The Yale expositor., 1916-10-12
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.

Joliet, nl.-Of the multiple curses
Of prison life tuberculosis ha<
been considered far from the leasS
Convicts developed or contracted II
during their term, and when dis
charged carried 1t out into the world
with them.
1t Is the 'hoary specter that haunt'
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 state, more than a CEN
tury ago, the writer informs us, thou
sands have died within the walls from
Tuberculosis, or If they survived, have
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 a bill appropriating $4,000 for
the erection of 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 term of years in the state
prison carried with ii sentence TO
almost certain death, to fight against
overwhelming odds with the inhu-
manity of a system that weakened the
most robust; system that prepared
in most subtle way the human body
for the tentacles of the prison octo-
pus-the great white plague. No
longer was the state prison TO remain
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 fur as possible from the clang OF
the entrance gates. Ten acres as far
away as possible from the stone
| tagged corridors of the main prison,
but yet to be n 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 tho
| 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 arose
the hospital building, constructed
along the most approved lines of a
modern hospital structure. Erected
i'm the shape of a high H. it was
planned to give the inmates a maxi
mum of fresh air, recognized as the
most important weapon in the fight
for the cure Of the disease. There is
nothing fancy or ornate about 1t. II
is n brown-stained building in which
/ 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 are
white, the floors, stained and waxed,
are polished to the brilliancy of mir
ror. There are separate quarters for
white and negro patients, but they are
exactly the same in appointment and
the same quality is observed in food,
treatment and attendance. Meals,
ried, are served by white-coated wait
ers In well-lighted dining room.
"amid surroundings that suggest a
well-appolnted cafe instead of a mess
hall in a penal institution, all of
which, though is necessary under the
approved system of fighting the
plague" The article continues:
During the day, unless reduced to
the third grade, which necessitates
the wearing of prison stripes, the pa
tients are permitted TO 60 anywhere
within the confines of the walls. only
being required to be back In the build
ing at roll call at the supper hour.
Their time is their own, and may be
used as they see fit, in reading or card
playing, or merely loafing.
"Over on the negroes side OF the in
closure n background has been laid of,
and any morning or afternoon, when
the weather permits, ball game may
be seen i'm progress. A guitar, banjO
and many decks of well-worn playing
cards help in passing the time away
until patients are well enough to take
their turns at work on the prison
farm.
"The TB' patients, as they are
called, are not permitted TO remain
Idle after their condition improves SO
that they can work without injury.
As the daily trips 20 the scale show
improvement I'm weight, as their appe-
| 49,. ,..,t,,r, opI oc fhof- -.