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

prisons having the least material protection
During the year ended October 81, 1929 mot q
single one Of the IL 900 prisoners escaped nom
the penitentiary on Welfare Island, New York
and this institution has no wall whatever and
Is equipped with what is technically known as
soft steel. That the steel is actually soft
Is shown by recent experiment at this in
Stitution; q prisoner with q hacksaw cut
through such q bar in less than three minutes
It took him about the same time to saw
through the new detention sash" being urged
as q substitute for bars in penal Institutions.
Nothing could better illustrate the constant
never-ending efforts to prevent escapes than
the daily routine Of the average prison. Every
few days the bars Of all the cells and Of the
windows are tested. The guard will 20 along
the tiers tapping each bar with hammer
Bars which have been cut are revealed by the
sound. AT other times the guard will run q
mirror up and down on the inside of the bars
to see If cut has just been started. Very
often prisoner viii close the cut when he Is
not working on 1t, using bread crumbs darkened
with cement or some other material. The ex-
perienced "Screw," however is familiar with
these tricks and Is the lookout for any va
ration in color the bars of the cells Of those
IN his charge
SEVERAL, Of the jails in New England have
tried to solve this bar cutting problem
by having large bars followed out and filed
with water, all Of which are attached to q
gauge in the jailer's office. When bar Is
cut and the water starts to leak at any point,
that fact registers the gauge. But by the
use of gum and similar substances prisoners
managed to conceal the cut until they were
actually ready TO go. And, quite naturally,
they went" while the jailer was away from
the ONCE and couldn't see the gauge
If the institution has yard in which the
men exercise, guards carefully go over every
foot OF 1t each morning to make sure that no
contraband has been thrown over the walls
during the night The ground is also in
spected TO see II any of 1t has recently been
dug up. Locks on the cells are examined care
fully every few days to see that prisoners have
not been plugging them with soap or some
other material so that they will not close and
can be lifted on the holding pin at viii. This
trick Is sometimes successfully practiced even
IN those prisons having the most up-to-Gate
prisoner-proof" locking devices.
Cells are searched every few days. and at
unexpected times there is a complete "frisk,"
or searching Of the persons Of all the prisoners.
The first part Of the search usually discloses q
considerable amount Of contraband The latter
part dtScloSeS nothing, as word is Immediately
flashed down the line" and prisoners begin to
ditch what c0ntraband they have At the back
Of the line, discarded on the floor will be found
an occasional homemade knife or file. hypo-
derm1c needle and other articles. whose owner
ship is virtuously disclaimed by all of the
prisoners. At unexpected times, also, thorough
search Is made Of every department Of the
nstitution-shops, hospital, laundry and other
buildings No matter how frequently these
searches are made, contraband is always found.
for the minute such articles are conf1scated
prisoners begin working on others of a similar
nature.
The speed with which prisoner can "ditcr
a contraband article is something to marvel at
Just a short time ago prisoner at the TombS
informed me that one of the men on his tier
had a knife concealed In his shoe I sent q
keeper to bring this man down to the Office.
warning him to keep close watch to see that
the prisoner did not throw anything away.
When the latter came down had him take on
his shoes. In the sole found not knife, but
a long hole where the knife had repoSed. The
prison wireless" had carried information to the
upper tier that was talking to q certain
prisoner in the Office and that the latter was
"doin' the big squeal." Immediately every
prisoner on the tier started getting rid of any
thing which might incriminate him.
Thus this silent battle for freedom goes ON
like raging underground torrent beneath an
apparently placid surface, while the officials
carry on their grim warfare to prevent escapes.