A SECOND BASTILLE.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13809, 25 August 1913, Page 7

A SECOND BASTILLE.

According to present.monts by the grand jury, Sing Sing, the greatest prison in New York Sia'e, deserves condemnation as sovoiv; :;- Uiat visited upon high police ofacials of New York, who were recently s'viUncra for levying blackmail on the Xw York underworld. An official je-pi'H suggests that Sing Sing, which iisuiil'y houses about 2.000 prisoners, ii unfit for animals, let alone human beings. imd i.he only remedy in sight is u> :-;u down the

prison from roof to bow.ient, and build another mn-v I; 1 nfjoornocce with '■ modern views of I;■,^;;'ri;'o f:.;:c] human itarianism. The unir-rn.;; r-upaeity of the prison is 1,200, but uuri-iiv the last few years the number >4 inmates lias always ranged from 1 ,500 to 2,000. The presentment was -uMumnous,, all the jurors and the District Attorney affixing their signature. The report declares that Sing Hi;;^ ;.-■ beyond the power of reform, arid iri!i>:<'diafce action to construct another gwl is recommended. "There are many cells in which .sunlight never prnoi ralo, and which create chills and d;ui!p!;-ss. Many of the inmates have rh>-ii:nutism, arid have left the prison pern^rnontly crippled or suffering. Th*; all- are unfit for housing animals nine-11 loss human beings. It is the most crying .situation that exists among State institutions, and is a scandal to the State of New York. The cells are infested with vermin, which, on account of the construction, is it impossible to ovadicate. We find that convicts in pronounced stages of tuberculosis are housed with men in perfect health. We fir.d that a short time before this mre.;! Ration began men had been driven insane by incarceration in the cooler, u-c darkest cell, and men have gone into it and during a very short story lost from 251b to 351b., and that in ennxoquence of the agony and suffering thoy have attempted suicide." The laundry, bathhoxiso, and factories are declared to b^ grossly inadequate, and the pr-ufire of storing vegetables and bedding together is denounced. To ascertain the precise value of a report of this nature one must deduct something for bias, which party politics import into all questions of State administration. After making all allowances, Sing Sing appears to be.al-i most as repellant as the ancient Bastille, and the publication of this official report will probably compel immediate action to secure much needed reform. —New York correspondent of the London "Telegraph."