Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
WARDEN BLAMES
DEATHS TO STATE
Prison Section Was Fire Trap
Due to Legislative Neglect,
ProberS Told.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 26.-Accused
of brutality by some of the prisoners
under his care and threatened with sus-
pension because of the holocaust that
took the lives of 800 men, Warden Pres
ton E. Thomas of Ohio Penitentiary re-
appeared today before the governors in
vestigation committee and blamed Ohio's
Legislature for his plight.
The convicts who lost their lives when
fire and smoke swept through the q
and H cell blocks last Monday night
were quartered in one of the fire traps
which the States lawmaking bodies for
IL years have refused to remove, he de-
clared.
Ohio prisons are flooded with convicts
far beyond their capacity because the
State has refused to build new ones, and
the minimum sentence laws which the
General Assembly enacted in 1921 over
his objection are. keeping them full, he
said.
Nothing Left Undone.
With an expression of Heartfelt SYM
patty" for relatives and friends Of those
lost in the fire, Thomas told the In
vestigators that he had done everything
humanity possible to prevent such q
catastrophe.
TO him it was a double tragedy, he
said, for it caused more suffering outside
the prison walls that 1t did within.
A few days ago many Of the 1000
prisoners still in the penitentiary were
clamoring for the wardens scalp. In
locks on their cells in the idle house,
took possession of the cages and de-
manded the warden's removal before
they would be quoted.
Fire survivors went before the investi-
cation committee and told its members
that the convicts despised Thmoas.
They accused him of brutality. They
boldly declared that they had organized
a epassive resistance" campaign against
him. They declared they would refuse
to work or obey the orders OF their
guards.
Thomas remained silent through most
of 1t. while prison officials and others
under his direction Gained the unruly
mob. The prisoners are still in state
of passive resistance" but they have
ceased creating disturbances.
. Asks 10 Give Whole Story.
When the investigating committee
closed its inquiry yesterday, Thomas re-
Quested that he be permitted to tell his
whole story and the investigation was
reopened for him today.
He offered several witnesses to refute
the charges that he had countenanced
brutality and then launched into full
account of his administration as
warden. His son, Don Thomas, Day.
ton attorney, sat with the Investigators
to ask him questions.
I'm 1918 Gov. Cox told me to make
the Ohio Penitentiary the best prison
in this country" he said.
81 replied to the governor that 1t was
impossible with the material and equip
ment that existed.
"Plans were made under Cox to build
the London prison farm, but the Legis-
lature shelved them because it thought
the work could not be done with con-
vict labor. To prove that the LegiSla-
ture was wrong, the farm was completed
by the work of convicts.
For IL years importuned the Leg
islatures to provide relief as the prison
population grew, but 1t has only been
recently that they listened to me.
II have always protested the building
Of anything but firepoof structures.
When the State constructed the juno
ton City Prison Bright Plant, argued
and pleaded for fireproof buildings.