New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-16
FIND AUBURN CLEAN 1
OUTSIDE, THAT'S ALL
Women Volunteer Prisoners
Say System Never Cares
About Souls of Con@tS.
COFFEE LIKE DISHWATER
Half Pound to "a Gallons OF
Water, Matron says--Mlss
Doty and Miss Watson
Glad to Get4 ay,

a,rburn prison is the ,.ganest P'a'e
aver saw in my life-op t. outsiue' 1 "e
..s,em demands shin. brass raiis anu
=, tab,ecloths. but It never asks wha'
:. Going on in the ks.,,ths and sous VI
81. human beings in e. charge. 1870.
This was the spirit Of the cohpia ,a'.e
do bv Miss Madeline Il. Doty ana MISE
v,izabeth c. Watson, Investigators Iol luz
s,ats Commission or Prison Reform VINO
,,rr,ad here yesterday with nerves
arsttv well upset Jy their experiences
INV had planned to stay In AUBURN
,rison q whole week. but after the lour'"
sav Miss Doty couldn't stand II aho'hei
,,irrte She had to stand It, though uhu
,be next roc ning because she could ho'
~ vord 20 cad matron, and nobody
Zee IN the is. 1 knew she was not
ocular coovitt Miss Watson was ready
100 10 go or the prison food had made
her III.
OF isn,. N the prison food is of poor
ouaIitv." sid Miss Watson, out II Is
spoiled n IN cooking. All the COOKING
for a13 W en done in three great forty
sva ga buckets. The meat stews
which n tie staple article of food, are
tasteless masses of paste
I'VE got the recipe for coffee from the
matron herself after we were released.
We wanted TO know how they contrived
10 make il SO much like dirty dishwater
She said she used half pound of coffee
10 four six-gallon pals of water. A halt
a pound Of coffee for 1l3 glrlsl
Sent TO Cooler" for Trifle.
For breakfast we had three slices of
prison bread, an agate bowl of this dirty
dlshvater and a plate of stew. There is
no mix and no sugar for tea or coffee,
ever II girl saved sugar from some
other article of food 10 use with her tea
she was punished on the charge of steal
ing sugar. We saw an actual case like
that The girl had tried to hide her own
lump of sugar, and she was given two
day. in the cooler and had ten days
a6d,d TO her sentence. The cooler is the
punishment cell 1t is in the cellar. The
condemned girl is led down TO ii past the
uorgue. Just fancy the effect of that
Don nervous woman! Then down a
5ng, cold corridor. through two heavy
ron doors to a small, dark cage, behind
dauble-barred door. The cell has no
blanket Three times a day some one
brings her gill Of water and one slice
Of bread. She is given no water to wash
with, even II she stays there three or four
days OF course, this treatment breaks
any one down. It reduces a human being
10 frightened brute.
Indeed, this is the spirit OF the whole
prison People are treated like animals to
be fed and watered and kept physically
well The idea of the matron seems TO
be: These girls are bad. We must treat
them as such. Everything they want to
DO, everything that would give them
pleasure must be bad. Therefore, we
won't let them do anything that would
give them pleasure
AS soon as we two were discovered TO
Be friends we were put In separate
wards. and even in separate workrooms,
/" that we might not have even the pleas
ure Of smiling at each other. can't tell
you how we did manage TO communicate
with each other, because that might get
The girl who helped us into trouble. There
vas such a spirit of friendliness among
he girls, in spite Of the heart-crushing
system, when they couldn't speak to us
hey would wink. You never saw any
ming like the happiness of those women
When We came back and told them who
We really were and what we had been
mere for. They were simply tickled to
Death, especially as we had fooled not
only them but the matrons.