The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-10-06
TWO DAILY TALKFESTS
Will Be Allowed Kansas COnviCtS
to Keep Them Sane.
SILENCE DRIVES TO ASYLUM

Once in the Morning and Once i'm the
Afternoon They Will Be Allowed
to ''KnOck OFF" Fifteen Minutes to
Laugh, Talk and Sing. Men Pre-
fer Hard Labor and Voice to Work
and Silence.
TOPEKA, Kan.-Kansas prisoners
employed in the state penitentiary
shops are to be given two talk re-
cesses" each day as a preventive
against insanity. Warden j. X. Cod
ding has been studying the causes
that lead to insanity among the pris-
oners and has come to the conclusion
that enforced silence, for long peri
DDS, when the prisoners are working
near to each other, is the cause of
80 per cent of the insanity among
convicts. He has set about to rem
edy this.
Il have looked up the record of
every prisoner that has become in
sane in recent years, said Warden
den Codding, and found only five
men employed in the coal mine had
become insane within the last two
years, while 80 men employed in the
shops, most of them in the tailor
shop and overall factory, had be-
come deranged.
II began studying the different
conditions in the mines and in these
shops. While the men in the mines
were at dirty heavy labor they were
comparatively cheerful as compared
with those in the shops. began
asking questions and nearly every
man told me that he would rather
work in the mines than in the shops,
because they were allowed to talk.
Mining coal 700 feet underground
is much harder work than making
clothing in a modern, well-lighted
and well-yentilated factory.
The Long Days of Silence.
From further examinations of the
records and men I have concluded
that practically all of the prison in
sanity is caused because the men
are not allowed to talk in the shops.
The enforced silence day after day
is driving reason from these men.
The men are called from their cells
early in the morning and are
marched to the dining halls. They
are not allowed to talk in the line
or in the dining halls.
"Then they are marched to the
shops, where silence is also enforced.
At noon they go back to the dining
hall and then back to the shops, and
again at night they go to the dining
hall and then to their cells, and in
all that time they are not permitted
to say word to their companions.
Il am going to try another plan.
I am going to give the men employed
in the shops at least a half hour
rest each day, possibly more. About
the middle of the morning every
body will knock off work and for
fifteen or twenty minutes the pris-
oners will be allowed to talk with
each other
Two Talkfests Daily.
ut will be lounging and loafng
time for all the men employed in the
two shops. They can do as they
please-talk, laugh or sing. Again
in the afternoon they will have a
similar recess and a talkfest. l am
going to try this for while and see
if it will not reduce the number of
insanity cases in the prison.
The investigation and the conclu-
sions have been submitted to Gov
ernor Stubs, who approves them.
Practically every case of insanity was
due to melancholia. The men be-
came morose and sullen and then
their minds became a blank.
During the investigation into the
causes of insanity the Warden trans
ferred a number of prisoners from
the shops to the mines Within a
week the men from the shops, who
had been morose and apparently
suffering from melancholia became
as cheerful as the other mine work
.ers. Prisoners from the mines when
sent to the shops soon become life
less and morose.