Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-07
THE CONVICT SICK.
A DESCRIPTION OF DIR. EAGLES
INFIRMARY.
Retrospect-TheH Ills Which Convict
Flesh is Heir To-Death-Beds
of Prisoners.
IRRooRD-USlos Correspondence

influence of civilization could be cited,
than the existence in our penitentiaries of
hospitals for the criminal sick. Viewed
as landmarks in the history Of refinement
and manners, the significance of these
institutions can only be appreciated by
those who are versed in the history of the
penal movement at large. Students of
penology, and they alone, are capable Of
realizing the immense change which has
taken place in the economy Of prisons
since the time when John Howard
shocked all Christendom by his reyela-
tions of the awful state of things
existing in the jails and BRIDE
wells of England In those days,
and they are not SO remote that many liv-
ing cannot remember them, not only were
the most elementary sanitary laws wholly
disregarded in the prisons; not only were
these places i'll drained and worse venti-
lated, but there seems to have been not
the slightest provision made for minister
ing to disease or sickness for which a
crowded and pestilential environment was
directly responsible. Jail fever was an
| epidemic known to the faculty, its symp-
| toms being as well marked as those of the
black plague or the sweating sickness.
| The former was a specific, we'll marked
malady, whose virulence was only matched
by the ease with which it was commune
Gated, and the mention of
THE BLACK AssIzF AT OXFORD
viii recall to the recollection of many
| 10, 6
who were being tried at the local sessions,
infected with the epidemic over $50 peo-
pie, including a Judge, Lord-Lieutenant,
and several members of the circuit bar, all
of whom died within a week of contracting
it. Now all is changed, and the average
State penitentiary is better ventilated and
drained than many a nobleman's palace.
However, it is the prison hospital more
than anything else, which makes the revo-
| luton that has taken place in society's
attitude toward those whom it not unnatur-
ally classes as enemies. Solicitude for the
weak and ailing are virtues which have
have found expression in the most barba-
rous societies, but it has remained for the
present enlightened age TO inculcate the
truth that sickness and disease level all
distinctions, and while they dominate,
place on a footing of perfect equality
both bond and free. Such are the thoughts
suggested by visit to any of our prison
hospitals, and no institution in the coun-
Try, that | am aware of, will be found to
reflect them more worthily than the in
Urinary attached to the prison at Folsom.
The old adage about giving bad name
applies with uncommon force to
THE sAIUBRIrY OF FOLSOM,
Which has been impeached with reck-
lessness and disregard for truth which
study of local statistics would have very
sensibly modified. The place is not I'M
healthy, and while in the days of its early
settlement defective drainage and imper-
feet ventilation were no doubt to some ex-
| tent responsible for rather high death
rate, the causes which contributed to this
state of things exist no longer, and the
mortality returns of Folsom will compare
favorably with those of any other place
in America. The large iron roof which
at present spans the cell buildings increases
| TO a great extent the volume of air
in circulation, and additional perforations
in the cell doors, and the diversion of inn
properly laid sewer channels have entirely
neutralized any causes which, under ex-
citing climatic influences might injuri-
ously affect the health of the inmates
| The health, however, of prisons is not de-
| termined by climatic conditions alone and
| i'll body of 600 men there must always
be a fluctuating percentage of those who
are afflicted with some organic or func-
tional ailments which imperativeIy call
| for medical skill and conveniences to
alleviate. Accidents, too, are
FRUITFUL SOURCE OF DISPLACEMENT,
And considering the quasi perilous nature
of the work the major part of the convicts
are employed at, and the recklessness with
! which they expose themselves to danger in
the shape of blasts, etc, the only wonder is
that casualties are of such rare occurrence
as the hospital records show them to be.
| The Almighty, it appears, tempers the
winds to shorn convicts quite as much as
to shorn lambs, for on no other hypothesis
can be explained the relatively low num-
Der of accident cases which are grave
enough to be admitted as patients Of DR..
Eagles infrmary Since the present
| administration came into power there has
not been single death, and while the
prison hospital is by no means tenantless,
there is not case in it which does not
promise to be amenable to the skill which
the medical officer lavishes on all those
whose exigencies entitle them to its exer-
else. 1t is over three months since the
last man died, and it bids fair to be an
other three months before casualty of
this sort has repetition. The hospital
ward has a capacity for nine beds, but as
rarely more than two-thirds Of this num-
Der can find tenants, the remaining three
are seldom called into requisition,
AND ARE NOT VISIBLE.
1t is large, airy apartment, with win
dows facing the south and southeast, which
command cheerful view of the sloping
garden at the back of the prison. Through
perforated wire blinds the breeze pleas
antly circulates and there is an entire alb
sence of the fetid and Objectionable odors
SO typical of the hospital wards of great
cities. In this apartment last Sunday
morning were four patients (none of them
bed-ridden) who. reclining in easy chairs,
or pacing about the ward in list slippers,
seemed as contented with their surround
ings as enforced idleness and ennui
would permit. One, young man,
whose hollow cheeks and harsh
skin denoted that he had been
no common sufferer, appeared to be well
on the rOau 10 cOnValeScence, Wnlle another,
who was supporting himself by crutch,
it was ascertained had fractured his leg,
and was now exercising the mended limb
with becoming chariness. Everything
about the room bespoke tranquility and
peace, and it needed no second glance at
the immaculate whiteness of the pillow
cases and sheets to confirm the impression
of cleanliness which everything about the
place suggests. The only qualification
which a prisoner needs to be admitted to
the privileges of the hospital is that
HE MUST BE GENUINELY SICK.
Once there, neither expense nor pains is
spared to render his lot as palatable as pos
sible. In the matter of diet there are alb
solutely no restraints imposed-such deli
cacies as fresh milk, Liebig's extract and
poached eggs being freely used. The
recuperative influence of nourishing food
can hardly be exaggerated, and in case of
sickness its use is justified on economical
grounds alone, it being less expensive in
| the long run to cure man by course of
generous dieting in month, than by feed
ing him on stinted regime to delay his
recovery for double that period. DIR.
EARLE is deseryedly nonular mt