The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-12-13
MINING HE'LL INSIDE PRISON
KATE BENARD SUBMITS REPORT

Guthrie, Okla Dec l2-That the
law Of Kansas prohibiting inhwau
punishment of prisoners in the pen
itcutiary is being flagrauuy violated
and that Oklahoma prisoners are be-
ing subjected to the most hidcous
treatment is the charge made in
her annual report TO the governor
by Miss Kate Bernard, state com.
missioner OF charities and corrcc-
lions
She found mining he'll inside
the prison gates. men worked 90
the m tliior endurance. and the hor-
rifyiug paralyzatiou Of prisoners m
the "hall Of punishmcnts She faced
thea nathcmas of ,hcp rson guards
and talked in private aIa.nst the
rules ~ prisoners, and they told
her stories of cruelty that made h,r
blood chill
Miss Bernard advocates the immc.
diatc discoutiuuaucc of the contract
with the state of Kansas for the
keeping Of state convic's and ad-
viscs that the Legislature make
contract with congress for the keep.
ing Of conyicts at the United States
pcnitcntiary at Ioavonworth of
which institution she speaks 8, heart
lest praise.
The remainder of thc H'rt in-
cludes examinations aud criticisms OF
the county and municipal iails of
oklahoma, insane asylums. orphan
homes. deaf and blind schools. receiy-
/ ing homes and other sociological
matters investigated the last year.
Lansing Penitentiary.
Miss Bernard says Warden Has
kell questioned my right 10 inspect
the prison He said you have
no business in this institution l
spent several hours in the mines,
visited the punishment chambers.
saw the crib the dungeons, and
where the water cure was admin.
istered. I was constantly thwarted in
/ my efforts to speak 10 the Okla.
homa prisoners. Finally he warden
HaskolD permitted one prisoner 10
DE husercd in - me. talked about
three minutes when the warden re-
turned. \ second prisoner was ad-
]
| ing the door aiar. spoke 10 the
| prisoner I'm a low tine This did
not suit the warden and he ordered
me to sit at distance from the
boy. thus compelling us to speak
| louder. \ third man was admitted.
this seemed to be the limit Of the
warden's patience. He said: I refuse
10 permit You to speak TO this pris-
oner alone The prisoner bravcly
| faced the wrath Of the warden by
describing the water cure which had
been administered To him. No other
prisoners were admitted
81 heard a great deal of complaint
with regard to the food The dtuna"
in the mine consisted OF tNo pieces
Of bologna ,ars-Ge. three ucnos
long and all the prisoners wanted
Of plain bread and tomato soup. In
\ Lcavcnworth | found our mon were
fed nearly twice the amount Of food
Miss Bernard then states that
there were 575 prisoners at Lansing,
and that many Of them were con
tracted out as cheap labor and that
the state of Kansas made a net prof
1t Of ~ cents per day on Oklahoma
contracts. Oklahoma paying 10 cents
per day for maintenance and Kansas
getting - cents from the contract
ors, while the actual cost of malnton
ance was not more than IS cents.
OF the mines, she SAYS one OF the
worst features is thatp risoners have
a stunt" mining three cars of Goa
daily and that the law of the stunt
Is as ineXorable as fate itself. The
three cars must come Il found on,
17-ycar-od boy chained 70 a sprock
ct in the wall because he was un
able to extract from the inlSy depths
those three cars of coal. This makes
r mining a hell inside prison gates"
OF the contract system Miss Ber
nard says: ut is the experience o
4 every prisoner that where the con
tract system gets foothoId men are
-, worked 10 the limit of endurance
!. and inability and failure on the par
OF the prisoner results in the mos
= hideous system OF punishment"
With regard to the punishment
Miss Bernard says: while | was II
the mine, a coal begrimed convic
shot stealthily from the darkness am
hurriedly whispered See the waite