| Show PRISON FILLED WITH MURDERERS nearly half a Lan fined la im ons on italian jalu jail i the medieval fortress of volterra is now a formidable prison house when last I 1 visited it there thera were prisoners within its wall all of them murderers it Is an uncanny se sensa ansa uon tion to look upon nearly human beings each one ol 01 whom has taken the life of at least one other human being one hundred and forty nine alne of them were condemned for life and anat meant ment murder of a brutal and cold blooded description the remainder were imprisoned for periods ranging from fifteen to thirty years and that would mean murder with extenuating circumstances murder the result ol 01 inconstancy in a art or frailty in r wife or faithlessness in a friend the ton confinement bement Is rigorously solitary and cellular the exercise courts are cellular there are cellular smIth smithies les and cellular workshop ay the cry very chapel Is cellular two tiers of cells run on above the other and the prisoner in each whilo unable to see hia his fellow convicts can through a long narrow loophole eee see the tho altar and the priest who Is saying mass As I 1 walked round the ramparts oz 02 the great fortress I 1 could look down into the row rows of high walled exercise courts not more than 10 feet by 10 I 1 should say in each of at which the convict was taking the hour of exert aa which he Is allowed dally daily every prisoner saluted respectfully and showed his big white teth in a pleasant smile glad at the sight eight a 0 any fresh face italian prisoners are models of good order and cleanliness and the cheerfulness cheerful nes and natural patience of the italian lullan temperament does much to lighten the labor of italian prison officials the con victa get two full meals of beans lentils or paste cooked in lard and meat ment on sundays and holl holidays days every oner may spend 26 25 a day it if he has it or can earn it therefore wine Is by no means an unknown luxury in a the prison the system of rigorous solitary confinement leads to frequent cases of madness indeed there Is often talk of the italian government abolishing th system on account of the great expense of maintaining criminal luna uc asylum fit st james gazette gazett |
