Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-04-18
PRISON LANGUAGE.
How COnvicts Communicate I'm Spite OF
the Most Rigid Discipline.


penitentiaries where the rules are rigid
and surveillance so close that a convict in
never from under the eye Of a guard or
taskmaster, says the indianapolis Journal
No matter to what extreme the rule pro-
hibIting conversation between convicts may
be enforced, they find some means by
which TO inform themselves of what is go
ing on or what is to occur. But, more than
this, convict may conceive the idea of
escape or revolt and for him to commune
cate it to one he wishes TO have as an &C
complicc is not difficult They bring others
into the plot or plan until twenty or thirty
know it, details for the carrying out of
which each is assigned his particular part
This necessitates thorough explanation
of minutse and calls for system of COM
munication for which a limited use of signs
would not answer. The system, whatever
1t Is, involves, no doubt, an elaboration of
signs, aided whenever chance offers the
means by written communication The
secret use Of the latter means for express
ing ideas and purposes will not answer for
the completeness of information convicts OBJ
tain of what takes place in prison walls, for,
whether any thing occurs in the officco the
most distant part of the prison, within fif-
teen minutes there is not a convict who
does not know all about il. Penitentlarv
officials have tried again and again to OBJ
tain even clew to the system, but they
are no nearer q solution than when they
first began TO investigate the matter. They
know there is a system, and that it rests ON
signs, but whether on those made with
fingers, eyes and lips, or the bringing into
play Of other features, or whether it de-
ponds on all together, they do not know.
Prisoners, to curry favor with the officials,
often tell them what they have learned
from other convicts. They go to the especial
trouble at times in exposing plots, and are
ready to reveal every thing except the
means by which they learned the facts. No
convict has yet given the slightest suggcs-
ton which would lead to the discovery of
the secret that has defied the shrewdest de-
tectives. Il have SEEM said an ex-prison
Official, 1.-TWO conyicts, six feet apart, facing
each other. They did not utter a word, nor
could i discern the slightest move
meRt OF the lips or eyes, yet ! knew
they were communicating something.
They gazed at each other for a moment or
two before had a chance to interfere, but
am satisfied that one told the other all he
wished to tell.r
Attorney-General Kitchener relates an in
cident or two showing the perfection to
which the convicts have carried their sys-
TEN of conveying information among them
selves. On his first visit to Jeffersonville to
look into the matter Of Jack Towards short
coming as Warden of the Southern prison
he was sitting in the Office of the prison one
afternoon, when the Deputy Warden or some
other subordinate asked him if he did not
wish to go through the shops 1t was some
thing he did not expect to do, but, accepting
the invitation, they passed through the inner
gates, crossing the first cell-rooms, out into
the courtyard and across that directly to
the shoe factory. They were not three
minutes in going, nor did they stop any,
where until they reached the factory. The
Attorney-General had gone but few feet
INTO the room with the prison officers when
convict stepped up, and, asking the latter
II he could speak to the gentleman with him.
said, on permission being given him: "a You
are the Attorney-Generall"
Yes" was the only reply of that officer.
"Your name is Michener"
ayes; but how do you know thatl have
never seen you before"
THAT is true, nor did l ever see YOU I'M
TIL now, although am from Shelby Coun-
w." he then went on to tell who he was,
where he lived in the county, and what he
had done to bring him into the penitentiary.
But the convict gave the Acknowledgement
further cause for wonder by telling him
that he knew of his reaching the city the
day before, how many visits he had made
TO the prison, and for what purpose
Leaving the shoe factory the Attorney
General and prison officer went INTO another
room, separated from the first by an inter-
Venlng room, and with neither of which
could any person in the third have direct
communication. Here Mr.. Kitchener was
approached by another convict, who told
him about what the first had done. except
he asked him to see the Governor in his be-
half. Going TO the foundry, which is a con-
siderable distance from the shoe factory.
the third convict came up to the Attorney
General the instant he entered the room.
This man had the identity of the visitor and
the cause of his coming to Jacksonville
as accurately as the other two. He also
wanted pardon. On their way to
another building the prison officials said
to Mr.. Kitchener: EVERY convict who
cared to know had all information
about who you arS and why you have come
within few minutes after YOU came inside
of the prison door. The convicts have no
privilege of writing or speaking to each
other, but so perfect is their system of COM
municating with each other that in forminR
plans to escape they can agree on time,
leaders, methods and signals. But there
Is always some convict who, though not in
the plot, learns all about it, and tells the
details to the Office rs. Investigation ALWAYS
brings to light enough incidents to convince
US that their plans are being formed con-
stantly. Just after Warden Patton took
charge three plans Of uniting were discov-
cred and thwarted in one day."
An ex-prison official said recently: Not
long ago took convict to Michigan City.
reached the prison about eight o'clock in
the evening, after all the convicts had been
locked up in their cells. No enc knew of
my being there but the officer in charge at
that time Of night. 1 did not stay longer
than i've minutes, but turning over my pris-
oneF 1 went to the hotel and to bed. When
came down to breakfast the next MORN
ing there was messenger from the prison
stating that such and such convict wanted
to see me. A half-dozen in all wished to
have me to come out to them. How they
knew was there nobody knows. Prison
officials are constantly seeing the effects of
communication among the convicts, but can
not detect the system