The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-01-26
ROUGH DISCIPLINE.
Lie of COnvicts Behind the Bars In IN
English Prison.

Lie of Convicts Behind the Bars In IN
English Prison.
A compari of the rules of an
American prison with those of an En-
glish prison shows that the American
prisoner has many more comforts and
liberties. A man in an English prison
is almost as dead to the outer world as
he would be in his tomb. Nothing in
the way of food or reading matter can
be sent in TO him by his friends. He
is never permitted to see newspaper
or a magazine. He can write and re-
ceive letters only at long intervals.
and from the time he enters the prison
until he leaves it he is not permitted
to speak unless he is addressed by a
prison officer.
A prisoner sentenced for term Of
three years or less may see visitor;
once in three months in the presence
of prisoner, and he may write one
letter. To men whose terms are longer,
such privileges are granted less fire.
quently.
For the first month the prisoners
bed consists of nothing but broad
board like a tabletop. three or four
inches above the floor of the cell. He
has no mattress, and the bedclothiug
consists of rug. blanket, pillow
and two coarse sheets. At the end of
a month, if he has earned a sufficient
number of good-conduct marks, he has
a mattress three nights week. Later
he has mattress five nights q week.
and at still later stage. if his con-
duct has been unexceptionable,h he may
have a mattress every night.
He has also in his cell bucket,
water-can, tin wash bowl, a towel, .
soap-dish, q salt-cellar, wooden
spoon and tin plate. He never has
q knife or fork. and he has nothing
to eat requiring the use of these inn
elements.
He must be up at six o'clock, and his
breakfast is brought to him at half
past seven. He eats every meal in his
cell. In the first stage of his imprison-
ment he has only bread and water for
breakfast, and for dinner a pint and
half of 'stira bout" a gruel-like mix
ture of oatmeal and Indian meal.
In the fourth and best stage of his
imprisonment he has a pint of porridge
with his bread for breakfast, and bet
ter dinner. but even the fourth-stage
bill of fare is never changed through
out the year. There are no holiday
dinners, nor an extra dish On Sundays
as in some of our American prisons.
Not all the prisons have workshops
attached to them, and where there is
no workshop, a man who has labor
sentence must go on treadmill for
two hours and half in the morning,
and for two hours and three-quarters
in the afternoon.
In some prisons there is worse kind
of la Dor than even the treadmill. 1t
consists of turning heavily-weighted
crank, which serves no purpose WHAT
ever exec pt to record the number of its
own revolutions. A days labor con-
sists of from eight to ten thousand
revolutions. In other prisons the
prisoners are set to pumping water.
As this serves some purpose, it is not so
depressing az the crank movement.
The entire system of discipline in
English prisons is military in its rigidi-
,ty, and it is never relaxed. There are
no demonstrations" of discomfort, of
delight, or of contempt on the part of
the prisoners; pandemsnium is never
reproduced. and whistling, the yelling
and 'cat-ealling" in which American
prisoners sometimes indulge are never
even remotely initiated in an English
prison.
The English convict is not by nature
more respectful or orderly than the
American convict, but he knows that
disobedience will be Immediately pun
ished; he knows that the statutes of
parliament have framed the conditions
under which he is to serve out his sem
| tence, and that the power and the sys-
tenn of the prison are such that he
must obey the rules or suffer the con
sequences.
Escapes from English prisons are SO
rare that they assume the character of
marvels, -Boston Herald.
HUMOROUS.