“No bond of humane feeling existed between the keepers and the prisoners.
“The closets in the cells are foul-smelling, germ-breeding holes of sickness.
“The old straw mattresses upon which the prisoners sleep are really filled with vermin.
“The conditions of the cells of the untried prisoners are worse than the cells of those serving a sentence.
“He deserves all he gets, let him have it, is apparently the motto at Moyamensing.”
The Missouri State Prison.—“The Missouri penitentiary at Jefferson City is twenty-five years behind the times. It is a source of shame to all Missourians.” That is the substance of a statement on the Missouri penitentiary by Dr. C. A. Ellwood, professor of sociology in the University of Missouri.
Dr. Ellwood says the blame does not rest on individuals so much as the system. For fifteen years he has been working to secure an industrial reformatory for the State. He also thinks the “contract system” is a great force for evil. It makes easier the smuggling of opium, the worst curse of a prison. Seventy per cent. of the long term prisoners are slaves of the drug, according to a former warden.
Professor Ellwood blames the present and former officials for thinking every attack on the system was a personal attack. They resist and make impossible every effort which is made to ascertain the real state of affairs. This is in contrast with the Kansas officials, where the conditions in the penitentiary are just as bad. There the warden and his helpers are doing all they can to reform the prison system and conditions.
Dr. Ellwood points out that the general knowledge of these conditions has done much to defeat the whole aim of criminal law in Missouri. Judges and juries are inclined to show undue leniency toward accused and convicted persons. They hesitate to send them into such a place.