Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-02-20
THE OHIO PENITENTIARy.
ErHtnt Treatment of the Prisoners bu Or
fcidlS and Contractors,

E'Ht"t Treatment of the Prisoners bu Or
fcials and Contractors.
Cincinnati Enquirer, Feb. 1871
That the prisoners in the Ohio penitentiary
suffer the most horrible treatment at the
hands of those put over them cannot be sue
cessfully denied, and that the contract sys-
tenn, with its rings and thievery, is really the
cause of the greater portion of it, must be
as evident to any who may carefully investi-
gate the facts. The prisoners are hired out
to ring of contractors who have been in y
for years, quarter of century in some
cases. They established through the aid.
perhaps, of the penitentiary authorities. and
in direct violation of law, task system. in
which each prisoner is given a certain
amount of labor as days work. The
prisoner is Informed that he must perform
the amount required, and if he does not, he
IS punished, punished severely, so much as
to really unfit him for work for days to come.
and yet on the succeeding day he
IS again required to perform his
task, and If he in his debilitated condition
does not perform the full amount required
he is punished again and again, and SO on
and on, until the poor fellow is helpless and
hopeless, and is sent to the hospital for a
sickness of weeks, or what is worse, is driven
insane, or, perhaps still worse, is taken from
the dungeon dead. The contractors keen
their trusted agents in the building in which
the prisoners work for them, they intimidate
or bride the guards, and thus cause them to
compel the men to work up to their fnll
task, whether able or not, and if not. to ore
port them for punishment. Every dav
from ten to fifty or one hundred of the poor.
half-clad, half starved wretches are CON
demned to the dungeon, the bull-rinps or the
ducking-box and in large proportion of
cases, because they have not performed
the task which the contractor and the pris-
on officials have fixed for them in di-
rect violation of law, and fixed, it is said.
even greater than well-fed, well-clothed. we'll
trained and well-paid men are accustomed to
perform outside the penitentiary. Should
ne chance to turn his head or speak to a
fellow prisoner, or look sharply at waiter.
or laugh, Oh fail to remove his hat when adj
dressing the officials, he is hurried away to
the dungeon without supper, and in a dark,
DISMAL, hlthy, noisome stone cell must pass
the night, with only board for a bed. their
arm Tor pillow, and their burning, indip-
nant thoughts for companions. Should thew
IN their righteous indignation chance to pro-
test against this punishment, they are bur
rled to the ducking-box, their clothing
stripped from them, their feet chained
together and their hands shackled
behind their back, and they are
rudely thrown into the ice-water, their
heads held down until strangulation is i'm
minent; they are given time to breathe. and
they are ducked again and again until their
breath and senses and ambition and strength
are gone, and he is taken from the icy bath,
his clothing hurried on, and he is thrown
again into the dungeon, shivering and mis-
cradle: Should he still, perchance, have life
enough to protest, his hands are shackled
together and fastened to the .sbull ring
hlgh up IN the wal, and he is obliged to
stand all night without sleep, miserable.
wretched and full of pain, and still driven
with oaths to his work next morning, if still
able to 60, if not he is sent to the hospital to
be abused and told he is shamming, or per-
haps ordered to work again, or tortured with
blsters or some other medical thumbscrew.