Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-10

"bombshell'' Ca painful cathartic),
while DR.. Summers, his successor, used
a 32-inch rubber hose and a gallon of
water for every sickness.
Many tuberculosis patients are among
the prisoners, but no attempt has been
made to segfegate them from those
plague.
Condemnation Unanimous
OF the 1000 prisoners not one who has
been confined in San Quentin for any
length of time but can tell sad stories
Of humiliations and cruelties in prac-
tice there ever since it's organization IN
1853. Those old men, returned for the
fifth, sixth or tenth time, also wildly
picture the brutalities of former years.
practiced there when it was a common
thing to see prisoners stripped naked,
fastened to a large post and beaten
until the victims blood would form a
pool around his feet, and when united
he would fall helpless on the ground,
weak from the loss of blood; while
others portray death scenes Of a re-
voting nature.
In San Quentin tobacco is the coin Of
the realm, and anything that one
prisoner buys of another is paid for
with so many little sacks or plugs of
tobacco. Under present rules, every
male prisoner is entitled to one ration
of tobacco supplied by the state every
week. In the past, on stated dates,
prisoners were allowed to purchase
through the commissary department an
extra quantity of tobacco if they had
cash on deposit with the warden. In
this way prisoners would accumulate
several extra rations, and it is a COM
mon thing to hear of tobacco bets made
on handball or baseball games or prize
| fights, ETC., and as many as 200 sacks
of tobacco would be placed in some
bOdy's possession awaiting the decision.
| The officers in charge would frequently
get clew through one Of their many
stool pigeons and suddenly discover a
rule forbidding any prisoner to have in
mis- possession more than one ration Of
tobacco at one time, and confscate all
! the surplus by taking it away from the
! prisoner. Later, the same tobacco
would be again sold to the prisoners,
and the guards and officers would thus
get--.a small part of their ''perquisite'
or prison graft.
Laughter belongs exclusively to hui
mainly, and although surrounded by
| sadness, gloom and misery some of the
| prisoners make great effort to cultivate
| cheerfulnesS and sometimes mirthful-
ness. In connection with this tobacco
| steal some amusing things could be
d j
mill found prisoner with a quantity
of tobacco in his possession and the
| officer made him put it in a barley
sack, thrown it over his shoulder and
walk alongside of the wise gazeba of
| ficer toward the captains office.
Laughter and Gloom
| ing in the jute mill land as the officer
and his man and load walked through,
other prisoners quickly cut a hole in
| the bottom Of the barley sack, and be-
fore the two had passed through the
mill all their tobacco was not only ap-
propriated, but securely hidden. When
| the guard discovered the tobacco all
gone he realized the joke was on him
self and he allowed the prisoner to re-
turn to his work.
Another officer on a holiday was
watching from a distance across the
upper yard a group of prisoners shoot
ing Craps for tobacco, and when
the officer reached the crowd one Of
them must have had in his possession
not less than twenty or more sacks and
plugs. The officer, who was a nervous
and excitable man, ordered the pris-
oner to put up his hands, and while he
searched and sleuthed into the pris-
oner's pockets for the tobacco other
prisoners picked the officers pockets
and relieved him, so that when the
hunt was finished the officer was the
most surprised of all, while the many
prisoners who were eyeWitnesses
laughed heartily.
Within the state prison walls of Fol-
som and San Quentin are some hard
ened, naturally bad and desperate men.
but the great majority are not bad
men. The average prisoner is not so
radically wicked as he is pitifully
weak Many are accidental and I'M
willing victims of circumstances over
which they had no control; others did
something construed to be an infrac-
ton of the law, yet the victim was not
criminal at heart. Still others, on the
impulse of the moment, did something
that placed them within the pale of the
law and would make good citizens If
properly treated.
7 spent two whole months at Sacra
mento last session advocating the pas
sage of three important bills. One
was the indeteIminate sentence bill,
another was a better parole measure
and the third the segregation and
grading of prisoners. Thanks to the
intelligent legislature, all three passed
both houses unanimously. The gov
ernor, however, who claims he had
400 bills to consider within ten days
after adjournment Of that body, failed
to sign them.
From personal knowledge and OBJ
servation at San Quentin prison during
the two years of 1905 and 1906 I am
forced to the conclusion that our sys-
tenn is largely to blame. Instead Of
being beneficially instructive San Quen-
tin, as conducted in the past, is posi-
lively a school for crime. where the
youth from IA to 81 daily and constant
~ come in contact with hardened and
degenerate criminals.
There ought never to be more than
one prisoner in a cell, for many rea-
sons. and all cells should be construct
ed so to admit of sunshine and pure
air When San Quentin prison was
constructed these conditions were en-
tirely ignored and are still overlooked,
as can be proved, for there are but few
single cells. The majority of the in
mates are herded together in rooms
containing two, three, five, ten, fifteen,
twenty, thirty and even forty, and
there is one room now filled with $50
prisoners, who spend from twelve to
fifteen hours nightly together there.
Under these conditions, when they
are thus herded together, what is there
to prevent the expert criminal from
conducting postgraduate courses in
crime? Prisons, city, county and state,
should be in every way sanitary, and
it's inmates ever protected against all
disea Sc breeding germs. While society
has and should have every legal and
moral right to be protected against its
enemies, what right have we to rob
the prisoner of Gods pure air and sun
shine?
A great majority of these men, hav-
ing. long been fed on prison Stops, are
physically run down, leave San QUEEN
tin with only S. and a brand on the
body in the shape of suit of clothes
costing $2.95, which every policeman