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Joseph Welch encloses a letter to Theodore Roosevelt from an inmate at Eastern State Penitentiary. Welch speaks highly of the man and explains he would like Roosevelt to sign two of his books for individuals who volunteer at the prison.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-20
Postcard showing an illustrated a two-panel cartoon, the first is two soldiers drinking at a bar under the heading “Saturday Night” the second panel shows them in handcuffs and neck chains with bruised eyes under the heading “Sunday Night.” Charles C. Myers notes that this is how Englishmen, and others, view sailors of battleships.
In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “An Englishmans [sic] idea of a sailor on Sat night and Sun. Morning.
This postcard shows the gate of Portland Prison with a number of drawn prisoners filing out from the gate accompanied by guards. The walls of the prison are covered with ivy, while barred windows. Charles C. Myers adds, in a handwritten note, that the prison is situated on top of the high hill near Portland Harbor, and is said to contain one thousand convicts.
In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “This view is taken within the prison gates.”
This postcard shows the village of Portland. Above the village, on top of a large hill, sits the largest prison in England.
In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “The main part of this narrow strip of land is called Portland Isle and the village of Portland is only a small place while above the city on top of the hill is the largest prison in England, several thousand prisoners being confined there.”
Scenes of Hastings H. Hart, penologist, consultant in delinquency and penology for the Russell Sage Foundation, and recipient of the 1930 Roosevelt Medal for Distinguished Service for the promotion of social justice. Opening scene of Hart greeting two guard officers at what appears to be a prison building in New York State; long shot of Hart posing with group of inmates and guards; and medium view of Hart talking with an unidentified inmate in a jail cell.
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
1930
David B. Hill labeled “Hill-ism,” Richard Croker as the Tammany Tiger labeled “Croker-ism,” and Roswell P. Flower, wearing a tall stove-pipe hat, labeled “Flower-ism,” stand on “Condemned Row” in the “Prison of Public Condemnation.” They are watching a group of men, on the left, construct a guillotine labeled “Reform Movement.” Puck is standing on the left with “Parkhurst, Grace, Lexow, Godkin, Ottendorfer, [and] Goff,” who is posting a notice on the wall of the prison that states, “Notice! On Election Day, Nov. 6th 1894. Execution of Hill-ism, Croker-ism, and Flower-ism. By Order of the People.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1894-06-13
A large arm labeled “Justice” reaches down from above to grab Matthew S. Quay as he tries to make his way from the “Penitentiary” on the left to the “United States Senate” on the right.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-01-25
A well-dressed union representative labeled “Walking Delegate” stands outside a prison cell, holding a paper that states “Law to Prohibit Convict Labor in State Prisons.” A dejected prisoner sits in the cell. Caption: But idleness, misery and insanity for the unfortunate convict.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-02-10.
Criminals on the left enter a prison labeled “Penitentiary” with a statue of “Justice.” On the right, they leave the prison after serving their sentences and are given papers labeled “Freedom,” where they are confronted by a large hand above a city with a wall labeled “Ex-Convicts Not Wanted.” Includes text about the failure of the Penal System.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-10-20
Print shows Charles Stewart Parnell, a prisoner in the “Kilmainham Kaboose”, directing a pack of small dogs labeled “Healy, Kettle, Egan, O’Connor, Dillon, Davitt, Sexton, [and] Brennan” to attack the British Lion, instead they scatter in all directions. Caption: Mr. Parnell in his great feat of letting loose the dogs of war.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1881-10-26
A socialite, prisoner “no. 500,” is having a tea party with her society friends outside her cell labeled “Cell no. 500 Our Noble Martyress.” Caption: When the suffragettes of American society become martyrs to the cause.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1910-02-09
Inside a “Prison Barber-Shop” are two men labeled “Budensiek” and “J. D. Fish,” wearing prison stripes and “Close Crop” haircuts by the prison barber, who is holding a shaving mug labeled “Ferd. Ward.” Entering on the right is a man labeled “F. Ward” wearing civilian clothing, followed by a prison guard. On the shelves are other shaving mugs labeled “J. D. Fish, Baldwin, [and] Crowley.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-07-08
A throng of petty criminals in a prison point to a small cell labeled “For the Incorporated Law Breaker,” insisting that white-collar crime goes unpunished. Caption: The cry of the small crook.
In this powerful double-page cartoon, the great Art Young speaks for the small fry, not excusing them but painting a contrast, versus the “big fish” in the American justice system.
Young, increasingly in his cartoons (in 1911 he would help found the socialist magazine The Masses) he spoke for the downtrodden and, often, those he depicted as falsely accused. In this Puck cartoon, however, he seeks to contrast, even in bold coloring, the mass of petty lawbreakers with trust magnates and titans of industry who were — as per articles in newspaper and magazine, books, public confessions, Congressional hearings,and publicized lawsuits — miscreants and criminals too, but never sentences to prisons.
Prisoners engage in various recreations while incarcerated at Sing Sing for white collar crime. Caption: For the benefit of our grafting financiers whose health breaks down from exposure.
This cartoon by J. S. Pughe was not inspired by the coddling of prisoners, a putative situation that is charged, or confirmed, in cycles. Sing Sing Prison was a periodic site that, perhaps due to its 40-mile proximity up the Hudson River from the media center New York City, was alternately scorned or praised by reformers for its conditions.
Rather, the inspiration for Puck’s center-spread was the great number of business titans who were running afoul of the law at this time. There were “high visibility” exposes, investigations, scandals, arrests, divorces, and even murders among high society, politicians, and especially leaders of the corporate world, politics, and the labor movement.
President Roosevelt writes Attorney General Bonaparte regarding the federal prison employment situation of Joseph L. Merrell. Merrell was the Sheriff of Carroll County, Georgia in 1901 when he stopped a white mob from lynching a black prisoner, and subsequently lost his reelection bid as a result. Georgia Representative Charles William Adamson brought the situation to Roosevelt’s attention. Roosevelt secured Merrell a position for “$1200 a year as custodian of the grounds of the Federal Prison at Atlanta,” and hopes to get him a raise if he has done well at his job.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-17
President Roosevelt sends Attorney General Moody a newspaper clipping about two incarcerated Native American children, and asks him to make an investigation into the matter and offer a report. Roosevelt does not think their sentences are just.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-25
O. F. Lewis, General Secretary of the Prison Association of New York, confirms receipt of the letter from Theodore Roosevelt regarding his proposed tour of European prisons, and thanks him for it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-03
Samuel McCune Lindsay tells Theodore Roosevelt of the upcoming trip of O. F. Lewis, Secretary of the New York Prison Association, to Europe in order to attend the International Prison Congress and visit foreign prisons. He asks if Roosevelt would be willing to write a letter of introduction for him to help him during his travels. Lewis has already received some other letters from officials, but would appreciate any assistance Roosevelt is able to give.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-28
Samuel McCune Lindsay has enclosed a letter to Theodore Roosevelt containing facts he may want to know if he is able to accede to Lindsay’s request and write a letter to C. T. Lewis expressing his interest in Lewis’s investigation of prisons in Europe. Lindsay tells Frank Harper that if he will send him Roosevelt’s letter, he will make sure Lewis receives it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-28