The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri PenitentiariesReynolds, John N. (John Newton)
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The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri Penitentiaries
Reynolds, John N. (John Newton)
Prisons -- Kansas; Prisons -- Missouri
Each prisoner is allowed one pound of tobacco a month for chewing and
smoking purposes. In this prison the inmate is permitted to smoke in
his cell. This is the only institution with which I am acquainted that
permits smoking. The prisoners seem to enjoy their smoke very much,
and I do not see but that it is just the thing, for if a person on the
outside takes comfort from the use of his pipe, much more will the man
who sits in the solitude of a felon's cell. If a prisoner violates a
prison rule his tobacco is taken away from him for a time. The majority
of the inmates will obey the rules of the prison through fear of having
their tobacco, taken away from them. Each prisoner also has access to
the books of the library, and another mode of punishment is to deprive
the offender the use of the library for a time. This, also, has a very
salutary effect. Another mode of punishment, is to place the unruly
convict in a dungeon and feed him nothing but bread and water. The
prisoner on entering this dreary abode must leave behind him his hat,
coat and shoes, and in this condition he is required often to spend days
and weeks in solitary confinement. The dungeon contains no furniture of
any description save a night bucket. Prisoners do not remain in these
dark holes very long until they promise obedience. It is one of the
most successful modes of prison punishment. In case of a second or
third offense, and sometimes for the first, in case it is a bad one, the
offender is liable to receive a flogging.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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