The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-09-23
IN EUROPEAN PRISONS.
Continued from first page. ]

to his solicitor. Additional letters, on
request, if necessary.
The cell floors are of asphalt; they
are we'll laid and give satisfaction.
The cells are painted to height of
about four feet, and the remainder is
whitewashed. Each cell has an elec-
trio button, by which prisoners can
call an officer when needed. Twelve
prisoners serving sentence are de-
tailed by the home Office to perform
domestic work at the Holloway prison.
In addition to this, prisoners awaiting
trial volunteer to do cleaning, etc. No
other employment is provided for the
prisoners and they are glad of the op-
pOrJunity to do this work, which brings
them some extra food.
There is a "SchOOlmaSter" who
teaches boys under sixteen, takes care
of the library, assigns books, etc. There
is large exercise yard with grass and
flowers, in which the prisoners are
exercised for one or two hours daily.
Six officers are on watch. The pris-
Oners are required to walk three yards
apart and to keep in motion. Efforts
to communicate are promptly punished
by confinement to cells and restricted
diet
There is about one officer for every
ten prisoners. The warders receive
about e75 per year with house rent;
assistant warders e65 with house rent.
This is little more than half what is
paid for similar service in American
prisons.
There is an excellent arrangement
for interviews between prisoners and
visiting friends. Two rows of boxes
about two feet wide are constructed
parallel to each other, and separated
by space of about eighteen inches.
There is wire lattice in front of each
row of boxes, so that conversation is
carried on across an eighteen-inch
space through two wire screens. An
officer sits in the middle space, where
he can prevent any improper commu-
nication. Under this arrangement it
is practically impossible to introduce
cOntraband articles. Everything that
is sent in for the use of prisoners must
pass through the hands of the store
keeper, who delivers it to the prisoners
after proper inspection.
| The chaplain makes daily rounds,
sees all new prisoners the next day
after arrival, those who are about to be
discharged, and those who request in.
terviews. A daily chapel service of
fifteen minutes is held, and regular
Sunday services, catholic and prot
estant. The chapel has separate
compartment for debtors, of whom a
considerable number are confined in
this prison, debtors being liable to six
months Imprisonment on suspicion of
concealing property, unless they will
take the poor debtors oath. The
Royal Society for Assisting Prisoners,
aids prisoners on recommendation of
the chaplain. Grants of money from
2 shillings to Is shillings are made, and
work is sometimes found. The chap
lain stated that the society "sends a
good many prisoners to sea-"
This is good prison, well conducted.
All the jails in England as we'll as all
the other prisons, are under the con-
troll of the home Office, which insures a
uniform discipline and prevents abuse.
OF the three jails visited, the one at
Hamburg is much the poorest, being
an old prison badly arranged, not very
clean, and by no means as we'll kept as
the jails of Christiania and Holloway.
GERMAN WORKHOUsE.
In connection with the Jail at Ham
burg, already described, there is a
workhouse for prisoners serving short
sentences. 1t is under the same ad-
ministration as the Jail. Owing to
overcrowding, the cells have been torn
out, and most of the prisoners sleep in
dormitories with double-decked beds,
very much overcrowded. A room Tx
30 feet, imperfectly ventilated, con-
tains beds for 26 men. This is about