Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-12

two chairs, one of which is a rocker. The walls are plastered and are snowy white. The grated door is the only thing that suggests !. prison. The beds are com fortable and the bed clothing sufficient and inyitingly clean. The bureau has a white cover. There is tidy on the rock ing chair. The prisoners in this grade have a right to hang pictures on the walls. Most of them do SO. They have a brush and comb and a dozen other con- veniences 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 disobedience is pun iShed just as strictly.
 Force Rarely Required.
 It is rarely that force has to be em- ployed to bring 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 thesup- per hand of one of the keepers there are a score of other prisoners always at hand ready and willing to bounce upon the rioter and land her in the dark cell. Soli- tary confinement in a dark cell with bread and water diet Is the only punish ment ever administered in the prison. No woman has ever remained in the dark cell more than two days. Usually few hours is long enough to break the spirit of the most obstreperous
 All Prisoners Work.
 Every woman in the institution works. The industry carried on is the making of women's garments, principally wrap pers. The workshop is a long room in the rear of the prison. It is full of windows, sI,ts fTN.sA feV f1nt There are two long tables with benches behind them and two rows of sewing ma chimes. The hard workers sit at the benches Eight hours is days work and there is no particular 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 finished her term The amount is small, but it counts up, and at the end of three years, which Is the average term of Imprisonment, there is enough to enable a woman to lead a respectable life until she has ob- tained employment.
 All the work, of course is not done In the shop Every bit of work about the prison Is done by women. Men are ta- booed. Women may stay there for years without ever seeing a man unless II De the warden or a male visitor and the latter is as scarce as a needle In a nay stack The kitchen, like every other part of the building, is model of cleanliness. It is a finer and cleaner kitchen than the average big hotel has, and just as much care Is used in preparing the food, which is, as the law directs, sufficient, whole some, but inferior"
 The women confined in the prison have one hour of exercise daily. That is after their work is done in the afternoon. They may not speak to one another during the day, but in this hour they are permitted to run in the yard and may talk as much as they please. They play games some times but as a rule they spend the hour in walking and talking. They are all the time under the eye of women keepers and cannot get out of sight even for a minute. They go to their rooms after the exercise and spend the early evening in reading or sewing or knitting. There is a library attached to the prison and any prisoner may have book from 1t. Many of the women when they enter the prison cannot read or write. There is a school for such, where reading, writing and arithmetic are taught. There are on an average thirty pupils in this school. In addition to the school woman, If she wants to learn to cook, will be taught, or she will be taught to sew or knit If she desires. The prison has a physician and a chaplain. All the women attend rpliD ouc cpryioes