A VISIT TO A STATE PRISON.
The Minister of Justice placed an automobile at my service, and when I
arrived at the boundary of the reservation, I was stopped by a military
officer. I handed him my letter from the Minister of Justice, and,
glancing over it, he replied, "You are welcome," and, taking a seat by
my side, we drove to the prison grounds, where I was introduced to the
Superintendent, and invited by him to be his guest during my stay. I
found the prisoners garrisoned in company quarters. One hundred and
thirty-five privates, nine corporals, three sergeants and one company
clerk constituted a company, with a captain in command of them holding
the same rank and pay as a captain in the army, and who was chosen from
the non-commissioned officers in the army for distinguished services.
The prisoners were classified in twelve companies. Four companies
formed the first grade, consisting of Companies A, B, C and D; four
companies formed the second grade, consisting of Companies E, F, G and
H, and four companies formed the third grade, consisting of Companies
I, K, L, and M. The first grade received fifteen cents per day and the
third grade five cents per day, and no pay was forfeited for violation
of prison rules and regulations, but prisoners received no pay during
the time they were on bread and water. Corporals received fifty per
cent. more pay than privates, and sergeants and company clerks one
hundred per cent. more. Prisoners were required to work eight hours
each day, Sundays excepted-commencing at eight a. m., with one hour for
dinner, and ending at five p. m., and to attend night school from six
p. m. until eight p. m. five nights in the week, and once a week
musicians and singers visited the prison and gave entertainments.
The company quarters were only one-story high, but were large and well
ventilated, being eighty feet square with wide verandas and furnished
with steam and hot water pipes for cold weather, and lighted throughout
by incandescent lamps.
The beds were all singly arranged in rows and well furnished with
mattresses, blankets, sheets and pillows, and the room had nine large
wash basins at one end of the room, where all the company could wash
their hands and faces and comb their hair.
The captains were required to sleep in the same rooms with the
prisoners, and to eat with them in the dining-room, and were held
responsible for their care and good conduct. He could sentence them for
misconduct to three days on bread and water, but for serious offences
they were tried by a Court of three Judges, appointed by the Minister
of Justice.
The regimental dining-room where all the companies dined was divided
into three sections, with partitions eight feet high between them, each
section having a door connecting with the kitchen, and the food
furnished of good quality, but differing in degree according to grade.
The hospital was on one side of the square, and was fitted with every
modern appliance and at the distance of half a mile was a pest house,
to which all prisoners suffering from leprosy, cancer, syphilis and
other malignant diseases, were consigned. What most attracted my
attention was the bath house, a one-story building, one hundred feet
long, adjoining the laundry. It had a swimming tank in the middle of it
sixty feet long, forty feet wide and twelve feet deep. At the two ends
were porcelain bathtubs for the old and feeble, with hot and cold water
faucets, and on one side were shower-bath nozzles overhead, with hot
and cold water connections; on the side next the laundry were rows of
shelves reaching to the ceiling and numbered from one to eighteen
hundred, holding a change of clothing for the entire regiment of
prisoners, with a passageway and counter in front, and every prisoner
was compelled to bathe on every Sunday, passing over the counter the
clothes worked in; when they had undressed and when they had bathed,
they received clothes, washed and ironed, to put on. Any prisoner who
did not bathe was placed in solitary confinement for three days on
bread and water, then taken to the bathhouse and well scrubbed.
Two prisoners were assigned to work as chiropodists to keep the feet of
the prisoners in good condition, and the laundrymen, besides washing
and ironing all the clothes, sheets and pillowcases, had to wash and
disinfect all the blankets once a month. There were no walls
surrounding the prison building, but the reservation being the
headquarters of an army corps with barracks on all sides, escapes by
prisoners were very rare.
On marching out of the dining-room after breakfast the roll was called,
and also after supper, by the captains of companies, and after nine p.
m. the doors were locked and no smoking or talking was permitted.
A parole commissioner appointed by the Minister of Justice resided at
the prison, who was also Superintendent of the Night School, with
authority to parole any prisoner according to law that in his judgment
was a fit person to be paroled. A paroled prisoner, if he did not have
friends to take care of him, was given employment by the Government,
and no money deposit was required. The Government paid over to him what
money he had earned, and gave him a dress suit and a working suit of
clothes and two changes of underclothing-by those acts of justice
giving him encouragement to become a useful member of society. He was
required to report by a letter once a month to the Governor of the
District from which he came, and the Governor was authorized by law to
pardon him when he thought proper. Those rules and regulations applied
equally to both sexes.