The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1893-05-25
a Peep Through A Prison Window

A curiosity to see what wants would be reflect
ed in the advertisements of a prison paper led
the writer to examine file of THE PRISON MIR
ROR. a paper published by the inmates of the
state penitentiary in Minnesota. First comes
the card Of local Bakery and Restaurant
where - fine cakes and candies seem to be the
speciality. Rather hard, this, on the prisoners
who have to raise their hand for Il piece OF
bread. and whose soup is ladled OUT to them
from q common can. Next comes the advertise
ment of clothing house. InaSmuch us "Uncle
Sans bOarders" are clothed in accordance with
a fashion which has not yet been introduced
among the spring styles of the custom tailor,
this also rather in the direction of theOret-
zeal education. Perhaps seed is SOwn for the
future. The wholesale grOcerS who follow an
nOunce that they make lumbernens supplies u
speciality, and here we may hope for some chance
OF a return Oh the outlay. Perhaps some of the
"bOys may. when released, turn iumbermen,
and then help to pay for the advertiser; hts
that they were reading While doing time" Tn
less the same future reward should meet the
faith of the drug store man. who fiaUnts his per-
fumery and toilet articles in their faces, it is to be
feared that some of his other customers will have
| to pay for that advertisement The rest Of the
| advertising page is taken up by Pensions Sc
cured" The Sunday Sum- The New York
Advertiser and Ripans' Tabules.''
| But if the advertising pages fail to mirror
prison lie the lack is made up in the rest of the
| paper The articles are written selected by
| the inmates, and they give glimpse of the lie
and the public sentiment of a prison that is
| curiOusly interesting to one On the outside.
What happens to a man, mentally, when the or
binary routine of his life is suddenly checked and
| he finds himself classified as Il criminal? Does
| he look upon himself as rightfuly placed with a
| class which differs from the rest of humanity,
and, if so, how does lie meet the situation? 1t is
probably fair to assume that the criminal, before
| he is detected, is not unlike many men whom one
may meet in business. 1t is tritc saying that
everyone has possibilities of good and of evil in
| him. 1t is easy to believe that the man who
yields little by little, to tile demands of the evil
| is hardly conscious that he is slipping farther
| and farther down until he passes the point where
| he could claim rank as an average man and finds
himself on the criminal plane. Even then the
fact that he is not recognized by the world us
criminal probably keeps him for soIhe time be-
| lieying that he is Unsuitable in each successive
step. Then comes the detection and the sudden
| facing about. What is the effect the man
himself? Howells has anay Zed the situation in his
|
which leaves little to be said but that, at best
| is theory. Here is fact. In these articles, writ
| ten by the prisoners themselves, we may expect
| to find reflection of the common attitude of
mind in the prison.
| One is struck in the first place, by the simple
and natural recognition of their estate. 1t is not
only that the selected articles bear almost entire
ly upon matters pertaining to prisons and their
regulations, but in the original articles also the
situation is accepted with the greatest sang frOd
One writer addresses his audience Familiarity as
| "fellOw.cOnvicts.' One who is about to go out
| again into the outer world addresses a sort of
valedictOry to those who remain behind, in which
he says, frankly and plainly: 1--WE have all come
to the conclusion that prison life is not thing to
banker AFTER and that it is far better on the out
side, and the best way to remain on the out
side is to do what is right by ourselves and by
everybody One writer begins philosophical
consideration of their condition with the words.
In studying ourselves as criminals" and pro-
ceeds with careful analysis of the moral irreg-
ularity - which characteriZes the criminal as COM
pared with the mental processes of "a man
recognized as normal in his moral constitution"
| The article is embellished with quotation from
Kant on the abstract idea of duty, and is as calm,
as philosophical, as impersOnal, as though it
orders of humanity.
The high regard entertained for the good
morals of the outside public is brought out for
chilly and amusingly in an editorial headed "A