River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-07-23
CHILEAN PRISONS.
Horrors of Solitary Confinement From
Which Few Emerge Alive.


Under massive arches of enormously
thick walls, where perpetual twilight
reigns even in the outside rooms, are
inner cells, two feet wide by six feet
long, destitute of a single article of
furniture Until recently those confined
in them were walled in, the bricks
being cemented in place over the living
tomb. Now there is thick iron door
which Is securely nailed up, then fas-
tened all around with huge clamps, ex-
actly as vaults are closed in the Santi-
ago cemetery: and over all the great
red seal of the government is placed
not To be removed until the man is dead
Or his sentence has expired. The tiny
grated window is covered by several
thiclSnesses of closely-woven wire net
ting. making dense darkness inside, SO
that the prisoner can not tell darkness
from day. There is no ventilation ex-
eept through this netting and no open
ing whatever to the tomb. Low down
in the iron door, close To the ground, is
tiny sliding panel, foot long by two
or three inches wide, arranged like
double drawer, so that food and water
may be slipped in on shallow pans and
the refuse returned.
Twice in every twenty-four hours
this panel is operated. and if the food
remains untouched a certain number of
Avs IL is known the man is dead, and
only then can his door be opened unless
his time has expired. If the food is not
eaten for only two or three days no at
tention is paid to it, for the prisoner
may be shamming, but beyond a given
length of time he can not live without
eating.
Not the faintest sound nor glimmer
IF light penetrates these awful walls
In the same clothes he goes in. un-
washed. uncombed. without even
blanket or handful of straw to lie on,
he languishes in sickness, lives or dies.
with no means of making his condition
known to those outside. He may count
the tagging hours, sleep. rave, curse,
pray, long for death. dash his brains
out. go mad if he lii>es-nobOdy knows
IT, He is dead to the world, and
buried, though living. Six months is
the usual sentence, and, until lately,
two years has been the limit. They
told us that but one man has ever been
known to live year, and the majority
10 not outlast the second month. Those
that survive the six months are almost
Invariably driveling idiots or dangerous
maniacs. The door is always opened
at night when the sentence has ex-
PRED, because of his enfeebled condi-
ton after long darkness, the glare of
day would be torture, if not death
They expect to find the wretch stone
blind. emaciated to the last degree, I'M
able to stand. hair and beard grown
long and white as snow, nails like
talons. and garments rotten with mold
One man of education and refinement
kept himself in tolerable condition
through his half-year of solitary con-
finement by means of a handful of
melon seeds As he was going in some
body gave him a part of muskmelon.
Strange to say. il was not taken from
him. and he carefully guarded the seeds,
which he put to variety of ingenious
uses. With them and reckoning from
the number of times the food-pan slid in
and out. he contrived to keep track of
the number of days of his Incarceration;
he invented games of solitaire" which
he played thousands of times in the
darkness; and to vary the dreadful
monotony he would throw away the
precious handful and grope around on
his hands and knees until they were
recollected. He says that to those lit
tie seeds alone he is indebted for his
almost miraculous escape from insan-
ity. idiocy or death. Pittsburgh Dis
atch