Judge — June 23, 1928 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUDGE The Jail Warden Speaks His Mind “Of course we believe in m: ing things as pleasant as possible for the poor devils incarcerated here. But there are favors we cannot grant. We give them books to read and pencils and paper to write with, but that’s no privilege to those who can't read or write. And once we had a io, but we had to t it out ause we figured it unconstitutional, since the con- stitution provides that no cruel punishment shall be inflicted, and these fellows couldn't get away from it, because we had the loud- speaker in the corridor. And then there were so many escapes while it was going. They would saw the bars and we'd just think it was static or some soprano who for- got to smoke Lucky Strikes. But getting back to privileges for the prisoners, there are some we posi- tively can't grant. There's the one about business, for instance, You know, going to jail some- times ruins a man’s business and cuts off his income and therefore makes it harder for him to get out, and some jail wardens let the prisoners conduct their busi- nesses from their cells, But we can't do that. If we let one man conduct his business from his cell, we'd have to let them all do it, or he accused of playing favorites. Then again, with most of them it was their businesses which got them in here and it would hardly seem right to let them keep right on. It would put us in a bad light. If they want to, some wardens can take the responsi- bility of letting their charges con- tinue in their businesses from cells. But not us. Just’ think how ridiculous it would make us. Just take the professions of the twenty men in here now, One is a chicken thief, and the other nineteen are bootleggers.” R. C. O'Brex Gloria Swanson — Won't you have some Lox Chaney—Oolong will it take? Gloria Swcanson—I don’t knox, but I'l Ceylon, comicbooks.com