The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-13
LIFE IN AN ITALIAN PRISON.
The Way in Which the Welfare of
C0nviets Are Look ed After.

London Daily News.l ,s.
Even under the conditions of penal
servitude for life the convict in an Ital-
ian prison has much to solace him. Come
with me to the vast prison of Civita
Vecchia, and let us see how the criminals
there get through the twelve hours.
Though not so unexceptionably clean
and tidy as our great county prisons, the
"bagno," as it is called, of Civita Vecchia
is swept and garnished to a degree un-
dreamed of even in middle class Italian
houses. The criminals mot including
those who endure solitary confnement)
lead lives of mxury-compared, at least,
with what majority of them have been
accustomed to. Certainly, their lot
might be envied by many herdsman or
plowman of the adjacent Campagna.
The obliging superintendent will COLI
duct you into the workshop for litho-
graphy. where every facility is afforded
for perfecting ones self in the art. The
room is large and commodious, with two
handsome windows, and the walls are of
a brilliant whiteness it does the eye good
to contemplate. The iron gratings out
side those windows are thoughtfully con-
cealed from the gaze of inmates by a
lovely arabesque of convolvulus, and in
the center of this fragrant and eye-sooth-
ing arbor canary trills his thick warbled
notes from an elegant cage. And for
whom has this wel-appointed lithograpb
studio been reserved? For convicted
forgers of bank notesl And these prom
ising vOtaries of realistic art, when they
proceed from labor to refreshment, how
do they fare7 They have, at fixed hours,
their rations of rich, warm soup and their
fresh rolls of bread, such as mil
lions of hard-working Italians taste only
on special occasions. But tbAt is not
enough for them. Every prisoner can
spend from so to 60 centimes day in
the bettolino, sort of canteen where re-
freshments of more exhilarating kind
than those recognized in the regulations
may be had for money. Nay, if sup
piled by friends outside, or if successful
in gambling, they can lay out from l to
2 francs on creature-comforts per diem.
On inquiring into the earnings of
the prisoners, l found that $50
centimes day was by no
means an uncommon wage, and Of these
there are. so paid to the establishment,
while rs may be spent as the Garner
likes, and % are put in the savings bank
for him, against the day of his getting
out. The average sum each prisoner lays
out upon himself in the bettolino is so
centimes per diem-a sum about equal to
that assigned for their table expenses to
inferior officers in the army. And how
superior is it to the pay of the soldiers of
the line-the flower of the Italian youth
who are every year called out to serve
with the colors-who get no more than 10
centimes, or a penny day!
Two of the greatest rufians now i'm
INJURED in Italian prisons are Agnoletti
and Giuseppe Luciani Both are SEN
fenced to penal servitude for life, but
how do they pass their time? Agnoletti,
till the other day, was living in complete
idleness, varied by reading. He is now
the schoolmaster of the prison, and en-
Joys a life OF comparative ease. As for
Luciani, the murderer of Sonzogno, he
he finds life pretty comfortable with his
books and his writing materials in the
pleasant waters of Gaeta. He could
never bring himself to wear the green
cap, the badge of life prisoners; he would
never don the waistcoat of the bagno,
and he would never put off his air of
Gentleman Luciani." A recent visitor
to the hulks of Sln Stefano found him a
dandy in dress, scrupulously careful of
every detail of the outer man, while his
hands, unlike those Of the horny-palned
son of toll, or of others even Of his fellow
prisoners, were as smooth and white as
when he used to gesticulate with them to
audiences in Roman cafes.