Show Japanese Prisons i Tho Groat PonltoiiUnry tit ToUyo null Ils HUOO Convicts e = and lit in4irful Diktlhi Sytltm A SomtIAleg Aleut tin Rilhttf Japes aru Iitit to Hi liUHi lltv thi ConvMt are ied and an Hrfnltiiei lilt Horn MtttTAeir mtirul Htrma iUfi mt StniUiinf Mtul Iht Chttfiil Later of Hi HtrUAll TMngi Dm > IhnJniun 11u lint and Hew Tbt TfiwtanJ Mtn Cot Dam on Their hints to Our Correspond ninltliniintt StHittlilnc Aural Ilrl Aetu nnllnilltry I ttkleh it Acw Etlig Dahl twIal crspcndrner alts Noel ICp7rllbl Lr Frost U CarlI r 1WU Sin biggest t l prison In Jap 11 an and one i jof the biggest I In the world 5 U the great Tokyo penitentiary I v41 v peni-tentiary Ills 0 I situated In the heart of the city In the middle of f IJt1 the Sumlda river on an MM JMHaK = jCT Island of about to acres III Is within a stones throw almost of the busiest part of the great Japanese capital Near by Is I Asakusa with Its gorgeous temples Its hundreds of peep shows and Its ever varying panorann of Japanese pleasures Not far oft Is I the famed Yoshlwara with thirtyfive hundred frail but fair Japanese maidens and Just below It Is bkujl where Ihe missionaries mission-aries and the foreigners live This prison Is separated from all this hunt ol life only by the wide waters of the deep Sumlda river nod the IIe human voices I that these prisoners here are those ol their officials They dare not use their own and year In and year out they stand Tantalus like In the very eII II ra dIIT rII of all the Japanese loves wilts their the waves lips but of pleasure unable lo almost drink lapping i > f the waters It Is not an easy thing for a visitor to get access to a Japanese prison As forte for-te criminal he finds the way just as open In japan as In America but the visitor must have Ihe very best of credentials cre-dentials and only the fewest ol travelers have ever cone through this great penitentiary peni-tentiary fOI had letters however from the secret service bureau of the treasury treas-ury deparlmenl lo the chief of police of Tokyo and these with I she assistance ol Ihe American minister opened everything connected with the police and prisons of the Japanese empire lo me THE IlIsrltctOK DyaNU OF JAPAN Ur Whitney the Interpreter of our legation went with me sod we called upon the Inspector liurns ol Japan I Us r1 name ls Mr Sonolta and he has charge of the five thousand polkemenol the Japanese capital and a elate connection with the detective service of the empire The emperor of Japan knows almost as tl I r eke i his well M the casr where every one ol subjects sleep I of a night and all sus peeled persons are carefully watched Sloth foreigners and natives are required I re-quired to have passports and during hoe present trouble with Chin I venture A record Is kept ol every foreigner who I comes to Japan j and nil of Ills doings The passporl which I had for my Jour euri I ncy mentioned every place wore I stopped nnd I was told that all my I doings were known and recorded I was taken Into some of the rooms of the police stations And shown cards upon up-on which were the names of the foreigners for-eigners then In Japan and It was Impossible I Im-possible for a native to escape the Argus I e > es of the police Tokyo has Hi I rogues gallery and I looked for sometime some-time over the murderers book and look away a souvenir of a lull dozen specimens I would sty however Hut crime Is by no means more common In Japan than Ills In America and that the pot would only give me the photographs photo-graphs I o10 the prisoners who had been executed The police organiiatlon ls I excellent and It is modelled sontes hat alter that of Trance The officers all dress In I European clothes and they tie their prisoners with ropes and drive or drag them to jail Well et chief j of police telephoned to the prison and made an appointment for us for the next day Ve rode In jinrlkishas to the wharves opposite the Island and we were canted over this prisoners Styx In one of the prison boats by a redgo ned Japanese In a allow Iraw hat which Titled down over his face like e cornucopia and were landed on the green shores of a beautiful beauti-ful Island As we gut out ol the boats a soldier dressed In while duck met und u-nd passed us on to the reception house of the prison The chief ot the penllcntary 1 took us In hand and hit prl S vale secretary A man with a face like a withered apple and the eyes of a snake went with us This man had a roll of paper soda pencil In his hand and he ll J usually stood just behind I me Once or twice I turned quickly and I noted that every word said was taken down In Japanese as soon as my Interpreter had translated questions He probably pro-bably took down the answers ol the superintendent and as I shall send this letter to the penitentiary they will probably pro-bably be able to tell whether my statements state-ments are correct IN TMK colonies This penitentiary contains 9300 pet soners who are engaged In all sorts ol labor and who form a complete exhlW lion ol Industrial Japan 1 he bare ui I di W g s b-are long oncstorr structures more like stables and factories than prisons They cover many acres and they are nude of wood with roofs of Japanese tiles They hac no windows but the upper part c > the walls are made ol heavy lattice or wooden bars and there Is no lack of ventilation From the ground to your shoulder the walls were boarded and above these are latticed