The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-01
A Month in the Ohio Pen

an extra piece of bread at the table, smoking
in your bunk, out of step in line, OF doing any
OF hundred things the authorities have de-
creed you may not do, the guard may prefer
to turn you over to the tender mercies of the
prison court.
real parody on justice, this prison court
The usual procedure is reversed. You are
punished first and then tried. You may try
to sneak piece of bread off the table at break
fast to help fill that void that you are sure to
feel before noon on prison fare The guard
sees it or thinks he does. He calls YOU out
and takes you over to the "hole' Here he
strips you downto the overalls and underwear
makes sure you have no tobacco with you, and
places you in an ingenious instrument of tor
ture This is narrow cage of iron bars
measuring about 21a by 21a feet and 6 feet
high, which is attacked to the inside of the
dungeon door. Once in this cage there Won
remain, unable to lie down or sit forced to
stand up right. If you are unfortunate enough
to have to perform any of the normal bodily
functions while in the cage it is as NV cell
mate expressed it, Gust too bad for you and
your overalls both" There you stand until
the next morning when court convenes. Then
you are taken out and brought before the Dep.
uty Warden for trial. He may find you guilty.
and back you go to the hole for another dav
or more He may find you not guilty, in which
case off you go innocent and with your record
clean, but with the scars of the cage still on
your innocent back
This brutal treatment, together with the fear
full monotony of prison life, breaks men down,
ages them kills them in time Day after day
the same drab routine goes on. Up in the
morning, march to breakfast, then march to
work in the knitting MILL At night march
hoo ~
up in the cell. This was our routine, dav after
day. At night in the cell read magazines until
nine and then to bed. / say .read magazines"
we brought in with us some revolutionary
books with the hope of doing bit of Studying
mot these books" said the Deputy Warden
as he took from us the three volumes of "Capi-
tall and our other books. Not even scrap of
paper to write on would they allow us.
Even under Czarism some differentiation was
made between ordinary criminals and political
prisoners. But not in America Here the poll
teal prisoner is thrown in with the worst scum
of the underworld. Forced to associate with
degenerates, with diseased men, A syhilfptic
cell mate is common occurrence. NO radical
literature is allowed. Even the Daily Worker
is barred at the Ohio Penitentiary. No food
no tobacco, is allowed to reach the political
prisoner from the outside. Far from being
better treated the Communist is the subject for
the worst brutality of debased and degenerate
guards, anxious to gain the appreciation of an
ignorant and reactionary Warden.
Such is the Ohio State Penitentary. Today
Charlie Guynn and | are free after month
behind those gray walls Lii Andrews has
been RELEASED from the womens reformatory
at Marysville, where conditions are even worse
We have been released on $4,000 bond each
pending action by the Court of Appeals. Will
we go back in May to complete our ten-year
terms or will we remain on the outside, fight
ing in the front ranks of the Ohio working
class? The answer to this question depends
solely on the workers of Ohio. Their mass
power expressed in revolutionary action can
alone protect us from the vengeance of the
ruling class.