Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-05
HAVE CONVICTS
AT THEIR MERCY
INFLICTl0N OF TORTURE IS
WITHOUT EXCUSE
Cruel Punishments HabltuslIy Visited
on Prisoners Would Not
Be Tolerated in
Menagerie

Dear public; busy, tofgettul, easy
going public; we wish to ask you a
very simple question. When you visit
a menagerie do you see the keeper
beating or torturing the Gagged ana
helpless lion?
OF course you don't. You would
howl with indignation at the sight Of
such Waton cruelty. But the king OF
all the universe, man: man, the final
product of countless ages of evolution,
is beaten and tortured by his keepers
after they have rendered him as help
less as is the captive lion, and you
never say a word. Why?
Let us take this question of torture
step by step, trying only to find out the
truth about it, evading and eXtenuatlng
nothing. For the moment we Will as
sumo that the convict is as dangerous
as a man-eating tiger. The point we
make is that his guards have him 50
helplessly at their mercy that IL Is
impossible for him to work serious
harm. Col. Griffith has published, IN
full the story of his experiences in
San Quetin, and as a quotation from
him will illustrate this point we turn
70 what he wrote some months ago.
He is giving illustrations of the appl-
cation of the straitjacket, from Whlch
many men have emerged crippled Tor
life. and he uses the following language
I'm connection with one instance that
excited his special Indignation:
Here is yet another case; one Whlch
powerfully affected the hundreds VINO
witnessed it, of whom 1 was one. A
poor italian, working on the nil re-
noyaI lob, fell into a controversy with
the guard, probably owing to his en-
tire ignorance of English. He was
ordered to the solitary for strait
Jacket punishment and protested
vehemently. Four guards seized him.
but he cried out so loudly that 1t at
tracted the attention of the warden
and the captain of the yard, the fatter
of whom placed both hands on the man
throat and choked him into silence
while he was dragged away. l never
saw this man again and know nothing
of his fate" and then the writer COM
ments thus:
"Why cid not we. the hundreds OF
us. who saw this tragedy and sympath-
ized profoundly with the victim, pro
test? Simply because we were alb
solutely helpless. There were 10
guards, each a walking arsenal. IN
addition to the five gatling guns there
were distributed among them, or held
in reserve, los winchesters, 60 double
barreled loaded shotguns, ~ rapid
fire revolvers and 10000 rounds of am
munition. Only one hopelessly insane
would dream of resistance, and, in my
Judgment, even to plot escape is proof
of despair run mad" He then remarks
that during the twenty months he
passed in San Quentin there was only
one attempt at escape and that
feeble one, three men conceallng
themselves in the jute mill at
the end of the days task and being
discovered almost Immediately.
PowerIess for Evil
The man is brought to the penitenti-
arv shackled. He is put into a cell as
secure as any used for the confinement
of the widest beasts. He emerges from
this only to work and eat; and al
every step. at every moment through
out the day, he is flanked and watched
by guaris armed to the teeth, while
over all frown necessarily the gatIng
guns. Is he not as helpless as the
Gagged lion? Then why this constant
punishment and torture?
OF course however, you believe that
the convict is inherently dangerous,
and that if discipline were relaxed our
prisons would be scenes of choas. Let
us see what those who really know
have to say upon this subject, and
first we will consult the author of Life
in Sing Sing" We select him as the
first witness because his work has all
the earmarks of strict impartiality.
He was a man of good education and
founder of the well known Sing Sing
paper, the star of Hope Here is
what he says:
1T is generally thought that the in
mates of a prison are body of law
less men, whose restraint is matter
-, nbWgiC9l effort
that they are always seething with re-
bellion and ready to break out in open
revolt at the slightest provocation or
at the first moment of relaxed dicipline
or watchfulness. So far opposed to
the truth is this that for general or
derliness, quietness and docility, there
isn't a university in the country that
compares favorably with Sing Sing
in this respect. Nor is it, as you might
fancy, because the measures taken to |
produce that condition are effective.
There isn't a tanner man in the world
than the average convict, and his be-
havior is good in spite of the conditions
which surround him. not because of
them. Whenever he breaks out against
discipline or offers violent opposition
to the rules it is, if not invariably, in
nine cases out of ten the fault of the
administration" And again. criticising
the average prisoner, he says: THE
convicts are industrious, generally be-
cause they are of active temperament,
They are not quarrelsome, or mischief
makers or unqualified liars, as a rule,
because they don't see the use of it.
Among the more ignorent profanity
and ribald speech prevail, but they even
grow out of this and make very credit
able attempts at certain small de-
eencies Keen them away from some-
thing to steal, and they form rather a
hopeful lot, evincing unsuspected vir
tues"
Jealous of Perquisites
They certainly don't get much
opportunity to steal. That is a per-
quisite peculiar to the officials, and
guarded with the most wakeful jeal-
ousy. 1t is called, however, graft"
We turn again to evidence furnished
by Col. Griffith. For fourteen months
he was an inmate of the largest room
in San Quentin, being one of forty
eight prisoners who slept there nightly.
He says that during that period only
one fight took place, and that of
trifing nature. Several of my COM
panions had been found guilty of mur-
der and were in for life, but their con-
duct was excellent. Several other We're
quite old men, one having been con-
Victed of assault after he had passed his
eightieth year, while another celebrat-
ed his SEVENTEEN birthday shortly after
my arrival. The rest were in for petty
offenses. We had a few VINO belonged
to the San Francisco hoodlum gangs.
which are notoriously tough, but they
were in a decided minority and the
example of the others kept them de-
cent"