RUSSIAN PRISONS.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2987, 15 July 1878, Page 2

RUSSIAN PRISONS.

(PAITI MAT-7J OAZBliB.) But for the affair of Yera Sassulitch, the Russian public (a correspondent writes) would still be occupied with the case of the procureur of Orenburg, which is quite as horrible, if less dramatic, than that of Bogoluboff, General TrepofF, and General Trepoff's self-appointed avenger. The procureur, as representative of the Minister of Justice, had done his utmost to check the abuse of power and various irregularities in connection with the Orenburg prisons', but with 10 little effect that at last in despair, he was obliged to go to St. Petersburg :n order to represent the state of affairs io his chief. The procureur's decis" as, disregarded at Orenburg, were confi aed by the M;nister of Justice at St. Petersburg; acd at first tlie honest and energetic official seemed to have gained his ' point. On his reiurn, however, to Orenburg he found himself powerless against the local authorities, especially with the Com-nittee of Prisons, who had given the appointment of prison superintendent to a dishonest end ferocious ex-official, dismissed from the Government service with a bad character as " unworthy to filLany post." This person \as in the habbit of flogging the prisoners unmercifully, not merely when, as in Trepoff's case, they failed to take off tlieir caps in presence of their superior, but on a", sorts of occasions, with and without pre- ' text.' It was his custom to announce to prisoners in the yard of the prison his intention to carry out his sentences in'what is described as " a shocking way." -The priest attached to the prison" was a profligate drunkard, who countenanced the superintendent's brutality; and once when • the procureur visited the prison the convicts crowded round "him knelt on the ground, and, without venturing to make complaints, appealed to him to intercede on their behalf that a little mercy might be shown them, "as they were just living out their last days in the greatest agonies of physical suffering. •'- This demonstration charged against the procureur a3 an attempt on his part to incite the convicts to insubordination arid revolt. The accusation was forwarded to the Minister of Justice, and the procureur was summoned to St. Petersburg to reply to it. He waited, however; for three ' years without being able to get the matter inquired into, and even then saw no prospect of its being investigated. As a last resource he address d a long letter to the Northern Messenger (Severnoy Vestaik) giving the whole history of his relations with the administrative authorities at Orenburg, their contempt for the law, their inhuman treatment of the prisoners, and so on as above set forth; The procureur's letter caused much sensation and considerable indignation in Russian society. But the pvoeureur's own chief, the Minister of Juetice, co-Ud do nothing for him. The Orenburg officials declared that "the man was mad;" and since the publication of his letter he has rot been heard of. Possibly he has been taken care of by " administrative order/ . a trump card "which the Goverßineiit holds in reserve, and can always play if it finds itself beaten in the game of trial . by jury. ' ,