The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-12-27
THE PR ESS.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, DEC. %, 1871.
treatment OF Criminals-HorribIe PLn-
ishment Of Prisoners in the Sing
Sing Prison.

|
An attache of the N. Y. Times has hean
visiting the public institutions of that State.
and from one of his letters we extract the mar
rative of the horrible punishments indicted
ON prisoners in Sing Sing:
Passing through a small entresotin the hos
| pital wing found myself in that relic of
barbaric ages, the prison punishment room,
| or, as prefer to term it, the torture cham
| Der. As glanced hurridiy around at the va
rious implements of legalized cruelty, could
almost fancy l saw Prynne, minus his ears, or
the Jesuit garb.and shaven crown of some
long-dead Conductor of the Inquisition.
There are no thumb-screws, no racks; but
there are other appliances relatively as brutal,
considering the enlightenment of the age, and
it is no secret that they are often and vigor-
ously used. There are five modes of punish
ment in vogue in the prison-the clark celP'
the 'ball and chain, TIE scollar and crown,o
the "back handcuf," and the 'thumb pull
ley', the last the most ingenious torture of
the whole collection. The ball and chain are
attached to prisoners who have attempted to
escape, by band of iron riveted round the
leg, just above the ankle. This may be nee
essary precaution to prevent them from re-
peating the attempt, but it is unnecessary
cruel to keep them on the prisoners when
locked in their cells, as their weight and in
convenience must render them most undesir-
able bed-fellows, and likely to interfere with
the amount of rest the wearers require to en-
able them to go through the next days labor
The ''collar and crown is put on for trivial
ohenses, such as talking. 1t is composed of
circular band of iron, which is fastened
round the neck with = paddock, from which
fiv~ or six iron bars spring and join over the
scalp, forming sort of rude crown. These
instruments vary in weight from four to sew
en- pounds. They are constantly in use
saw several of the prisoners wearing them,
both in the dining hall and in the workshops.
1t does not require very lively imagination
to conceive the distress and annoyance of
having to stoop for ten hours over the shop
bench with seven pounds of iron dragging at
the nape of his neck and weighing down the
head, or the dexterity required at night to
pad and stuff the machine artistically with
dirty stockings or anything that comes to
hand, in order that the wretched prisoner
may rest his head on his pillow without the
iron grinding into the skin.
The other punishments are all for refrac-
tory or violent prisoners. The dark cell,
without a stick of furniture, which is closed
by q solid iron, migrated door. The floor is
covered with saw-dust. As the door closed
on me could fully appreciate the horrible
situation of the Egyptians of old, when they
were visited with the plague of darkness
that might be felt" But the dark cell is, in
many cases, punishment very detrimental
to the health of those who suffer it. Prison.
ers of the degraded class-a class to which a
large majority of the prisoners at Sing Sing
belong-are desperately obstinate, and will
suffer considerably before rendering sbumis-
sion. Many one has passed two or three
weeks, and even longer, in the dark cells at
Sing Sing. But the exclusion of light means
exclusion of air and stoppage of all ventila-
tion-a fearful deprivation. And, moreover,
any medical man will vouch that light is in
itself very necessary to health. Many doc
tors declare that sunbath is almost as use
full in its way as cold water bath. There
must, of course, be vigorous punishments
for breaches against prison discipline, but the
most advisable forms have not yet been hit
| upon. Next Spring the International Prison
Convention assemblies in London. Let us
hope that this matter of punishment will re-
ceive their most earnest consideration, and
that thorough reform will follow.
By way Of delicately leading the reader up
to the horrors of the ''pulley," l will first
tell them something about the ''back hand
cuff" Along the wall of the punishment
room are five stout hooks driven into the
wall about four feet from the ground. When
prisoner refuses obedience his hands are
put in handouts fastened behind him. To
the connecting link strong ring is attached,
ON the wall, forcing the head and shoulders
forward, and drawing up the arms behind
and the lower part of the body into a cramp-
ed and painful posture. The keeper told me
that they one had prisoner who bore this
punishment for six hours and half before
he would give in and agree to behave him
self.
But the most diabolcal of all these instru-
ments of torture is the ''thumb pulley;' for
its power Of inficting agony far surpasses all
the Others put together. l do not hesitate
to say that its use in an American or any
other prison is an outrage on Christian hui
manity, and burning disgrace to the boast
ed civilization of the nineteenth century. I
can speak from personal experience. was
so mortified at the keepers explanation of
the mode of working it that turned round
and requested him to try it ON me. The fel-
low was rather taken aback, and suggested
that it would not be pleasant-in fact, that it
was "rather painful" Rather painful! 1t is
the most excruciating agony. 1 replied,
''That is the very reason why / want to try
it." He somewhat reluctantly consented,
and the operation of torture began. He pro-
duced about a foot of very stout whip-cord,
with a slip-knot at either end, and putting
my thumbs in the loops, drew the knot taut
below the first joint. The cord was then
hung on hook attached to the end of rope
which dangled from pulley in the ceiling,
and the preparations were complete. On my
giving the word ''ready," brawny-armed
convict seized the other end of the rope and
quickly hoisted me from my feet till / could
with difficulty touch the floor with the tips
of my toes; the whole weight of my body, of
course, dragging on my thumbs. l was liter
ally suspended from those two small portions
of the human frame. / hung there for about
five seconds, after which the pain became in
supportable, and requested to be let down.
In those few seconds l experienced quite
enough to assure me what must be the inde-
scribable suffering of a poor creature suspend
ed for even minute. And yet the keeper
told me that a prisoner once endured this he'll
lish torture for five minutes and a half "with-
out fainting."
1t seemed to me that my thumbs and the
tough sinews on the inside of the wrist were
being drawn out. felt that my arms must
leave the shoulder sockets, and that the mus
cles of my back would be literally torn away
if l were not let down Immediately. found
when my thumbs were released from the slip
knots that there were evident signs that the
cord had almost buried itself in the flesh.
An indentation over an eighth of an inch deep
encircled each thumb. 1t was of transpar-
ent white color. Then came band slightly
discolored, and then a band of red. The flesh
did not altogether regain its natural appear
ance on one thumb for some time after. And
yet was the victim OF this engine OF torture
for only five seconds! Many tender-hearted
and humane persons may be inclined to COM
fort themselves with the hope that the in
Fiction of the punishment of the pulley is of
rare occurrence. Let me undeceive them by
quoting from the last official report of the
Inspectors of State Prisons. In table Nc. IA,
under the heading, Exhibit of Punishments
During the Year." the following item ap-
pears: 'Pullied-20Sp Omtting Sun
days, this total gives an average of four pris-
oners ''pullied" every week through the year.
That such brutality is practiced at Sing
Sing, Auburn and Clinton is not the fault of
the prison authorities, but of our prison sys-
TEN. The law, though forbidding the show
er-bath, allows these punishments to be in
flicted at discretion; and in this case permis-
sion is indirectly an ordinance, for all these
forms of punishment were discussed at the
time of the passage of the act abolishing the
use of the shower-bath in the State Prisons.
| A criminal is human being, even when he
is a refractory criminal; and every considera-
ton of common humanity cries out aloud
against his being subjected to such horrible
punishment.
Granger Turnpike Company.
The Governor and Council have been look
! ing over the expenditures of the Granger
n of