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Show HOLDING CRIMINALS It is exasperating to note the frequency with which desperate des-perate criminals are allowed to escape from prison to resume their careers of murder and robbery, after great effort and expense have been incurred to place them behind the bars. That so many do escape is due principally to the stupidity of prison, officials, although inadequate jail equipment is a contributing factor. The federal government is endeavoring endeavor-ing to remedy the latter defect by using tool-proof steel in the construction of new cells. The new federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa., has cells made of such steel, which cannot be cut by any tool which it would be possible to smuggle into the prison. Tools which would easily cut through ordinary steel leave the new bars barely scratched. Hacksaws ard files are rendered useless after a few strokes, acids are futile, and even a metal lathe makes little impression on the resistant bars. The cost of installing such cells in local jails might be prohibitive, but in any event the best equipment that it is possible to afford should be provided. Even with ordinary cells in good condition, increased vigilance on the part of prison authorities would eliminate or greatly reduce the number of escaping inmates. |