The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-02-22
ENGLISH PRISON LIFE.
Iron Discipline Universally the Rule and
Disorder Almost Unknown.

Disorder Almost Unknown.
A comparison of the rules of an Amer
lean prison with those of an English 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 read
ing matter can be sent in to him by his
friends. He is never permitted to see a
newspaper or magazine. He can write
and receive letters only at long intervals,
and from the time he enters the prison un
til he leavesit he is not permitted to speak
unless he is addressed by prison officer.
A prisoner sentenced for a term of three
years or less may see visitor once in three
months in the presence of n prison officer,
and he may write one letter. To men
whose terms are longer such privileges are
granted less frequently. For the first
month the prisoners bed consists of moth.
ing but broad board like table top,
three or four inches above the floor Of thu
cell. He has no mattress, and the bed
clothing consists of rug, a blanket IL pill
low and two coarse sheets At the end Of
month, II he has earned sufficient num-
Der of good conduct marks, he has mat
tress three nights week. Later he has n
mattress five nights week, and at still
later stage, II his conduct has been unex-
ceptionable, he may have mattress every
night. He has also In his cell bucket, n
water can, tin washbowl, towel, a soap
dish, saltcellar, wooden spoon and a
tin plate. He never has knife or fork.
and he has nothing TO eat requiring the
use of these implements. He must get up
at O'Clock, and his breakfast is brought
to him at half past T. He eats every meal
| in his cell. In the first stage of his i'm.
prisonment he has only bread and water
| for breakfast and for dinner q pints of
"stirabout''-a gruellike mixture of oat-
meal and Indian meal. In the fourth and
best stage of his imprisonment he has a
| pint of porridge with his bread for break
| fast and better dinner, but even the
fourth stage bill of fare is never changed
throughout 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 at.
| tached to them, and where there is no
workshop man who has Il labor sentence
must go on treadmill for 81. hours in
the morning and for 2s. in the afternoon
In some prisons there is worse kind OF
labor than even the treadmill It consists
of turning heavy weighted crank, which
serves no purpose whatever except to re-
cord the number Of its own revolutions. A
days labor consists of from 5000 to 10,
600 revolutions. In other prisons the pris
oners are set to pumping water. As this
serves some purpose, 1t is not so depress
ing as the crank movement. The entire
system of discipline in English prisons IL
military in its rigidity, and it is never re
Taxed. There are no demonstrations of dis
content, of delight or of contempt on til,
part of the prisoners Pandemonium i,
never reproduced, as it is in prisons il
some of the states. The hooting and wits
Ting, the yelling and "cat calling il
which American prisoners sometimes in
dulge, are never even remotely initiated il
an English prison. The English convict il
not by nature more respectful or orderly
than the American convict, but he know,
that disobedience will be Immediately pun
ished. He knows that the statutes of par
lament have framed the conditions unde
which he is to serve out his sentence, ant
that the power and the system of the prison
are such that he must obey the rules O
suffer the consequences. Escapes from Eng
lish prisons are so rare that they ASSUME
the character of marvels.-Boston Herald