Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-04
PRISON MATRON
BLAMES DIVORCE
Little Mother of World Apart in
Steel Walls Tells of Girls
Who Grew, Like TopSy
MRS. LAWN is KEPT SOLITARY
Thinks Women Reach Jail for a
Lack of Good Home InfIu-
enCeS in Early Life
MRS. LAWN is KEPT SOLITARY

That the divorce courts are respon-
| sible for marked increase in the num-
Der of offenses against the law by girls
| and women Is the belief of Mrs. q. w.
| Shehi, for four years matron OF the
women's ward in the county jail.
Seated in a rocking chair in large,
sunny room on the fourth story of the
| grim Jail building, with several girls
| busily setting the table for the even
| ing meal Mrs. Shehi spoke frankly on
a subject which she deems of vital I'M
| portance.
THE majority of the cases which
come under my observation" she SAID,
"are those of young women who nave
| been deprived of the good influences
of a home in early girlhood through
their parents obtaining divorce. 1t
| is not, | have found, a love for dress
and finery that prompts these women
| to forgery and theft and sometimes
murder The real cause goes farther
back than that. 1t begins with the bad
examples set by their fathers and mo-
| theirs and the lack of home training
as to what is right and wrong"
Forgery is the prevailing crime
among young women. Burglary, arson
| and murder is predominant among the
older women. In the majority of these
cases the women have been thrown
upon the world to shift for themselves,
| have grasped a wrong idea of life from
| childhood, and, like Topsy, just grew
up.
IT try to treat these women gently
| and to exercise a good influence over
! them. 1t is proper for them to leave
| iafl better for their experience than
embittered against the world. Among
| the younger women there is often
| chance for reform. They do whole
| lot of thinking in here, shut off from
|
| and many times too often, we meet
those who have served terms in the
penitentiaries and who have become
hardened and embittered toward the
world. Those women no longer care
what becomes of them and reform
seems an impossibility. Yet there was
period in their lives when better
things could have Geen obtained.
MRS. LAWN IS PATIENT
| Mrs. Belle LAWN, held suspect in
| the Times explosion investigation, IS
| the only woman in solitary contine-
ment. She occupies a two-room suite
next to the matron's, encased in steel
and known as the "hospital." Few
have seen her face since her impris-
! onment, although the matron visits her
occasionally. Mrs. Shehi says Mrs.
LAWN passes most of her time reading
and appears willing to patiently await
the outcome of her case.
| There are seventeen prisoners in the
ward, many awaiting trial on serious
charges. Some are not strangers to
it's steel cased walls. Throughout the
| day they wash the linen of the men
prisoners in the tanks below. Early
in the evening they gather about the
plain little table and play cards or
sing softly to themselves. Last Thurs
day, they hurried through with their
work. after obtaining the matron's per-
mission, and held tea party late IN
the afternoon.
Mrs. Shehi believes that little recre-
alton of this sort among the women
inmates of the county Jail serves the
| ends of justice better than mere drudg-
ery throughout the period Of ther i'm
| prisonment.
The matron is motherly woman VINO
has raised three daughters of her own.
Save for the jingle of keys as she
crosses the room there is no evidence
of authority. The inmates of the ward
call her "the little mother" She has
gone by that name since she took
charge of the department four years
ago.
The matron has no assistant save her
daughter, Sarah, young woman 20
years old, who relieves her occasion
| ally.