Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1900-12-27
THE PENITENTIARY AGAIN.

To the Editor Of the Alexandria Gazette:
Having been permitted BY your cour-
tesy short time siDoe to Introduce end
emphasize to your readers an abridg-
ment of the reasons for enlarging our
te penitentiaIy ss Get forl b st length
by another, venture now TO say some.
thing further in the same behalf.
OF the facts ip the case no reasonable o
doubt can be entertain d The physic-
ian In charge, before its publication,
read the sddre 10 10 full, of which you
published part. and pronounced its
allegations correct. Since then the Rev.
Father Richard l.. Came, q well krown
aud highly esteemed clergyman, OF his
own knowledge attests their accuracy.
During years of residence in Richmond
he preached 10 the convicts and minis
tered among them SO that, by oppor-
tuniiy as well as character, be is pc
CullaTly competent witness. A me mber
Of the Assembly from q neighboriDg
county, one of the House committee on
prisons, said this month TO friend Of
mine that it wss difficult to exageeIate
the condition Of the penitentiary, and
that If the Legislature in body could
be induced to view it, as he
had done, suitable appropriation
for its enlargement would 90 through
without a single negative vote. That
the case therefore is extreme, that it is
a disgrace to the State and exciting
harshest criticism b,yond our borce 8,
none can DEFY. What then is the diff
Guilty 10 remedying il and what the a.
euments, If any, agsinst i?
Direct ansWtr to these questions IS
scarcely demanded, at the money Cab
readily DO provided and, it would ap
GEAR, adverse argument is little used.
Indifference, rather than positive OBJ
lection, on the part OF our legislators is
the thing to be feared. Iodeed, have
too coed an opinion of them as indi-
giduals, or as body, TO suppose that
an evil so monstrous, if duly resliz'd,
would be allowed to remain uncOr-
rected.
Some say that the penitentiary would
not be so crowded il the whipping PCS
for minor offences were, as it ought 10
be, revived among US. This is true to
a large extent, but there is small proba-
blity, hardly possibility indeed, that
it will be revived, so that We cannot
look for relief 10 that quarter. Others,
With little discrimination, declare that
the way of transgressors ought to be
lard, mat their opp esson ought TO be
bitter, and that if il were not, there
would be for many nothing to deter
from crime, so that this cry fot reform
il mawkish and need not be heeded, IL
is quite true that punishment for crime
should be severe, but impfison-
ment for years at hard labor under
the most favorable conditions is
severe enough, and it is more than
the law contemplates and more than Is
Just to aggravate 1t by the horrors no
,orious in our STATE prison. A criminal
~ still q man possessing some rights,
and the cruel and unusual punishment
OF overcroWdiDg with all that that im'
Lies is treatment to which as human
being. not to say a citiz u, we have no
right to subject him. "A mans man
for a. that"
Yet Others assert that The condition
of the psnitentiary cannot be so bad
after ali because the death rate within
its walls is not as high as in the city
around it. OF the truth of this state
m Mt | am unable 10 sps k. but 1t
would DE awful indeed # the mortality
among body OF adults were as lar c
proportiouately as in community con-
tanning the usual number Of young
children and aged persons. Yet, even
il IL we're correct, age for eye. it would
mean little, since the tenacity OF lie
among the wretched is often astonish-
ing. To the dungeons OF the irquisI-
tor itself men sometimes survived for
half lifetime.
Let every voter think Of these Things
aud impress bis wishes upon his Deit-
Q. te and Senator. Let our good Wc'
men think of them and talk of them to
fathers, husbands and sons. Let US
all remember what We owe to bumaDl'
~. and to the fair name of our state
now sravely and justly compromised
by a reprosch which it is easy to re-
move. In this way may be created
publo opinion which will secure be-
fore spriog the legislation desired.
l.. M. BLACKBOARD.
r, ..tc W. Dao ch