the effect of rendering the sentence and commitment uncertain and indefinite.</p> <p>5. Same—does not inflict punishment out of proportion to the offense. The act is not in violation of that portion of section 11 of article 2 of the State constitution which declares that “all penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offense.”</p> <p>6. Imprisonment is not a cruel and unusual punishment for burglaror larceny or other crime, and on that ground to be regarded as dis-proportioned to the nature of the offense. The term of the imprisonment, if it does not extend