Evening star., 1934-06-03
WOMEN IN PRISON .
| LIVE LIKE GOODS
Reforms Wrought by Society
Woman Prove Worth
in Georgia.

ATLANTA, Ga, June Girls
laughter and singing like coed pep
meeting-that's the way things are
going in the women's ward at the
Fulton County Jail since Mrs. Howard
McCutcheon, Atlanta society leader,
took charge as matron.
Three years ago the Board of
County Commissioners called her
from the drawing room to inaugurate
and perpetuate morale building pro-
gram.
A peep into her private Office any
hour of the day would give the i'm
preston an afternoon tea was going
full blast. Girls, who look more like
debutantes than prisoners, lounge in
easy chairs, telling jokes, discussing
styles-or maybe chiding each other
about the length of their impending
sentences in penitentiaries.
Matron Is Hostess.
And always MRS. Mack"-the girls
call her-acts more like a hostess
than a prison keeper. The inmates,
to all appearances, are her guests,
and all are on equal footing, ire
spective of their crimes.
Some are awaiting trial for murder.
Others have been convicted Of homi-
eide and are being held pending new
trials. But that doesn't matter in the
eyes of Mrs. Mack" They eniov the
same cordiality she extends to petty
thieves and shop lifters
Gloom and grumbling are two
things the matron won't permit. And
lest they gain a foothold. she steers
the girls toward constant fun-making,
even at their own expense.
What is the law going to do with
you?" visitor seriously and SYM
pathetically asks girl named Eunice
who is charged with killing her baby
if fit of dependency over poverty.
"Oh, reckon they'll send me TO the
electric chair and I'll bet I sizzle ter
ribly," Eunice replies nonchalantly-
and everybody laughs uproarously,
including Mrs. Mack"
Car Thief SiIenced.
The party was interrupted by Betty,
Just returned from court under FIVE
year sentence for automobile theft.
That judge was asleep all during
my trial." she said in tone of COM
plant at the severity of her sentence.
You're lucky" chimed in a pretty
blond. If he had been awake, he
might have given you 10 years" And
Betty laughed longer and louder than
the others.
One rule Mrs. McCutcheon enforces
rigidly requires the prisoners to dress
neatly on all occasions. And Just as
a means of stimulating pride in ap-
pearance, she frequently brings her
personal hair dresser to the Jail to
spruce up the girls.
And although it's not compulsory,
she encourages them to spend much
of their time crocheting and doing
other fancy needle work. Several
have become experts, including some
women who never had done anything
more delicate with a needle than darn
socks.
| Small Time for Society.
Mrs. McCutcheon has become so
intrigued with her job that society
affairs get the minor share of her
attention.
And she is by no means a figure
head with her name merely lent TO
the work. She is on the job every
day in the week from a m. to pm.
1t is great fun" she says, although
she has expressed a few embarrassing
moments, particularly the time a
member of her elite bridge club was
locked up for drunkenness.
1T would surprise you to know I
really get few genuine debuantes,"
she said. In most cases they were
brought there by their own families
until arrangements could be made to
get them in hospitals for treatment
of alcoholism