THE PRISONER'S RECEPTION AT THE PENITENTIARY
[pg 7]
An incoming prisoner is designated by the inmates as a fresh fish. He enters the administration building, and, as a rule, if he has the reputation of being a slippery chap is handcuffed to the sheriff or one of his deputies. Handcuffs, in the vernacular of the underground world, are called come-a-longs. He now enters a room known as between the gates. (One of these gates leads to the outer world and the other to the inside of the prison.) Here the prisoner's commitment papers are examined, the deputy warden sent for to receive the new arrival, and slips are immediately made out notifying the several heads of departments of the man's name, county from which he came, the offense for which he was committed and the time that he shall serve.
Upon the arrival of the deputy warden the prisoner is taken in charge and marched through the officers' barber shop and kitchen. Upon leaving the latter room the fresh fish is commanded to turn to the right, and a short distance ahead, about twenty feet, he is told to ' turn to the left. He now enters the large cellhousehis future home, to remain for the number of years that His Honor, the Judge of the District Court, has sentenced him to serve. The cellhouse contains 664 cells (referring to Minnesota's institution, which furnishes the [pg 8] nucleus for this article) and is in charge of an officer known as the Captain of the Cellhouse.
This officer now takes the new arrival in charge and searches his person thoroughly, empties his pockets of everything they contain, and takes his coat, hat and vest. Any valuables found on him, such as money, jewelry, trinkets, tobacco, etc., are immediately tied up into a bundle and sent to the deputy warden's office. A duplicate receipt is made out for all articles of intrinsic value, is signed by the Captain of the Cellhouse and also by the new arrival so as to insure their safe keeping until the day of his release.
The next move, and one that is a decisive reminder of his future status in the world, is to the bath room, where he takes a bath and puts on a second-grade uniform, there being three grades in all. The first is the highest. Its garb consists of a neat grey suit and cap. First grade prisoners are entitled to write one letter each week, to draw a ration (four ounces) of tobacco weekly, and to receive visitors once in four weeks. They have a dining room to themselves and are served with a greater variety of food than are the prisoners in the other grades. They have also such other privileges granted them from time to time as their general conduct warrants.
Prisoners in the second grade are clothed in a black and grey check suit and cap. They are permitted to write one letter a fortnight, to draw a ration of tobacco weekly and to see visitors once a month. They also have a dining room of their own, but the food served therein is not as varied as that served to first grade men. The latter, for example, are served with butter and other relishes at stated intervals, but such things are not part of the diet of the second grade prisoners.
Administration Office
Between the Gates
Group Showing the Three Grades of Prisoners
[pg 9] [pg 10] [pg 11]
Inmates in the third grade wear black and white striped suits. They are denied tobacco, writing and visiting privileges and their meals are served in their cells, which are located in one portion of the cellhouse. In none of the grades are prisoners required to march with the lock-step, and excepting those in the third grade, all are permitted to wear their hair long enough to comb during good behavior. The prisoner, after his bath, is again brought into the cellhouse and the captain has one of the inmate barbers clip his hair and shave him. If the new arrival belongs to the respectable class, wearing a mustache and dressed well he will hardly recognize himself if he should chance to look into a mirror. In a few moments the proud American citizen has been supplanted by the convict. Those who belong to the so-called criminal class are not affected upon donning the prison uniform, but it is different with the first offender. If he is a proud, sensitive man the change is great enough to almost wrench his heart strings asunder. Many a new arrival, spending his first night in his cell, with its iron bed, whitewashed walls, scant furnishings, iron floor and the dimensions of the room only five by seven feet, has been known to break down completely. After such an ordeal (not your make-believe imprisonment, where some author has himself locked up for an hour or so to gain local coloring for a novel) one gets a clear idea of what prison life really is and places a higher valuation on the liberty that he so recklessly trampled under foot in his mad rush for riches, position and fame.
After the tonsorial artist has completed his task the prisoner is conducted to the deputy warden's office, where he is weighed, asked innumerable questions, etc., instructed as to the rules of the institution, measured according [pg 12] to the Bertillon system, which is the standard adopted in this country and throughout Europe.
BERTILLON MEASUREMENTS
To Dr. Alphonse Bertillon, the celebrated French anthropologist, the world is indebted for the knowledge of the scientifically demonstrated fact that no two persons are exactly alike in physical measurements. In fact any single individual can be identified from thousands of others by this cleverly thought-out system, which was first adopted in this country in 1887. The accompanying illustrations are self-explanatory.
The system embraces three distinct parts: First, the measurement of certain unchangeable bony lengths of the body; second, a careful description of the features of the face; third, a careful localization of all scars and marks on the body. While the face may change, be even mutilated beyond recognition; while the scars and other marks may be removed, the bony lengths of the body remain unchangeable in adults. The parts measured of the bony lengths of the body are the length and width of the head, the cheek width, length of foot, the middle and little finger and the cubit, i. e., from the elbow to the tip of the little finger; the height standing, the height seated, the reach of outstretched arms, right ear length (which most authorities assert remains the same through life), the median line in front from the fork or hollow below the Adam's apple down, and, in the rear, the spinal column from the seventh vertebra to the base of the spine, are the anatomical or guiding [pg 13] points from which all descriptions of the body are recorded; in the fingers, the joints and flanges,the flanges being the portions of the fingers between the joints. The calipers for measuring the head are provided with a graduated arch and are similar to a compass. In taking the length of the head the left point of the caliper is held at the root of the nose and the right point is brought against the occipital bone in the back of the head; the thumb screw is then tightened and the measurement checked by passing the instrument again over the head. The width of the head over the cheeks is taken in the same way. The measurement of the foot is taken with a caliper rule similar to that used by a shoemaker; the prisoner is posed standing on his left foot and steadying himself as shown in the illustration. The graduate stem is placed against the inside of the foot with the fixed arm in contact with the heel and the sliding arm then brought in tightly against the toe. In measuring the left middle [pg 14] and little finger the back of the caliper rule is used, two small projections being provided on the fixed and sliding arms. The finger is bent at right angles to the back of the hand and the measurement taken from the tip of the finger to the knuckle.
