Tensas gazette., 1916-11-10
CURE DREAD T-B
!. IN STATE PRISON
Tennessee Has Taken Steps to
Stop Consumption Spread
Behind the Bars.
BEST OF CARE For PATIENTS
Formerly Penitentiary Sentence Was
Death Sentence for Large Number
Of Men-Some Gave Plague
to Those Outside.

to InoSe OutSt0e.
Joliet, ul.-Of the multiple curses
of prison life tuberculosis has
been considered far from the least.
Convicts developed or contracted II
during their term, and when ois-
charged carried it out into the world
with them.
1t is the ''hoary specter that haunts
and contaminates the Old-time cell
blocks common to many of our famous
penal institutions" says the Joliet
Prison Post of Illinois. which presents
an example of the new order of things
in the model hospital Of the state pris-
ON of Tennessee. The article Is sum-
married. in the Literary Digest.
Since the first penitentiary was built
in the latter stats, more than cen
tury ago, the writer informs us, thou
sands have died within the walls from
tuberculosis, or If they survived, nave
transmitted the germs to their fami-
lies and associates. Thus innocent
and guilty have suffered together, hav-
ing battled feebly and futilely IN
their ignorance of the first principles
of sanitation, and have died" Con-
ditiOns gradually became so menac-
ing that in 1915 the state legislature
passed bill appropriating $1OOOO for
she erection of a tuberculosis prison
hospital, and by this act the old sys-
TEN was wiped out. for
Bad Times Past.
"The time was past when the SICK
and healthy were placed together
within narrow cells. The time was
past when a term Of years In the state
prison carried with it sentence to
almost certain death, to fight against
overwhelming odds with the inhu-
| manity of a system that weakened the
most robust; a system that prepared
in most subtle way the human body
for the tentacles of the prison 0cto-
pus-the great white plague. No
longer was the state prison to remain
| a living death. Inmates Of the state
| prisons were to be treated as human
| beings.
Ten acres were staked out. Ten
acres adjoining the prison walls. but
as far as possible from the clang OF
the entrance gates. Ten acres as far
! away as possible from the stone
i tagged corridors Of the main prison
but yet to be a part of it, for along
the line Of stakes another wall arose
There were no factories within the
new inclOsure, there were no concrete
sidewalks that marked the path Of thu
inmates from their steel-barred sleep
ing quarters to the doors Of the man
ufacturing plants or to the stone steps
of the dining halls.
"And in the middle of the lot arOs'
the hospital building. CONSTRUCTED
along the most approved lines of
modern hospital structure. Erecte'
in the shape of high H. 1t wa
planned to give the inmates maxi
mum of fresh air, recognized as tn
most important weapon In the fgh
for the cure of the disease. There 1
nothing fancy or ornate about 1t.
! is brown-stained building in whicl
everything Is sacrificed for the com
fort and welfare of the patients"
Everything Very Clean.
Ones first impression of the place
the writer relates, is of the "spOtless
ness of everything" The walls ar
white, the floors, stained and waxed
are polished to the brilliancy Of mir
rOr. There are separate quarters TO
white and negro patients, but they ar
exactly the same in appointment an
the same quality is observed in foOt
treatment and attendance. Meal:
which are said to be plentiful and va
ried, are served by white-cOated wal,
ers in well-lighted dining room
"amid surroundings that suggest
well-appOinted cafe instead of a mes'
hall In penal institution, all 9
which, though, is necessary under tn
! approved system of fighting th
/ plague" The article continues:
During the day, unless reduced
the third grade, Which necessitatt
4 the wearing of prison stripes. the p
. tients are permitted to go anywheI
4 within The confines Of the walls. on
being required to be back In the bull
ing. at roll call ut the supper hOu
II Their time is their own. and may
l. used as they see fit, in reading or ca
y playing, or merely lOafing.
"Over on the negroes side Of the I
closure a background has been laid o
and any morning or afternoon. VIII
the weather permits, ball game M
,e :, be seen in progress. A guitar. a ban
:, and many decks Of well-wOn playil
:. - cards help in passing the time aw
- until patients are well enough to tn
their turns mt work on the pris
,v farm.
vi "The T-B' patients. as they a
NJ called, are not permitted to rema
to idle after their condition improves
% that they can work without inju
a. As the daily trips to the scale sh'
a. improvement In weight, as their apI
he tites return and as their general c,
Is ditiOn improves. they are sent to
mt farm for light work or put at Sol
task inside the inclosure."
This q Sock Romance?
he Whitestone, N. Y.-William COul
H. found the card of Miss Edista Robel