held aloft, and an officer or a convict waiter replenishes it. Ample
time is given to eat. All have a sufficiency of food such as it is.
Every thing is clean. After the meal is over, the prisoners, in ranks,
return to their workshops, or to their cells in case it is the last meal
of the day. It is a very interesting sight to witness 1,500 convicts
eating at the same time.

The officials are to be commended for the following privileges they
grant the prisoners: On all holidays, such as Fourth of July, Christmas,
etc., they are let out of their cells into a large open square, inside
the prison walls, and are allowed to converse with each other, and
are given full liberty to do as they wish. These are days of freedom.
Officers, of course, are among them to see that no fighting occurs, and
also to prevent any from effecting their escape by scaling the walls.
The prisoners do certainly enjoy these times. They shake hands with each
other, run about, shout, leap for joy, and have more real happiness than
a lot of school-boys who have been shut up in a room all day at their
studies and are in the evening turned out for play. The men are very
careful not to abuse this privilege which they prize very highly. There
never have been any disturbances, nor fights, nor attempts at
escape during these holidays. These privileges granted the prisoners
demonstrate the humaneness of the prison officials.

The question often arises, why is it there are no more riots and
insurrections in this prison. Here are nearly two thousand men huddled
up together. They are prisoners, suffering the worst kind of bondage.
Why is it they do not make a rush for liberty whenever an opportunity
presents itself? Many of them are in for life, and may never again see
beyond their prison walls. Why are they so docile? These questions can
be easily answered. Many of the men are short-time prisoners, having
from one to three years, and cannot afford to get into trouble, as
their time is short. Added to this, if the prisoner behaves himself,
and obtains a good prison record, he obtains a pardon and restoration to
citizenship when three-fourths of his time has expired. If a man is sent
for ten years, by good conduct he will be pardoned at the end of seven
and a half years. This is a great inducement to good behavior. The
reason the life-men cause but little, if any, disturbance in the prison
is, that they all have a hope sometime or other of receiving a pardon,
and