At the Belem prison they found another court, where cases were more carefully considered; but they learned from a gentleman, with whom they afterwards talked on the subject, that the Mexican courts are overcrowded with work, and prisoners often have to wait weeks or months, and even years, before their cases can be heard. A prisoner against whom a serious accusation has been made can never learn when it will be called to trial; his friends are not informed; and the only thing they can do is to watch and wait day after day, or possibly pay heavily to somebody for his influence with the authorities. Matters are better now than previous to the Laws of the Reform, but they are still far from what they should be.
"We judged," said Fred, "that the Belem prison was greatly overcrowded, as the court-yard was full of people, and so were the corridors that overlooked the yard. The prisoners sleep on mats on the floor of the dormitories, which are about 170 feet long. One hundred men lie in a row on the mats along the floor of the dormitory, so that there must be very little room to walk around. The fare of the prisoners consists of twelve ounces of bread daily, one pound of meat, and a bowl of soup. Three times a week they have stewed beans in addition to the other food.
AN OLD OFFENDER.
"A prisoner whose sentence exceeds one month is compelled to work, but he is paid for his labor; one-half his wages go to his family if he has any, and the rest is saved up by the prison authorities until the man is discharged, when the money is given to him. This seems to me an excellent system, and it should be adopted in our own country. In that case an ex-convict would have something to live upon for a while, instead of being, as is too often the case, driven into crime to save himself from starvation.
"To show the character of Mexican offences, I will quote from the records of the prison for one month. The whole number of prisoners was 1278, and they were charged with crimes as follows:
"Thefts, 198; fighting, 109; stabbing, serious, 518; stabbing, slight, 313; wounding with sticks or clubs, 140.
"Observe that two-thirds of the number were in prison for the use of the knife, and you get an idea of the propensities of the lower classes of the population.
"We have already mentioned the adroitness of Mexican thieves, and we heard several stories while visiting the prison that confirm what we have heard. There's a saying here that if you drop a coin it will be caught before it reaches the ground. They told us a story about the Chief Magistrate of Mexico City which we were assured was entirely true; it sounds like a 'chestnut,' but is good enough to be repeated. Here it is: