The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-18
FRESHMEN IN ENGLISH CELLS
HON. JOHN E. REDM0ND EXPLAINS WHY SEVERAL HAVE CONE MAD.

WHY SEVERAL HAVE GONE MAD. The English Prison System One of Solitude
 and Silence and the Most Brutal in the
 World, he Says-Treatment of Political
 Prisoners Too Horrible to Contemplate
 Views on Our Prisons.
 Lynn, Mass, Jan. 1Z-Hon. John U. Redmond, M. F., attended the 9 a. m. mass in St. Mary's church. to-day. At the close of the service he took a train for Boston to pay his respects to Arch- bishop Williams. He returned to Lynn at o'clock this afternoon, and was taken to the Clover club headquarters. Where he was rendered a reception by about 150 of the leading citizens. Tha reception was informal.
 MT. Redmond at the request of the chairman of the reception committee of the club made brief address, in which he said that what interested him most Tn this country was the prison system, Which was far ahead Of that in Eng lana. The latter was, in his opinion the most brutal in the world, and might De described as system of solitude and silence. When a prisoner in Eng land received visit from a friend or from his wife or any member of his family, he was locked in an iron cage alone at the end of a large hall, and the visitor was locked at the other end of the hall with two warders in the center to hear every word that was said.
 A prisoner in England is allowed only one visit in four months, and Is only allowed to write one letter in four months. For the slightest offence against the rules even these privileges were denied. A prisoner was not al- lowed books or literature of any kind, until he had been a long time in pris- on, and then only about one volume in three weeks.
 Some prisoners in England were lock- ed up in their cells twenty-two hours per day, and when they were marched i around the prison yards for exercise, if one prisoner should speak to another he was given forty weight hours solitary confinement in a dark cell with only bread and water for diet.
 The entire system was so brutal and revolting that it drove many men ir- sane from the tortures inflicted on them. No attempt was made in Eng- fish prisons to give men employment suitable to that to which they had been accustomed in the outside world, and the business men and men of literary tastes who might get into jail, were given the same kind of work as the { men who had always been used to working with their hands This work was about as hard as it we'll could be, and while a man who had been used to hard work might be able to stand it, it was brutal treatment for professions al people and people of the better class. The treatment of the Irish political prisoners in the British prisons was something too horrible to contemplate. Originally there were eighteen of these prisoners but three of them died of the hardships they underwent, and five were driven insane, two of the latter being Dr. Gallagher and George A. Whitehead, who are in this country in the care of their friends. No hopes were entertained of the latter ever be- ing any better in mind than they were at present. He knew two men in Port land prison in England who were hope-- lessly insane, but instead of the gov ernment liberating them, or giving their friends an opportunity to care for them during the rest of their days, one of them was sent to an asylum for criminals.
 Mr. Redmond said that he once wis., tied John Daly in Portland prison and through the cage broke to him the sad news of the death of a very dear friend. one whom Daly loved dearly. Daly broke down at the news and when he recovered MT. Redmond showed him small photograph of the friend and lock of hair. Daly asked to have them given him. MT. Redmond saw the gov- ernor of the prison and asked permis- l sion to give the little mementos to Daily, but that official asked Mr. Red mond if he wanted to break up the discipline of the prison. MT. Redmond said that when he returned to England he would bring the matter of the prison system of Great Britain before parliament, and make an effort to have it improved and made more humane.
 He told of visits to prisons in Ameri- ca where the prisoners were allowed many privileges and said that he learn ed from the governors of American prisons that lenient treatment did not in any way interfere with the discipline of the prison. He said that the food given to American prisoners was luxu- rious to that served to the men in duaance in England. In this country he saw carpets on the floors of the prisons he visited MT. Redmond was given much applause at the close of his remarks.