Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-28

ID \ III the largest prison in the
IM Z% world. 1t has held this posi-
lN ). ton of supremacy for many
Isl 3 I'll years. Twelve years ago,
Eezzzzszz when the red and yellow flag
of Spain came down from it's
gates, it was also the worst prison on
earth--a veritable survival of the hor-
rors of the Middle Ages. Today 1t
stands with unquestioned right at the
head of the list of well kept, humane,
sanitary and correctional penal in
stitutions of the civilized world.
Every afternoon at o'clock in Bill
bid prison is enacted a drama which
should cause every American heart to
leap with pride. Here, where the Amer
leans found a foul and pestilential pit
of hell, stands the model prison. Visit
ors are admitted a few minutes before
the hour to witness the daily retreat.
They are escorted by guards TO a high
tower in the center of the prison in
closure. From this tower radiate. like
the spokes of a wheel. the several cell
houses. Each is open to the air--Ma-
Mia is tropical, of courSe--and between
the cell-houses are wide park spaces.
Every prisoner sleeps with the same
ventilation that is given To patients in
modern tubereular hospitals. But there
is not prisoner in sight, save perhaps
an occasional "trusty" acting as a
servant.
The great clock hall strikes the hour.
Then comes marching into the wide
open space at the foot of the tower the
prison band of half hundred pieces.
The daily band concert begins. Then
from the workshops and daytime por-
tons of the prison come the prisoners.
Those who have good records and are
graded first class march with the lib
erty and discipline of free soldiers. The
second class are more closely guarded
and must march in closer formation.
The third cluass. or dangerous men. are
under close espionage. The first class
includes more than half Of all the
prisoners.
They all take their places in military
precision in the spaces between the
cell houses, standing at attention. Then
booms the gun. and as with but a
single movement every one Of these
1000 prisoners lifts his hand and makes
the salute 10 the flag. At the same
moment the band strikes UP the "Star
Spangled Banner" and Old Glory begins
its slow descent from the nagstan.
The smartest crack regiment in all
the army could not do It better.
There are now about $500 convicts
l.
and some 400 serving terms in the
provincial jails. But not all who arc
sentenced to Bilibid go there. Camp
Avery and Iwahig penal colony get
about 100 of them. At the beginning
of the fiscal year 1908 there were over
$500 prisoners incarcerated in Bilibid.
During the year there were received
over $500 new prisoners and $50 old
ones transferred from other stations.
More than 1900 were released by the
expiration of sentence. and 1900 were
transferred to other stations. There
were twenty-five executions during the
year and 1t3 deaths from natural
causes. The incoming and outgoing
prisoners per day averaged eighteen.
The Bilibid prison of other days was
a virtual house Of pestilence and tor
ment 1t was established so many gem
erations ago by the Spaniards that the
oldest inhabitant at the beginning of
the American regime i'm the Orient
could not tell the date. There were
racks, pillories, whipping posts and
other diabolical means of punishment
There was no serious effort to make
the surroundings of the prisoners even
passably decent. When the Americans
took control of the prison they had
to wade through slime and filth ankle
deep. Keepers had been In the habit
of relieving the ennui of their jobs
by torturing prisoners for the mere fun
of it. In one case an aged prisoner
was bound hand and foot and lowered
head foremost into a we'll so that the
guards could amuse themselves watch
ing his helpless struggles to keep from
drowning. over three hundred prison
ers were in perpetual chains. Their
wrists and ankles were chained to-
gether. and some were kept in that
STOPPING position so long that the mus
cles of their backs atrophied, and they
were unable to straighten up when lib
Grated from their chains. Beri-beri
was common disease, and a welcome
death carried away an average of five
day.
When the Americans took charge
things were quickly changed. Eleven
hundred political prisoners were liber-
ated outright, the chains were loosened
from 300, the buildings were cleaned
up. the grounds graded. humane guards
installed and a general overhaulinp
given the whole prison system. The
first warden was Major Bean of the
army. He was succeeded by George N
Wolfe of Oregon, who still holds the
position and has been responsible for
the excellent condition of affairs that
obtains there.
All of the prisoners clothing is man.
ufactured in the prison shops-shoes
and hats included. The first effort al