Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-07-24
A FAMOUS PRISON.
l'ENTONVlLLE HAS SHELTERED
MANY NOTORIUUS CROOKS.
Ca!ly Routine and Labor of tho
Convicts-Alwuysl Employed,
Even If They But
Turn Crank.
HERE is q vast and compli-
cntel system OF prisons in

Gated system OF prisons IN
| England, whero persons
amenablo to the laws ore con-
Guol. English law, says tho New
York Journal, is peculiar in that it
reaches result quicker than out in
tho United States. A man in the
clutches of The English law gets his
sentence an,l begins his time OF pun
ishmcnt quicker than IN America.
But ut the samo timo there may DO
taken into consideration the old SOW
that quick haste makes less speed.
English law gives penalties for some
thing like five Subdivisions of crime.
Capital ofcnses are punished by hang
ing inside of prison walls. Next in
line comes the crimes for which penal
scrvitudc from Eve to lifelong years
is tho penalty. Then comes the
numbcrless oifenscs, for which the
punishment is Imprisonment, with or
without hard labor. This latter i'm.
prisonmcnt is usually applied for ell
ofenscs which are punishable with
imprisonment when the sentence is
not punishable with penal servitude.
Sentences OF this kind are usually
given from one month to ten years.
Money fines for misdemeanors, which
nro served out in iails, make another
subdivision. When comes the quos-
tion of the confinement of prisoners
from ono to five years in Houses OF
Correction.
England and Wales together have
fifty-seven prisons, while Scotland
brings up the rear with fourteen,
making grand total Of seventy-ouc
Institutions. In addition, there are
tho local prisons, or penal institutions,
in the city of London, which will
swell this list still higher.
Early in English history every class
Of criminal was huddlcl together
much the same way as in vogue in the
average Stlte Prison in America. But
in 1923 the English took stop which
America might we'll follow. They de-
ciled to separate prisoners into
classes. 1t gives sort of criminal
quarantine, end stops the spread OF
vicious infection which is bound to
come when the morally dead associate
with the beginner in crime.
OF oil tho prisons, the most famous
from the fact that it has sheltered
moro than the usual number of fa.
mons crooks within its walls, Is Pen.
tonville Prison, or, rs it is better
known, tho "Model" prison of all
England. Within it is now confined
Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright and
felop, and it is now, for TINT reason
alone, o CT. iosity In the criminal
world. It is, further, fair sample
of the average English prison.
Pentonville Prison is series OF
buildings walled all around with in
sane asylum-like windows. Entrance
is gained through portcullis gate
way, with square porch Aanked with
by sqcarc cock tower. H,reGuircs o
Government order to inspect the pris-
on, but anyone interested in the con-
tinenent Of convicts has no trouble in
gaining the necessary permit at the
Home Office of the English Prison
Department at Whitehall, S. W.
Possibly the first thing that strikes
the mind of the visitor is The exquis-
ite cleanliness of the prison. In the
dainty private home OF New York
woman of fashion no more attention
is paid to cleanliness than in Penton-
villo. All the floors in tho institution
are of cut stone highly polished, and
all of the walks are Of carefully kept
street asphalt. Uuliko American
prisons, there is no trace OF TINT
"prison smell" which is the first
thought that strikes the visitor to on
institution where convicts arc pun
ished In the land of the free.
The care taken in veutilating and
airing Pentonville Prison is point
which is not looked after all over
England, it may be confessed, but in
this case care Is certainly taken to
reach a decided condition for good.
The prison interior is divided into
four long corridors, which radiate
from center like ribs in woman's
fan. All OF the corridors are stone
paved and are we'll lighted by glass in
the arches of tho roof. Like the in
terror CT the new prison in the Tomba,
the walls on each side of the corridors
are pierced with cells. Above the
corridors, too, are three tiers OF
stories of other cells reached by light
iron balconies and steps. This deli.
cato tracery of iron work is joined
here and there across tho balconies by
narrow bridges, where guards sit day
and night in commanding position
which overlook the corridors, with
their teeuing population OF criminals
locked in the cells which range along
them.
To the observer there is mono oi
that horrible semidarkness Of tho in
terror of ON American prison. The
main feature in the centre structure
seems to be On effort to gain d bright,
CHEEKY and airy building. Even the
windows do not partake of the barred