The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-07
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1869.
rr,o Aimshouses and Prisons of Penn
INV syIvantn.

SyINhhhns
THg repor. Of the Commissioner appointed by
aha Governor to inspect the almshouses and
nrisons of the Commonwealth discloses some
verv discreditable facts. Under the present
svstem. or rather want of system, the treat
,nant Of paupers and prisoners depends alto
vether upon the disposition OF irresponsible
iooa, authorities, and upon the degree OF wis,
dom. liberality, and humanity with winch
local affairs are administered In NUMBER
of counties no almshouses have yet been
areotad and in some districts the custom still
prevails of selling out paupers 70 the loWes'
bidder or to the person who agrees to main
tain them for the smallest sum OF money. In
not few instances they fall into the hands of
enterprising individuals who endeavor to
extract the largest possible amount OF labor
from inoompetency and decrepitude, and az
the same time to sustain life with very
limited amount Of nourishing food. The un-
fortunate inmates of Dotheboys Hall Jared no
worse at the hands of "Squeers" than some
of the psupers farmed out in the sparsely set
tied districts of Pennsylvania. 1t must be
confessed that this system is often effective in
checking pauperism, and if it was applied to
the bummers who abound in this city their
ranks would speedily be thinned; but it leads
in some instances to acts of great inhumanity,
and a better mode should be provided for
maintaining the deserving poor. In some Of
the counties where almshouses have long
been in existence, those institutions are badly
constructed and mismansged. The large nun
ber of deaths by cholera or other fatal diseases
which have occasionally occurred within their
walls are startling indications of their deplora-
BILE sanitary condition.
The county prisons, with few honorable
exceptions, are by no means what they should
be. Philadelphia sets the worst possible ex
ample to less wealthy communities by over
providing Moyamensing and postponing the
establishment of House Of Correction. The
State has also displayed criminal neglect in
failing to provide number of cells in the
penitentiaries sufficient to uniformly enforce
the system of separate confinement The
members of the Legislature have been too
busy considering private bills to devote serious
attention to their real public duties, and they
AoNO hOb tohoh blnlolJ OOB vi Ino Idplu
growth of crime. Under these circumstances,
tits notsuprising that the prisons ofpoorer the
counties are at once insecure and unhealthy
Prisoners soon learn to despise the restraints
upon their liberty, and to fear the malign in
huenoes which threaten their health and they
accordingly make Jail deliveries in manner
not provided for in the acts of Assembly. A
few of the wealthy counties have built prisons
which are very creditable structures, and
several new similar edffces are now being
erected.
1t is evident, however, that without some
wellooncerted system devised by the Legsla-
ture, and enforced by competent State autho-
% rity, the condition of the paupers and prisoners
of the Commonwealth will depend solely upon
the whims and caprices OF local authorities,
aud that the public welfare as we'll as the
cause of humanity, would be promoted il the
Commonwealth would adopt uniform and
enlightened policy on this subject