The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-04-04
state 1nierexfs.

a frsnkiorts correspondent OF the
New York World has made personal
inspection of the penitentisr ~ at Frank
fort Ills aaccoGut OF what he saw
aud heard i li,graceiut to the State
Of Kentucklf We give the substance
OF his comments: *a+
There are ia 4he prison at present
967 inmates. of which ;hirfy eight are
women The negroes out number tae
whites by about hundred There is
only accdmino i;ifion for IA prisonc r.
4, GAS is the full number OF cells in
ths u bIiiiing AMI uinety six in the
new enc erected in 1876 An the
prisoners are worked at hard labor
The chief source of revenue is from
the hemp factory, although quite a
number are employed in the ni4uutAc
ture Of chairs aud In the repairing
Of carriages, the latter department
having been only recently established
The drainage OF the yard l. sim
ply dreadful, aud although it bad not
rained for several days there was =
pe>tilential greeBish slime running at
The base OF the buildings. while pud
dies OF flih were scattered broadcast
over the surface asked the &c per
90 duty II this could not be remeded
and he replied thar as soon a. il was
removed II would ooze our again
II the hemp department. over 500
men are employed aud there j. not
rpum for .one-hsif OF them There
we're oyer 200 Il the rooms Devoted
% bach ling and dressed the raw ma
Ierial. aud The graveyard cough that
could be heard in every direction was
distressing The keeper pointed TO a
diugv holt where The dust was so thick
that il was Impossible to distinguish
cither face or iora Each man has a
certain tax aud ~ he becomes more
proficient the task i increased l. il
Imperative thatat least go pounds
should be hsckied by each over>eer,
who is,respousible for, swo men under
lum."'
The death rate in the insfitniipu
averages about thirty nine annually. OF
which three out Of four die from pneu-
monia Tie Phy >ieiau-. who make
d,uy inspections told me ,hat the
cnustruc'tun OF the cell house i ac
cuuntable for The excessive number
of deaths from pneumonia aud thar
owing to the overcrowded condition OF
The prison iti+ great wonder that
the mortality i, not greater. The
cell house isFa miserable box, with six
irr- Of cells. each Of which measure.
seven feet by three upper tiers are
occupied by the negroes, and in the
two TOP ones all the prisoners have 20
sleep double. The new cell house /,
better ventilated. bat there is only
acconmodalion for ninety six Il ha-
been found impossible TO heat it, and
/ only bare >rtiei-ucy OF cioihiug i.
.iven 4 fresh supply Of un1srgtr
ments aud black aud white stripes are
dealt out 70 each prisoner every Sdud-
day morning
',The women are treated with bui
little more consideration. They are
dressed the same as the men. even to
she trousers aud shirt, aud the on y
distinguishing mark Is the colored
Gotten hnnkerchiets which they fnu
tu-ticalIy bud around fheir heads"
It is proper to add that the writer
aeqaits The Keeper. Col J " South
nj all blame for .he di-crcditable eOn
dition OF The peaitentiary
The Legislature atits next session
must tnke definite action in regard to
the peniteUtiarg ques;ion-by making
provision for. working some Of the
convicis outside OF the prison walls
(working them in gangs and feeding
them in camps or branchi ng, as has
been done in New York, Indiana and
Illinois Our impression is that the
latter i~-ihe better plan