The Indianapolis journal., 1895-12-08
A CONVENT PRISON.
The Austrian Way of Disciplining
Women Who break the Laws.

The Austrian Way OF OfSctpI1n1ug
Women Who break the Laws.
Cornhill Magazine.
In Austria, n woman. no matter what she
may do, is never regarded or treated quite
as criminal She may rob, burn, kill-set
every law at defiance, in fact, and break all
the commandments in turn-without fear of
ever being called upon to face the gallows.
She Is not even sent to an ordinary prison
TO do penance for her sins; the hardest fate
that that can befall her indeed. is to be com
convent. There the treatment meted out
TO her is not so much justice seasoned with
we'll. with justice. Even in official reports.
she is an "erring sister'-one who has. II is
true, strayed from the narrow path, but
quite involuntarily.
The convent to which Vienna sends its
errfng sisters is at Neudorf, only few
miles away from the city. There any
misdemeanor is at once transported The
judge before whom she is tried decides, of
course, how long she shall remain. He
may too, If he deems 1t right, give orders
that while there she shall pass a day in
solitary confinement from time to time,
and, on these occasions, be less plentifully
majority of cases, however. no in
women are simply handed over to the keep
dealt with as she thinks best She houses
them, feeds them, clothes them, and pro-
vides them with instruction and occupation;
does 30 kreuzers a day about pence) for
each prisoner under her care. So long as
sponsibiIity for their he safeReepins and gem
eral well-being rests on the superior; and
In return, she is allowed practically free
hand In her management of them. There
are, 1t is true, certain regulations In force
with regard to the amount of work they
| may be required to do, and the punishments
are not of nature to interfere seriously
with her freedom Of action. She is, in fact,
virtually an autocrat within her own do
main; and there are not half dozen wom-
en- in Europe to-day who have so much
power for the veal or woe Of their fellows
as she has. The only man attached to the
| more than her aid-de-camp; and as for the
great officials who pay her flying visits
to seek advice than to give it,
The convent itself is fine old building
| which once upon time was a castle,
The religious community to which it now
belongs received 1T as a present from its
owner who cared more for the church
appearance of the place to show that 1t is
| a prison; the courtyard stands open the
whole day long, and there is never guard
| within sight. The doorkeeper is pretty
easily seize up In her arms and run away
| with. She welcomes all comers with the
the parlor without making a single in
| quiry. Although we went provided with
all sorts of introductions official and other
ing that the superior allowed us to pass
| through the great iron door which separ-
| ated the part OF the convent where the
prisoners live from the rest OF the build
ing.
Even here there is nothing gloomy or
/! prison-like about the place; and. beyond
the fact of the door being kept locked, Ie tn
ing to Indicate that they who live there
| are subject to any special restraint. The
beautiful old stone staircase was flooded
~, f1,nt ,v16
| a smile on the faces of half the women
we passed there. The superior led the way
into a large cheerful-looking room in which
some fifty women were sitting working.
Perhaps half dozen of them were making
| match boxes or buttons; and the others
were doing fine needlework, beautiful en-
broidery, lace and wool work, under the
| guidance of a sister. who looked for all the
! world as if she had stepped straight out
of one Of Fra Angelico's pictures She
passes her life going about among these
women distributing to each in turn direc-
| tions, encouragement or reproof, as the
case may be. always with a smile on her
patient endurance than giadness. Another
sister, a woman with a strong. sphinx-like
face. was sitting at the further. end Of the
is there to maintain discipline and and
guard against those outbursts of tenn
per which, from ON time IN & to time. disturb the the
entered the room all the women rose and
greeted us in the most CHEEKY fashion
| with what sounded ike a c0uplet from an
old chant. They speedily took up their
work again. however. at sign from the
| superior.
1t would be hard to find more pros
porous looking set of women than these
convent prisoners; to see them one would
never dream that they were supposed tl
be undergoing punishment. They are per-
feet models of cleanliness and order. their
hair is carefully dressed, their cottor
gowns are quite spotless, and 80 are the
bright-colored fichus they all wear Phys
cally, they seem to be just about up tC
the average; but Intellectually, so far al
an outsider can Judge. they consider
ably either above or below the great mass
Of their fellows. Some Of the faces art
almost idiotic in their stupidity; others are
quite startlngly clever-keen, sharp anC
sagacious Although a few Of the pris
oners looked depressed or sullen. the grea
majority seemed not only contented. bu'
happy, happier by far than half the work
ing women one comes across in the out
side world There was touch of some
thing quite pathetic in the expression o.
more than one who was there; 1t was
as IL they had at length found rest ant
peace after much sore tossing. and were
grateful.