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Scott, a Columbia Democrat, operated a realty company and had been in the Legislature for more than 30 years, serving most recently on the Senate’s judiciary, medical affairs and penology committees.

It would involve "experts in the fields of medicine, psychiatry, penology and social and moral welfare", a statement said.

The chairman of the State Senate’s committee on corrections and penology, Shane Martin, said on Monday that he was appointing a subcommittee to study the issue.

In fact, the “Pennsylvania system” was penology’s breakthrough idea, rescuing murderers, burglars, forgers and confidence men from cruel treatment by keepers and fellow miscreants.

After graduating from high school in Coatesville, Pa., she earned a degree in creative writing in 1953 from the University of Washington, where she also took courses in abnormal psychology, criminology and penology.