The Missionary by J. W. Scoles

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 25.

The Missionary.

By J. W. Scoles

THE LAND OF THE CZARS. NO. 7.

Concerning the prison system of Russia and Siberia, and also the plan of sending exiles to the latter country, much more might be written than could be contained within the limits of an ordinary article of this kind. Many of the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES are doubtless familiar with some of the features of prison life in Russia, having read an account of the imprisonment of Elder L. R. Conradi at Perikop, in the Crimea, in 1885. The facts in this case, together with much other interesting information concerning Russia and Russian customs, can be found in "Historical Sketches of Foreign Missions," which will be sent, post-paid, for ninety cents, by addressing the Pacific Press Publishing Company, Oakland, Cal.

Reference has already been made to the fact that there are no penitentiaries in Russia. In this connection it might also be stated that there are no prisons primarily designed for political offenders and that class of criminals. Persons arrested upon such charges as these are thrown into the prisons originally built for common vagrants, murderers, thieves, and the lowest class of criminals, and which are always filled to overflowing with this class of felons. Under this condition of affairs, they must necessarily share all the evils that result from overcrowding, poor food, and bad sanitary condition of the prison buildings. How terrible such evils are, doubtless no one can fully comprehend except those who have had an opportunity to inspect Russian prisons. It is probably within the limits of reason to state that there is not a single prison in Russia or Siberia which is provided with suitable sanitary accommodations.

The slowness of judicial procedure in Russia, such as has already been shown, is one cause for the overcrowding of the prisons. There were 94,515 persons in prison in Russia, on the 1st of June, 1885, and of this number 26,307 were awaiting trial. Prisons originally built to contain 150 to 200 persons are compelled to receive from 300 to 400 prisoners. In some cases the overcrowding is carried to such an extent that the air space allowed to each individual amounts to only one-fifth of a cubic fathom. In other words, there are prisons so crowded that the air supply is in the same proportion as though ten

human beings were living together and trying to breathe in a room fourteen feet long, seven feet high and seven feet wide.

In many prisons women are not adequately separated from the men, and other and more disgraceful features might be mentioned. But the provincial prisons of Russia are almost palaces compared with the places that await these poor sufferers when they have once passed their trial and are consigned to Siberia. Priests, students, soldiers, citizens, all are driven into line on that terrible march to Siberia. And the legend placed over Dantés "Inferno," "Abandon hope all ye who enter here," might well be placed at the boundary line between Russia and Siberia.

The outrages to which the people are subjected pass all belief. Exile-forwarding prisons are located at Tiumen, Tomsk, and some few other places, the former being on the boundary, and the most important prison in Siberia. This prison was originally built to hold 500 prisoners, and was afterwards enlarged until 800 could be accommodated. It is not infrequent, however, for it to have as many as 1,600 or 1,700 inmates.

The following description, given by Mr. Kennan, in the Century of June, 1888, gives a fair illustration of the prison system of Siberia in general:—

"The first kamera, or cell, that we entered was situated in a one-story log-barrack standing against the wall on the left of the gate, and built evidently to receive the overflow from the crowded main building. The room was about thirty-five feet in length by twenty-five in width and twelve feet high; its walls of hewn logs were covered with dirty whitewash; its rough plank floor was black with dried mud and hard-trodden filth; and it was lighted by three grated windows looking out into the prison yard. Down the center of the room, and occupying about half its width, ran the sleeping-bench—a wooden platform twelve feet wide and thirty feet long, supported, at a height of two feet from the floor, by stout posts. Each longitudinal half of this low platform sloped a little, roof-wise, from the center, so that when the prisoners slept upon it in two closely packed transverse rows, their heads in the middle were a few inches higher than their feet at the edges. These sleeping-platforms are known as nares, and a Siberian prison cell contains no other furniture except a large wooden tub for excrement. The prisoners have neither pillows, blankets, nor bed-clothing, and must lie on these hard plank nares with no covering but their overcoats. As we entered the cell, the convicts, with a sudden jingling of chains, sprang to their feet, removed their caps, and stood silently in a dense throng around the nares. 'Zdravstvuitui rebiata!' ['How do you do, boys!'] said the warden. 'Zdravie zhelaiem vasha vwisoki blagorodie' ['We wish you health, your high nobility'], shouted a hundred voices in a hoarse chorus. 'The prison, said the warden,' is terribly overcrowded. This cell, for example, is only thirty-five feet long by twenty-five wide, and has air space for thirty-five or at most forty men. How many men slept here last night?' he inquired, turning to the prisoners.

