Wall Shadows; A Study in American Prisons

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II PRISON DEMOCRACY I JT was late at night. All were asleep except four of us--three prisoners and myself. We were smoking our pipes and drinking tea in the warden's kitchen and talking. Our conversation ranged over many things--things that are weird and fascinating when the mood of a silently creeping night has settled upon an isolated community. Suddenly I turned to one of the prisoners and said,--"Jack, how do you like working here?" He looked at me for a minute and replied: "Well, I like to work for the old man Mr. Osborne; he is a clean-cut fellow, and you always get a square deal from him; but in here I am a servant." And then, pointing through the window where, in the distance, broken by a few glimmering lights, loomed the prison in outlines blacker than the night, he continued, "While there, I am a citizen." Puzzled at his answer, I asked for an explanation; and he enlightened me with the cheerful remark: "You must be simple. Here I have to do what I am told, just like any other servant; in there we govern ourselves as free men." A paradoxical state of mind for a convict, if one remembers the old prison system. Under the old prison system the privilege of working in the warden's house was the final mark of confidence and the most cherished of all privileges. Here, apparently, while the boys liked to work for their warden, they regretted the fact thdt they were not active participants in managing their own affairs as they would be if they remained in the prison proper. This sentiment was concurred in by the other men. While thus smoking our pipes and drinking tea, I was initiated into many of the mysteries of prison democracy--one of them, the keen sense of responsibility. I was told by one of the boys in the kitchen--a fellow with a smug f...