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I
take great pleasure in learning a new word, a little-known
fact or hearing a story I have not heard before. In the book "Texas
Gulag" by Gary Brown, the history of Texas
prisons, jails and even the early-day chain gangs is presented
from the years 1875 to 1925. The book outlined in detail how criminals
were identified as they processed through the old systems.
Long before court-appointed attorneys, investigative reporters and
court-type TV shows, prisoners could air the grievances of incarceration
in only one manner. They could write their memoirs in secret and sneak
it out of the prison for friends or relatives to publish. |
"Texas
Gulag" is based on some of these memoirs, plus the recorded history
and records of the early prison systems.
No doubt early Texas
prisons, as well as prisons all over the world down through time,
were brutal and dangerous. The thinking at the time was, if you are
convicted of a crime, you have no rights. Treatment of prisoners will
always be argued depending on whether you are a prisoner or a victim
of a crime. The old saying of "an eye for an eye" seemed to rule much
of the thinking. |
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Interestingly,
long before fingerprinting, pupil photographing and DNA, prisons used
the Bertillion Method to identify prisoners. Research shows
in 1883 in Europe, a police clerical officer was recognized for developing
the first scientific method of criminal identification used by police.
The method included stripping convicts naked, listing all body scars,
tattoos, birthmarks, height and weight while standing on a measuring
stand made for the purpose. Age, coloring, hair color, eye color,
nationality, occupation, habits and medical condition were also listed
by hand on the prison records as well as details of how they committed
their particular crime.
This effort became known as the Bertillion Method and the officer
in charge at each prison became known as the Bertillion Officer. From
1883 to about 1903, when fingerprinting was refined, the Bertillion
Method reigned supreme in criminal identification. Alphonse Bertillion,
who developed the method, became the first policeman in Europe to
solve a murder by use of fingerprints and went on to become an authority
on police forensics.
By the 1920s, fingerprinting and photography were added to the Bertillion
Method to track convicts through the system. Bertillion Officers processed
virtually every incoming jail prisoner and prison inmate in almost
every certified prison. Another interesting duty of the Bertillion
Officer was to prepare and print the thousands of "Wanted" posters
shown in Post Offices and distributed to law officers around the world.
The old joke of "I saw your picture in the Post Office today" was
coined by posters created and printed by Bertillion Officers.
Today, the old Bertillion Officer is being replaced by a medical-scientific
practitioner. He oversees fingerprinting, photography, takes blood
samples for DNA and the latest innovation, photographing the blood
vessels on eye retinas. Identification today has reached new levels
with the use of technology and digital equipment. Once upon a time,
they used the Bertillion Method.
© Delbert Trew
"It's All Trew" October
7, 2008 Column
Related Topics:
Texas
Murders ›
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