Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-28
BELEBID PRISON
By Frederic j. Haskin

Industrial enterprises III 'iie 4.
the making of soldiers cots In lots OF
10000 After this bamboo furniture
was made for sale. Then laundry
was established. and ii has grown untll
today it is n model American stealn
laundry plant with capacity OF tooV
prison pieces day with room Tor as
much more outside work 1t can sue
cessfully launder the soiled lhen OF
battleship i'm two days, doing as hlgh
as $4,000 pieces for a single ship in the
harbor.
In it's industrial department. care is
taken that the products do not come IN
competition with outside free labof
products of the same nature. In the
fiscal year 1908 the profits of this de-
partment amounted to more than bO00O
pesos. Adding to this the $4,000 pesos
paid to the government for prison
labor the result is a well-nigh self
supporting prison population. Accord
ing to the prevailing system of book
keeping, however, the receipts of the
industrial department are not available
for the upkeep of the prison, but are
turned into the general treasury
The whole prison system OF the
Philippine islands is now being con-
Quoted along reformatory lines. The
prisoners are taught to read and write
English and are given trade suited
to their tastes and ability 1t has been
found that three years of training in
Bilibid usually converts a criminal into
useful, decent, law abiding citizen.
When n prisoner has served his sem
tence he Is among the best trained of
the natives of the islands, and the
management finds 1t comparatively
easy to get him a good job. 1t is very
seldom that the employer has occasion
to regret the employment of one whom
the prison authorities recommend.
H. g Il
islands is taught at Bilibid.
There is n system of merit in force
and the ones who distinguish them
selves for good conduct are sent to the
Iwahlg penal colony, whore they may
live in the open and have their fami-
lies with them. 1t so happens, how
ever, that most of the men who are
sent to this colony are doomed to dis
appointment in the matter of reunit-
ing with their families, for Bilibid
sentence for a husband is considered
by the wife as emitting her to dl-
Vorce, so she usually becomes the wife
of some other native before her prison
husband can establish a reputation for
good behavior sufficient to entitle him
to go to Iwahig However, many
families have been reunited there.
This colony is governed so that the
only restraint is that of moral suasion.
OF course the superintendent has power
to send any member back to Bilibid,
and no firearms are allowed in the
colony. There are no guards, but the
working force is well organized, with
the most trustworthy in charge. When
the men come to the colony they gain
in weight in spite of the hard farm and
forest work they are required to do.
There have been several attempts at
Jail delivery at Bilibid since the Ameri-
can occupation. In one of these a gat-
ling gun was used to quiet the mob.
1t was shortly after the Inauguration
of the industrial system. The prisoners
had been supplied with bolos for use
in making cots, and they felt we'll
enough armed to make an attempt for
liberty. After fifty rounds were fired
from the gatling gun there were nine
teen dead and many wounded. After
that all that was needed was a sur
geon and an undertaken
There are comparatively few white
men i'm Bilibid, and most of them are
serving short sentences for petty thiev-
ing, vagrancy, embezzlement and other
crimes that usually follow hard drink
ing and fast living. The Spaniards
who are there have in most cases been
sent down for dueling. Less than
hundred women are to be found in the
prison.
In proportion to population the
Philippines show a comparatively small
percentage of criminals. The United
States has $1,000 prisoners in its
prisons, while the Philippines have less
than 60O0 all told. If the ratio that
obtains in this country were applied in
our oriental insular possessions 1t
would give a total of nearly 5000 prison.
ers in the Philippines. There are ap-
proximately a half million convicts in
the prisons of Europe, where the pro-
portion is even higher than in the
United States.
The order. the health and the perfect
discipline of Bilibid are the result of
twelve years of American rule in a
half savage, tropical country where
even the little children can remember
horrible atrocities of tyrannical gov
eminent which have been forgotten in
Europe for centuries and which were
never known in the United States. In
stead of place of punitive torture, as
it was, Bilibid is now place where
prisoners are helped as much as pos
sible, where they are trained in some
useful trade, where they are taught
the primary laws of sanitation and
where they are brought under the in
huence OF order and discipline as men,
not brutes. Bilibid prison is still the
largest prison on EARTH but it has
changed from being the worst to the
| best.