The Russellville Democrat., 1879-12-04
ITALIAN PRISONS.
Comfortable Quarters and Considerate
 Treatment for Criminals

 Comfortable Quarters and Considerate
 Treatment for Criminals
 Cursed be the man," said an Italian sitting beside me in the Court of Assize the other day, ''who invented extenuat- ing circumstance, and as turned from the speaker to the male prisoner in the dock, and contemplated his cool, self possessed demeanor underthe worst ir- retragable proofs of his guilt, l could not help agreeing with my interluctor, who had already forseen the regulation yer dict of Italian juries, and the confidence 1t would inspire in the prisoner that his neck at least was safe.
 Even under the conditions of penial servitude for life the convict has much to solace him. Come with me to the vast prison of Civiti Vecchia, and let us sec how the prisoners there get through the twelve hours. Though not so unexcep- tionably clean and tidy as our great county prisons, the "bagno, as its called, of Civita Vecchia is swept and garnish- ed to a degree undreamed of even in middle-class Italian houses. The crimi- nals (not including those who endure solitary. .confincment) lead lives of lux ury--compared at least, with what a majority of them have been accustomed to. Certainly, their lot may be envied by many n heardsman or plowman of the adjacent Campaigns.
 The obliging Superintendent will con- duct you into the workshop for litho- lgnphy, where every Facility is afforded tof pe1fecting ones self inathe art. The room is large and comodious, with two handsome windows, and the walls are of 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 convolyulous, and in the center of this fragrant and eye soothing arbor canary trills his thick warbied notes from an elegant cage. And for whom has this well-appointed itho- graph studio been reserved? For con- yicted forgers of bank notes! And these promising votaries of realistic art, when they proceed from labor to refreshment, how do they fare? They have, at fixed hours, their rations of rich warm soup and their fresh rolls of bread, such as millions of hard-working Italians taste only on special occasions, But that is not enough for them. Every prisoner can spend from-50 to 60 centems day in the beitolino, sort of canteen where re- treatments of nicer kind than those recognized in the regulations, may be had for money. Nay, if supplied by friends outside, or if successful in gam bling, they can lay out from one to three francs on creature-comforts per diem. On inquiring into the earnings of the prisoners, I found that 150 centimes q day was by no means an uncommon wage, and of these there art, 50 paid to the establishment, while 75 may be spent as the earner likes, and 25 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 50 centimes per day--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 thaniten cen times or penny day.
 Two of the greatest rufhans now inn mured in Italian prisons are Agnoietti and Giuseppe Luciana. 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 sehoolmaster of the prison and en- joys life of comparative ease. As for Luciani, the murderer of Sonzogno, he finds life pretty comfortable with his books and his writing materials in the pleasant waters of the Gaeta. He could never bring himself to wear the green cap, the badge of the 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 hulksiof San Stefano found him a dandy in dress. scrupulously careful of every detail of the outer man, while his hands, unlike those of the horny-palmed son of toll, or of others even or his fel- low prisoners, were as smooth and white as when he used to gestulate with them to Democratic audiences in Roman cafes.
 Such or similar is the lot Pistre Cardi- mali evidently promises himself-should he be convicted. But has not the lax prison discipline on which he counts the reverse of deterrent effect on criminals like himself? and does 1t not (alone with those "accursed extenuating circum- stances" which Italians themselves de- nounce)-does it not, l say, in some measure explain the fact affirmed by the Lberta that "there are more murders every year in one Italian Province than in the whole United Kingdom of Eng land, Scotland and Ireland"