Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-10
ATLANTA PRISON
GRAFT ENDED BY
FEDERAL AGENTS
Justice Department Denies
Officers or Employees
Received Money.
LEAVENW0RTH NOT
BEING INVESTIGATED
0vercrowding Blamed in Exposure
of Transfers Out of In.
stitution.

The Justice Department announced
today Federal agents had broken up a
system of graft within the Atlanta
Penitentiary under which prisoners were
paying money to facilitate their transfer
to road camps and other institutions.
The department said the money was
paid to other prisoners occupying key
positions.
The number of men involved in the
scheme, the department said, was small
and little money changed hands.
All of the prisoners who secured
transfer to camps by improper means. it
was said, have been sent back to At
lanta. The department denied
similar investigation was being con-
Quoted at Leavenworth
The Atlanta penal institution has
been subjected TO a close watch by
Federal agents for the last decade or
more. 1t first came under a wholesale
official investigation when Gerald
Chapman, notorious bandit, scaled
the walls of the institution early one
morning and made his escape. He was
serving % years for engineering Sc
100000 mail truck robbery in New York
City.
Chapman Pays With Life.
Chapman later was recaptured and
hanged in Connecticut for killing po-
/ liceman.
few months after Chapman's es-
cape his famous confederate, Dutch
Anderson tunneled his way to free
dom from the same institution. Ander-
! son later was killed by a policeman in
( the Middle West
! Later, several officials were removed
| when George Remus, the Cincinnati
! bootleg king" and other members of
/ the 'moonshlne fraternity" confined in
! the penitentiary admitted they paid
! these officials large sums to enjoy spe-
! cial privileges. Renlus testified at a
court inquiry that he bought" his job
! as assistant librarian.
! This investigation revealed that the
! Department Of Justice had arranged
with a Federal court to sentence an
agent to certain number of years in
/ prison to secure information.
/ In the latest investigation the de-
partment said there was no evidence
that money had been paid to any Of
! fiCer or enploye of the institution or
! the department"
Threat Of Prosecution.
! If it should be disclosed that any
Government employees are involved they
will be speedily indicted and vigorous
! ~ prosecuted. IL was said.
The Justice Department blamed the
scheme partly on the oyercroWding at
| the Atlanta penal institution. 1t was
said that road camps 10 which prison.
ers sought transfer we're established to
make possible employment of prisoners
on manual labor rather than permit
ting them to be idle in the penitentiary.
las soon as the new Federal prisons
recently authorized by Congress are
completed" the department said, 1t
will be possible to reduce the over
croWding at Atlanta.
"A new prison to house 1900 inmates
will be completed within a year Con-
| defective delinquents, two new re-
formatoiies and one narcotic farm will
be started during the Summer"
Rabkin in Conspiracy.
Officials Of the Bureau of Prisons dis
closed today that one Of the prisoners
involved in the Atlanta investigation
was Paul Rabkin. convicted of a con-
spiracy to smugg.e into this country
quantities of Swiss watches in viola
ton of the custom laws.
Joseph Pearlman, convicted of the
same offense, was another named In
the investigation.
Prison officials said both Rabkin and
Pearlman had been transferred from
Atlanta to Fort RoSebank. on Staten
Island, N. Y, but because of their part
in the conspiracy both would be sent
| back to Atlanta.
It was said authoritatively that the
investigation into conditions in Atlanta
was still in progress and that additional
evidence was needed against the pris-
oners believed to have accepted graft.