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

s. { y 4
After Napoleon had triumphed over
the Terror with his whit Of grape
shot he made st. Lazare prison ex-
cluslvely for women, and such it has
SINCE remained. 1t comprises FIVE sep
arate buildings, surrounding three
courtyards.. Each building has four
stories, and between them they provide
accommodation such as it .is-for 1 200
inmates. The ground floor. is reserved
TO- 1or female criminals ma awaiting their
transfer to other penal establishments,
and their workshops are also situated
there. On the floor above are women
under remand. and girls under age, who
nave been ordered to be detained until
they have reached their majority. On
the third floor are penned the unfor-
Gunates -remlnine outcasts, who have
1alled 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 outsideg 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, riba1d Of speech,
lost to all sense Of shame. the assem-,
blage of the "unruly' constitutes a
veritable Inferno.
Young Girls Held.
The young girls are most to be pitied.
Like the seniors and the unruly' they
have 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 innately vicious and irreclaimable
ana an 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
lected to corrupting influences to which
they speedily succumb. In the vast
majority OF eases, the girl who has made
her: first false step becomes hopelessly
lost, when she is 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.
authorities regard as luxuries. All the
feminine celebrities in the Partisan
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
son -in-law, and Nine Humbert, now
doing time at Rennes,s 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 >abseonding bank clerk.
i Prison Disgrace.
AS prison and house Of detention
st. -Lazare has long been a reproacl
to French penal institutions. 1t is be
hind the times in everything. The
food supplied iss 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, thu
lighting poor and the sanitary arrange
ments Of thew orst kind. Under sucf
conditions it is not to be wondered al
that anemia and consumption claim
a far larger eperc entage. Of victims al
st. Lazare than at any other French
| prison. It is a remnant Of barbarou.
I age, disgrace to French civilizatio
/ Maurice Leclerc. Z