The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-09-25

IRON PRISON DICIPLINE.
The Life Of 800 Men at the Brit.
lsh Convict Station on the
Mauritius.

the IsIand OF NauEitlus," said 8 gen.
t!eman, much OF whose life has been
passed in examining aud com pariug
the various prison systems OF the
word, the most relentless disCiJ pine
| have seen anywhere is maintained.
1als, 10 q great extent, is necessary,
for 1t would be difficult to find q more
vicious and depraved set of prisoners.
Hanging seems to be slmost sbsn-
doned there, and it is not uncommon
Tor q man TO be sentenced to forty
years imprisonment. OF course, they
rarely live out these sentences for the
climate OF the Mauritius, unhealthy
In the most favorable circumstances,
becomes uncomfortable under the mer.
CHESS rigor of prison life. The island,
as you know, belongs to Great Brit.
ain, and sis situated on the eastern
coast OF Africa, little below the
equator. It is intensely hot, and there
are not q great many Europeans
there, but every night about l 500
colored prisoners are locked up in
the Jail. During the day most OF
them work in chain gangs, sweeping
the town of Mauritius. They do it
well, 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 ponderors iron
balls after them, tolIing through the
streets.
THE TstiUns are inferior to the
prison diet of this country, and, as
far IS know, to any other part of
the world. For breakfast they get q
quarter of q pound of black bread
and as much water as they want.
For dinner, about pint of boiled rice
with spoonful Of curry and sbun-
dance OF water. For supper, the
black bread once more and a lIbeIsl
supply of water. This is the change
less bill of fare, with no difference on
SUNDAYS or holidays, and no meat at
all. At night, before going into Die
cell, every man has to strip himself,
and the keeper examines his clothes
for cences'sd weapons or contrsband
articles OF any kind. The prisoners
have also TO open their mouths to
chow that they have nothing oblec-
tionable there. Each cell is locked
up separately, and then a long iron
oar fastens ell together. On Sundays
the prisoners are shaved, weighed.
and have their hair cropped ss close
as the scissors will reach.
s"Ofcourse. against tbs relentless d g.
cipline there are occaei0nsl upris'ngs.
To take care OF the ! 500 conVicts
about 100 guards are employed. OF
these some are white and some are
colored, but the head keepers are all
white, and for the most part, soldiers
who have served the terms tor which
they enlisted. They are armed with
cArbines and short bsyonets. Once,
when the convicts managed to organ
ice and broke into open revolt in the
prison-yard. it was = shoTt-lived re-
bellion. The guards, trained to act
rapidly and in concert, shot them
down like mad dogs and then charged
them with the bsyonets. The rebels
were quickly subdued, and after that
they were ruled, il possible, more
vigorously than before.
"a prleoner, il he sees fit, may
make a complaint, and il it be just
one it will be attended to; but heaven
help the man who complains frivo
lousy. Once when was in the jail
a convict at dinner time protested
that his allowance of rice was not ss
large az the regulations required. It
Was measured ct once, and found to
be little over the proper quantity.
His dinner was taken away from him.
one of the most powerful OF the
keepers seized him, and he was kicked
and beaten until, bruised. bleeding
and almost insensibls, 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.
"One Of the convicts, | remember.
was q cripple. His lower limbs were
paralized End be moved along in
sitting posture with the aid of his
hands. He was serving forty years
sentence for a peculiarly atrocious
wife murder. This apparently help
less brute absolutely managed to effect
escape in open daylight, after he had
been imprisoned for about twenty
years. Owing to bis 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 o
week or more, bus nothing was ever
heard OF him. Whether he escaped
to sea in open boat and made for the
far-awsy coast OF Africa or for the
island of Madagascar, distant four
days journey By steamer, or found q
refuge among the sugar plantations
of the Msuritius, is unknown. l
never heard of another escape being
effected.
81 said that hanging was very IN
common in the Mauritius. Bot it is
sometimes resorted to, as IN the case
OF the murder Of q white man, and a
hanonsn ia maintained on the leland.