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Show The Prison Problem Ohio's recent tragedy, in which more than 320 prisoners were burned burn-ed to death in a series of fires supposed sup-posed to have been set by inmates of the penitentiary at Columbus, brings forcibly to public notice once more the acute situation which over-crowding of American prisons has brought about. This prison was built in 1890 to njuse only 1,500 convicts, yet ,M were con.aieu there at the time of the disaster. Just what bearing this overcrowding had upon up-on the horrible occurrence can not be definitely judged, but there is ru doubt that there is some connection connec-tion between them. In a report recently made the National Society of Penal Information said: ' The ancient plant at the state penctentiary in Columbus, one of the largest prisons in the country, suffers from a condition of overcrowding over-crowding worse than that in any ether prison." Recent disastrous prison mutinies mutin-ies in Colorado. New York and elsewhere else-where have been attributed to the conditions brought about by such overcrowding. That men would become so desperate as to deliberately deliberat-ely set fire to the penetentiary in the hope of escaping during the confusion indicates that their situation situ-ation must have been almost, intolerable. intol-erable. Only a few days ago Attorney General Mitcell warned against a further congestion of the Federal prison population, and it appeals that a condition of overcrowding is general, both in jails and pene-tentiaries, pene-tentiaries, throughout the country. .. |