openings about four feet wide and higher gllIJa are more boards between the lattice and the roof Some ol the buildings are shops and others are dormitories dor-mitories bathrooms kitchens and a few contained cols I for punishment The work shops are about two hundred leet long by one hundred feet wide Many ol them are floured but In some the workmen stand upon the ground A Molt AT HIK kITCHSNi We first entered the kitchen where the cooks err dishing out the food for prisoners It consisted I of rice and barley bar-ley mixed together and forming a sort of dry mush There were also little dishes of pickled lamps and a slew of horse meat awl potatoes The food was served out In wooden measures i each prisoner gelling about one pint ol mush a tablespoonlul of pickles and a measure of soup or slew tried I every thing while the superintendent and the prisoners looked on and watched me I The mush was not bad and I ate a mouthful without trouble The pickles I nibbled successfully And then tried a section of this horse meat stew With the Indiscretion ol ignorance i I nicked un with my chopsticks I piece ol horsemeat I horse-meat as big AI your thumb and put It into In-to my mouth The moment touched my longue I knew I had made a mistake It wan not at all appetizing and It was a > tough as sole leather It must have come from a very old horse and 1 avery I a-very lean horse tried to bite throw hit h-it I could make no Impression The ryes ol all the officials were on me and I had logo on chewing as though I I I liked I J it After much I work 1 got uhf n bit and forced It down with n gulp I fell my stomach turn bodily over and was glad at this moment to see the chief back turned With a sleight ol hand which would have done credit to Hermann l I got the remainder ol the meat out of my mouth and held It tight up In my hand until I we left the kitchen Ih when mr slyly threw wii away Young horse nma be good but this was not good to me and I was told thai this meat Is I given to the prisoners because It Is cheaper than any other and they I am thus be given more II eb Fl of It The prisoners are said to like i It HOW TUB rmsoNKKB ARK Itt The prisoners have three meals a day and there Is n difference lnthe food according ac-cording to their behavior Those who do best have their mush mule ol half barley and half rice Those who are not so good have two thirds barley and kl nt only the sick are eJ given pure rice I i here Is no bread In japan and this mush takes Its place thin Japanese are nut as great eaters as we are and the whole Japanese people could live fairly well on what America wastes The prisoners rise a little niter four oclock and they have their breakfast before J At 11 they eat their dinner and it j 30 they have supper They wink ten hours and a j hall I and go to dI lat 9 oclock ni I watched the men at their dinner hey Ir trhk were fed In the workshops and each had his own table In the shape of aboard a-board about two feet long and a a foot wide This 11 they rested on dl wa worktables I work-tables or placed on the floor and squat led on their heels or 00 tI t u knees Le hind It and Ale None 01 she pnoners hd knives and lit elr only tac listen meets were wooden chop H a + I was especially struck with the lianltnos or both prisons and prisoner There wa not a bad moll anywhere exrpt that of the dinner and this I foun very spec until with the I living after my enrtunler horse meat The face dleheW bodies of the men were as clean as thai of freshly washed babies an I the prisoners take hot baths about three tmts week The baths are big vats m wlnli twenty or thirty can soak at 1 bloc and In which they go In r white and come out as 1 red as boiled I lobsters They tires In terra Cotta gowns made of cotton and they go barefoot or wear sandals of straw lied Is the prison garb all over Japan and everything connected with I the penitentiary Is I of thin detested brick dust hue Their brdilolhes are dyed w tth It and the wadded comforters on which they lie are ul the same color WONDRarUL PaiSOX UOKkMKt I was surprised at the work done by the prisoners You find here in a nutshell nut-shell nil kinds f Jai im < e Industries l and some of these prisoners make the finest of cloisonne vaici hey paint fans and china and do im most exquis lie wood carving They ire examined on entrance as to their turn ss for certain kinds of work and many of them learn trades during their stnicnces In one place I saw them M mg logs Into boards They did It a I by hand and It was the same with many things that we make by machlner They manufacture manu-facture paper by liking old scraps tear them Into pieces and pounding the pulp with a mallet After is well mashed the pulp is thrown Into a vat and stirred Into a thin mush whlili is spread 1 out on n sheet of newspaper 11 sticks together to-gether and when dried It makes a very good paper In another shop I saw two or three hundred men making rope fishnets fish-nets and in another there were two or three hundred Japanese making bricks by hind or rather by hand and foot N The clay was mixed by the prisoners I who stamped up and duan upon It with their bare feet going over It so carefully that every atom was pressed and ground up by them They afterward put the rayL neloIJoln tlou lo ray Into molds and smoothed each brick alter It came out with a paddle until It had a gloss like porcelain They were making brick lor the great new penitentiary