Connecticut western news., 1881-09-21
IRON PRISON DISCIPLINE.
The Life of 1.5OO Men at the British
 Station on the Mauritius.

The Life of 1.5OO Men at the British
 Station on the Mauritius.
 "At the British convict station on the Island of Mauritius," said a gentleman much of whose life has been passed in examining and comparing the various prison systems of the world, "the most relentless discipline I have seen any where Is maintained. This, to a great extent, is necessary, for it would be difficult to find more vicious and de- prayed set of prisoners. Hanging seems to be almost abandoned there, and it is not uncommon for man to be sentenced to forty years Imprisonment. Of course they rarely live out these sen- tences, for the climate of the Mauritius, unhealthy ln the most favorable circum- stances, becomes uncomfortable under the merciless rigor of prison life. The island, as you know, belongs to Great Britain, and IS situated on the eastern coast of Africa, little below the equa. tor. It is intensely hot, and there are not great many Europeans there; but every night about fifteen hundred col ored prisoners are locked up in the jail. During the day most of them work in chain gangs, sweeping the town of Mau ritius. They do 1t we'll, but a pitiful and degrading spectacle is afforded by lines of strong, able-bodied men, loaded down with iron chains on the legs and round the waists, or dragging ponder ous iron balls after them, toiling through the streets.
 "The rations are inferior to the pris- on diet of this country, and, as far as I know, to that of any other part of the world. For breakfast they get quar- ter of pound of black bread and as much water as they want. For dinner, about pint of boiled rice with spoon. full of curry and abundance of water. For supper, the black bread once more and liberal supply of water. This is the changeless bill of fare, with no difference on Sundays or holidays, and no meat at all. At night, before going into his cell, every man has to strip himself, and the keeper examines his clothes for concealed weapons or con traband articles of any kind. The prisoners have also to open their mouths to show that they have nothing objec- tlonable there. Each cell is locked separately, and then a long iron bar fastens all together. On Sundays the prisoners are shaved, weighed and have their hair cropped as close as the scis- sors will reach.
 "Of course, against this relentless discipline there are occasional uprisings. To take care of the 1,500 convicts about 15O guards are employed. Of these some are white and some colored, but the head keepers are all white, and, for the most part, soldiers who have served the terms for which they enlisted. They are armed with carbines and short bay onets. Once, when the convicts man. aged to organize and broke into open revolt in the prison yard, it was short lived rebellion. The guards, trained to act rapidly and in concert, shot them down like mad dogs and then charged them with the bayonets. The rebels were quickly subdued, and after that were ruled, if possible, more vigorously than before,
 "A prisoner, if he sees fit, may make complaint, and if it is just one it will be attended to ; but heaven help the man who complains frivolously. Once when I was in the jail convict at din- ner time protested that his allowance of rice was not as large as the regula- tions required. It was measured at once, and found to be little over the proper quantity. His dinner was taken away from him, one of the most power full of the keepers seized him, and he was kicked and beaten until, bruised bleeding, and almost insensible, he was pitched head first into his cell. The guards had general instructions not to wait for orders, but at the first sign of revolt to fire.
 cone of the convicts, I remember, was a cripple. His lower limbs were paralyzed and he moved along in. sit ting posture with the aid of his hands. He was serving forty years sentence for peculiarly atrocious wife murder. This apparently helpless brute abso- lutely managed to effect his escape in open daylight, after he had been inn prisoned for about twenty years. Owing to his crippled condition, he did not work with the chain gangs, but inside the prison walls, and one night, when locking-up hour arrived, his cell was found to be empty. A fruitless search was kept up for a week or more, but nothing was ever heard of him. Wheth- CT he escaped to sea in an open boat, and made for the far-away coast of Africa or for the island of Madagascar, distant four days journey by steamer, or found refuge among the sugar plan tations of the Mauritius, is unknown. never heard of another escape being effected.
 "I said that hanging was very un- common in the Mauritius. But it is sometimes resorted to, as in the case of the murder of white man, and hang. man is maintained on the island. This official ought himself to have been hanged years ago, having been con- vlcted of locking his wife, his mother in-law, two sisters-in-law and two chil- dren in a room, and suffocating them all with the fumes of charcoal. He was sentenced to fifty years Imprisonment, but was liberated on condition of his becoming town hangman."
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