imprisonment at hard labor within the district, and the prisoners were
paid for their work from five to twenty-five cents per day, according to
their ability and skill, and the money they earned was sent to their
wives and children, if they had any. If they were single, what they
earned was paid to them at the expiration of their sentence. No
handcuffs, balls or chains or Oregon Boots were permitted to be used,
but if the person in custody was violent, a jacket with straps at the
waist to secure the hands at the side was provided and no punishment was
inflicted for violation of the prison rules-but bread and water for
three days at any one time. If a prisoner committed sodomy or other
infamous crime against nature, while in custody, he was castrated, and
if he still persisted in committing crimes against nature, he was
chloroformed. No trial by jury was permitted in cases of misdemeanor-but
an appeal to the Governor was allowed by law and a copy of the evidence
in the case was sent to him and he had to decide according to the law
and evidence within thirty days and publish his reasons therefor in the
District Newspaper. By permission of the Minister of Justice I was
granted authority to visit the State Prison, carrying with me a letter
instructing every prison official to assist me and to furnish me all the
information within their power. The prison was located in the center of
a Military Preserve, consisting of ninety-two thousand one hundred and
sixty acres, all in a high state of cultivation. Railways traversed the
reservation, but no trains but military ones were permitted to stop
within its limits.



CHAPTER III.

A VISIT TO A STATE PRISON.