The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1884-01-18
NEW YORK'S GREAT PRISON.
LIFE AMONG THE CoNvrCTS I'M
INJURED IN SING SING.
.Oxv Newcomers are Made Into s'riS
gers''-A Regiment and u HAN Oh
Busy Prisoners.

AOw Newcomers are Made Into .'ris
gers''-A Regiment and a Hair OF
Busy Prisoners,
After all, the State prisons of Concord,
Auburn and Sing Sing sort are pretty
much alike, writes d correspondent OF
boston paper. You see great rows Oh
shops, chimneys belching smoke, gangs
OF convicts marching to and fro at morn
ing, noon and night, and there is ever the
same dull routine, which rarely varies
summer or winter. The dismal waste OF
human opportunities, which comes TO DC
ones uppermost thought in inspecting
these vast penal establishments, makes
one sad 1t is horrible, the whole, thing.
could not help wondering why tue men
did not make one mad rush out ON the
piers and plunge into the water on the
free-flowing river, and so end it all. The
interior OF Sing Sing is not cheerful. The
cells are built back to back, in six tiers,
and there are in all /, 200 cells, beside
some few outside. In these /, 200 odd
cells are placed over 900 men. 1t is a
sadly overcrowded prison. 1t is to, be
borne in mind that Sing Sing is the place
where the New York city courts send
| their convicts and that II is. in fact. the
one state prison of the great me-
tropolis. THE cells at Sing Sing
are very small, too small for the
sleepinp accommodation of a human
being, and when two men are placed in
one cell, as is often done, all sanitary
laws are deiied. The cells are seven feet
long. but only throe fysss and four inches
widel Think of that There is not room
enough therein to swing the most
| diminutive cat without the greatest
danger-to the cat. Think of passing
your SUNDAYS in one of these stone and
IRON boxes, and think, toe, OF summer
night In closet OF such hliput,an SIZE
1t Is not the fault OF the present manage
ment OF the prison that the accommoda-
tons are SO poor, for Sing sing prison
was built thlrty-tour years ago, ana the
projectors thereof now occupy, Tor the
most part, the usual SIX feet by TWO oi
mother earth, narrower quarters than
they built Tor hVlng mel.
On the train which brought me to
Sing Sing were five young men in hand
cuffs, the latest installment from the
metropolitan courts. One was a colored
fellow, two Enthusiastically Irish, and two
of Amoricat lineags. As, they entered
the prison doors to begin their servitude
of years, a batch of released men walked
out into the free morning air under the
cheerful sun. What sensation of in
finite relief it must be to be able, afte,
many years of prison life, to walk out
into unwalled space, and to be able to
look about without meeting keepers
watchful eve! The released men walked
with swinging step up the hill, and cast
no look behind.
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