Evening star., 1896-03-07
A. TRIP TO PRISON
Journey Of a Star Reporter to Albany
With District Prisoners.
LIFE IN The PENlTENTIARY
Men Who Are Paying the Penalty
of Crimes Committed Here.
CAPTAIN HOWGATE'S DUTIES

A few days ago Star reporter visited
the Albany penitentiary. the prison in
which persons convicted here of felonies
serve their sentences Through the cour-
tesy Of Warden Leonard Of the District
jail, he was permitted to accompany
batch of prisoners who were being trans
ported to the penitentiary. 1t was not
pleasant journey, either for the reporter
or. it is needless to say. for the unfortu-
nate beings who were being carried In
chains to the place of detention, for, while
the convicts had undoubtedly been justly
convicted and deserved their punishment
they were human beings, and keenly felt
the disgrace which their chains brought
to the notice of every passenger the
car.
The band of prisoners was composed of
ten men and two women. The men were
handcuffed together in pairs, and also
chained to the other at the ankles
Through the handouts ran a great trace
chain, the couples being about four feet
apart. The women escaped the indignties
of the chains and handouts, but they new
erthe!ess keenly felt the disgrace of Their
position. Three of the prisoners, two men
and one of the women, had been convicted
OF manslaughter. one Of the men being SEN
fenced to ten years Imprisonment, the
other to two years, and the woman.
ten-year man had stabbed another to death;
the other. a white man, had kicked little
boy TO death, and the woman had been
guilty of pc. forming an abortion, and
thereby causing the death of a naneleSs
infant.
One of the party, young white man,
was making his second trip to the peniten
| tiary, under sentence again for theft and
| yet he had been but two Years out of the
prison. But two OF the prisoners were
white. and the crimes Of which the others
had been convicted were adultery house
breaking and theft.
Proud of His Sentence.
a young colored man prided himself
upon the fact that he was establishing a
record. that of having received the lightest
sentence in the pententary ever imposed
! In the Dstrct-two months His offense
was violation of the Edn,unds or Utah act.
| He was the one person in the party who
| thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and he now
and then amused himself by remarking:
say, don't yo' folks wish yo' was me?
| Jes' look at me. a-settin' a free ride to
Albany an back. new suit of clo'es. an
fve-dollar bin when Ise rested fur a
| couple of months.
! This young han WILL however later
| learn that he was sadly mistaken as to
several of his premises. 1t is true that ordi-
| narily upon the discharge of prisoner from
! the penitentiary he is given a new suit CT
| clothes, a ticket back to Washington and
| 50 in cash. but the officials of the peniten-
| tiary informed The Star man. when he in
quired into the matter that while that is
| the general rule, prisoners sentenced to
! the pententiary for less than one year Will
receive neither clothes nor money and what
IS more, are required to serve without any
reduction of then sentences because of good
| behavior.
While this fellow established record as
to short sentences, he was closely followed
by two Others in the party. man and
woman who had been given three months
eacn for the same crime. Like him thSy
were also negroes, and throughout the en-
tire trip the woman kept as near her part
| ner in crime as possible. endeavoring to
soothe him by whispering tina. the time
| would soon pass.
| The party left here at 11:3O in the even
| ing, occupying seats in the smoker of the
train. As they were marched through the
station to the train they were gazed at
with morbid curiosity, and when Jersey
City was reached about o'clock next
morning quite crowd of men and boys
followed them through the station and on
the ferry boat, subjecting the unfortunate
ones to many coarse snd unkind remarks
The Public Ignominy.
All that the women and the two white
men naturally resented. although they bore
the additional disgrace and punishment in
silence, except now and then when some
particularly offensive remark was made
respecting them. when they replied angrily
in like manner. The officers in charge Of
TO protect them from such insults and
when New York city vas reached hurried
their charges into coaches in waiting for
them. The Grand Central depot reached. the
prisoners were seated in the public waiting
room until the $50 train for Albany was
made up. when they were again placed in
the smoker of the train.
While in the waiting room the prisoners
were once more surrounded by a curious
crowd of people and the miserable beings
were only too glad when they were march
ed to their train. The spectacle of chained
men called forth from one Of the sperta
tors the remark that it was a sad ref1ec-
ton upon the government of the United
States that it compelled it's convicts to hear
the disgraceful punishment of being car
ried in chains hundreds of miles in public
view and subjected to coarse and insulting
remarks. 1t was punishment which. no
matter what the crimes were was un-
worthy Of great and supposedly humane
nation, he thought.
Albany was reached about 1 o'clock. and
Just before the train rolled into the depot
there the chains about the legs Of the men
were removed, but those on their wrists
were retained and also the long trace chain
which connected them together. At the
station the penitsEtiary van, a somewhat
ancient affair, was in waiting, and into it
the men and two women were crowded and
rapidly driven to che prison, which is sit
Gated in an elevated park about a mile
from the station. Arrived there, the men
we're marched to the general reception
room. where their chains were removed for
the first time in fourteen hours, the women
being at cnce conducted to the female de-
partment of the prison.
In Prison Garb.
fhe moment the men were unshackled
they were directed to an adjoining wing Of
the prison. Their pedigrees were recorded
first, and then they were in turn handed
over to the two prison barbers, convicts of
course. who quickly removed all hair from
their faces and about all from their heads.
the change being so startling in some cases
that one would hardly be able to recoensza
them. Then they were sized up by the Off
Ger VINO distribute to them the prison cloth
II 6, and from pile a convict handed tbsn,
their outfit. 'AAein
When not being interrogated and barbered
the men were forced to stand close to a
wall, facing it, with their hands hanging NJ
their sides. no conversation being perm;t-
ted of cnuraa All tbis dove tL % PeA iAiil-