"A hundred and sixty, your high nobility," shouted half a dozen hoarse voices.

"You see how it is,' said the warden, again addressing me. 'This cell contains more than four times the number of prisoners that it was intended to hold, and the same condition of things exists throughout the prison.' I looked around the cell. There was practically no ventilation whatever, and the air was so poisoned and foul that I could hardly force myself to breathe it. We visited successively in the yard six kameras, or cells, essentially like the first, and found in every one of them three or four times the number of prisoners for which it was intended, and five or six times the number for which it had adequate air space. In most of the cells there was not room enough on the sleeping-platforms for all of the convicts, and scores of men slept every night on the foul, muddy floors, under the nares, and in the gangways between them and the walls. Three or four pale, dejected, and apparently sick prisoners crawled out from under the sleeping-platform in one of the cells as we entered."

No amount of description can begin to portray the unutterable wretchedness and general depravity which characterizes these wretched abodes. The prevalence of filth, poor food, and impure air combined, causes regular epidemics of contagious diseases. Statistics show that one-third of the whole prison population receive hospital treatment annually, and when we remember that on an average, 18,000 exiles pass through this one forwarding prison each year, and that thousands of sick are treated at the dispensary and in their cells, and are therefore not included in the hospital records, we can perhaps realize to some extent the human suffering and misery connected with the Siberian exile system.

In addition to this, comes the long, wearisome marching through Siberia to the mines, and hard labor at the end of the journey. From three to four hundred convicts leave Tomsk weekly during the entire year, and a much greater number than this is forwarded into Siberia from Tiumen. Exile station houses called étapes are placed along the road at intervals of from twenty-five to forty miles. Here the loathsome surroundings of the prisons are repeated, with the additional horrors of extreme cold and insufficient food in many instances. Marching parties are expected to make about 330 miles a month, with twenty-four hours' rest every third day.

Each prisoner receives five cents a day in money for his food, which he buys from peasants along the road. No distinction is made between common convicts and political offenders, except that the latter, if they belong to the nobility or to one of the privileged classes, are allowed seven and one-half cents a day for their sustenance instead of five, and are carried in telegas instead of being forced to walk. Sick and aged prisoners are also permitted to ride in telegas, which are simply four-wheeled springless vehicles of a very rude description.

The clothes of the exiles are made of the coarsest material, and the men are compelled to wear leg fetters, consisting of a long chain fastened to the ankle at each end, and held up in the middle by a belt which is fastened around the waist. Female convicts are not compelled to wear these fetters, and women and children who volunteer to accompany relatives or friends to Siberia are allowed to wear their own clothes. Unmarried male prisoners are forwarded separate from "family parties," in which are also included all unmarried women, and children.

This condition of affairs has only existed for about six years; previous to this time there was no separation of the sexes whatever in marching parties. This reform has lessened somewhat the demoralizing results from the promiscuous association of men, women, and children for weeks and months in overcrowded étapes. However, the state of affairs is bad enough yet, since even family parties necessarily contain large numbers of depraved men and boys.

Words cannot begin to express the wretchedness connected with the whole system. The misery and suffering, together with the cruel injustice manifested, are simply unutterable. Add to this the horror of hard labor in the colonies, or, what is worse, in the mines, in the extreme Eastern limits of the empire, exiled perhaps for life, with no prospect of ever again seeing home or friends, and all this punishment frequently endured for actions which would scarcely be considered misdemeanors in this country, and the situation becomes deplorable in the extreme. Yet, doubtless, many of our own people will have to undergo these very experiences. This seems distressing to think of, but it is an almost foregone conclusion just so surely as this last message of mercy is preached in Russia to any extent, for of all the forms of intolerance we have yet heard of, religious intolerance heads the list, and especially so in Russia. In regard to the religious restrictions imposed by this Government, however, fuller details will be given in another article. J. W. SCOLES.