Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-16
CRUELTY IS DENIED
Charges Against 0ccoquan
Management Answered.
REPLY BY SUPERINTENDENT
Says Guards Who Were Discharged
Made the Accusations.
LITTLE OCCASION TO PUNISH
MI. Whitaker Declares Only Sixty
Four Men Have Been Put
Under Restraint.
REPLY BY SUPERINTENDENT
LITTLE OCCASION TO PUNISH

Complete and detailed answer to all the
charges of cruelty. Acknowledgement. SELL
ing and drinking of liquor at the Deco
guam workhouse was made today to the
Commissioners by w. H. Whitaker,
superintendent of the institution. In his
answer Mr.. Whitaker bitterly assails the
former guards who made charges against
him. On this latter point Mr. Whit
takers reply says:
These affidaVits have not been made
through any sympathy that these ex-
employees have for any prisoner or pris-
onerS who have served time here, but
they have been made because of the per-
sonal dislike each of them has for the
superintendent, because it devolved upon
him to discharge them from the force
for disregard of the rules and reguia-
tons of the institution
Speaking to the charge of too severe
punishment, Mr.. Whitaker says that oul
OF 1900 prisoners at Occoquan since its
beginning it has been necessary to put
only Sixty-four under restraint. twenty
| six of these being men who had made a
dash for liberty.
Handcuffed to Tree.
| During the first few months, while the
warm weather lasted, Mr.. Whitaker eX-
| plains, he adopted a plan of handcuf1na
| recalcitrant prisoners to a tree, requir-
| ing them to stay there during working
hours. giving them a bread-and-watei
| diet He says that this was necessary.
| seeing that the prison was nothing
more than a camp and that there were
| no buildings erected for the purpose Of
| melting out punishment.
| AS to excessive cruelty, as specifically
| charged. the report says:
| AT no time nor at any place has any
prisoner been strung up by the hands
to such a height that he has had to
stand on his toes. On the contrary each
prisoner punished always has been placed
in natural position, and in no case has
his health ever been impaired
| In the colder weather, Mr.. Whitaker
explains. this method of punishment was
abandoned for the "third-grade table,
calcitrant men being required to live on
| that diet for ten days or two weeks, ac-
cording to the nature Of the case, or I'M
til they promised Ito go back to work
| and behave themselves
Room for "Bad" Prisoners.
Still later. a room was built in one
of the new buildings, where bad
prisoners are handcuffed during work.
ing hours, and which, according to the
report. is kept comfortably heated.
AS for the statements that prisoners
were exposed all winter until they
were stiff with cold, Mr. Whitaker
makes a curt denial. He says, how
ever, that there have been times when
prisoners, as well as officials, have
been pretty cold. but attributes that
to the fact that the institution has
been little moro than c4mn. He
that his own house has been too cold
for comfort. However, he gives the
death record Of the institution as evil
dence that no one was badly treated.
In eight months the institution has
had six deaths from ma ural causes and
two deaths from an accident, the fall
ing of tree.
The report says the death rate is much
lower than it is outside the institution,
and this in view of the fact that many
of the men we receive here are physical
wrecks, diseased and unfit for work. Had
such treatment been melted out to pris-
oners here as these discharged and dis
gruntled men would have the public be-
lieve, more deaths would have occurred
and more sickness would have been re-
corded in the hospital
AS to the charge of liquor drinking
on the premises, Mr.. Whitaker reports
that he has kept up personal investi-
cation on that matter for eight months
and has been unable to find any evidence
Of liquor being sold on the workhouse
grounds.
The report adds: But / have found
in a few cases that officers were using
whisky contrary to the rules and in
StructionS given them. In each instance
where positive proof was found the guilty
officer was Immediately discharged; and a
majority of the men who are now filing
complaints with you are men who were
discharged and who We're using liquor"