United labor bulletin., 1913-09-13

come embittered by abuse.
The principal mode of punishment
now, said the keeper is the dungeon
cells with double doors which are con-
structed to let in just enough air 10
torture a man by keeping him alive.
"Oh, that will bring them to time he
remarked with drastic expression, and
continued. These cells are not only
dark, but absolutely barren and the
inmate must lie Oh the stone floor
for days, stripped of all clothing in
only few rags. i have known men to
have been kept in those hells for twen-
ty-five and thirty days, and once day
they are given a cup of water and Il
small piece of bread"
l asked, "are they not often forgot
ten and do not even get that"
He answered, yes"
The prisoner who assaults an Of
ficer receives the worst OF this pun
ishment and as an emphasis to the
fullest of this cruelty, he said, the
door is locked and the key thrown in
the river. / have seen men come out
of those hells on their hands and
knees
remarked. 81 should think man
would cry for mercy"
With tyrannical laugh born of
custom. yet touched by sympathy. he
said. They do, but that does them no
good"
Il should think men would lose their
minds and go blind, and too they
would find them dead in there And
he said, They do" Then he looked
at me in a startled way and said
You know ! am not supposed to tell
these things"
Prison associations and prison re-
fromers have compelled laws to Danish
many form of corporal punishment in
New York prisons, but have left the
most deadly and destructive one.
These human beings If not killed out
right are thrown back on society.
neurotics. degenerates. social para
sites, physical and mental wrecks of
all sorts. They commit murder and
are then brought back and put TO
death. If death does not claim great
many of them as the result of our un-
civilized prison system, they become
public charges to increase taxation or
swell that spectre OF homeless suffer
ing seen in our parks and streets, con.
fronting and insulting our intelligence
at every turn.
Get very near and study (until they
become confidentiaD the men in the
bread line that ''irredeemable" class
the Associated Charities are pleased
to speak of. and you will find a great
many of them physically weak, their
shattered mental and bodily frames
made so by our inhuman prison sys-
TEN. You will find this element to a
large extent in ali our public institu-
tions which harbor the INDECENT and
weak.
Sing Sing was built to accommodate
twelve hundred prisoners. May 81,
1910. the count was nineteen hundred
ard twenty-four. They have doubled
men up in the narrow cells. which
am told is against the law and the
prison rules, often the tubercular with
the strong and well. They have
turned the Chapel and a factory into
cell houses. Many more are brought
every day than are discharged.
Two other state prisons OF New
York are filled to overflowing, as well
county penitentiaries. Fifteen thou
cand men disfranchised. The poor
mans vote. and the very first words
OF the constitution OF the state of New
York are that mo man OF this state
shall he DISTINGUISHED Today New
York has begun to build another pris-
on on five hundred acres. recently pur'
chased by the state in Duchess coun-
ty. which will cost including land
state already spent two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars at Bear Noun
tain upon a new prison on land which
they already owned and because Il
was Objectionable to the high repre-
sentatives of the money interests who
lived in near proximity. It was aban
doned. The five hundred acres or
which the new prison will stand 1:
not for production but simply for pro
lection against encroachment. This
too. by out present system will soor
be filled to overflowing. Then what,
The remedy is human state labol
colonies. This idea has found partia
expression in Colorado in Warden Ty
mons road gangs, and the results AZ,
most gratifying.
We will always need. perhaps. cor
rectional institutions. but the question
is the kind we nede. Every state viii
eventually have two state labor colo
nies. where character is built by pay
ing the working dweller therein-on.
in which men are sent by force, ans
one in whoch men can 20 by choice
And the man who has been sent Il
the one by force can graduate int,
the one by choice and leave 1t re
Snecfed citizen mud moi n discrncno