The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-06
popularity.
"A Prison FOR Women.


After Napoleon had triumphed over
the Terror with his Whit of grape
shot he made st. Lazare a prison ex-
ciuslvely Tor women, and such it has
since remained. It comprises Ave sep
arate buildings, surrounding three
courtyards. Each building has four
stories, and between them they provide
accommo daticn-such as it sis-for 1 200
inmates. The ground floor. is reserved
Tor female criminals awaiting their
transfer to other penal establishments,
anu the1r workshops are also situated
there. On the floor above are women
under remand. and girls under age, who
have been ordered to be detained until
they have reached their majority On
the third floor are penned the sunfor-
Inmates feminine outcasts, who have
failed to comply with certain police
regulations affecting their class.
The latter. In this house Of misery,
form the bulk of the prisoners, and are
again subdivided into three classes
the seniors, the unruly and the young.
10 the miserable elderly women, st.
Lazare is home which they never
want to leave. Poor wretches, what
awaits them outsideq The pavement
for bed! No sooner is one discharged
IN the morning than she deliberately
sets to work to commit some offense
That Will insure her being brought back
at night, Reckless, ribald of Speech
lost to all sense of shame, the assem-
blage OF the Sunruly' constitutes a
veritable Inferno
Young Girls Held.
The young girls are most to be pitied.
Like the seniors and the unruly, they
nave ward to themselves, and some
Feeble efforts are made to reclaim them,
but they are seldom successful. The
system pursued is bad one No dis
elimination is made between those who
are lnnately vicious and irreclaimable
and those who are simply morally weak
They are all herded together promis-
cuously, and those who might be re-
formed under proper conditions are sub
leected to corrupting influences to which
majority OF eases, the girl who has made
her first false step becomes hopelessly
lost, when sheSls sent to st. LaZare un-
der the pretense of seeking to make a
decent woman Of her.
PRISONERS under remand are, of course,
provided with separate cells, and can
order their food from the outside, pro-
v1ded they do not indulge in what the
a asmoina regard as Injuries All the
world of crime. for many years back,
have, while awaiting trial, been lodged
in St. Lazare. Gabrielle Bompard, the
murderess Of Gouffe; Nine. Limousin,
the woman who traded in decorations
and compromised Wilson, M. Grevy's
on-in-law, and Nine. Humbert, now
doing time at Rennes,. passed thru
the cells of st. Lazare. At the present
time, the most interesting of it's in
mates is La Merelli, the mistress Of
Galaxy, the >absconding bank clerk
Prison a Disgrace.
AS prison and house of detention.
st. Lazare has long been a reproach
to French penal institutions. 1t is be-
hind the times in everything. The
food supplied isH scandalously made
quate. The .punishments for slight in
fractions of it's rules are extremely
severe, and comprise the dark, cold cell,
bread and water diet, plank bed and,
if it be deemed necessary, the straight
jacket. The ventilation is bad, the
lighting poor and the sanitary arrange
ments of thew orst kind. Under such
conditions it is not to be wondered at
that anenlia and consumption claim
! a far larger perc entage of victims at
st. Lazare than at any other French
prison. It is remnant of barbarous
age. a disgrace to French. civilization.
- - = -" Maurice :Leclerc.-