Saint Mary's beacon., 1877-09-06
ST. MARY's COUNTY JAIL.

This jail. completed last September at
a cost at 50 500, was visited on the 9th
OF April and found, both in respect to
material and workmanship, to be solid
and secure. The building is located in
the Court House yard, at Leonardtown,
and presents neat appearance exter-
nally. II is about SO feet front. with a
gable Of l9 feet, slate roof, and succeed
walls.
The lower story, nine feet pitch. is
built of stone: the upper story, eight feet
height of ceiling, is OF best quality brick
laid IN cement. The lower or ground
floor has passage way four feet wide,
and room l2xl7 on either side. This
entire floor is occupied by the jailor and
his family. The upper floor, which is
approached by narrow flight OF wood
en- steps from the hall below, is also BIZ
sected by passage way, with windows
at either extremity. On the North side
of the passage is cell No. 1, which rs
l2xl7 feet in dimensions, with three
windows. On the South side there are
two other cells; No. 2is Sxl2 feet with,
one window looking to the East. No.
3 is 9xl2 feet, and has two Windows
The windows are al! provided with Sc
cure gratlngs.ot small mesh placed Oh
the inner side OF the sash: the doors are
solid wood, iron clad on 1he cell side,
and provided with an opening 70 inches
square at the top, which is guarded by
stout iron bars.
The walls Of the cells are all secure
ly cascd with iron bars three inches
wide and one inch thick, extending
vertically from the lower story above
the upper ceiling, which is also substan-
tally secured. These lining bars are
placed four inches apart, but the brick
work extends between them, and is
flush with them on the inner surface:
all is hidden from view BY a coating OF
plaster. The cells were only reasona-
bly, clean, and not at all orderly: cloth
ing and bedding being scattered loose
" around.
There was an absence of Jail order.
For privy arrangements the prisoners
use buckets, which are placed in COW
cred commodcs, and emptied at regular
intervals, or whenever necessary
There is no court yard connected with
the Jail, and prisoners are conseQuen ently
closely and constantly confined in their
cells.
There were only six prisoners in Gus.
todv-one white woman, insane, one
eolored girl tor forgery, one white
man charged with bigamy. one colored
boy, imbecile, two men for petty often.
ees. The white woman occupied cell
No. :: she is 81 years OF age and un-
married. For several months she. has
exhibited paroxysms Of violence toward
members OF her immediate family, and
finally legal examination was had and
she was committed TO Jail for common
assault, where she has now been abou,
three weeks.
The woman is u lmistakab,y insane.
and should be immediately placed in an
asylum for proper care aud treatment.
Her mother, who is said TO be highly
respectable old lady, was in the village
seeking the release of her daughter from
prison, but declared her inability TO pro-
vide for her in a lunatic asylum; this
unfortunate creature must vet languish
IN the cherries cell Of the county iail.
Cell No. ? was occupied BY gen
teel-looking white man, indicted and a.
the time undergoing trial for bigamy,
which is said 10 be the first indictmen n,
ever found for this offence in the coun-
" ci ST. Marys.