Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-27


society which had imprisoned him. He, was
now an infinitely more dangerous man.. i
Garrett obeyed the rules, did hts work well,
read the books in the prison library, educated
himself through correspondence schools-and
waited for his chance. It came at last. With
20 or 30 prisoners he seized several OF the civil
ian employees of the institution and using them
as Shields went through the front door at the
point of a revolver which Garnet had snug
gled in. A. guard in a tower fired at them
and was promptly killed One or two Of the
men got away, but the balance were captured,
including Garnett. They were promptly pun
ished by being placed in solitary confinement.
THEN was illustrated the loyalty which con-
victs have toward leaders for whom they
have rAa, affection The solitary cells were
& separate building, partitioned off by solid
iron doors. The punishment cells themselves
had two doors, one of grille work and the
other of solid metal In one of these Garrett
was placed, handcuffed to the grille door. And
still steady stream of cigarettes and table
delicacieS to break the monotony of the bread
and water diet found their way to Garnett
from his loyal followers. Every time the keeper
made his rounds Garrett greeted him with,
We'll, just had nice little meal of chicken"
or something similar. The more closely the
guard watched, the easier the rest of the
prisoners seemed to find it to slip contraband
to their hero. Months later the deputy warden
floor above the cell and that thu food and
cigarettes had come to Garrett thus.
After his release from solitary" he went
back into the prison routine, obeyed the rules
and did his work-and once more began to wait.
A new warden came. He looked easy" Gar
nett sent for books on raising chickens For
a year or more he read and studied everything
he could find on the subject. Then he went to
the warden told him he was an expert on the
. subject and asked to be placed in charge Of
. the prison farm. It was located outside the
prison walls.
The warden hesitated Then he looked up
Garnett'S record. It had been 10 years since
his last attempt to escape. Since then he had
not had a mark against him for breaking the
rules. "All right" said the warden, III take
a chance"
So ON Monday morning Garnett went out to
the chicken yard. BY Monday noon he had q
suit OF civilian clothes secreted in a corner of
the farm. BY Monday night he was probably
so miles away from the prison in an automobile
ne had stolen together with the driver) And
there his trail is lost, apparently forever
In prisons where the bully type are leaders
the lives OF prisoners of q higher class are made
almost unbearable. 1.-THE worst enemy of the
prisoner is his fellow prisoner" said a man of
wide experience. And he was right. The
average convict Is much more afraid of his
fellow convicts than he Is Of the officers In
prisons where the bully type dominate the
other prisoners will resist almost any pres
sure that may be applied to them, even the
loss OF two or three years Of good time" they
nave earned, rather than do or say anything
which may class them as stool pigsons-not
because OF any moral objection to "sduealinp.
but merely because they fear the wrath of the
prison leaders should they ever be found out.
I 1PON one occasion, through the help of a
prisoner, discovered the source of a
large quantity of morphine which was finding
its way into the prison. Six prisoners were
Implicated They were all placed in solitary
confinement. The prisoner who had given me
the information pleaded to be allowed to go to
the hole" with the other six SO as TO divert
suspicion from himself. He remained in SOL
ltary' on diet of bread and water for seven or
eight days rather than risk the wrath of the
DULLES who dominated the prison.
That is why the dormitory system in prisons.
although much cheaper type of construction
tnan the usual cell block type, is so undesirable
DormitorieS are dominated by q little coterie
OF three or four of the worst men, who know
now 10 use their lists and believe in keeping
constantly in practice. There the weaker and
weil-ored prisoners suffer the countless little
tyrannies that all DULLES inflict man who
objects is punished for his temerity under the
very eyes of the keepers. Four or five of the
others careleSsly gather around him in a corner
OF the room and one Of them delivers a swift
blow or kick. When the guards come no one
knows anything about it.
Legislators and others who are so insistent
on building dormitory institutions merely be-
cause they are cheaper should realize that every
dollar saved is paid for in human suffering
What is true of the prisons applies with equal
force to perhaps the majority of the 5000
county jails. Here for 100 years or more has
existed what is known as the kangaroo court
L guess they call It kangaroo because they jump
on you with both feet" a prisoner once said to
me. 1t is court" composed OF the inmates OF
the Jail. The Officers" of the court are the few