The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-06-30
Luxury In Prison.

Luxury In Prison.
In speaking of luxury connected with
prison life. or in drawing a comparison be.
tween we'll fed convict and hard labor.
ing man, think that many fail to see or
Know anything of either class; that is, if
one may judge from the foolish babble of
some writer's on the question. When man
says or writes that any prison management
by its system of rules and regulations for
the government of prisoners offers an in,
ducement to man to commit crime that he
may be confined in prison, on the same
hotel then say that such person knows
very little about the criminal. If there are
cases where the individual imagines he is
living at the Hotel Royal instead of in
prison. then, indeed, happy is the man, for
his mind is blank and he has forgotten
that sweet mOrsel called Liberty. which
every child of nature loves. and thousand
times more so when he is deprived Of it. L
would like to change places with one of
those ''sweat of the brow" writer's and let
him enjoy my palatial quarters of 5XS and
partake of my epcurean menu. Surely the
man who prizes bodily comfort above the
precious boon of liberty is very low in the
scale of mankind. From the whip driven
slave of the South to the pampered and lux
uriOusly- kept slave of the harem they all
alike cry for liberty. Can any one think
in this enlightened age that the slave loves
the chains that bind him even under the
most favorable circumstances or in any
form of imprisonment. Yet the advance.
ment in prison management and discipline
is considered by some wise (?) men to be
an incentive to commit crime and that it
increases the criminal population instead of
diminishing it. Now as far as treatment in
prison is concerned. much can be said for
and against it, but it has never been so
lovely as to give one pleasant dreams or
happy recOllectiOns. In prison one has to
labor more faithfully than he would labor
outside. Why? Because one is not suiting
his own idea of the amount of work he
should perform, but has to do what an
able bodied man would do at the same labor
outside; and after such faithful labor. COM
pulsOry as it may be. 1 would ask if it is
not reasonable that the criminal should be
fed on as wholesome food as that which the
average labOrer in our cities has on his
board.
Another thing. we must consider that all
convicts are not so from choice. There are
many men in prison to day who deserve
their hard lot great deal less than many
who are free and living in high places, but
circumstances have been against them, and
perhaps for the first time in their lives they
have been led to do wrong. and have been
sent to prison. Some have left good homes,
some loving wife and children, and many
things which makes life and liberty charm.
ing to them. How many of this class
would prefer to remain or come back to
prison under the most humane manage
ment? Not one.
Then again. there is the harder class of
criminals. that one might call habitual
criminals. Have you stopped to consider
why they became criminals? Let me guess
for you. While young they spent their
time and mOney-when not in prison
among fast set of friends. They led a
wild. free life; they were intoxicated with
the free air of liberty, and sometimes by
very poor whisky also. This free. care
less life has greater charm for them. than
honest toll with quiet happiness.
Now can anyone say that deprivation of
liberty is luxury to even this class? And
l might say to the worst class in any prison?
Any one who will think little will tell you
it is not. There is no other class in prison
who will take advantage of the opportunity
to leave it quicker than thelatter, no mat
ter how we'll you feed them or treat them
So. nay kind friends. you may be sure
that the iron bars that you see around all
prisons are there not to keep you from get
ting in on the quiet and staying like the old
man of the mountain. but rather to keep
the luxurious inmates from assOciating with
the outside world and enjoying that boon
that king would barter his kingdom for
Liberty. PETORA.