Evening star., 1953-09-18

wv
first orticIes under the Associated
Press correspondents byline since hi
orest in Proeue more thon two yeor!
ego.
is like a tomb. And the inmate
is like a man in purgatory: He
is waiting, and his problem is tc
get through time.
The place is called Ruzyne
Prison. after a village it sits by
miles west of Prague. left
it last May 16, because President
Antonin zapotocky pardoned me
after had served "a months and
% days of a 10-year sentence
Gle acted in reply to a letter
from my wife. but I am not sure
what else may have been behind
his deciSion)
Of all the time I was held, ]
spent the first six days at police
headquarters in Prague, and
spent the remainder in RuZyne
While my trial was on at Pank-
rae Prison, from July 2 to 4
1851, I was hauled there from
Ruzyne every morning and
hauled back every night.
Ruzyne is not big prison, as
prisons go. While I was there a
new section, probably tWo-thirds
the size of the old. was opened
up, and after that I suppose
there was room for more than a
thousand people.
The remarkable thing about
the place was that everybody in
it, with a few exceptions. was
awaiting trial; he was not a
convict; not even-for many
months of his stay there-a de-
fendant to an indictment; but a
suspect. He was denied bail;
denied visits from relatives; even
denied access to lawyer until
after mis- indictment.
Had IL Different Cells.
lived in II cells, one after
another. The largest was about
Is feet square, with a 10-foot
ceiling; the smallest about 6 by
10. with an 8-foot ceiling.
The better cells were in the
old building. They were larger
airier and warmer. Each had a
wooden floor, one or two big
windows, a turkish toilet, a wash
basin, a narrow wooden table
and one or two seats fixed
against one wall, and straw mats
and pillows to sleep on. The
central heating was good.
In the new building, where
moved in October. 1851. the cells
were much smaller, and the win
dows only about a yard wide anC
half that high. The ordinary
chamber was about 6 by 10 with
one window.
The toilet was the Same-s
shallow, yard-wide porcelain bow
at floor level with two iron foot
rests. For washing there wa:
only a cold-water tap running
into the toilet bowl.
The floors were concrete anc
the furniture was mostly of shee
metal and let down from tht
walls, the beds being out at nigh
and table and seats by day.
The air in these cells stank 81
that guards turned up their noses
on entering. The all-metal-and'
masonry construction made th'
places chilly. Sunlight seldom
penetrated to some of tht
ground-floor cubicles. And th'
heating was irregular.
In January of 1852 my barr
ankles turned blue from a cole
west wind sweeping in through
loose window. The following No.
vember, the heat in my cell usu'
ally was on only 20 or 80 minute:
between breakfast and bedtime
One cold, dismal day there wa:
no heat at all during those hours
The night heating usually wa!
better, but there was one night
when my cellmate and I both
were so cold we could not sleep
Windows Frosted and Barred.
The windows Of all cells were
barred and the glass was frosted
so that prisoners could not see
anything that went on outside
Those Gagged, blind windows typi-
fed the inmates situation: Close
confinement and enforced ignor-
ance.
Several times I was in a eel
two weeks without ever once get
ting beyond the door, even to gc
down the hall for shower bath
Once I went more than foul
months without a walk in the
fresh air, and another man went
over nine months without one.
Being kept so close and in such
uncertainty drives some prisoner:
crazy. One near my cell used tt
start screeching gibberish every
day or so and go on till the
guards put him under a shower
Another, painting with claustro-
phobia, kept moaning through
the night, Help! Help!" And
heard of another that would sit
in his cell and babble on by the
minute, under the delusion thai
he was telephoning his wife.
In the early weeks of my i'm
prisonment, I walked the floor
like Gagged animal, with my
head whirling and my stomach
turning over, and I felt that
would die if I did not get out
of there. 1t was months before
1 achieved anything akin to res
ignation. Always my thinking ir
prison had the nature of fantasy
was so far out of the real world
Like all prisoners in Ruzyne,
was forbidden newspapers. maya
zines and radio. though coulc
read books. All the news I got
there could be written handily or
the head of a pin. From cellmates
that had come there after me. ]
heard that Winston Churchill was