Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-28
OUR LETTER BOX.

| Editor State Herald:
! In his late message to the general as
| emily Gov. Oates recommended the crea-
ton Of a new office-that of inspectorsof
| jails-and gave good reasons for the re-
commentator. While we are opposed, as
a general rule, to the creation of new Of
fees in this particular we heartily in
dorse the Governors recommendation,
upon the score of humanity and economy.
There are upon the statute books laws
which, If enforced, will meet the necessi-
ties of the case, but they are not enforced
and will not be, until some competent
person is appointed whose duties shah be
to visit regularly every Jail in the state
to see that the inmates receive that care
and attention which are necessary to
their health and comfort. Are the in
mates of our jails, many. of whom are
innocent of the charges preferred against
them, properly fed and clothed, and treat
ed with that consideration due human
being who has been deprived of his 1iber-
ty for some supposed or real violation
of law? If we rely upon the reports OF
grand juries we will be forced to reply IN
the affirmative But Is 1t not a. fact tnat
the jails and the inmates thereof are al
ways fixed up and prepared for the
special visits made every six months by
this honorable body?
Let the jails be inspected as often as
possible by a competent and fearless Of
purpose, and differentzta tale will, in all
probability, be told. 1t will be found 1hat
not more than enc in ten of the Jails IN
the state is properly ventilated, that IL
there be any sewerage whatever, 1t iS SO
defective as to contribute to the bad
health of the inmates; that in winter the
iails are not warmed, that the bedding,
clothing and persons of the prisoners are
covered with vermin. that they never re-
ceive the benefit of air and sunlight. that
all the laws of hygiene are violated, not
only in the construction of the prison, but
in the manner in which the prisoners are
kept In short, it will be found that our
prisons are pest holes from which are
sent forth convicts in whose systems are
planted the seeds of disease from which
they never recover, and when received
in the penitentiary they are fit subjects
for a sanitarium, and are in fact Dur
den and expense uponthe state.
We speak advisedly upon this subject.
In support of cur views we beg leave TO
refer the reader to the late report CT Or.
Davis, physcion of convicts, on page Do,
In which he uses the following language:
| ''Take, for example, DIR. Lewis report
herein contained. He says that of the
139 who died in two years at Coalbufg,
twenty-five were too sick when received
from the jails to- ever do any work; ana
that of the fifty-nine deaths from tuber-
| cuIosis (and by the way, not white con-
Wet in the number), fifteen of them died
within one month after being received
and that ten more died in two months
after being received. Any intelligent per-
l.son knows that those twenty-five cases
| Of tuberculosis did not receive the germs
t-of the disease after they got to rCoaiburg,
and then develop consumption when
run it's course and terminated fataily IN
| side of two months. DIR. cunningham
valuable report, also herein contained,
shows practically the same state of af-
| fairs at Pratt mines. The truth is that
| all such cases and others beside, came
| from the jails with disease already In
| them"
| Again, on page 6s. of the same report,
| DR.. Davis says: "How much the jails are
| responsible for our prison death RATE is
| no new question. With their other un-
pleasant environments they, in my opln-
| ion, do undoubtedly contain disease
germs, and the enforced confinement IN
| them. often long aud tedious, make the
| inmates sometimes an easy prey even
| though there may be no spredlsposlng
| cause" f
| "The reports of the physicians herein
contained are undoubtedly correct when
| they show that the causes giving rise TO
| the development of the diseases ending
| in quite a number of deaths We're present
| and at work when the men were receiv-
! ed from the jails-in fact one died from
| the jail in Montgomery to the walls at
| Wetumpka--a case of tuberculosis"
The reader may consult the reports of
| the physicians connected with the con-
| Vlct system I0F the last lSL VI Lively
! years, and he will find that they. all con-
| cur in the statement that the jails are
| the prolific source of disease among con-
| victs, and the high death rate among
| them is caused. to some extent, by the
| unsanitary condition of the jails and the
| disregard of the laws of hygiene in the
| treatment of the inmates of the Jail.
| We know it to be a fact that the lamented
| DR.. Cochrane, who took a deep interest
| in the convict system, and did much for
latt NJ Of hn ay31n
| Now what is the plan pursued by the
| physician of convicts, when a prisoner
| is received from the jails. unfit for work?
| He is put down on the list of deadheads,
and brings no revenue to the state, or is
sent to the walls to reeuperate, and If
never fit to work, is an expense to the
state. The walls" are now filed with
| convicts of this class. many of whom do
| not earn the salt in their bread. The
| walls is the state hospital for con-
| victs, and it costs~the state a great deal
| of money to clothe, feed, and doctor the
| old, the infirm and those broken down by
| disease contracted in the mines, or in the
| jails, who are sent to this hospital. 1t
| will then be not only a humanitarian
| scheme, but an economical one-a saving
| of money to the state, to create the Office
| of inspector Of jails recommended by
| Governor Oates, and thereby put a stop,
at least, in measure, to what the con-
| vict physicians consider one great
| cause of disease and death among con-
victS. CITIZEN.
L Sheffield. Ala, Nov. az, 1896.
State Herald. s-St sff
THE controversy between our excellent
| Governor and yourself in the financial
condition of our state, is sufficient to
startle any of it's thinking citizens,
| whether the conclusion be that you are
| correct, or Gov oates statement be the
| more approximate amount of our deficit.
| Whether the deficit be 100000 or S600,00
| the fact is a most humihating confession
| from our people, that they are incompet-
| ent to finance their state through proper
| laws and business servants. The re-
| quirements of my business have in the
| past ten years made me student of the
| resources of the state by visits, and in
I designations of every county from the
| Tennessee to the gulf with the single ex-
! ception of the three counties in the ex-
| trme south east corner of the state
| These trips in very many instances ne
| cessitated the investigation. of titles to
large tracts of lands and the slip-shod
| methods of the assessments, failure to
| properly describe, ESCAPED lands. and