The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-02
Brutal N. Y. system.


vicious system. You must show how
and why.
Brutal n. 7. System.
also want to take exception to
the impression that the New York
prison system is less brutal than
elsewhere. No doubt there are ex-
cesses of cruelty in other parts of
the United States, but the New York
system is brutal enough, even the
respected Mr.. Lawes. l was not
long in Sing Sing, but while l was
there a little. storm occurred. It
was on the morning when Ruth
Snyder was brought to the prison.
In the excitement they forgot to
cook the beans for dinner, or per
aaps they thought that the salts
faction of having airplanes circling
about the place and photographers
towering around would do for a
meal. Anyway, they served the
beans half raw, and nothing else
besides. Well, there was a clang of
metal and crockery in the mess-hall,
and b-o-o-o-s loud enough to be
heard outside the heavy walls.
In the afternoon the largest prison
shop, the knit shop, the shoe shop,
and some others struck. Why, bless
you, your Warden Lawes did what
the brutes in Maryland that you
mention in your editorial are doing.
All the prisoners were promptly
locked up in individual cells and the
leaders were taken one by one to the
office and inundated and caioled
all day long. Well, the difficulties
were somehow settled, but Warden
Lawes made up for the fact that he
has no dungeons in Sing Sing (even
the ordinary cells are dungeons by
sending goodly number of the dis
turbers away to other prisons where
they will receive their punishment.
And why is Sing Sing little bet
ter ruled than other places? Not
because Warden Lawes is there, but
because it is near New York and
the inmates there belong to the
aristocracy of the underworld, those
who have connections with politi-
clans and big lawyers, those who
nave money and pay their way for
everything they get, also for the
privilege of staying in Sing Sing.
| know that the prisoners are sifted
and only those who have some con-
nection remain there. I have seen
prisoners who were on the list to be
sent away handing the principal
keeper a neat little sum to be taken
off the list, and this in spite of the
fact that inmates are not allowed
to have any cash. Ask the Defense
Committee of the Furriers and they
will tell you whether the principal
keeper takes money. There are only
very few there who are mere COM
moners. l myself was there a few
months to be operated, because in
the other prison where | was there
were no accommodation for such
cases.
l can tell you some brutal Incl
dents in other prisons in New York
state, similar to the ones mentioned
IN your recent editorial. remem-
Der fellow, Joe Bourett, in Auburn,
who refused to go to the dark dun
geon, who was blinded and gassed
With an ammonia shotgun and then
ragged by his feet down a flight
of stairs and through long hall to
the dark cells, his head beating
against the stairs as it fell each time
The jailers descended a step. That
he lived after the treatment was a
miracle and not the fault of the Jail
ers.
In Great Meadow Prison, Com
stock, N. Y, they handle inmates
in a different way. The inmate is
usually taken to cell and beaten
by gang of Jail keepers. The leader
Of the gang usually is an officer by
the name of Muldoon, an ex-prize
fighter. The mildest punishment is
being taken to the warden and given
an extra sentence of anything from
ten days to six months, and some
times the inmate is locked up in ad
dition in dark cell. The dark cell
is worth a little atten-
lion. In Comstock they have no spe-
cial cells for punishment, the build
ing was put up in this century and
they did not make any provision for
dark cells, so the authorities divided
off one end of gallery with boards
and wire screens and made a number
of cells dark. The cells have no beds
or bedding. The ventilator at the
top of each cell is covered. The
water faucet and toilet are stopped
up. The inmate is given three times
a day small slice of white bread
and cup of water, that is if the
officer in charge is not too busy or
does not forget.
But the most terrible of all prisons
is the one at Clinton, N. Y. There
they send those who will not be
ruled by any of their means. There
they have all the refinements of the
other prisons and in addition the
70 I