of which I will speak further fur-ther on and 1 inked ni lathe coil The superintendent told me thai they make and sell them for f 5 a thousand or jo cents a hundred Two hundred men can make ynooo brick per month oran or-an average of fitly brick a day to each man I dont know whatisuch brick would cos here but I am sure thai a better article cannot be bought JAPSBIC CHEAP LABOR The work done In this prison Is perhaps per-haps the cheapest In eP world The prison Is I on the contract system mid the prisoners are lei out to the contractors con-tractors at front I to 15 cents a day hey arc pail a portion ol their wages which Is credito to them and given out when they leave I was told that some saved as much as fjo J during their term and upon my repling that that was not much the superintendent said No It is not a great deal but It will keep a Japanese for a > ear In one shop 1 saw men making straw sandals II which I sell I for one cent a pair and which are used LaIr poorer daises all over Japan fn another place 900 boys were making paper I lanterns The bamboo frames were split by hand with kee rl JI III tanknI what looked very like kitchen knives and If f you will look al A Japanese Ian lean you will see that Its frames lire made of bimi > oo wires no thicker lhana darning needle and that these are wound about the lantern with practically no support other than the paper The I nrl whole workmanship Is by hand and it M the same with many other things The Japanese use their I feet as well as their hands In their I work and Ihe coopers t hold the tubs betweed their toes olIthe while they hoop them JAPAN NIW riNinmmKY This Is 1 the old Japanese penitentiary Tokyo Is now building one of the finest prisons In Ihe world It Is about five miles outside of the capital It Is a great brick structure covering many acres nnd fitted out with the latest prison appliances The work Is being done by the Japanese prisoners and the architect Is n Japanese I saw the men at their work They had built a leaf fold I from the ground up to she top of i Ihe walls and Stile strange to say was of poles tied together with ropes and Ihe men carried the bricks up on poles over their shoulders In one place I saw them driving plies and they had et made a great scaffolding of poles which ran fifty feet boe the ground and In Ihe center of this nn Immense beam was put In a perpendicular position To 1 the bottom of this beam ropes were lied and a score of men stood on a platform near the top of the scaffolding and by these ropes raised the heavy beam high I In the air and then let l It fall down on the pile which was being driven Into tin earth They sang as they worked and at the end of each line the beam was dropped I ne prisoners have built a large part of this newpenitentiary and though Ihe penitentiary does not pay for itself It Is run very cheaply The superintendent told me that it cost 20 cents a day In silver sil-ver per prisoner to keep up the establishment establish-ment or 10 cents n day in gold and trial the actual expense of keeping and boarding a prisoner was let than J cents a day per head HOW TIIS PRISONERS ARE PUNISHED Japan In the past had crucifixion and all sorts of terrible punishment but these have long since passed away The superintendent told me there was no such thing I as corporal 1 punishment used and that the only punishments I were the cutting down of loud nnd soil tarp confinenlenl There was only one dark cell however for these two ihou rand convicts anal most of the solitary I JtIId oJoI r look cells were not dark and they looked more like granaries than anything else Indeed many things connected won this I great prison reminded me of a stable t ha hospital mI me think of n horse stable each patient having n box stall The prisoners had b is of wood for pillows pil-lows but three are common all over Japan and the men lie on comtorls of foutons and are on the whole exceedingly exceed-ingly tumfuiUble HONORS TO sup CORRESPONDENT The discipline In these prisons Is per haps the test In the world I saw no surly looks and the faces olj he prisoner seemed good nalurcd and kindly I hey were thoroughly obedient lo the officers and In every shop that we entered we were saluted by the prisoners In a most curious way As soon as we came In the officer In charge who was dressed In European clothes would present pre-sent arms and jerk out the word ne which 1 suppose means attention At this every man In Ihe shop would drop to his I knees and bump his clipped I head on the dirt floor I He would keep It there until the officer again screamed out his vociferous he when he would rise ahd go back lo his work In some shops there would belo hundred men working and they would drop down on their knees and bow before us as though we were little tin gods In the rice mill there were filly men naked with the exception of a six inch strip cloth which went around their waists and they all went down on the floor In the barber shop fifty prisoners I some covered with shop er and some half clipped clip-ped jumped from their chairs lo the earth and r during the day over two thousand thou-sand men got down on all fours to mend me-nd four thousand keces were bent In my honor It seemed supremely serom rmI ridiculous but the customs of the I japan of the past have been such lint there was no humiliation felt in the minds cf the men as they performed this the old Japanese salutation |