Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-14


manner In which criminals speak OF
their various lines Of predatory work
as occupations to which they have taken
as naturally as other men have taken
TO plumbing and carpentering, and their
almost invariable conclusion that ;hs
work is done at starvation wages,
Not Factors for Peace
Take the convict's habltual feeling
that society has never given him
square deal. and add to 1t the hatred
with which he emerges from the soli-
tary cell or the straitJacket; the whip
ping post, or other mean and ugly forms
Of punishment, incurred through the
spite OF his jailers or the false testi-
mony of fellow convicts anxious to curry
favor with their superiors, and you have
a chronic state OF mind that cannot
make for social peace.
Let me consider for few moments
the subject of punishment and torture
as 1t still exists in our prisons
"The whipping post" says former
Warden Meserve Of Delaware ''is
failure 1t stirs up all the beast in
stincts in a man and makes him doubly
dangerous to society" This is the tes-
timony of a man whose duty 1t was
for twenty-five years 40 apply the lash
to the barred backs of his fellow men
in the wilmington prison. Yet the whip
ping post has been revived in New Jer-
sey.
In this state. however. It is not now
in use, but there are many old-time
convicts in San Quentin who can tell
you Of men within its walls who died
under the lash, and who themselves
were compelled to stand by and see
men sink insensibe into the pool made
by their own blood.
1t is claimed. and / trust correctly,
that the authorities I'm San Quentin and
Folsom are no longer administering the
truly fearful punishment of the strait
jacket, but, Il this Is SO, the change
is due entirely to public opinion making
itself finally heard. In April of last
year I myself in receipt OF the
following telegram: "Straitjacket cruel
ties still existent at San Quentin, Man
named (for obvious reasons 1 withhold
the name) recently subjected to torture
for ninety-nine hours. Great suffering
occasioned"
The straitjacket is a canvas overcoat
in which the victim is tightly laced. 1t
has inside sleeves so situated that the
arms are pinned tightly over the float
ing ribs. If the Jacket Is laced too
closely, or II the confinement is contin-
ued for any great length of time. de-
formity. paralysis or serious internal
arrangement will result. The natural
functions OF the body are interfered
with during confinement. and the cir
culation of the blood much impeded.
As any doctor will tell you. this latter
always causes great physical anguish.
In Folsom not so long ago a prisoner
died after he had been in the Jacket
half an hour. On the otherh and. while
I myself was in San Quentin a man
was given 140 hours of this hendish
torture and survived it. He was a
magnificent specimen OF manhood when
he was placed in the jacket. He
emerged from 1t crippled for life. and
resides now in Los Angeles. This par
ticular victim had been accused. II was
said, by fellow convict anxious to
make a record as an informer. OF hav-
ing knowledge of morphine being
smuggled into Jail. As matter of
fact. he knew nothing OF 1t, and the
warden himself subsequently, acknowl-
edged that this was But the fact
remains that the man is crippled for
life. and that the idea of his being en-
titled 10 compensation. supposing that IT
is possible to compensate for such in
juries. has never entered into the
thought of the authorities
1t Is useless to dwell on these harrow
iuE details myself. like others. was
compelled to listen time and again to
the shrieks Of unhappy sufferers; the
Jacket punishment one Of those
most commonly inflicted. and I have.
among other documents, the statement
Of a reliable observer that from the
fall Of 1902 to that of 1906. the Jacket
was in constant use; scarcely day
without two or three victims, and more
often six or eight" Such records spell
only degradation, alike to the convict
and the officer.
The ring punishment is still in fire.
quent use in Folsom. where II has taken
the place. to a large extent, OF the
straittacket.
Horrors of the Cell
IN "No 90O9" you may read a shiver-
ing, but not overdrawn, account of the
penalty of solitary confinement often
resorted to. The prisoner finds him
In caII Of e4a npI
out from all sound and sight in the
midst OF a darkness that presses on
him as II he were buried in the bowels
OF the earth. The account concludes:
when. the next morning after break
fast. the captain of the yard saw 9009
emerge from the dungeon. he noted
that the convict's eyes were bloodshot,
and that heavy lines had sprnug. over
night from the ends of the nostrils to
the corners of the mouth" The drawing
OF this scene is not exaggerated. The
authors of NO 5000" say, in a brief
preface to their work, that 1t was
prompted by one thing alone-indigna-
tion, strong moral indignation at the
existence of the facts that had come
to their knowledge and had been veri-
fed beyond all doubt. As a matter of
fact, they left much of the tale un-
told.
The men charged with the running Of
these prisons. who have at their mercy
the fate of every inmate are not men
specially trained for their most diff
cult task. but political henchmen
warded for party work. And thus our
prisons are run on the spy system: a
stream of corruption, which starts with
the "hgher-ups." flows necessarily
throughout the entire scheme of man
sgement, growing muddier as it flows.
If you will examine the number Of
pardons granted by the various execu-
tive governors of this state you will be
struck immediathely with the variations
in the figures. The explanation is that
notoriously under certain regimes the
price of pardons ran from $4,000 to
Se500. those who could afford the price
going free. and the poor man being left
without the smallest hope of redress.
however worthy he might be. In a
word the system is gangrened with
politics.
Some ten years ago the state board of
prison directors was reorganized. and
to much advantage. but the iniquitous
money distinction. that should be so
alien to our democratic institutions,
was still retained. Still, the question
of whether the convict shall or shall
not obtain a parole depends on the ahil-
ity Of himself or his friends to raise
some $50. What a farce to talk OF
justice under such conditionsi
Facts Well Established
It may well be that there is no royal
road to the ideal but there are certain
facts well established that we may
act on them with perfect safety. That