Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-16
PROBE
IS UNDER WAY
Prisoner Says He Was Abused
When He Refused to Steal
Supplies
CHARGES OF BRUTALITY
Witness Says He Was Locked
in Solitary Confinement
for As Days

TRENTON, May 16:-BecauSe he
refused to steal prison supplies Vim
cent Murray. serving from three to
seven years in the state prison for
atrocious assault and battery, yester-
day told the officials who have begun
an investigation of that institution
that he was prosecuted by former
Deputy Keeper Paul Mclaughlin and
suffered cruel treatment. The probe
was launched under the auspices of
the Joint Subcommittee of the
State Board of Institutions and
Agencies and the State Board of
Prison Managers.
General charges of brutality at the
institution are to be sifted and in
this connection the charges against
Chief Deputy James f. Kersey and
Center Keeper Joseph McChesney
will also be taken up. These two
officials have been suspended by
Warden Joseph S. Hoff pending the
outcome of the investigation.
Governor Silzer has taken a hand
in the prison situation and has asked
the joint subcommittee representing
the two boards to get busy and de-
termine whether the allegations of
various kinds which have been made
concerning affairs at the institution
are true or otherwise. At the sug-
gestion of the governor, Edward l..
Katzenbach, a member of the Insti-
tutions Boards, has been asked to act
as legal advisor to the joint su'
committee. The Prison Board of
Managers held out for the attorney
general to act in this capacity, but
it is understood Mr.. Silzer and the
members of the Institutions Board
favored katzenbach.
Considerable information concern
ing alleged conditions and treatment
of inmates by deputies is in the
hands of Commissioner Lewis
through COMMUNICATIONS which We're
secretly sent out of the prison by
conviets. Murray, who gave testi-
mony yesterday, is one who supplied
some of this data.
IT would like to see those letters
to learn who is violating the rules
of this institution and to trace the
matter down." declared Head Keep
er Hoff at the opening of the probe
yesterday afternoon at the prison.
1.-THE governor has one letter and
he refuses the use of the names"
replied Chairman Ellis P. Earle, OF
the State Board of Institutions, who
was presiding. LET us refer this to
Mr.. Katzenbach for advice in view of
the attitude of the governor.
Murray charged that he was lock
ed in solitary confinement forty-five
days. That he was shifted about
from wing to wing. That during the
riot of Sunday night, August 20, his
nerves, wracked by war service with
the Canadians in France, demanded
medical attention to which the dep
uty keeper replied:
Where do you think we are going
to get a doctor at this time of
night?"
On the following Tuesday he testi-
fled he was taken to the dungeon"
"I object to the use of the word
dungeon" interrupted William A.
Barkalow, of the Prison Board end
of the Joint Subcommittee. There
is no such a place in this prison. It
is not hing more than a room below
a CELL"
II move that the witness confine
his description to the word CELL"
added f. Wallis Armstrong, of the
Institutions Board.
Murray pictured Deputy Paul Nc
LauSnlln as DruIei VINO nOunueu
him and beat him because the
prisoner would not steal magnetos,
which are auto accessories, coffee,
shoes" and anything else you could
take without needing a truck" Nc
Laughlin has since left the prison
employ and is now understood to be
a Deputy United States Marshal un-
der James II. Mulheron, former
Warden of the prison.
The prisoner said Mclaughlin and
a deputy named Saurer had him
"cuffed up in the dungeon for
total of 54 hours. which means that
he was handcuffed close to the wall
or door of the cell.
He testified too that while he was
undergoing ell this treatment he
was sent before the Board of Prison
Managers with his shirt blood-stain-
ed, his face patched and arm swollen
from an improperly adjusted hand
cuff.
George w. Adams, member of
the board of managers, and Warden
Continued on page ~
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