The herald., 1896-01-26

earn the promotion. A single act of
disobedience is sufficient to post
pone it.
The rooms in the second grade are
lust the same as those in the first, but
in addition to the cot there are chair
and little stand. The clothing in the
bed is better and the straw mattresses
are not 80 hard. The food is tritie
better. The advantages are we'll worth
working for. 1t takes about the same
time and the same rule of unvarylng
obedience and industry to secure pro-
motion from this grade. There Is
further incentive to obedience here,
too. It is the possibility of being put
back into the lower grade. An act OF
! disobedience may not only ruin chan
ces of promotion, but degrade as we'll.
The rooms in the third grade are
only little larger, but there is no
comparison SO far as comfort is con-
cerned between them and those of the
other grades. They are furnished with
a bed, bureau and two chairs, one of
which is rocker. The walls are plss-
tered and are snowy white. The grated
door is the only thing that suggests.
prison. The beds are comfortable and
the bed clothing sufficient and in
vitingly clean. The bureau has white
cover. There is tidy on the rocking
chair The prisoners in this grade
have the right to hang pictures on the
walls Most of them do so. They have
: a brush aud comb and dozen other
conveniences which are worth working
! for. The food also is better than in
either of the other grades. The only
| thing that is the same is the discipline.
That is just as rigorous as in either of
the other grades, and slight disobe-
dience is punished just as strictly.
It is rarely that force has to be en-
ployed to bring a refractory prisoner
to terms. The keepers and the matron
take pride in the fact that they have
never had to call for the assistance of
any man in the management of unruly
criminals. Neither have there been
any escapes from the prison since the
women took hold.
When any prisoner tries to get the
upper hand of one of the keepers there
are score of other prisoners always at
hand ready and willing to pounce upon
the rioter and land her in the dark
cell. Solitary confinement in q dark
cell with bread and water diet is the
only punishment ever administered in
the prison. No woman has ever re-
days. Usually few hours is long
enough to break the spirit Of the most
obstreperous.
Every woman in the institution
works. The industry carried on is the
making of women's garments, princi-
pally wrappers. The workshop is a
long room in the rear of the prison. 1t
is full of windows and the ventilation,
therefore, is perfect There are two
long tables with benches behind them
and two rows of sewing machines. The
hand workers sit at the benches Eight
hours is days work and there is no
partic ular task to be done in that time,
but every woman is busy all the time
and there is no shirking. The past
year their average earnings have been
30 cents day each, of which each is
entitled to cents. This cents is
laid aside and becomes the property OF
, the convict when she shall have fin.
, ished her term. The amount is small
, but it counts up, and at the end ol
three years. which is the average tern
, of imprisonment, there is enough tt
, enable woman to lead respectable