Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-04-28
AUsTRIA's WOMEN PRISONERS
Even the Worst Criminals Are
Treated Kindly.

ireateo Ntnuif.
In Austria a woman, no matter
what she may do, is never regarded
or treated quite as criminal, says
the Chicago Record. She may rob,
burn, kill-set every law at defiance,
in fact, and break all the command
ments in turn-without a fear of ever
being called upon to face a gallows.
She is not even sent to any ordinary
prison to do penance for her sins;
the hardest fate that can befall her,
indeed, is to be compelled to take up
her abode for a time in a convent.
There the treatment melted out to
her is not so much justice seasoned
with mercy as mercy seasoned, and
none too well, with justice. Even in
official reports she is an ''erring
sister'-one who has, it is true,
strayed from the narrow path, but
quite involuntarily.
The convent to which Vienna sends
its erring sisters is at Neudorf, only
a few miles away from the city.
There any woman who is convicted
of either crime or 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 it right, give orders
that while there she shall pass a day
in solitary confinement from time to
time, and on these occasions be less
pientifully supplied with food than
usual. In the great majority of
cases, however, no instructions of
this kind are given; the women are
simply handed over to the keeping
Of the superior of the convent to be
dealt with as she thinks best. She
houses them, feeds them, clothes
them, and provides them with in
'truction and occupation; and the
gives her for what she
loes 80 kreuzers day (about seven
,ence) for each prisoner under her
are.
So long as these women are in the
onvent the responsibility of their
afe keeping and general well being
ests on the superior; and, in return,
he is allowed practically free hand !
n her management of them. There i
re, it is true, certain regulations in {
orce with regard to the amount of
york they may be required to do
nd the punishment that may be in '
icted on them, but these are not of
nature to interfere seriously with i
er freedom Of action. She is, in t
act, virtually an autocrat within \
er own domain, and there are not a
alf dozen women in Europe to- U
ay who have so much power for the n
real or woe of their fellows as she d
as. The only man attached to the
lace-a government Inspectors f
tile more than her aide-de-camp;
nd as for the great officials who pay q
er flying visits from time to time, t
hey are more inclined to seek ad- S
ice than to give it. I
The convent itself is a fine old Q
uilding, which once upon a time was
castle and seems to have been v
trongly fortified. The religious
to which it now belongs t
eceived it as a present from its t
wner, who cared more for the h
lurch than for his heir. There is S
othing in the appearance of the
lace to show that it is a prison; the =
'urtyard stands open the whole day Ii
ING, and there is never a guard r
thin sight The doorkeeper is t
retty little nun whom a strong o
oman could easily seize up in her o
rms and run away with. She well Il
omes all corners with the brightest c.
smiles, and leads them into the y
ny.l