The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-02
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CHRISTMAS IN JAIL
How the Inmates of the State
Prisons Spent Their
Holidays.
CHICKEN AND MINCE PIE
A Family Of One Thousand
Fifteen Deaths and Fifteen In
Insane Cases Last Year.
specta. to tn. Jersey CITY Meas.

specia. to the Jersey City Nescs.
TRENTON. Jan. Q. 1ss7.-It was an
ticipated in the early fall that when the
festive time of Christmas would be reach
ed the new hospital wing at the State
Prison would nave been completed and
the space formerly occupied for hospital
purposes would lave been converted into
a permanent chapel. Thu expectations
were not realized. however. and it will
be several weeks before the wing will be
ready for occupancy. Withal the big
family of Offenders against New Jersey
society had a very happy Christmas so
Far as religious service was concerned.
They always nave a pretty jolly time
on Christmas, from a worldly standpoint.
The religious services were held in the
sombre corridor, where prisoners have
always worshipped since the Introduce
ton of religion into the prison. Two SER
vices were held-Protestant and Catho-
lie. The Catholic service came first, and
was a treat to those who attended. A
special choir had arranged an excellent
musical programme, which was we'll rem
dered. Then came the Protestant hour OF
prayer. This, too, was of an order to
make the felons feel as little as possi-
BILE the hardships of their entombment
After the services Principal Keeper
Moore provided a dinner of chicken and
mince pie, and Christmas was celebrated
in a manner becoming the great festi-
val. Sixteen hundred pounds of chicken
and an unknown quantity of mince pie
were required to feed the army. which
now numbers more than a thousand.
Just why chicken was provided instead
of turkey is not known, but it is known
49, ~,1~, thar IN rar can't nf tho i'm
mates are of ebony hue.
To discover how the holiday season was
being observed at the prison, a reporter
yesterday visited the ponderous tomb on
the banks of the muddy Raritan Canal
in the lower part of the city The ex-
terror of the prison has the appearance OF
a stofid Egyptian fortress. The naked
ness of the -fortification is relieved here
and there BY narrow windows laced with
steel bars. AT the main entrance there
is an effort at ornamentation, but the
Rightly of the solid columns does not
relieve the deafness of the entire struc-
ture. The whole building suggests the
terribleness that Dickens had in mind
when he used the unique expression.
.aTh Stone Coffin" The aspect OF the
prison, however, is better within than
without. A huge gong warns the of1lcers
that some one is outside who wishes 70
get in. The massive iron door swings on
the well oiled hinges and a deputy keeper
: turns his ear towards the visitor. If you
have a good reason for crossing the
threshold the door is closed quickly be-
hind you. The key turns in the lock 50
loudly that 1t Is followed by an ecno.
The first thoughts that follow are not
happy ones. If that turned key meant
rvff1r n1lT
walls for a term of years there was a
reason for the cold chills that were
chasing each other up and down the
spinal colum pv th hne ac nrs The oW world Knows
tina you have been there-put nol.o
stay. The book in Keeper Moere,s once
is well filed with the autographs ol
commonplace people.
When the skeleton chart of the prison
wards is laid out it an opSL
fan. the entrance and the centre pelng
ribs. The centre is Is feet wide. row
of Egyptian columns stands on each SIDE.
*On the south is Keeper .S Moore,s eua a :
The real centre is a half circle; 1t IS
beyond the grated steel door and N tae
and down the corridors with case and
have the entire family under their eye.
Near the desk is an electric annunci.
of the prison. The present BUILDING was
cost SIS, sS7: Il s,H was 6,afr, Of RED Tb san oa-
at Second and Cass streets.
pested' it should be Stated that after a
pr soner has been surrendered TO the state
authorities by the county sheriff he Is
him to the wash room. where he is given
a bath. Then follows the regulation shave
and hair cut. He is weighed. and then
might be reminded that he. is clothed
in the rags of degradation for his own
evil doings. If the convict comes into
on. It is packed away in a bed tick bag:
properly medicated. and the number Of
ing is destroyed. The common tradition
is that the prison authorities destroy al
sentenced in the county courts. sell their
good clothes for what they can get, for
them. The. convict, after being scrubbed
and shingled, is brought again to the cen-
tire. and tnen placed in a cell of the east
wing. He remains there. for a few days
and is then assigned work.
There are at all times upwards of 1000
boarders in the prison-men, boys and
women, paying a debt 70 society. An In
stitution of this character affords an OPP
porturity to study human nature. The
aseetic calm, the rigidly enforced discip-
line and the s~toically, endured punishment
surround the criminals with a charm that
lmpresseS the visitor.
The saddest portion of the prison dur
ing the 1oilQay season is the hospital.
Here are a score of poor suffering NOR
tails. While it is bad enough to live,
Prison, 1t is even worse to die. Two
rooms on the second floor are utilized
Tor hospital purposes. In these are thir-
by cots, indfscriminately arranged, where
Ill men suffer within the sight Of each
pther; where the men suffering with.
acute billiousness must see the dying
Ehroes of the consumptive and hear his
Heath ~rattles; where the dying convict
wishing quietude as he passes over the
Shrek Of some pooxs devil whose vices
have sent him into the condition that
Is even worse. than death. In the centre
ire racked a number Of books and pub
hcations. Above it is an artistic re-
escing patients have constructed a unique
holiday decoration with the words,