The news & observer., 1897-08-27
Miss Cisneros Confined in
FiIthiest Place Imaginable.
NOT EVEN GIVEN CLOTHES
IF THEY FALL OFF THEY MuSI
GO NAKED.
SPITE OF THE MARQUIS OF CERvERA

DeIicateIy Reared Cuban Girl, CossiO e'sner0s'
Scours the Floors Of Prison, Filthy BE-
yond Belief, to Crafty the Spite
Of a Spanish Nobleman
New York Journal)
The Casa de Recojidas, or prison for
abandoned women, in Havana, In which
Senorita Evangelina Cossio Cisneros, the
delicate and extraordinarily beautiful
young Cuban girl, is imprisoned, is one
Of the most abominable jails in Cuba.
The conditions that exist there, as de-
.cribed by Sonora Agramonte Sanchez
and Senorita Maria Aguilas, who were
incarcerated with Miss Clsneros, anu
are now in New York, would be beyond
belief were it not known that the Span
iards have not yet learned to treat pris-
oners as human beings.
Last winter-of course it is always
SIMMER in Havana-when these two wo-
men were in the Casa de Recojidas, there
were ninety-two prisoners IN all there'
Twenty belonged to the best Cuban fam
lilies, and were imprisoned for poiltlcai
reasons. They were not political offend
ers themselves. They merely happened
to have brothers or other male relatives
in the ranks of Cuba's army of libera-
ton. The remaining seventy-two were
women Of the lowest class, mainly ne
crosses, who were serving sentences
ranging as high as twenty-five years
for the worst crimes, including murder,
known to the code. These latter were all
confirmed criminals of the vilest habits.
ALL TREATED ALIKE.
The economy of the Casa de Recoji-
das management makes no allowance or
provision for the separation of these two
classes of prisoners. The delicate, retin-
ed woman who is thrust within Its walls,
like Miss Cisneros, must not only asso-
ciate with the criminals, but has to sleep
by their side.
The Recojidas is a low, one-story
building that was constructed in the ear
Iy days of the Spanish conquest as con-
vent. 1t is situated near the Paula pro-
menade, not far from the sea. 1t has two
large apartments that are long and mar
row, and three small rooms. The latter
are abaut twelve feet square, and each
has one window and one door opening
into the courtyard. In these five rooms
were housed, rather penned, the ninety
two prisoners!
The twelve square feet rooms held
from nine to twelve each. All are abso-
lutely bare of furniture-no chairs or
anything else of that kind. There are
only long tables extending the entire
length of the room on both sides, and
on these the women sleep. There are
no mattresses. The bare board is the
bed, and there are no pillows and no
bedclothes. In the two larger dormi-
tories the women are crowded on these
planks, which incline somewhat from the
wall, toward which their heads lie, so
that the feet of those ON the one side
are opposite the feet of those on the
other side.
SMALLER, BUT BETTER.
The conditions in the smaller rooms
in this respect are a tri1e better, but
nevertheless, so bad that the difference
is not worth mentioning. However, the
smaller rooms are the more desirable,
and are assigned to those who have met
with favor in the eyes of the huge ne
gress, herself a prisoner serving a term
Of twenty years for numbering a woman
Of her class, who is the overseer of the
unfortunates under the keeper of the
prison.
The place is horribly dirty. There are
no sanitary arrangements. A shallow
pretext Of keeping it clean is made in
the way Of compelling the inmates to
scour the floors, but this is more for
their punishment than otherwise and can
not in any case, as the place is consti-
tuted, be effective as a means of remov-
ing foul odors. There are no provisions
for bathing, and the inmates must thus
60 from week to week with only the
simplest ablutions.
Again, the prison authorities do not
supply the prisoners with clothes If
those with which they enter the Recoji-
das should fall from their backs through
wear or be torn off in a fight-and fights
are of constant occurrence-then the
prisoners must go naked.
There were about ten persons during
the time that Mrs. Sanchez and Miss
Aguilar were there that were absolutely
without clothes. They had no money
to send out to buy any. They had no
friends to bring or send them any. They
therefore had to go around like savages,
and the Government of Spain, as rep
resented by Weyler in Cuba, saw every
thing of reproach to it in that disgrace
full fact.
CLOTHES ALL GONE.
Besides these ten that were without a
stitch on their backs there were many
others who wore the merest rags and
were hardly any better off. Miss Cisne-
ross condition in this respect was not far
above those latter when these two wo
men entered the Recojidas They gave
her some OF their clothes, but since then
there has been nobody to befriend her
Not only is she without available rela.
tives and friends, but the kindly dispos
ed in Havana who would have helped the
NOR girl with food fit to eat and clotbes