Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-06-02
A PRISON IN MEXICO.
CURIOUS CUSTOMS THAT PREVAIL IN
eELEM JAIL.

Musical Instruments In the Cells and a
Concert Almost Every Evening by the
Prisoners-Dinner Hour Marked by a
Curious Spectacle.
Among the various uses to which
Mexico has put some of her old monas-
teries and converts is that of serving
for the incarceration of violators Of the
law. The Convento de Belen at Mexico
City has become, in common parlance,
Beem, the city Jail and prison, accused
and convicted persons men, women and
children alike being confined there in
different compartments. The building
was put up by the Spanish governor IN
1886, as an inscription at the head Of
the main stairway tells. a casual visit
paid il by a reporter of The Mexican
Herald reveals a condition of prison
management in Mexico worthy of pass
ing attention in the days of prison re-
form associations and international pris-
on congresses.
The Herald said that Belem had been
commonly spoken of as a second Black
Hole of Calcutta, but the reporter found
that the prison was kept in state Of
comparative cleanliness; not so, how
ever, the prisoners. Their condition he
described as one of disgusting filthiness.
Although there was hydrant in every
cell and general bathing facilities in
each compartment, the reporter found
only one inmate either at bath or with
any indication of having bathed within
a year. 1t was explained to him by the
prison authorities that formerly the
regulations required prisoners to battle
daily, but that this was regarded as
such hardship that the sufferers man.
aged to have it declared form of cruel
and unusual punishment and so to have
the rule abrogated. There are in the
prison now 3, 451 prisoners, Of whom
2, 933 are men and 50 are minors.
A curious feature found by the re-
porter was the Spanish regard for the
arts, even within prison walls. He
found in the south wing the writer's of
libel, land the cells reserved for mu
sicians, artists and others of the fine
arts" Itwould seem to be charitable
as well as an inclusive provision, that
land others" besides artists of the
fine arts. The musicians are permitted,
apparently, to take their instruments to
Jail with them, much as mechanics take
into the prison workshop their own
tools Of trade 1.-The walls of the mu-
sicians' cells are decorated with differ
ent musical instruments, and the re-
porter was told that almost every even
ing there was a concert in one of the
patios.
Men sometimes do in Mexico what in
this colder cline they content them
selves with wishing done, for the re-
porter came upon one Adams, under
sentence Of 20 years for killing wait
er at the Club de In Opera because be
did not bring his dinner quick enough"
Adams has the freedom of his galley.
There are in each galley three TRUSTEES
who 90 about with clubs and preserve
order, using the club "only when mora!
suasion will not do as well"
There were stoics among the 81 nen
condemned to death. one of these I'M
der sentence for assassinating "a mar,
expressed his serene confidence as to his
future. but, "if worst comes to worst"
"a shrug of the shoulders and palms
up. This man and some others under
death sentence had the run of the COM
mandant's offices, Notwithstanding there
were on the walls, serving as decOra
tions, confscated weapons of prisoners.
Oddly enough, as it would seem in this
country, though it wouldn't have been
strange in the Italy Of Machiayelli,
there wasn't a gun among these. The
nearest to it was hayOnet, and the rest
were poinards, scimiters, stilettos,
butcher knives, table knives, penknives,
and shoemakers' knives.
The dinner hour was marked by
curious spectacle. The street outside
the prison was filled with the "wives,
children, dogs and other members of
the prisoners households" These
brought baskets Of edibles to the prison
ers, some Of whom were permitted to
speak to their relatives through graf
ing. To the cOnvicts not permitted to
come to the grating, their relatives were
allowed to send in notes accompanying
the dinner baskets. This privilege had
given rise to a peculiar way of making
a few pennies among persons able to
write-"itinerant scribes who for a
cent or two wrote messages to the pris-
oners. " One woman babe the scribe to
put her message in red ink. She would
have none of the purple stuff. s"
Tell him." said she, that l send
him two little tamalcs and tell him
that la perrita died yesterday.
Says the reporter, And the scribe,
leaning under the shade of his umbrel-
la, sitting on a rock, with his bottle Of
red ink on another rock beside him,
worked away assiduously, with an ETY.
mology all his own, beginning para
graphs with lower case letters and put
ting in caps in the most unexpected
places, so that it would take an Igna-
thus Donnelly cryptogran to decipher
the meaning of his hieroglyphics.