Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-05-11
An Illinois state Prison.


audience Major McOlaughrey, the ward
en- of the State Penitentiary at Joliet,
ILL.,, gave the following interesting .ac-
count Of prison life ia that institution:
= Tue State Pkisoti ISL place. Surround
ed with walls twenty eight feet high, in
closing the cells, houses, and workshops
covering sixteen acres. In it are con-
lined 1,5O4 prisoners, to guard and'man-
age whom requires the services of sew
enty officials in addition to 100 citizens
employed as instructors in the work
shops. To feed these prisoners requires
annually &c., 900 pounds of meat, 4, 200
birrels of flour, 5000 bushels of pota-
toes, and 10000 pounds of coffee. There
are baked daily twelve barrels of -four,
and 25O gallons of coffee reused. When
the prisoner is first received he is taken
20 the Bathroom, where he is cleansed,
and dons his zebra-striped suit of prison
uniform. Next he goes to. the barber
shop, where he is shaved, has his hair
cut, is accurately described, and re-
ceives his instructions. He receives
four tickets emitting him to the priv
1legeS OF rations of tobacco and candles,
writing, and receiving visitors at certain
times. These are his bank books.
When he commits g. breach of discipline
one is taken away. Thanksgiving day
general amnesty is proclaimed and the
prisoners receive fresh supply of
cards, Many prisoners refuse to work,
or are stubborn. For their accommo-
dation Is the solitary" a stone cell
Sxl2 feet, lighted from above by small
opening, and furnished only with mar
-rewsplaak for bed. Many prisoner
who goes in there announces that he will
dfe before he gives up. None ever die,
however. They are all alone by them
selves; they have time 10 reflect; there
: rs noone to jaw back at them. The
terrible loneliness Expresses them, and
they always give in. That the savings
bank. principle of 'sgood time" works
wellis evidenced by the fact that of
1913 prisoners who have passed through
the prison in two years, only 4o9 have
required punishment.
The law of absolute silence is imposed,
and by this the prisoner feels that he is
absolutely shut out from the world. In
his meditations he forms resolutions
which he would keep were it not for the
Influence of the large congregation of
prisoners, which leads him to believe
that the brand of felony can never be
effaced. There are only twenty-five fe-
male prisoners in Joliet, and, strange as
it may seem, they are as silent as the
men, .-~s--
~. . The speaker made a strong point of
the extreme youthfulness of large pro-
portion of the prisoners. He showed
that,97 per cent were under 90; 80 per
cent under 40; SO per cent under 80;
and 20 per cent under 20 years of age.
These figures showed conclusively that
the criminal classes are recruited from
the young, and it is with the young the
work of reformation must begin. OF
the l ,407 prisoners at the date of the
last report, 1,078 were born in the
United States, but most were of foreign
parentage-64 were born in Canada, 40
in England, 81 in Germany, IS in Ire
land, Is IN Sweden and Norway, 15 in
France and 10 in Scotland. There were
only seven barkeepers, but there were
lots of their customers. There was on
one lawyer, and he got in by mistake,
and has secured new trial. There
was one clergyman, but he had only
killed his wife. OF the prisoners 553
professed to be teetotalers, 4S2 acknowl-
eyed their habitual intemperance, while
So claimed to be moderate drinkers.
In the matter of religion 2S6 protested
20 be Catholics, 81 Methodists, 81 Pres
byterians, Is Lutherans, 20 Baptists, 5
Episcopalians, Universalists, 9 Camp
bellites, and 9 Unitarians, while 973
protested no religion, and acknowledged
that they had never received any relig-
ious instruction.
Hardened criminals can scarcely ever
be reformed. Out of 237 prisoners re-
ceived the past year who had served the
State of Illinois before, 166 had served
two terms, forty-three were in for the
third time, thirteen for the fourth time,
seven for the fifth, and one for the sixth.
One man was in for the seventh time.
He commenced serving the State for the
first time at Alton in 1882, and he has
been doing time with brief vacations
ever since. His failing was an uncon-
trOllable admiration for horsefiesh.
Criminals are made in great part by
criminal parentage and associations. To
pernicious literature among boys and
obscene books among both boys and
girls can be traced great deal of crime.
The part the saloon plays is known to
every reader of the newspapers and the
police court records. Much is due to
the lack of good home influences. A
much larger number might be saved
than is generally believed. Many a man
leaves the prisons and reforms, becomes
q new man, and turns out useful men,
Der of society. Idleness is one of the
most prominent causes of crime, and no
preventive measures will be successful
unless this is taken into consideration.
The chances of an illiterate man becom-
inc. a criminal are sixteen times greater
than in the case of an educated man, as
proved by statistics, which is a most
powerful argument for compulsory edu-
cation.
Regarding the measures to be adopted
the speaker went on to show that there
were in the penitentiaries of the country
sc, 900 criminals. At least 1000 more
are in the jails and reformatories, while
fully 500, 900 are at large. If they were
made to work the chances of their
engaging in criminal acts would be
lessened. The product of convict labor
is estimated at s20,000,000, as opposed
<o S5 600 600 600 for the DrOduct of free