A Prison Car for Montreal.—The Delinquent has from time to time published accounts of the indignities heaped upon prisoners by public transportation in handcuffs or chains in this country. Some European countries spare prisoners this humiliation, which is no part of a prison sentence.
Now we learn that the Montreal street railway has recently completed for the Province of Quebec a 54-passenger car for transportation of prisoners twice a day between Montreal and the new prison at Bordeaux, 7 miles distant.
According to the Electric Railway Journal the car is divided into two compartments for the purpose of separating convicted from accused persons. The front platform is provided with a cab for the motorman, while the rear platform is arranged as a compartment for the prison officials who may be required to accompany the prisoners. The guard’s place is in front of this compartment on a seat which is elevated so as to give him a better view of the prisoners.
The sides of the car are of sheet steel. The windows, of course, are placed above the line of vision. The car is run directly into the prison yard.
The Montreal Tramways Company is the first in America to build a car of this kind. Prison cars have been built by the Great Berlin Street Railway. This method of conveying prisoners is cheaper than the use of the ordinary patrol wagons, and, furthermore, the inmates are saved a great deal of needless humiliation. “The adoption of the trolley-car service by the Montreal penal authorities is in harmony with the many humane features of the Bordeaux institution, which is a splendid example of a modern prison.”
What the New Ohio Penitentiary Will Be.—From the Louisville (Ky.) Herald we learn that “the new penitentiary of Ohio is going to be a great 1,600-acre farm, modeled after the Cooley farm at Warrensville, which is used by Cleveland instead of the orthodox workhouses of other cities.
“In this new kind of penitentiary the prisoners will sleep in white iron beds—not in cells!
“They will work outdoors without guard!
“They will go to school to learn the interesting things they have never heard of!