The evening times., 1899-03-21
THE PRISONS OF, HAVANA.
General Ludlow to Institute Man,
Needed Reforma

Needed reforms.
Havana. March 2f-General Ludlow win
shortly act on the recomm mendations of the
committee which investigated the prison
system OF Havana. and win introduce some
badly needed reforms in those institu-
tions. Insted of being, as at present, Sc
ciuded dOmieiles where, away from the
cares and troubles of the world. the pris-
oners carried on for their own benefit their
ordinary avocations and enjoyed each 9TH
er's society. they will be placed on a more
modern basis and serve as deterrent to
crime rather than an encouragement
! Labor for the state will be enforced
and the present system Of herding togeth-
er changed for one where each will be sep
arated from his fellows. f~
| The first step taken will be in regard
| to the Presidio de la Habana or the gen.
| eral penitentiary Of the city. And surely
| IL anywhere reform be required it is here.
The present condition is nothing short of
| scandaious, and its continuance would be
1 disgrace to any country calling itself
| civilized.
When the Spaniards handed over posses
sion of the island on January / there were
over 900 prisoners in the Presidio. The
majority of these were negroes. They had
been drafted from all the places of con-
| MORO and some from Cabanas. Many were
returned convicts from Ceuta, whom Spain
had sent to Cuba after the signing OF the
peace protocol and whose release in Cuba
had been protested against by the Ameri-
can Evacuation Commission. The great
er portion belonged to the infamous So
ciety of the Nanigos, that band of rob-
bers whose ambition was to excel in crime.
The prison is crowded into six large de-
partments, two on the ground floor, two
on the first and two on the second hoor.
Each department will accommodate 150
persons. The first is superior room, fur
nished with cots, chairs and other cCnven-
fences. and is reseryed1 for prisoners abb
to pay for these privileges. They are al
lowed to bring in their meals from an ad-
joining restaurant and enjoy all the p cas-
ures of life with the one exception OF lib
erty. Close to them is the apartment re-
served for Cinnamon, of whom there are
over seventy in the prison.
On the first floor are the negroes; or
the second the whites.
All these huge flats are crowded with
prisoners. Each man has a number on
the wall, in front of which he unrolls his
blanket and lies down at night to sleep
The only article of furniture is a huge
water jar and dipper. The place is kept
beautifully clean, but the moral aspect
can be imagined of over one hundred male
criminals confined without restriction in
one huge room.
Absolutely no labor is performed save
such as the prisoners care to do in order
| to obtain pocket money. Order is kept in
each room by a sort of overseer. who i;
chosen for his physical strength and cour-
age. Armed with huge club. he Iitera ly
pounds his fellowcaptiyes into submis-
sion.
In an airy gallery near the roof about
forty convicts are engaged making cigars.
They are employed by an outside contrac-
tor. who pays them about ST per week.
. This money goes to them in full and the
prison authorities have no control over it.
They have easy hours, smoke. have the
newspapers read to them while they wo: k
and altogether have punishment mstsd out
to them in a manner found only in Gil
bert and Sullivan opera They keep their
families in the city. and there is reason to
believe that they themselves revisit the
outside world pretty regularly.
In other respects the prison is excellent
ly conducted. the food good and whole
some and everything kept scrupulously
clean.