We have 90 officers, and there is not a brute in the whole lot, and only three “cranks.”
We are within ten minutes walk of the business center of one of the great cities of the world, and there are no roads upon which we may be employed in repairing. This is a matter for congratulation.
Philadelphia had the road building system in force 125 years ago, and it was the sight of the humiliation and indignities suffered by the prisoners from malicious onlookers that inspired the thought resulting in the erection of this prison. Road building for prisoners in Philadelphia would mean a backward step of over 100 years, before the West and particularly Oregon was born.
The United States Government, with a full appreciation of the humanitarian methods in force here, is sending its prisoners to this institution from points as far as the middle West.
Much more could be said in favor of the Eastern Penitentiary, but let this suffice: We have every comfort, and benefit accorded to prisoners in any penal institute in the United States, —and then a whole lot more.
At the same time The Umpire does not recommend it as a place of residence.
EVENTS IN BRIEF
[Under this heading will appear each month numerous paragraphs of general interest, relating to the prison field and the treatment of the delinquent.]
Warden Bridges.—The Boston (Mass.) Record says:
Warden Bridges wishes to retire from the post at the State Prison which he has held for more than 20 years. He is past 78 years of age. If Gen. Bridges insists upon his retirement the State will lose the services of a man who through a long career in a post of extreme difficulty has maintained the dignity and efficiency of an important branch of the public service in a manner which will never be forgotten. The trials and suspense of such a position as Gen. Bridges has held for two decades are hardly weighed by the average citizen, who regards them as matters of course, and expects, in this State, thorough efficiency. During these past 20 years that public expectation has not been disappointed. It has been worth much to the Commonwealth to have had a man of Gen. Bridges’ sort at the head of its State Prison.