Imperial Valley press., 1922-09-26
Scenario Writer Gets Sent To
Jail To Aid In "Manslaughter''

lar for her baby back home, by Christ
mas.
By dawn / was more than satiated
with my Jail experience. 1t seemed
to me that another twenty four hours
of this would be impossible. Conf
dent of my ability to reach my friend,
thee prison official, I survived the
night. After breakfast [ sought a
means of reaching this influential
gentleman I learned that he had
quarrelled with his superiors the prev
ious day and, forgetting about me, re-
signed! Furthermore, 1 would have
been unable to reach him even if he
had remained in position!
Couldn't Finish Her Term
To serve the full ten days without
sleep or food was beyond my powers
of endurance. I began to plan fran
tically to achieve my release. I be.
thought myself of my mother, Mrs.
O'Neill, who was living with my un-
Gle. / took concil with the nurse who
had been so sympathetic during my
supposed illness, without, however, tel
ling her that my crime had been faxed.
She advised me 10 go to the matron
and explain thatI knew of woman
who might pay my fine. Pehaps the
matron would notify her.
1t took an additional twentv-four
hours to bring this about. The matron
was skeptical, but I insisted that this
"kind LADY, had frequently befriehd-
ed me in the past and might be pre-
vailed upon to do so again! Needless
to say, my mother had been disturb
ed by my continued absence. She
knew that I was in Jail, but she had
expected me to return at the end of
the first day. BY the third day, she
was nearly frantic. When the matron
phoned to say that there was a girl in
the House of Correction who said she
knew Mrs. O'Neill and wanted hel
to pay the fine, my mother never even
waited to find out the name of the
she would take care of the matter and
hastened to the judge.
Ny release came at the end of the
third day-almos seventy-two hours
after my entrance In that time
lost twelve pounds and I was sicl
with hunger and loss of sleep. AS
left, a group of fellow prisoners gath
cred at the door to wish me good luck
I shall egrevof f-mtheeyedgh ghcaartossr
I shall never forget the picture they
made. I call them my "gray ghosts.
Unkept and drab, they waved mi
good bye with q sincere with that
~
selfish thought of their own plight
dimmed their good fellowship 1t was
well / left when | did, however, since
later in the day one of the prisoners
recognized my picture in an old movie
magazine.
No one who has not had a simila
experience can appreciate the Gutiook
of the criminal serving sentence. T'
them the world is reversed. Out o.
prison we eulogize people in direc
ratio to their lack of criminal ability
the criminal idealizes the master crook
That is the code of the underworld
and nowhere is the effect of this code
more strikingly emphasized than il
prison. One loses his perspective OF
crime. Even with my slender eXper
fences, found myself adopting theil
viewpoint. If the atmosphere car
do that to me in three days, think what
it can do in months or years to the con
firmed criminal. 49,
Need Psychopathic Cure
Of one thing l am convince9; mos
of the women serving in the Detroit
House of Correction were cases fol
psychopathic care or, at least, expert
medical attention. Many of them, an
convinced could be returned to norma
life by proper care and psychological
treatment-not physical punishment
But they can never return hnder the
existing conditions. The hardening in
fluences of prison associations, its
topsy-turvy perspective of Virtue, ano
the difficulty of obtaining Il job doing
term in prison, all combine to keel
them in the ranks of the underworld.
The effect of such an experience on
a woman, born and bred to a very diff
ferent place in life, is certain to be
revolutionary. The girl in "Man
slaughter leads life of ease and
self-gratification up to the time that
she goes to prison. Most of the pen
itentiaries, and especially the women'S
prison of New York State, are vastly
better than the jail in which I suffer
ed. But this girl must go through
that horrible first night in some inter
mediate city or county Jail. That is
one moment that is certain to exert
a powerful influence upon her. And by
comparison with this experience, the
actual penitentiary will seem para
disc.
I won't in search of eXperienee and