Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-03
THE CARE OF INEBRIATES.
Cared for 80 Alcoholic Subjects in
Only Three Months.
A TEXT FOR THE TEETOTALERS
The First Year of Warden McAleese's Man.
agement Ends To-Day.
THE BEST KEPT PRISON IN THE COUNTRY

To-day closes the first year of John Nc
Aleese's administration as warden of the
county jail It has been a successful year
for him. Never before was the manage
ment of the prison the subject of so much
complimentary criticism from the court and
the officers who compose the prison board.
| The institution itself has been frequently
commented upon for its remarkable clean
illness and freedom from Objectionable
features always connected with prisons or
other buildings in which many people live
and sleep.
During the past few months several men,
whose business it is to visit the prisons of
the country, have declared the Allegheny
county Jail the cleanest and best arranged
in the United States, excepting only that
at Albany, n. Y, which is no better.
Of the more than 10, 600 prisoners handled
by the warden in the past year, none have
escaped and only two have died. One Of
the deaths was a prisoner who was sent to
the Jail dying from consumption and ex-
pired few hours after, notwithstanding
extraordinary efforts to prolong life. The
other was suicide who took his own life in
a fit of dependency Immediately after be-
ing placed in cell and before his intention
was suspected.
A Free Inebriate Asylum.
The warden attributes the remarkably
low death rate to the care exercised in the
handling Of prisoners According to a re-
port submitted to the Prison Board last
Saturday by Jail Physician Chessrown,
more cases of habitual drunkenness and
alcoholism are treated In the Allegheny
county Jail than in all the inebriate asylums
and special institutions for the treatment
of such cases in the United States During
the quarter ended September 80, the total of
alcohol cases treated was 80 This was the
Comparatively few of such cases were
serious enough to be sent to the hospital,
but they were treated in their cells and
cured up as well as the time they were de.
tanned would permit.
Nine-tenths of the prisoners taken to the
county Jail are suffering from the effects of
drink when they go in. Many of them are
in frightful physical condition. Men and
women, arrested during or just after pro-
tracted debauches, are frequently sent to Jail
by the police magistrates to get them away
from the temptation and to give them q
chance 10 sober up."
Prompt Medical Relief Furnished.
Often the unfortunate prisoners are in a
collapsed condition from exposure, and
should properly be sent to the hospital
Iather than the jail, because without imme-
diate and skillful treatment they would die
in less than "a hours. All the employees
know this, and as soon as man enters the
prison, if he shows any evidence of dissipa-
tion, he is placed under treatment, the
vigor of which varies according to his con-
dition. 1t is common for prisoner to get
dose of medicine and warm bath before
he even reaches his cell In severe cases,
where the man is suffering from delirium
tremens and exposure, such cases being fire.
quent, system of treatment is followed
which has always proved efficacious. When
the case is too serious for the Jail employees,
DR.. Chessrown is summoned
Under the course of treatment now in
vogue many lives have been saved The |
use of the padded cell has been almost en-
tirelv dispensed with, an apparatus devised |
by the Warden being used instead, which |
is far more humane in the treatment and |
superior in results.
Discovered a New Disease.
In the report of Dr. Chessrown there ap-
pears in the list of cases treated during the |
past three months, ITO cases of worry. |
When a prisoner is brought in in good |
health physically, but apparently much |
worried over his crime or his imprisonment,
ne is placed under a system of treatment
just the same as if suffering from disease
Worry, the doctor says, is as serious oft en-
as any disease he has to handle. Some
times prisoners will sit in their cells for
days and nights, refusing to eat, drink OF
sleep, simply worrying. If allowed to con-
tinue so they might become insane, commit
suicide or contract disease of some other
kind, their system at such time being
particularly liable to disease.
Medicines and tonics are given in such
cases to induce an appetite, but the best
effort is secured bv what the Warden calls
''iollying them along" He talks to them,
cheers them up and finally causes them to
forget their troubles after which their cure
is easy.