Other editions of book Within Prison Walls: Being a Narrative During a Week of Voluntary Confinement in the State Prison at Auburn, New York

“Thomas Mott Osborne investigated the conditions inside the prison and wrote a scathing study of its effects.” -Janet Miron, ‘Prisons, Asylums, and the Public: Institutional Visiting in the Nineteenth Century’, University of Toronto Press, 2011 BEING A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE DURING A WEEK OF VOLUNTARY CONFINEMENT IN THE STATE PRISON AT AUBURN, NEW YORK “Thomas Mott Osborne…decided to test the system for himself, by serving voluntarily as a prisoner for a week in the Auburn Prison. This book, consisting partly of notes written from day to day during his confinement, and partly of subsequent comments and additions, is the result. It tells vividly and without reticence all that he did, saw and heard. At times, it reaches a high pitch of dramatic expression – not through any conscious effort of the author’s, but just because he describes simply what he felt and beheld. His chapter ‘A Night in Hell,’ describing the horrors of solitary confinement, should rouse the conscience of every reader to protest against the perpetuation of such barbarities. His report as a whole reveals not only grave defects in administering the penal system, but even more in the system itself. Mr. Osborne’s book surpasses in interest the sensational novel – because it is true. One very important feature in it is the revelation it gives of his ability to get the sympathy of the prisoners, and so to understand them. Without such understanding, which involves the acknowledgement that they are human beings, subject to similar passions and amendable to similar incentives as their fellows, our prisons will continue to be haunts of legalized inhumanity, in which, as Mr. Osborne remarks, the souls and bodies of their inmates are destroyed by a deliberate regimen.” -The Harvard Graduates' Magazine, Volume 23, 1914-1915 "His career as a penologist was short, but in the interval of the few years he served he succeeded in revolutionizing American prison reform, if not always in fact, then in awakening responsibility.... He was made of the spectacular stuff of martyrs, to many people perhaps ridiculous, but to those whose lives his theories most closely touched, inspiring and often godlike." -The New York Times CONTENTS I. WHY I WENT TO PRISON II. SUNDAY'S JOURNAL III. MONDAY MORNING IV. MONDAY AFTERNOON V. THE FIRST NIGHT VI. TUESDAY MORNING VII. TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING VIII. WEDNESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON IX. WEDNESDAY EVENING X. THURSDAY XI. FRIDAY XII. SATURDAY XIII. A NIGHT IN HELL XIV. SUNDAY--THE END XV. CUI BONO?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1914. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIII A NIGHT IN HELL AS Captain Martin and I traverse the long stone passage leading from his office to the death chamber, I listen intently to catch any sound from the jail, for I am wondering whether or not I shall have any companions in misery; but nothing can be heard. Even when the Captain unlocks and opens the door on the right at the end of the passage and I step into the dungeon, there is no indication of any other inhabitants. Except for our own movements the silence is complete, although there is a peculiar reverberation of the vaulted roof which reechoes every sound we make. I am aware of a sort of uncanny feeling about the place, as though there were some sort of living creature--man, ape, or devil--in every cell, with his face close to the bars, peering through and holding his breath. The Captain, going to a locker which is at Jiis left, backing against the iron wall of the first cell, opens it and takes out a shirt, trousers, coat, cap, and a pair of felt shoes. "Take off your clothes and put these on," he says briefly. I take the clothes as he hands them to me and place them upon a bench at my right, where I also sit and proceed to make the required change. If these are the clothes which have been carefully washed and cleaned for me, I should like to examine--at a safe distance--the ordinary ones. They must be filthy beyond words. And I suppose no one but a prisoner ever wonders or cares about the condition of the last man who wore them. I take off my gray uniform, shirt and shoes, and as I stand in my underclothes the Captain feels me all over from head to toes to find out whether I have concealed about me a weapon or instrument of any kind. I presume the idea is to guard against suicide. After I have been thoroughly searched I clothe myself in the soiled old...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Thomas Mott Osborne's account of his voluntary stay in Auburn State prison. Osborne, the head of a state commission on "the prison problem," checked into Auburn to personally experience conditions there. It is really engaging and heartfelt, as well as highly political. Osborne encountered tremendous institutional and political resistance to his reform efforts and you get a real sense of that in this book ... In a review of a biography of Osborne the New York Times had this to say: Thomas Mott Osborne presents the phenomenon, not rare among men of genius and high talent, where the work of the man surpasses the individual. To no one person is the modem world of prison reform and the whole broad subject of penology so much in debt as to him. Yet in his own eyes he felt, near the end of his days, that he had lived an ineffectual life. With the shortsightedness of disappointment and despair he could not realize that within ten years of his death biographers would be preoccupied with the ideal of evaluating him as one of the major figures in American reform . . .

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.