St. Paul daily globe., 1888-07-15

pudding and bread were first-class.
Each prisoner receives his allowance of
food in square tin pan. One, who has
served sentences in several prisons, an
swered me that the fare in this prison
was the best he had known. The meals
are eaten in the cells. After watching
the prisoners file in to dinner [ con-
cluded that l was pretty hungry myself,
and sat down to a well-served meal in
one of the guard rooms. A young
mulatto played waiter as if he were used
to it.
After dinner | finished the tour of
the building. The whole place is ex-
ceptiOnally neat and well ventilated.
The corridors are we'll lighted ami the
whitewaShed walls take away much of
the usual gloomy appearance of
prison.
Out of the 45O prisoners 1 found only
four women. Although perhaps two
thirds of the prisoners, if asked the
cause of their crime, would plead the
excuse as old as Adam, 1.-THE woman
tempted me;' yet the small proportion
of women imprisoned would 60 to show
either that women are better than men,
or more adept in escaping punishment.
Perhaps the
LAW IS MORE LENIENT
nealy served their sentences out. The
other two have life sentences. They do
the washing, ironing and mending.
They were not dressed in prison garb,
but wore neat gingham dresses. Those
seem like bright, intelligent girls" l
remarked to the matron.
They're not girls at all; they're all
married women and have families" she
replied, as she dangled bunch of keys
at her waist.
l asked her several questions as to
sentenced, their disposition and desire
to reform. That matron evidently
didn't think it part of her business to
answer questions from visitors; yet she
could ask more questions to the square
inch than the average woman. She told
me that she had only been at the prison
few months and finally shut off my
questions by saying that all women were
equally exposed to temptation, and if a
woman felt it was her own fault and she
/ ought to suffer the consequences" l
thought this rather sweeping assertion.
but it was no use arguing, she wasn't
open to conviction The women didn't
seem to be overworked or unhappy:
they stepped about cheerfully, laughing
and chatting over their work. [ noticed
that their cells were poorly lighted, be-
ing directly opposite another row. Per-
hapS they wouldn't mind that, as they
were at work elsewhere every day eX-
cept Sunday, and could have artificial
light in the evening. Although these
women are serving sentence at the ex-
pense of the state for crime, yet their
food and lodging seems more comfort
able than that of some women outside
the walls who earn their own living.
A ffpr LEAVING the vOmpn'S unactarc I
visited the other cells. They are ar
ranged in three tiers, one above the
other. Corridors extend the whole
length of each tier. There are no Win
dows in the cells, but light comes from
row on the opposite side of the corri-
dor. Each cell has grated door with
the name of the inmate on it. They are
fastened by lock on each side, and an
iron bar is let down, which extends the
whole length of each tier. The ordinary
furniture consists of a bedStead and
washstand. Woven wire mattresses
and neat bedding are given. The guard
told me that the cells could be decorated
and furnished by the prisoners friends
as nicely as they chose. Some cells
were carpeted and supplied with books,
flowers and pictures, which made them
look much more comfortable. One cell
had the walls and ceiling painted and
1reSc0ed by It's occupant,
HAPPY AL" -
of dime museum fame, had his deco
rated with all sorts of intricate designs:
whitfield out with jack-knife. Some
of them must have required a great deal
of time and patience.
Opening on one of the corridors were
three massive iron doors marked in gilt.
letters A, B, G. What are those?o |
asked.
"Those are dungeons" explained the
guard; 'we put prisoners in there for
temporary punishment when they are
unruly or disobey orders"
''How long do you keep them there?'
'tWe keep them different lengths of
time according to the offense, some
times five or six days or as long as
twenty days in extreme cases." he said.
The dungeons were about the size of an
ordinary cell, when the door closed they
were totally dark and so far as
l could see without means of ventilation.
There was no furniture, the prisoner
being either compelled to stand all the
time or lie on the bare stones. He is
fed on bread and water while under this
form of punishment. The usual method
is to give prisoner certain length of
time ia the dungeon for an offense. I
| asked the guard if twenty days of such
| confinement wouldn't turn out a first
class lunatic as result. He said that
that was likely to be the result. met
| convicts who had long period of i'll
ness after ten or twelve days of such.
confinement. 1t could hardly be other
wise as the dungeons are necessarily
both damp and cold. 1t Is claimed by.
some that such means of punishment
are necessary in order to subdue and
punish the stubborn. However, it is a
self-evident fact that such punishments
are liable to be used too freely and fre.
! QuentlY by persons having inlimitad