The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-07-24
THE STATE PRISON
 AND LIFE THERE
The Sheepfold and the Pres
 ent Number of Sheep.

AhC U CI Il CSChC IT. V GU Ci1C Dreaded E'Peek HOle"-
 William F. Walker Well
 and Keeping Posted.
 Five hundred and ninety-nine safely lay in the shelter of the fold, But one was out on the hills away, far from the fields of gold.''
 And that one may be you. If it is, look out. for if they get you and take you into the fold, there will be an
 even 600 at the State prison at Weth-
 ersfield. The prison fold is practically full. And every one obeys his mas
 ter's voice down there, and they all
 come in by the front gate. He that
 would be so anxious as to come in by
 some other way is lamentably weak in perceptive powers, besides being a thief and a rObber.
 The Connecticut State prison moves on in the usual tenor of it's ways with out unusual incident. Once in while there is a wrangle among some men
 that bursts out all of a sudden. just
 as there is among some people that are
 not in prison but the chances for such outbreaks are scarce and the wise prisoner knows better. He knows all about the three suits of clothes. The striped suit is for the bad men, the
 blue suit is for the good men, and the ] gray suit is for the initiates. There is a fourth kind of suit that stands on exhibition for visitors. It has stood there for about forty years. It is the citizens dress that the discharged man gets-when he leaves the prison for the
 azure world at large. There is a red and black necktie of the vintage of 1875 that goes with it and there is a soft felt hat. As an incentive for good behavior on the indeterminate
 r~6 upon.
 Wednesday is "rubber neck day, which is the Wethersfield localism for visitors day. Visitors are told the old, old story that cigarettes are not al lowed the prisoners, nor cucumbers or nuts, and it creates the usual Sensa- tion. Four barrels of flour are used daily, about 400 loaveS of bread are just been received, 1000 dozen shirts are manufactured in a week, and so forth. Shoes are made galore. They manufacture a khaki working shirt there now that is quite the style.
 The State prison is an impressive and awe-inspiring place. There is no getting away from it. It is one of those basic institutions underlying the government of the commonwealth that cannot be. gainsaid. It is a monu- ment and example of what government is and what it can do. A visit to the prison is worth while for any that are prone to evil. It tends to rectify bad thinking. Those little cells, with their furnishings, do not look inviting. The prospect of eating salt and vinegar and whatever else is put on the clean ly washed tables in the dining room, in abject silence, is not aIluring. There are a great many things that one can think of that he would rather do than be an inmate of the prison.
 There is one thing that is worse than anything else. It. isn't the working in a. shoe-shop-many people do that-nor is it the continuous si- lence of those working near by, for is the depressing effect that must creep over ones system, from the presence, in the rear of his cell, of that morning glory photograph horn The hole opens into the dark narrow corridor that runs back of the cells, and part of a watchman's duties is to peek into the hole. if he thinks there is any trouble. That is curtailing a man in his liberty and in the pursuit of happiness with a vengeance. It is dreadful. A man can't even scratch a mosquito bite on his leg, without having somebody watching him as he does it, and, as for saying his pray CTS, or putting on his shoes, as he sees fit, there is no privacy to these duties. If he should crawl under the bed, the eye would be there, and if he should climb to the uttermost heights of the ceiling the eye would be there, or would get there, if it had to stand on its head to do so, for the State of Con- necticut is paying the man with the eye. Most people would rather be out in the wide, wide world, where only the eye of God can see. It may be as searching, but it seems not so near.
 They have a rather pleasant place for the women at the prisOn.' There are only twelve there now and most of them have cells on the sunniest side of the room. Their cells are kept up well and two or three of them are artlSticaHy arranged. There is a dark cell where refractory women are placed for punishment and they do not like to stay in the dark. That is a kind of punishment which would not make much of an impression on a man, but on a woman it has the desired eff feet.
 The embryo watchman gets his first place at the prison by application to the warden. His first experience is | in the insane ward, and then, if he can stand that, he is put on the wall and has his meals sent up to him on a rope. His career starts in the west , tower, and in time, he is stationed | in the middle tower, then in the gate tower, from which place he is grad uated to the front box and from there to the hall, as a regular watchman. Even watchmen may not enter a fore mans room without giving notice of their presence by knocking on a piece of wood with a, mallet.
 The inner garden at the prison IS 1uxuriantly. There are lemon trees growing there, paw paw. trees, persimmon trees and other plants and bushes, all under the di- rection of John Warren, who has been at the prison for about fifty years. w. F. Walker, formerly of New Brit ain, is in good health and weighs more than when he entered. He is engaged in clerical work in the shoe-shop, the tags that are put on the boxes being his line of work. He keeps well in formed on outside news and was able to talk intelligently Wednesday with a legislator concerning the work of the present Legislature, which is certainly an accomplishment.
 The health of the prisoners is good. There are thirty-six in the insane ward There are only a few in the hospital and they are elderly men.
 POINTS OF INTEREST.
 Clears the COmDleXiOn