Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1867-10-23
The Prisons Of Pennsylvania.

uC lOiIOWluS ditiSiS 10 Aioh t'S ''''
delphia Press. The opinion entertained
by Inspector Dickinson Of our Institution
is not very good one and if his report
is correct, the County Fathers should
give the Jail an oycrhauliDg.
Juniata county was separated from
Miflln county by act of March 2, 1881,
and its length is forty miles, and breadth
nine miles The county seat is Mifilin-
town, in which the county buildings are
erected on rising ground pleasantly situat-
ed in the upper end Of the town. In 1888
the Jail war erected in close proximity to
the county buildings, and is 80 by 40
feet, with a small yard in the rear.
At the time Iuspectoa Dickinson made
his inspection of the premises the Sheriff
was absent, but his wife was in charge
She accompanied the inspector through
the building and explained its capacities
and Deficiencies She stated that twenty
prisoners could be accomm odated without
out crowding but the ideas of the iDspec-
tor totally disagreed with the lady's in
this respect. All of her family reside in
the Jail, and have to use the same doors,
stairs, and hall tha, the prisoners do.
Two rooms on the second floor, about
fifteen feet square, are appropriated to the
use of prisoners, each room being fur
nished with heavy chains, firmly fastened
to the floor, to hold prisoners secure until
they are either convicted and sent to the
penitentiary, or found 10 be innocent and
discharged. In all cases where persons
are charged with a high grade of crime
they are chained, and those who are charg
ed with petty offences are merely fastened
in their rooms. The inner walls or par
titions, dividing the rooms from the pas
sage way, are of wood, lathed and plaster
ed. Notwithstanding the claiming pro-
cess, many prisoners have freed themsel-
YES of them, and then made their escape
by boring through the partition with
heated bars of iron taken from the stoves
which supply heat to the room.
The Sheriff, in reply to printed inter
rogatories, says he does not consider the
Jail secure, and that, during the three
years he has been in Office, eigh. prison
ers have escaped; hence he has adopted
the plan Of claiming and hobbling them
prior to conviction. Thus it will be seen
that, upon entering this institution, per
sons are considered guilty, and chained
down as though they were the worst of
felons. Nay, more than this, for the
most hardened criminals in the peniten-
taries Of the State are not chained In
spector Dickinson very properly gays {:
"No innocent man should be made to suf-
fer thus merely because the authorities of
the county are too penurious to provide a
suitdpie Jan.
The wall around this rotten fabric is
but fifteen feet high, and prisoners have
escaped by inserting sticks in it where
the mortar has fallen out, and walking
over as conveniently as though they had
ladder.
Male and female prisoners are permit
ed to associate IN the day time, but are
separated at night. No water closets are
in the cells, and as the prisoners canno,
be trusted in the yard by themselves they
have to use the ordinary vessels provided
except when the jailor is at home to take
them TO the yard.
Inspector Dickinson says: ~ fad the
sanitary condition Of this Jail very bad.''
The Sheriff, in answer to my printed in
terrogatory, says, "the Jail is mhicpashcd
scrubbed and cleaned once a year. 1,
has no drainage, and the only means Of
ventilation is by opening the doors and
windows. No provision of any kind is
made for the treatment O. the sick"
FROM THE PLAINS.