WHERE CONVICTS WEAR MASKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18619, 15 July 1930, Page 16

WHERE CONVICTS WEAR MASKS.

TRANCE’S MOST MODERN GAOL, Solitary confinement, silence and the wearing of a mask so that no inmate can recognise his fellow convict are the lot of men sent to Fresnes prison, most modem 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 -n several divisions. Women prisoners having young children from whom they cannot be separated are housed there, but in such a manner that the cluld has no realisation that he is in prison. In this section alone do the prsioners mingle in a big walled yard in which there are both glass and trees. Each mother has her bed in a dormitory; beside each bed is a crib for the child, and frequently children are bom in this prison. The prison director is quite proud of this section. Truly everyone seems contented and the children romp and plav 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. Next is that huge, forbidding building with its high brown walls which houses men. It is divided into three sections of four tiers each. Everywhere there is a network of tiny railway tracks, this for the distribution of supplies. As a prisoner enters he ls stripped of his clothes, washed, shaved and furnished with the prison garb, which includes a mask which covers his entire head and shoulders and which must be worn at all times when is out of his cell The mask is a thinlv-woycn 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 anv except a very hungry man. and the manner in which it is served makes it even less appetising. Two meals a day are served . For example, on any of five days there is bread and weak soup in the morning, and bread and string beans at night. Thursdays and Sundays. however, are red-letter days, for then thick soup is served with the ead 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 6.30 to nine i o'clock they work alone in the cells, i From nine to 9.30 they have the mornI ing meal and then for the hour followi ing they exercise in the open in the j preaux or promenade yards. Each pri- | soner, carefully masked, is marched to his particular little yard surrounded bv a high wall. j 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 silt in which he can see nothing but the platform. The sight from the platform is even Aiore 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.