The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-01
WHY PHILADELPHIA HAS NOT
NOVA HOUSE or CORRECTION.

II
The newspapers, the judges, the Grand Ju-
ries, the Prison Inspectors, and the Board of
Guardians of the Poor, have announced
again and again, through a series of years,
the necessity Of House of Correction. The
fact is generally acknowledged that Of all our
municipal wants this is the most pressing.
While the present system is perpetuated the
County Prison will continue to be an over
crowded refuge of vice and Incidence, and in
vite hither, in connection with the aocommo-
dations of the Almshouse, the loafers of the
of our two great public boarding
houses, and the avoidance of
systematic attempts to compel the lazzaroni
sheltered beneath their roofs to earn their
Subsistence, we are only astonished that the
city is not perfectly overrun with thieves,
psupers, and vagrants, for nowhere else on
the round globe can they be better assured of
the enjoyments of the life of laziness which
constitutes the bummer's paradise. From
time to time Councils agitate the project of
House of Correction, but the difficulties of
selecting site appear to be absolutely insur
mountable. In territory larger than Ger
uhh PIluSlpbllIy, IL uOoS uoI ooom pOooiOlo
to find room for q House of Correction, and
there have already been two serious attempts
to fix q site beyond the limits of the munich
pality. The real difficulty, however, is rather
in the abundance of farms offered for sale,
and in the variety of estates from which selec-
tions could be made, than in their scarcity;
but as this difficulty proves, in practice, as
serious On impediment to prompt action as
the actual insuficiency of land, it behoves
Councils, the Legislature, and all taxpayers
to inquire whether this Gordian knot cannot
be cut by the very simple expedent which
was proposed few years ago, and which
seemed at one time on the point of being
realized.
We refer to the project of building au ex-
tension to the Moyamensing Prison, on the
adjacent ground owned by the city, which
affords ample space for workshops of every
description, and which could be converted
into House of Employment and Correction
at comparatively trifing expense. We be-
Geve that this plan few years ago COM
manded the unanimous approval of the Board
of Prison Inspectors and of joint COM
mittee of Councils, and the House of Correc-
for the purpose of carrying it into practical
execution. 1t unfortunately happened, how
ever, when all the arrangements were on the
point of being consummated, that the Legis-
lature interfered in hap-hazard, slap-dash,
and inconsiderate manner by passing law
that no House of Correction should be built
Sn the eo0rd in qohicb the County Prison IS
located Thus the authorities were SUNNI
rily prevented from locating this institution
on or near the spot where, above all Others,
it should be built. The cost of new struc-
ture like the County Prison, at this time,
would be from a million to mil
lion and half of dollars, and nearly the
whole of this expense would be saved by the
contemplated extension of the old prison
The only point lost would be the advantages
of farm; but it is questionable whether they
are really essential or even desirable for an
institution which would contain hundreds
of inmates who might easily be made useful
in indoor workshops, but whose labor could
not be utilized in open fields.
We believe that Senator Henszey proposes
to make the old scheme, which was once SO
near being consummated, again practicable,
Dy repeating tue uuWlS6 anu uni JuSL reSLrlc-
tion which was placed upon the authority of
Councils, and it is not only desirable that this
step should be taken, but the public interests
would be served if the Board of Prison Iu-
speotors were at once authorized to make the
proposed extension of the County Prison, so
that its lazy inmates can be set to work. All
systems of prison discipline recognize the
value of regular employment, alike to the
prisoner and the public, and no mistake can
be made by movement tending to the reform
of the great defect of our County Prison.
WOMEN INSPECTORS FOR PRISONS.
A NEW aspect Of the woman's rights question
was presented in the House of Representa-
tives at Harrisburg yesterday. petition
was presented, signed among others, by Rev,
Albert Barnes, of this oity, praying the
Legislature to authorize the appointment of
women inspectors of prisons; and imme-
diately thereafter Mr.. Miller offered bill
providing for the appointment of three such
inspectors for the Philadelphia County Prison.
Against this project no reasonable objec-
tion can be raised. While punishment must
always remain the leading object in prison
discipline, the effort to reform the prisoners
and prepare them for leading better life on
their restoration to liberty should not be lost
sight of. The appointment of three earnest
and sensible ladies to exercise some iurisdic-
tion over the women upon whom it has been
Sound naoaaoaru fn lou fha r