New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-09-01
THE DEBToRy PRISON IN LUDLOW-ST

n0 VI CcutuIy uSO "Ouiu
have been Mortified at the enormities which,
under our present bOasted system, are toler-
ated in the Debtors Prison of New-Y York City.
There never was a time when the affairs of
the Fleet or tho Marshalsea of London were
conducted with as shameless disregard of JUS
tice and humanity rs are those Of LudlOw-st.
Jail. 1t is one institution Of our City Govern
ment which needs instant determination. 1t
shames our Christian charity, dishonors our
administration of justice, and is blot upon
civilization itself
The law known as the Stillwell act, which
creates this prison, is in itself disgrace to
the statute books of any republican State. 1t
places the unfortunate as well as fraudulent
debtor at the mercy of any selfish, unscrupu-
lous creditor. 1t makes any man who happens
to be stranger liable to summary arrest and
imprisonment upon the bare allegation of in
debtedness 1t authorizes the creditor to take
from his debtor all opportunity to work out
his debt. 1t subjects innocent men to the
Vaccinations of infamous lawyers. ItimprisOns
men guilty only of poverty, for debts not
proved in court, and, indeed, without trial. Its
trainers contemplated nothing of the kind, but
such injustice is virtually authorized by the
Stllwell act as now enforced by the Sheriff
of this county.
Infamous as the law Is, the practices which
have grown up under it are more infamous
still. The suffcrings entailed by the law-the
loss of liberty and close confinement in filthy
prsOns-are in themselves bitter beyond en-
durance to men of spirit guilty of no crime
but bankruptcy but to these the Sheriffs officers
add persecution, direct robbery, and absolute
lmpoverishment. The exorbtant claims of the
unwecome Deputy Sheriff who makes the arrest
must be paid before help can be had or discharge
obtained. No communication nth friends is
possible until the illegal fees of the Sheriff or
Jailer are provided for; but every privilege
which q prisoner can have, and many to which
he has no right, are obtainable for money. In
Sheriff Brennan's Office there arc deputies,
Yard and Jarvis by name, whom we have
shown to be INSCRIPTIONS fellows, plundering
every arrested man brought into their office,
and unfit for service in any respectable posi-
ton. Once out of the Sheriff's Office
and in the Sheriff prison, the jailer, Tracey
proceeds to extort from the prisoner the last
penny left him by tho deputies in the "Order
"of Arrest" department. He is forced into
rude, damp, cOmfOrtless cell until he consents
to pay board to his jailer at exOrbitant rates.
He is charged for every letter sent to his
friends. He is advised to employ lawyer
who pays the jailer percentage OF his profits.
The jailer is, moreover, a retailer of liquor
without license; he keeps a pawn-shop, in
which necessitOus prisoners are robbed after
the most approved manner of the money
lenders, and he cheats prisoner and justice
alike by furnishing, for consideration,
worthless "straw bail"
Now this system of Imprisonment is legalizcd
by New-YOrk State laws, and these men,
Tracey, Yard, and Jarvis are maintained in
Office by elected officials who know their in
fanny even better than we do, and we know
more than we have told. Controller Connolly,
if he shares the profits of Traceys thefts, and
Sheriff Brennan, If he partakes of the ex-
actions of his deputies, cannot expect us to
hold them better than their tools. It is their
duty to'themselves, and to the public and the
Government, to see that these abuses are at
once remedied, and that these rogues and
their followers are dismissed. Will they do
this plain duty to which every dictate of
humanity urges themi
The United States authorities too, have q
limited responsibility in this matter. The
money of the Government helps to maintain
this infamous prison. Offenders against the
United States laws and detained witnesses In
the United States Courts are confined under
Tracey. Now, there are plenty of decent
jails IA secure as that in Ludlow-st., and
the United States authorities, as long as
they have the power to confne their prisoners
in any prison of any State, will be held re-
sponsible for the selection of a proper place
of confinement.
The pjffsbur0h Commercial thus pyinces natu- =