Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-01

tons having no wall, escape is comparatively
easy. All they have to do is to overpower the
gate guard, take his keys and let themselves
out. More modern prisons have what is known
as cage" at every gate leading to the out
side. This is merely an arrangement of two
doors with small space few feet wide be-
tween them. Both doors are never opened at
the same time. When a visitor enters the
prison, the outside door Is opened and locked
again before the inside one is unlocked. When
any one goes out, the process is reversed.
Older prisons, while they may have these two
locked doors, often have a wide corridor be-
tween them, the corridor in some instances
leaoing TO different parts of the institution If
prisoners can get into this corridor, only one
door stands between them and liberty.
1t was an unnoticed opening to this corridor
that led to the 1925 Tombs break In the in
vestigation which followed the institution was
thoroughly inspected for similar weak spots
None was found, but an almost exactly similar
opening to the corridor leading to the front
gate existed at that time and continued to
exist until this safety survey was made Pris-
oners going through the yard-and they are
taken through in considerable numbers each
Gay on their way. to the visiting room-could
nave entered the commiSSary room and by
brushing through a thin wire mesh door, which
q Slight pressure from the shoulder would have
broken, would have found themselves in the
corridor leading to the front gate, with Just
that one barrier to freedom before them
There was only one reason why they did not:
they did not know about it. The officers of
the Tombs, unusually experienced and compe-
tent prison men, were immensely surprised
when this was pointed out to them They need
not have been. Undoubtedly similar weak spots
exist In virtually every prison in the United
States. regardless of how competent the officials
are.
A similar condition was found at the Sew.
enth District Prison in Manhattan Here
prisoners on the tiers could have got to the
front Office simply by overpowering one guard.
In this institution also desperate attempt to
escape over the roof had been made by members
OF the Whittemore gang, one of whom frac-
tured the skull Of keeper. Had they only
known 1t, these prisoners could have overpow-
cred the lone guard, gone down the steps and
rushed the front Office when the gate leading
into it from the prison was opened and it
was opened many times a day But DESPITE
the inspection which followed this attempted
getaway, this one wide-open opportunity for
escape was entirely overlooked Another in
stance Of being too close to the forest to see
the trees.
A. the Raymond Street Jail, In BROOKLYN.
there was q similar open passage to the
gate. Here prisoners going to the counsel room
to see their lawyers could have got to the gate
merely by overpowering the lone keeper in
charge Of the counsel room. This would have
been easy, as there were often or 10 prisoners
10 the one keeper. Once at the gate it would
have been necessary merely to seize the keeper
there, take his keys and walk out.
AT these three institutions the defect was
quietly remedied by the erection of another
barred door before the prisoners became aware
or 1t. In these cases the officials were for
tunate In getting there first. How many other
weak spots exist, however, which the prisoners
VIII see first no official will be able to tell until
1t Is too late. 1t is one of the breaks of the
game" in the fascinating battle Of wits going
on eternaly in prisons everywhere.
The weakest of the New York City institu-
tons was for years the New York Reformatorv
for Boys at New Hampton. Here the boys work
on the farm. For years they had been escap-
ing simply by diving into the deep underbrush
adjoining the farm-one jump took them out
Of sight of the keepers. In former years there
were II or ID, and on one occasion "a escaped
In single year from this one institution BY
the simple expedient of cutting the underbrush
back from the farm for distance of about Is
feet the escapes were reduced to one for the
last IL months. This illustrates as graphically
as anything can how even nature herself must
De watched to prevent her facilitating escapes.
Incidentally, experienced prison ofacials