The Potteries Examiner : — 1871-08-12 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

ALGERIAN PRISON.  A correspoudent river the foliewing description of an Algerine prig. :—Maison Carr. is • prieen in which felons croadenmed to simple imprisonment are confined. It Is • large Near° building, only one floor in height, enoloaing 8,000 square metres, or 80 I acres of WO, with s recreation yard and garden. It contains at the present time about 800 felons, of whom only 300 sleep in the prison, the remainder work oat ; some as far as 100 kilometres distant. Of the 390 who sleep within the building from 60 to 70 age Europeand The prisoner.' uniform is of white linen; for the Europeans, it consists of treason and bk." with a grey chachia or skulloup, while the Arabs wear trousers cut short just below the knee, and a red and yellow chachia ; the head-dress of the severely punished is yellow. The building and its inhabitsnts ore guarded by from 30 to 40 troops, and one warder, armed with a sword and gun, for every 30 prisoners. The dormitories are in a vaulted rectangular building, with ventilating windows in the roof- They are exceedingly alone and unhealthy-looking, that ownpied by the Arabs losing about 30 metres wide, 451 metres long, and less than three metre. high. That occupied by the Enropeans is much wider, but the same height and the same length. The want of pure air does not affect the Arabs much, for they are accustomed from their earliest childhood to breathe all manner of foulness, but the Europeans, notwithstanding that their dormitories are larger and lees densely occupied, must Buffer terribly ; in fact, the inspector who accompanied me during my visit expressed himself very strongly on this point. Each prisoner is provided with a grae not and a straw mattress. There is also a building set apart for old and infirm prisoners, and an infirmary—a rectangular wooden construction, perhaps too well ventilated, containing from sixty to seventy beds. It is divided into two parts, with a room for the warder and servants in the centre. The door opens into thin room, which is merely partitioned off on either side by wooden palings. As we entered, the division set apart for the Arabs was on our right, and that occupied by the Europeans on our left. Of the sick at that moment there were fourteen in all, of whom ten were Arabs, and the remaining four Baronets.; the principal diseases from which they suffer are fever among the Europeans, and consumption among the Arabs. The living coneists of two meals a day. In the morning the Arabs receive a bowl of soup, made of bread, beans, cabbages, rice, green vegetables, and nil; while the Europeans receive the same mese, cooked in grease; at night the meal consists of beans and rice. They reoeive the same ration of bread as soldiers, and most mum a week. Besides this, they have the facility of baying different things at the canteen with the money they earn. Mason Carrto receives men condemned to any term of imprisonment above a year. There is one man suffering twenty years' imprisonment, and another fifteen years, while the remainder average from three to ten years. Among others there is a captain of Mobiles oondamned to six years' imprisonment for having inButted his colonel. It is curious to notioe that the Arab; are principally suffering imprisonment for immoral conduct, there being comparatively few oases of theft or homicide. The prisoners are maintained by a oontraotor,who feeds, clothes, and doctors them, , for which he receives from the Government 511 min' times per day per man. Besides this, he has the power of letting oat the men to farmers, and of employing a certain number himself ; but he is forced to give each man he employs or lets out 20 centimes a day. At the time I visited the prison he had 694 men out of doors, who are guarded by a warder for every twenty, se well as • certain number of ;soldiers.