The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-21
PRISON INVESTIGATIONS.

Another ugly report has come to the sur
face concerning the management of the
Southern Prison. 1t comes from an ex-con-
vict, of course, for it could scarcely come
from any other source. The story he tells
of his own solitary confinement for seven
teen months for having dared to testify be-
fore an investigating committee of o
prisoners are fiogged and starved, and of
questionable schemes for making money by
furnishing inadequate and unfit fare to the
prisoners, is enough to call for an investiga-
ten that will investigate. The Legislative
committee went down to Jacksonville os-
tensibly for that purpose; but, after being
wined and dined by the warden, and visiting
the opera at Louisville, and having a picnic
generally at the States expense, comes back
and gravely reports that, after a cur
sorry view" of the prison, they find,
etc., ETC.; but, of course, lit
tie, if anything, to condemn.
1t could not we'll be otherwise, A committee
is dispatched to investigate the warden of
the prison. They become his guests,
are feted and fooled according to his desires,
and they come away without having accom-
plised anything except d%efrauding the peo-
pie out of the expense of the spree. Repeated
charges have been made that the officials of the
Southern Prison are cruel and inhuman, and
that they are piling up fortunes at the ex-
pense of the com fort and health of those incar-
cerated there. Up to this time all such in
vestigations have proven abortive, for the
reason that convicts are not allowed to testi-
fly, or if they do they are terrorized into
telling what suits the management, or else
their stories are treated as of no account be-
that is just and reasonable, how can any
man hope to arrive at the truth unless
both sides are heard? This man, John Ad-
ans, whose story was published in the News
last week-sent dowE from Putnam county
alleges that because he dared complain and
tell the truth concerning the management of
the prison, he was confined in solitude for
the space of seventeen months. What can
the public expect to result from 'investiga-
tons when the committee appointed for
the purpose become the guests of the war
den, and refuse to hear the story of those
best qualified to tell of the inside conduct of
such institutions? A "cursory view" made
from the warden's ~well-supplied table, or
from a comfortable seat at the opera at Lou
,er,lln &c NOT aVAt u fn Coticfr f1n nanT1o
that the prisoners at Jacksonville are not
being %inhumanly treated, and that the Off
cials are not growing rich through the
crumbs they save from the scant tables in
the prison. Some little good was accom-
plished by the investigation of the Northern
Prison, and it seems quite probable that a
better condition of affairs might be brought
about in the Southern. Nothing is palmer
than the fact that the whole truth can never
be arrived at until a committee appointed to
investigate the warden does so without being
gorged with dinners and their time monopo-
lized with drives about the surrounding
country. Visits should be made without
warming. the cells where punishment is usu-
ally inflicted visited without notice, and
any and all c~onvicts who have grievances to
relate be given a chance to do SO without
fear of punishment therefor. The best way
to get at the inside of the prisons and of all
other institutions of the State would be to
pass some such law for a board of inspect
ors as General Coburn suggested two years
ago. Legislative investigation is worse than
a farce; it is an expensive shame. Let us
have the light of day turned inside the prison
walls and inside the asylums OF the State.