New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-05-23
ORR COUNTY PRISONS.

Annual Report OF the Executive Committee OF
the Prison Association OF Newton. is devoted
to County Prisons. That subject is therein so
comprchensively and minutcly discussed
that the Leg 'lature TO which it was
submitted la February might have
abundant Occur patton FIR any portion of its
time upon which The lobby had not paramount
claim. Whether anything was done in the way
of passing laws 70 remedy the evils herein de-
scribcd, we know not, but it is certain tina,
nothing less than f sweeping reform such as has
not yet been attempted will avail TO root ont the
malades inherent in the system on which our
county prisons have long been managed
Passng.by for the present all minor evils we
come at once TO what seems to US tho worst
fault in these jals, and that is the association
of prisoners. The public has heard something
ofthis before, but We doubt whether the ohjec-
tons to the system have ever been more
forcibly stated than IN this report, and the fact
that they still need to be presented is lamenta-
bic evidence how little progress past efforts
toward reform have made. In the associa-
ton of prisoners in our common jails, say the
Committee, ." in the promiscuous intercourse Of
al classes all ages, ana 10 q certain extent, we
arc sorry 10 add, of both sexes, We have the
grand evil, the very Pandora's box OF the sys-
TEN; the fountain head of perniclous influences,
not simply TO the inmates Themselves, but TO the
whole community as well, IL the midst Of which
the jail happens to be situated The indolent sell
fishncss which fancies itself screened by It's own
indifference from the influence of those evils
which it will not endeavor to reform may take
need to this latter clause. Tho report cstab-
fishes by facts AMI statistics that vice yadiates
from these jails, that the most corrupt place in
the county is the county town, and the next
most corrupt are those towns which lie nearest
to the county seat. The Committee say:
"If an institution should be established in every
county Of the state with the inscription over the door
Vice and crime taught here. and the processes within
coTrespondcj TO tie announcement without. this Com
mitee is impressed with the conviction that the wor
of manufacturing criminals could scarcely DO more ef
ectuey done than it is by our all system at present
organized and managed
And the primary and con nuing cause Of this
pcrnicious influence is the principle of associa-
ton, which corrupts first tlose within the jail
aud then extends its poison through the COM
munity with which those liberated from the
jail are necessarily brought in contact TIE
Committee proceed to say:
There is scarcely Jail in the State IN which any
, 1sscati0n Of p-isonors * attempted, or. under
Isl ny arrangements can be attempted required by
law. The innocent person. without nny iain of gnf,
-. I'll, ~ ~. l.tl. 81
crime. and is detained to give testimony In the
the young boy girl who IN moment OF thoughtIess
ness has violated some corporation ordinance; the m
Tried person and the condemned criminal hardened 10
iniquity. all locked up together without employ
meut. without books without industrial intellectual
resources 0f any KIDD. What can they do, what VIII
they do, but conyefsa iogctherf
From this conversation, this unchecked in
tercoursc between prisoners Of every grade III
crime results the generalization of prison life
its deadly effect on those who entered a Jail
innocent or easily reclaimable from the career
of vice in which they had taken only the first
STEP but who leave it the victims and tic
future accompliocs of the most inyetcrate
criminals. II is characteristic Of the LAT cr
that they delight to drag the innocent down to
their own level. They eagerly communicate
Ine scCIcto VA '"0h Pioics"iou' tno tiiChs vi tnc
pickpocket, the arts OF the burglar, the intrigues
of the prostitute. And so the merest boys aud
girls who have gone to Jail for trivial ofTense
leave it adopts in the science 0! criminality.
"Ths Committee conversed on this suhee, with mum.
bers Of officers. all Of whom gave It as their opinion
that the promiscuous association Of prisoners the
highest dsgree corrup'ing, and tended directly and
strongly ~ the increase of crime. The keeper Of
ole OF tho most populous jails IN tho State an In.
teligent ard kind-he alted gentleman. informed us
that had closely watched the operation Of this unre
stroted intercourse and ced that its Influence
was evil. and only evil continually. lie had known, he
said not iew instances IN which young persons com
parativey innocent before their imprisonment. had
been seduced corrupted and ded into a course OF
open crime through tho influence Of tail associa
ton. There were In Jail at the time Of our visit two
young girls sisters OF the ayes severay Of seventeen
and nineteen, who came into tho prison modest and
chaste to all appearance. In q very fcw days how.
thsv became wholly changed In their dsueauor,