WHERE CONVICTS WEAR MASKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

WHERE CONVICTS WEAR MASKS.

■ FRANCE'S MOST. MODERN GAOL. SOME FEATURES OF FRESNES PROVISION FOR PRISONERS' CHILDREN. " Solitary confinement, silence and the iwearing of .& mask bo that no jnmate ■ can recognise his fellow convict are the lot of men sent to Fresnes prison, most modern, of France's gaols. • The prison of Fresnes is several prisons in one, as juvenile delinquents are ■handled in a separate section and men and women are classified in several eions. Women prisoners having young children from whom they cannot be separated are housed there, but in such a manner that the child has no realisation that he is in prison: In this section alone do the prisoners mingle in a ibig walled yard in which thera are both grass and trees. Each mother has her ibed in a dormitory; beside each bed is a crib for the child, and frequently child- ■ xen are born in this prison. The prison director is quite proud of this section. Truly everyono seems contented and the . children romp and play just as gaily as any in the outside world, as their proud mothers knit or sit idly watching them. In. yet another section are handled the women first offenders, other than those with young children. Each woman "lives, works and eats in her own cell. She never sees or talks to her sister prisoners, but does piecework under the contract system of labour. She makes artificial flowers, crimps paper for fans, sews and makes small articles of various kinds, or does some particular operation in the manufacture of a product. Her cell is approximately 9ft by 12ft and contains a bed which folds against the wall, a toilet, running water and a window containing translucent glass, which gives no possible view of the outside world. A table which is hinged, to the wall serves a double purpose to eat from and to work on. Where Men are Kept. Next is that huge, forbidding buildin* with its high brown walls which houses men. It is divided into three eeciions of four tiers each. Everywhere tte, is a network. of tiny railway tracks, this for the distribution of sup PAs a prisoner enters he is stri ° f his clothes, washed., shared and fur nished with the prison garb, which in eludes a mask which covers his entire head and shoulders and which must be worn at all times when he is out of h s cell. The-mask is a thinly-woven affair which permits the prisoner to see and /breathe easily,'but prevents his recognition by any fellow convict. ' ' The menu is not one to tempt-any except-a very hungry man, and. the which it is served makes it fear * »ig". fflimdW <""1

days, however, are red-letter days, for then thick soup is served with the bread in the morning and at night there is both rice and meat. These prisoners arise at six o'clock each morning, are allowed 30 minutes for their toilet. From fi.3o to nine o'clock they work alone in the cells. From nine to 9.30 they have the morning meal and then for the hour following they exercise in the open in the preaux or promenade yards. Each prisoner, carefully masked, is marched to his particular little yard surrounded by a high wall. ■. A Meal at 3.30. The hour of exercise over, the prisoners again return to their respective cells, where they continue at their tasks until 3.30, when they are allowed half an hour for the evening meal. Then follows work again until 7.30. After that lights out. Once a week they are permitted a shower or tub bath. Recreation consists of attending church every Sunday and holiday, with an occasional lecture thrown in. The. chapel school is made up of six rows of double watch boxes, or alveoles, which will accommodate 252 . persons, each carefully enclosed in his own little closet, through a slit in which he can see nothing but the platform. The sight from the platform is even more weird, for one sees 252 'pairs of eyes peering from the narrow slits, and elsewhere only an empty hall. The pitch of the floor is quite great, giving every prisoner a perfect and unobstructed view.