Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1913-05-23
Be TORTURE
SING SING CELLS
Morals the Worst Feature
of hlI-Graft and Waste
Alleged.

tAbtAitltCtu piiauu nun IL liz otttes
this question:
do you know of your own knowl-
edge whether Colonel Scott ever made
any real effort to clean up the condi-
lions here and make the prison more
sanitary?
mo, SIR"
Mr.. BIake's narrative Of his discover
les at Sing Sing recalls descriptions Of
prisons of the middle ages.
Moisture ON the walls is "perceptlble
and tangible" Prisoners confined in
the cells become victims of chronic
rheumatism and incapacitated for work
for all the future. Two hundred cells
intended for only one hold two inmates
each. First offenders and habitual
criminals are herded together without
discrimination or regard to morals.
The cells are never fumigated or disin-
fected. Colonel Scott, so Mr.. Blake
says. was utterly Indifferent to prison
abuses of this nature.
Terrible Conditions.
Here is what Mr. Blake says he
learned regarding the lot of prisoners
at Sing Sing; faf
Neither Warden Kennedy, Mr.. Con-
naughton, the prison doctors nor any
man employed within the prison ever
attempted to deny the frightful condi-
tons that prevail within the prison or
defend them. The worst feature Of
the prison management cannot be dis
cussed in any public document, but the
subject is Of such vital Importance to
the welfare of the state that no time
should be lost in submitting it to the
attention of men cmpetent to present
a method of lettering condition that
breeds disease of die mind and body
and that should touch the heart of any
man with any human instincts.
zone man said to me that the only
offense prisoner could commit that
would be followed by speedy punish
ment was the offense of trying to get
something to eat. He told me stories,
amply corroborated, Of such frightful
character as to appeal to the most I'M
feeling person. Colonel Scott knew of
the existence of these horrors-there is
no doubt about thatt-and yet he never
made one effort so far as l was able to
learn to minimize them.
Nor did he ever seek any method of
preventing the occupancy of the cells
bv two men nor to see that when the
men were placed in n cell their en-
forced comradesbip would be in anv
sense congenial. The low thief striek-
en- with disease, with no mental capac-
1ty and with the lowest possible in
stincts. has often been locked into
cell with man of education. of some
ideals and clean personal habits. This
would be bad enough If the cells were
light or large ar clean Instead of being
dark and small and filthy.
Unto none of the cells on the lower
tiers has ray of sunshine entered for
eighty years. Stories of torture of
prisoners in the middle ages sound like
descriptions of Injuries in comparison
to the tales that have been told me of
the lives of some of the prisoners in
Sing Sing. The cramped and unhealthy
conditions are made worse by the pres
ence of yermin in the cells.
rs. r. n.
LIZ - Aol 'uAe'
'When the cell house men are let out
in the morning they sweep out the ref
use from their. cells Dust and germs
are swept down from tier to tier, so
that at night when the men lie down
for rest their pillows are covered with
dirt Life in these cells is torture to
every grade of man who has a spark of
imagination or who ever lived i'll de-
cent home, Even the lowest and most
degraded man must undergo cruel and
unusual punishment when confined in
these cells during the hours of the ordi-
nary night. But when comes Sunday
or holiday the horror of the situation
is increased. During these periods the
men are confined in their cells for
eighteen and nineteen hours, and it is
no exaggeration to say that after these
periods of confinement the men so out
u.