St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-27
TOO MANY. COUNTY JAILS.
Secretary Hart Pavors Their Consolida-
ton in Certain Districts.
AN EXTRAVAGANT OUTLAY.
Thousands Of Dollars Squandered
Yearly in Maintaining Prison
ers in Idleness,

A question of growing i'm portance,
and one which the legislature of next
year will be called upon to consider, is
the extravagart management of the
county jails in this state. The figures
given herewith thoroughly substantiate
the statement, and will convince tax
payers of the immediate necessity for
reforming the present system of county
jails. Secretary Hart, of the state
board OF corrections and charities, who
is the best informed individual on this
question in the state, urges that some
thing should be done, and recommends
the abolition of county iails, and the
formation Of a system of district jails.
A small number of these iaiIs would
accommodate the whole of the short
time cOnvictS.
Mr.. Hart was busy Yesterday pre-
pairing. the biennial report of his de-
partment for presentation to the legiS-
lature, and allowed the GLOBES repre-
sentative to make the quotation here
given: "There are" he writes, fifty
county jails in the state, with united
capacity of rs prisoners. During the
year 1887 the average number of prison.
erS in these fifty jails was 164 SIG. Only
five jailS averaged more than five pris-
Oners each, namely: Hennepin, Ram
sey. st. Louis. Winona and StearnS
county iails. The remaining forty-fve
jails had total average population of
% 40 prisoners. or l $40 prisoners
each. Twenty jails averaged
LESS THAN ONE PRISONER EACH.
The cost of keeping the Is 40 pris-
OnerS in these fOrty-five jailS was $32,-
1NfAir, m fn,
week. In the five jailS of Hennepin,
Ramsey, st. Louis, WinOna and Stearns
the cost of keeping an average of 9S.6
prisoners was 5,54S, or $3.50 per person.
being 4.96 perweek-about half as much
as in the other jails. The cause of the
higher cost in the smaller Jail is the
necessity for keeping jailer and heat
ing the Jail. no matter how small the
number of inmates. The board of priS-
OnerS costs about the same, ranging
from S3.25 per week in Ramsey and
Hennepin counties to 81 per week,
which is the usual rate. For instance,
the Scott county averaged 0.22 prisoner,
and paid for board of prisoners s45.l4.
jailer salary $40, heating Jail $50, mis-
cellaneOuS expenses $3.50, total S47975,
making yearly rate of S2.663 per pris-
oner. or S47.50 average weeks board of
prisoners. Carlton county kept an av-
erage of 0.29 prisoner at cost
of Sill; Douglas. 1 prisoner,
costing $500; Faribault, 0.59 pris-
oner, costing 1856: LIE Sueur,
O.62 prisoner, costing $3.50; Mcleod, !. ii
prisoners. costing Sl,02S; Mile LacS.
0.19 prisoner, SlS5; Morrison, OBS pris-
oher, costing S344; NicoIlet, OBS pris-
oner, costing 1868: Scott, 0.22 prisoner,
costing 1886: Steele, 0.6 prisoner, cost
ing s620-makiDg an average i'll the ten
counties for the year of So prisoners
maintained, at Il cost of SLIGO per priS-
Oner. or 5000 per week. These figures
show in part the extravaganza of main
. tanning these small jails, and the ex-.
penseS given above
DO NOT INCLUDE REPAIRS.
The fifty jail buildings have cost
about S550,00O, on which the interest at
6 per cent would be $4,000. FOrty-fve
jails, excluding Ramsey, H, nnepin, St.,
Louis, Winona and StearnS, cost about
S425, 900, OH which the interest at 6 per-
cent would be $4,000. During the year
1887 about $1,000 was expended for re-.
pairs. Furthermore, it is impossible in
these small iailS to provide proper
separation and qualification of.pris0ners,
or to secure proper sanitary conditions.
1t is also impossible to provide work for
prisoners serving SentenceSauThe rem
edy is 10 abolish the present county Jail
system, establishing district jails. in con-
nectlon with which there should be
labor for convicted prisoners. For ex-
ample, the jailS at Crookston, Fergus
Falls, st. Cloud, Duluth, st. Paul. Min
neapolis. Red Wing, Winona, Austin,
Mankato. WOrthington and MGntevldeo
might easily accommodate ala of the
prisoners for the state, and would then
have an average of only about fourteen
prisoners each. What is now paid for
jailers' salaries would pay all transport
tatiOn expenses. The prisons could be
operated at less cost than now and be
more suitably kept. Each county would
need three OF four iron cells to keep
prisoners during court, and the sheriff
could employ Waterman for two or
three nights at such times. Building
small jailS should be stopped, and the
counties maintaining district jails
should be remunerated for the use of
their buildings. In course of time dis
trict work houses would grow up in con-
nection with the district jails."