Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1908-03-05
WORSE THAN DEATH
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT A LIN.
GERING AGONY.
Man Who Suffered for EIeht Years
Tells of the Tortures He Under
went In Italian Place Of
Punishment.

There has been much talk of late
in France and elsewhere of the sup
preston of the death penalty. The
guillotine is to go and solitary con-
finement is to take its place. There
is man In Paris who knows what the
punishment of solitary confinement
really means, and it will be of inter-
est, says the London Evening Stand
ard, to hear what Amilcare Cipriani,
who has undergone the punishment in
Italy, has to say about it. Cipriani,
the king-hater, is an old man now. He
lives in Paris, where his gaunt face
and long beard are as we'll known on
the boulevards as the Theater des Va
rietes itself. He was sentenced when
Zanardelli was minister of justice to
rs years solitary confinement, and he
recalls the phrase that Sig. Zanardelli
uttered in the Italian parliament to
reassure those members of it who
thought that the guillotine should not
be done away with. I'VE are abolish
ing the death penalty" he said, "but
in its place we shall give criminals q
punishment which will make them
long for it."
"And he spoke the truth" says NJ.
Cipriani, for solitary confinement is a
thousand times more cruel than a
blow from an az and leap into eter.
nifty. Solitary confinement in q cell is
lingering agony, after two or three
years Of which the strongest man must
die or must go mad. He Is literally
buried alive. His food Is Just enough
to keep life in him. He may neither
read nor write and gets no news from
outside, even Of his family. He may
receive no visits and have no inter
course with anybody. He may not
talk, and II he does ask Q question Of
one OF his jailers the taller does not
answer or answers by q sign. He
never leaves his cell except for the
madhouse or the cemetery. He sees
nobody and hears no human voice. He
does not even see doctor II he is Ill.
II he breaks into open revolt his jail.
ers may do what they like with him.
They may kill him If they wish, and in
: Italy they often do 80. No one has
+, ever yet lived and remained sane for
ten whole years of this terrific punish.
7, ment.
mo one except myself has ever, as
, did, remained sane after eight of
them. shall never forget it. was
in mental and physical anguish Gay
and night for eight years, during
which time l was chained by one leg
to the wall. The worst of my torture
was the feeling that brain, will,
strength and health were disappear
ing l felt death creeping on me and
not human being who would help me
with smile or with friendly word
and death or madness seemed inevita
BILE.
Il often wonder how l came to be
spared death or madness. The happi
est prisoners are certainly those who
do go mad. Passanante, who attempt
ed to murder King Humbert of Italy,
has been in madhouse for II years.
| am the only man who has resisted
solitary confinement, the only man
who has not gone mad in it after a
few years My method was constant
mental struggle, sort of intellectual
gymnastics, by means of which kept
my thoughts off by abominable soil
tude. lost all notion of time, of
course, and | remember asking my
jailer one day what the year was He
would not tell me, but next day as he
was putting down my jug of water he
muttered 1856 | had been in prison
five years and believed l had 20 more
to serve"