San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-03-20
,.ro the Law and 70 the Testimony ,,

ITO the Law and TO the Testimony,
Such was the challenge OF the ol
Hebrew prophet 10 his opponent
Apropos Of our Jail, its construction
condition and management let U
for few moments follow his exam
pie,
Article 5000 OF the Revised Statute
reads M follows;
The commissioners courts OF ia
several counties shall provide SAT
and suitable jails for their RESPECTIVE
counties, and shall cause them TO b
kept in good repair,
Article 3006 provides NJ follows
II shall DO the duty Of commission
ers' courts OF the counties TO zee tina
the jails Of their respective countie
are kept in clean and healthy con
dition, properly ventilated. and no
overcrowded with prisoners. and tina
they be furnished with clean aut
comfortable mattresses and blanket,
sufficient for the comfort Of the pris
opers therein confined
Other articles immediately follow
ing imperatively require sheriffs and
jailors TO receive into their jails pris
oners rendered for that purpose by
any United States marshal, but pro,
vide that the fact that there is not
sufficient room in said jails shall be a
valid excuse for refusal.
Article $50 of the Code Of Criminal
Procedure says:
II is the duty OF the sheriff &c keep
safely person committed to his Gus
tody. He shall use no cruel or I'M
Usual means to secure this end.
The above legal provisions of the
great State Of Texas, as contrasted
with the action of our county author
tiles in the matter INVOLVED, naturally
suggest some needed comments. If
our officials have disregarded the
law which they have sworn to obey,
The fact should be known, and they
should be held to just responsibility.
Now will any one pretend that our
county has been supplied with Jail
either SAFE or SUITABLE! And as re-
cards the requirements Of Article
30O5, nearly every single provis-
on in it has been regularly and sys-
,ematicaliy violated. 1t is true, the
construction of the jail was snch as to
'ender ventilation impossible, Lo-
,ated in the lowest ground in the
own, in the basement story, the cells
Iolid plate iron, with when closed ONLY
wo small outside openings, how cOuld
here be ventilation? Every one
,nows that to close the doors and
windows of au ordinary house at
light during the summer of this |
Innate it soon becomes unendur-
bio to its occupants. What, then,
,ust have been the sufferings during
he past ten years of the inmates of
ur prison pen, and especially during
he late oyercrowded periods Day
ght also, is mainly excluded. But
his imperfect construction, as we
ave seen, the law does not excuse
nd aside from that, has the thing
cen kept in "clean and healthy con-
ition, not overcrowded with prison I
49, and have they been furnished
18th "clean and comfortable mattress
5 and blankets sufficient for their
omfort!" Allthese questions, accord.
g to the best testimony which we
ave been able to procure, have to be
nswered in the negative. There are
0 mattresses, only blankets spread
n the iron floor. But next to ven
lation the overcrowding has been
lie main ground of ofiense. 1t was
IS excusable thnn the lack of yentil-
,ion. because while that il at pres
1t unavoidable, If the Jail is used at
|, the latter was not. The law, as
i'll be- seen, excuses sheriffs from
limiting U. S. prisoners if their jails
c overcrowded, and expressly for
DIS oyercrowding, 80 that sheriffs
o clearly warranted in sending the ;
lpernumeraries to other jails having T.;
litable accommodations. What could
, more monstrous than to crowd in.
such q Jail rs ours, ATTEST calculat.
| to accommodate ten or twelve prison
8 about twice that number ?
oppose there should be still twice
many more, say fifty, by tho same ,
'ocess of logic they should still be Z
pit here, even if they had to be
lcked like sardines in box! The
'eping 80 many here, was not only
refacedly illegal, but perfectly ,
atuitous piece of iuhumanity. 1t A.,
quite incomprehensible to us how {
~ consideration of filthy ncre' to ,
derived from the boarding of pris
lers, or anything of that sort, could