Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-01-15
FILTHY PRISONERS
STALL VI Ilvs lMu POOR IouSEi
xAs Bsspssal - - Sshntssea - Ne
pssRls Nest svxiag-A kssa ~ tAs
Nsv essEs uesss fsr ossss rssas
MessanGs - ~ Descriptions

uas that relating n the erection Of
new county house ~ the poor farm.
The day bsfore, consideration OF pro-
possl vas postponed for day. looking
70 the erection ol = $50 900 building. 70
b paid for ~ inssallnsnss Of sc 40
year. when the matter came up yes
terday. Supervisor Roberta offered .
substitute. proposing 10 submit 70 .
vote Of the people ths raising # t2o..
900 for . new building. the whole
amount 70 b raised BY tai. in the year
1891. Mayor Uhl aud Alderman
0Donnell we're present, and we're in
vitsd 10 present their views on the gen.
eral subject OF pauperism and its
remedy. The Mayor rehesrssd the
eisy's past experience in dealing with
the poor. and urged that the county
meet its obligations in this direction
wisely.
Alderman O'Donnell said that Grand
Rapids 10 needisssiy expanding three
times - much, propertionately, -
Detroit 10 doing, because Of the diner.
ent methods Of tho two cities. The
city poor costa Grand Rapids about $780,.
900 annually, while Detroit, with three
times the population, pays out no
more. There are ia the city about four
hundred poor needing assistance, and
il proper places could be provided for
about one hundred and fifty Of these,
the expense of their keeping could b
largely reduced.
The discussion Of the subject was
long and earnest, and q vote on Mr..
Roberts substitute was reached, and
was carried. rs follows:
Yeas-Benjamin. Carlyle, Clements,
Emmons, Frost, Gill. Hathaway. Hoga.
done, Klyn, Lepplnk, Loomis, o. Leary,
Plumb, Proctor, Roberts, Schermer-
horn, Shattuck, Sinclair, Skeels. Smits,
Synder, Stowe, Sullivan, Weehes-24.
Nays-Berry, Giffin, Gould, Hill,
Hubbard, Jones, Kinney, Rosenberg.
Solomon, Walker, Ward, Woodwork
IL.
BY this action, the proposal to erect
= 81. 900 county house, and pay for it
by immediate taxation, will be SUBJ
mitted to the people of the county in
the spring.
Supervisor Skeels proposed TO reserve
in the new court house room for the
holding Of all sorts of meetings Of .
quasi public character, such as horti-
cultural societies, farmers associations.
oranges, etc. The matter was referred
to the Committee on Buildings.
Amotion was lost to allow Justice
Westfall to &ppear and explain some
rejected bills. The board took the posi-.
ton that the explanations made to the
committee must be assumed to have
been adequate.
H. j. Chambers, of Alpine, was
elected, unanimously, county drain
commissioner.
The board then adjourned in order
to 60 over and make an inspection Of
the jail. The supervisors who have
gone through the Jail discovered that
the arrangements there for the cleanli-
ness of prisoners are not only mad
equate, but utterly absent. Ex-Sheriff
Bishop, who knows more about the
matter than any other man in the
county, says that the moment man
gets behind the bars of the Kent county
| Jail, there is nothing ahead for him but
to ferment In his own filth. Situated
| on the bank OF q large river,
standing III q town with two
complete systems of water works, there
is not hath-tub in the whole place
which the prisoners can use. The one
solitary bathroom can not be used. be-
cause it is situated in hallway that
leads out into the yard, and the outer
door is not properly secured to prevent
escape. Every little while, some news
paper reporter, seeing the filthy coudi.
ton of the inmates, writes up the sher.
| iff and his family as the cause of all the
dirt ard vermin.
Col. Bishop says the county ought to
provide that the first act of every per-
son committed jail I've to take q
thorough scrubbing. Many of the pris.
| Oners are covered with vermin and
their clothing saturated with dirt when
taken to the Jail, and they must be-
thrust into the cages with tho other
prisoners. Under such circumstances
the wonder is that life can be supported
there at all. The ex-sherif thinks the
county ought to own o certain amount
of coarse clothing to be put upon
those convicts whose presence would
be o defilement. Preliminary to this
however, 4 sufficient number of bath
rooms ought to be provided to give
every prisoner in the Jail q scrubbins
as often as may be required. When
TIM convict leaves the jail, he would
Of course, be obliged to give up the
clothing furnished by tho county and
resume his own garments. The annual
visits of the supervisors, of course. re-
call all these facts every year. but the
outrage 10 perpetuated of budding fifty
or sixty men together and forcing then