The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1873-01-04

Of the State of Indiana prepared
by our friend Charles F. Coffin, for
the ssNational Prison Association. y
which meets in Baltimore, on the
21st January, 1873, will interest our
readers. We observe amongst the
names of the members of this As
sociation those of some of the ablest
and best men in our land, and have
no doubt good results will grow out
of their meeting:
Penal and Reformatory Institutions
in the State Of indiana.
The State of Indiana was admit
ted into the Union in 1916. The
population was then small proba-
bly, not exceeding 10000, Most Of
the State was thickly covered with
trees, and the labor of clearing and
rendering it habitable was great
hence its progress for several years
was slow,-its inhabitants were most
~ Farmers, crime was rare, and
punishment speedy and of a prima-
tive character. By the Statute of
1907, 'Horse stealing, treason, mur-
der, and arson, were punishable with
death Whipping might be inflicted
for burglary, robbery, larceny, hog
stealing and bigamy, also for strik-
ing parent or master. Provision
was made for confinement in Jail
for some offences" The first iails
erected were merely small buildings
of squared logs SO arranged as to
keep criminal safely. The writer
well remembers one of this kind in
which murderer who was after
wards hung was confined some time.
With the gradual growth of the
State these were, in most cases, re-
placed with small brick buildings,
often with but one SECURE room,
with small grated window, and no
other provision for light or ventil-
alton. Into this were put indis-
criminately all who violated the
Statutes of the State, and subjected
themselves to imprisonment. Food
was provided and brought by the
Jailer, and Of course its quality and
quantity depended much upon his
will, and such attention was paid to
the neatness and cleanliness of the
cells as he thought proper, sub.
ject to an occasional inspection by
the Grand Jury or County Commits
sioners. Courts were but seldom
held and often prisoners remained
several months awaiting trial Many
such Jails are still found in the ag-
ricultural counties where there are
no large towns and but little crime
exists, and they are much of the
time without a tenant. But the State
has grown rapidly and now num-
bers about 100000 inhabitants
railroads and turnpikes, have been
constructed in almost every part of
it,-large bodies of coal and other
minerals have been found which have
already given it in many places, the
characteristics of manufacturing
and mining community, ~ larger
towns and cities have grown up, and
as q natural consequence crime has
increased. In some of the county
seats new jails have been built, in
which much more attention has been
paid to the laws of health and to
the physical comfort of the prison
ers,-and yet too many of these
have been built with Iron Cells, and
grated doors, affording little OBJ
struction to free conversation and
communication amongst the prison
ers,-a mistaken idea of kindness
has caused most jailers during the
day to allow the prisoners promiscu-
ously to intermingle in the halls and
corridors, thus opening the way for
the hardened criminal to indoctri-
nate those less SO, and for the young
er to take lessons in crime from the
older. We believe however, that as
public attention is called to the
matter more care will be taken in
the construction and management
OF jails, and already, in some coun-
ties, fine buildings are being erect
ed for Prisons. The prisoners are
not required to labor in anyof these
Prisons but are kept in total idle
ness Books are sometimes furn-
ishedby the benevolent, and religi-
ous instruction is given occasional
~ by those who do it voluntarily.
A system Of District PrisomG iu1
which several of the Agricz,ltural
counties are united, for those CON
victed Of minor offanses and Tor the
untried, where the prisoners can be