Litchfield enquirer., 1875-01-14
The Jail.

1 The Representatives of Litchfield coun- ty met at the Court Room on Wednesday afternoon, of last week, and organized by the appointment of Dr. Geo. Taylor, of New Milford, chairman. M-. Wm. L. Ransom, clerk of the courts and. er o0fcio. clerk of the meeting, called the roll. Thirty of the forty members ill the county answered to their names.
 On motion of Mir. Wadhams, Of Goshen, the County Commissioners were request ed to give the reasons for the call they had issued.
 MT. Rufus Cleaveland, of Barkhamsted, responded to this request by stating that the present jall has but seventeen cells, that there have been as many 36 prisoners in it at a time, and of course no suitable provision for them. The average has of late been over twenty. There are also no suitable cells for the women who are often sent here. He wished the representatives might hear the statement and examine the plans of the Hon. Mir. Stark, chairman of the State Board of Charities, who had strongly urged upon them the necessity of better accommodations for the prisoners than they now had. Dr. Taylor asked Mr. Stark to come forward and state his views regarding the matter in question.
 Mir. Stark said his attention had first been called to the condition of this jail by Mrs. Hoyt, of Stamford, member of their board He afterwards visited it with her. They found it defective in many re- spects, and made representations to that effect to the board of commissioners who proceeded at once to remedy the difficult ties as far as they could. There were some so radical and important, however, that they all came to the conclusion they could. not we'll be remedied without going to such an expense as would make it pref erable to build anew, rather than to at- tempt repairs. Mir. Stark thought the chief aim of prison disipline should be towards the reformation of prisoner, that they should be kept steadily employed both indoors and out, that the present plan which gave them no indoor work, was a very bad one, and one that could not be remedied with the present lack of room. He objected in the strongest terms to the herding of two or more prisoners ill the same cell, nights, then turning them loose in a common room with nothing to do during the day. The lack of separate cells for female prisoners, the impractibil- ity of securing proper ventilation, and numerous other difficulties were dwelt on at length. He said that the practice of giving the sheriff the board money of prisoners and tue amount he could get from outdoor labor in lieu of taller sala- ", seemed to him very objectionable.
 Mir. Stark then presented the plan of the new jail referred to in recent num- Der of the Enquirer and explained it's va rious features, the probable cost of it's construction (from $32, 900 to $38, ,OOO, and considered it much preferable that the present building and site, which he supposed to be worth some BIO, ,OO0, should be sold. He thought the jail should be located out of the village, on. some farm of perhaps forty acres of land, upon which the prisoners might find outdoor labor, and that it should have suitable indoor l arrangements for steady work when not employed outside. He spoke of the Windham county jail which, with small CT average number of prisoners than here, has paid all it's county expenses and de- posted surplus of g, 800 in Savings Bank. Mir. Stark answered various ques- tions of representatives regarding his plan and the necessity for new building. Mir. Catlin, of Harwinton, then called on the county commissioners for further information regarding the condition of the iail and the county finances.
 Mir. Baldwin, of New Milford, also made enquiry regarding the county finan- ces. He said that in former years he had been a county commissioner himself. Then they rented the prison to the jailer who took the State. allowance for board, and the proceeds of the prisoners labor, and the result was that the county nearly paid its way. Was there no income now from labor of prisoners? Who has it2
 MT. Cleveland then explained that in former years, the county had received rent from the jailer varying from $15O or so, during the war, to S45O per snnum. When the present sheriff came into office, in June 1869, the jail was rented for S45O
 He objected to the prisoners being work ed out at all, broke up the arrangement the commissioners had made, took pos- session of the jail, and has allowed the county nothing for labor of prisoners since. He now employs their labor out. doors. chiefly on his own land, to an ex- tent fully equal to that which had been practiced before he took the jail. In for mer times, too. the .ailers, beside paying rent, furnished their own fuel. The pres, ent sheriff compelled the county to fur nish fuel to the amount of about $100 per annum. The loss of income arising from the course pursued by the sheriff has been the occasion of the frequent assess ments on towns for county expenses that have prevailed of late. In reply to ques- tion from Mir. Catlin he said that Sheriff Baldwin now received the proceeds of the prisoners labor. He was asked if there had not been a number of escapes and ii large sums had not been expended in their pursuit. Mr. Cleveland stated that sev- eral had escaped. He knew nothing of the expenses of pursuit as they were not paid by the county. In reply to ques- ton by MT. Woodruff he said he thought