HORRORS OF A CALIFORNIAN PRISON.

Evening Star, Issue 15074, 4 January 1913, Page 8

HORRORS OF A CALIFORNIAN PRISON.

_ English renders who have looked on th« United States as the pioneer country in the matter of prison reform will receive a rude.shock after perusing 'My Life in Prison/ written by Donald Lowrie, who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for a petty burglary—his first offence ; and the terrible piece of autobiography which he writes is the storv of 10 rears he spent within the walls of St. * Quentin, the principal prison in the State of California. "My object in writing," says Mr Lowrie, " is not to arouse sentimental concern for those who have been caught and ire being punished for violations of the law, but to endeavor to show the intilitv of the present system and the unnecessary degradation to which the delinquent f« subjected; also, if possible, to point out possible remedies. 1 am still a prisoner, in spirit as well .is in fact—in spirit because my sympathies are with prisoners, in fact because I am merely on parole. My sympathies are not with* prieoncis as criminals, but as Tiuman beings, each one —with possibly a few exceptions—capable of being moulded into a good citizen. —7OO Cells for 2,000 Men.— ifAAt present San Quentin Prison is fearfully overcrowded. Cells that were, originally built for two inmates now shelter four or five. Theie arc less than 700 cells for nearly 2,000 prisoners, and a number of these ceils, known as • singles.' are so small that it is impossible- to place more than one man in each, which crowds four or five into larger cell*. - * The author shared a cell (eight feet by ten) with four other .prisoners, one of whom was in rapid consumption. This fact leads to the revelation that: " When a prisoner is taken from a cell and assigned to the eonsumpj lives' ward as incurable, the cell which he vacates is not, fumigated. It is merely swept out, sometimes whitewashed, and then some other prisoner, perhaps a young boy, is assigned to it. Tlie' floors of the. cells at San Quemin are never washed—the construction will not permit—and the ventilation is fearful. Only a person who has spent a night in one of these cells can realise what it means, in the morning the oivteide air is such a contrast that one tastes it. Contagion is bound to linger I in these cells, and many a healthy prisoner [ has contracted consumption in this way. 'Hie reason his '-first meal in the peniteu- } liary was not a success'-' is made quite obvious: Twelve minutes is the regular [ time allowed for meals, and the food is served in pans, each prisoner helping himself. Xo service spoons or ladles are provided. Each prisoner dips into the common receptacle with the spoon with which ho eats. This is specially disgusting oil 'stew, days.' Stomach trouble is common among prisoners, and 1 have often thought that the 12-minute limit is responsible *' If a. man is compelled to eat like a pig he is bound to carry these pig instincts into the world with him. True, there are a few men who become chronic fasters, eating just enough to keep body and soul together, but are they not also'mepaiablv injured ?"' —The Jacket.— " The ' jacket' consists of a piece of canvas about four and one-haif feet long, cut to tit about the human body. When spread out it has the same shape as the top of a coffin, broad near one end, for the shoulders, and tapering either way. Big brass eyelets run down the sides, it is manufactured in various sizes, and is designed solely as an instrument of torture. This jacket is spread out on the floor and the prisoner ordered to lie face down upon it. The sides are then I gathered up over his back and a rope about the size of a window cord is laced through the eyelets. If the word has been passed to ' give him a cinching,' the operator places liis foot upon the victim's back in order to get leverage as he draws ths rope taut, and when the lacing is finished the remnant of rope is wound about the trussed body and tied. Then the victim is rolled over on his back and left to think it over. He is left in one of the dungeon cells, wheie there is no light, and where. it- is cold and damp. At that time there was no limit to the duration of this punishment. Twenty-four hours was the ordinary sentence, but I know many cases wheie men were kept 'cinched up' for a week, and in one instance for 10 days." Sickening instances of this torture are given. Its application was within the power of a, certain Captain of the Guard, who sometimes decreed it for comparatively trivial ciTcnocs. —A Lot of Heathens.— The description of an execution and ils moral effect upon prison inhabitants is a telling indictment of capital punishment. Here is the view of one of Mr Lowrio's cellmates on the questiou : I've seen a good many men hung in my time, aiv I've tried t* see both sides of it, but f'r th' life of mo I can't see what good it. does. In th' old days, when a guy named Jeffreys used t' hang 'em in England f'r stealin'a loaf of bread, they kept on stealin' loaves of bread, an' in these days, v.-hen they hang 'em f'r murder, they keep on murderin'. That proves that it don't scare anybody off, air if it don't scare 'em off, what's th' use of doin' it? If hangin' a. guy stopped some other guy from killin', there might become use in it. but I tell y'er it's just th' savage in man—th' cra'vin' f'r'revenge—th' thirst f'r blood—that keeps it goin'. Men like to see blood, an' y'r can't get away from it. Some cfav people'!l look back an' call us a lot of heathens, an' that's what we are. —Humane Treatment Pays.— It is a relief to learn that under 111* present Warden, of whom Mr Lowrie lias nothing but good to tell, many of San Quciitin's cruelties have been greatly modified. A story told of this warden is ;i proof of the author's contention that humane treatment improves discipline. It had been n custom of the convicts to herald ilie Sew Year with a concerted and furious uproar, amounting to a frenzy of .expressed hate. All attempts to suppress it had failed until Warden Hoylc's arrival. Rut he slopped it by a mere personal request. On Christmas Eve the. warden had ccme in=iiie the. prison, and had been much surprised to see socks hanging from nearly ever wicket. It had been an amusement for the old-time prison officers to see socks hung out on Christmas Eve. hut to Warden Movie it was somo-

thing more than amusing. He pnmiptlv sent an officer t.o Sail Quentin Point, and bought every bit of (.on feet ion ;m<l fiuit, in the town : and when the officer gut back with his ]«ad it was distributed in the socks at midnight. Next morning, when the prisoners awoke and found that, they had at last been remembered, it struck deeply. Some may call it sentiment, but it did not prove so a week later on New Year's Eve. This is one. of the few ravs of sunshine in a black tragedy. Mr Lowrie himself is no-.v engaged in social work ainonjj discharged prisoners, and this lwok is but a part of his endeavor to ]*-omote the humane treatment of prisoners.