Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-01-19
Rutland County Jail.
LETTER FROM SHERIFF FIELD ar
JAILER sANDERsON.

LETTER FROM SHERIFF FIELD AND
JAILER sANDERsoN.
Some philanthropic individual has fur.
nished the public through the DAILY
HERALD, sort of sensational sarcastic
article, on the County Jail and its mana
gers, its prisoners, etc, ETC., the greater
portion of which is entirely false. In the
first place, the person signing him or her.
self "Veritas" never Cooked through the
grating into an underground apartment,
COM pared with which his or her cellar is
exceedingly more comfortable" All
rooms, in fact the entire Jail, is wholly
above ground. The main room is quite
spacious and high between floors, with
fresh water constantly running into the
room, and for the last ten years not sim
gle case of fever or epidemic sickness has
occurred in the Jail, nor single death.
No children have been confined there that
have not been guilty of crime. We have
sometimes out of charity, taken some poor
vagabond boy or girl, and cared for them
in our own family for few days at a
time, for the reason that every other good
"veritas turned the cold shoulder and
went by on the other side :" but never to
imprison one without good cause. AS for
the profaneness and vulgarity of the in
mates of the Jail, we had not considered
them sinners above all men. We have at
present some very civil, educated, gentle
manly men.in the Jail, not for high crimes,
but generally for drunkenness, or petty
breaches of the peace while under the in
fiuence of liquor. The conveniences at
the Jail are not what we could wish, but
they are such as we have, and they are
better now than they were few years
ago, and we try to do the best we can for
all persons connected there, old or young,
male or female. Now as to the statement
department with their mothers, in few
cases, where we have had to take drunk
en- mother from her home, and there was
no one left to take of the poor little fam
ished child in charge, we have taken
mother and child and restrained the
mother, and cared for and fed the child,
until in some way, the mother was re-
leased, and supposed then and now, that
we were doing our duty. AS for any
communication between the male and fe-
male departments, there is none, we allow
none and never did. There is heavy
plate of boiler iron, between the two floors
At one time some misohievous fellow in
the lower jail, dug out brick at the edge
of the iron plate above the stone wall and
cut off small portion of the floor, and
then they could speak to each other, above
and below, and we found out what was
going on and at once stopped
this proceeding and repaired the breach
SO made. AS for filth and vermin there
is nothing of it; we take great pains to
whitewash, scrub floors and keep as clean
as possible, and as for large groups hud-
died together around old broken stoves,
that's all bosh, we have got good sound
stoves and good pipe and fixtures in all
the departments, let any one inspect
them, they will show for themselves, and
we furnish good wood and keep good fires,
and, in fact, more than half the inmates
of the Rutland County Jail actually fare
better, while there, than they do out of
it, There are others there who have seen
better days, and have been used to more
afectionate and tender care than they re.
ceive at our hands in their present situa.
ton. This idea Of doing good by fault
finding, with everything we have to do
with, l think is a poor plan and bad
way to get along. I think the people of
Rutland county are pretty intelligent,
and pretty humane, and in due time after