The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-05-06
CHILDREN NOT At SCHOOL.
Morristown Members Of S. c. A.
Discuss School Problem.

The Society Finds Better Conditions at the
County Ponrhouse, but the Sexes are not
yet Entirely separated-FactsC oncerning
mittee has Star saver-A Home Paid
for and Lost Reports of Committee
Work.
The regular meeting of the Morris
County Branch of the State Charities
Aid Association was held i'll the Y. M.
@. A. building Wednesday afternoon.
The meeting was opened with prayer by
DR.. A. Erdman. The treasurer's report
showed balance of $4,000, all bills paid.
For the Committee on Poorhouse,
Robert Carter reported that he and l. r.
Pierson had visited the Poorhouse in
February and found the house clean and
in good order and wished to report that
there were at present no facilities for
women bathing in winter. DR.. Twining
reported that he and Mrs. Twinipg
visited the Poorhouse last Sunday and
found that religious services are regular
ly heldsby clergymen of the different
parishes surrounding, assisted occasion
ally by young men from the Y. M. G. A.
at Boonton. There were 101 persons in
the house, making it too full, but the
rooms were clean and in good order.
The new additions are working we'll but
are not well administered. Last Sunday
he found the door between the mems and
women's departments in the yard I'M
locked and women were in the mems de-
partment, and wise versa. The keeper
who was responsible for this was away
at the time. DIR. Hughes reported that
Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Hoyt had also
visited the Poorheuse recently and found
things in much better order than they
were two years ago.
DIR. Charlton T. Lewis reported for the
Committee on the County Jail as follows:
TO THE MORRIS COUNTY BRANCH OF THE
STATE CHARITIES AID ASSOCIATION.
Your Committee on the County Jail re-
specially report that no radical change
has been made in the conditions.of the in
stitution since the last detailed reports.
We note, however. with pleasure the gen.
eral cleanliness of every apartment, the en-
tire freedom of the jail from the disagree
able and unWhOlesOme odOrS which have at
times been marked feature of it, and the
| perfect health of all it's inmates. Since the
accommodations were improved by the
erection of the so-called cages, by the new
plumbing, and by the furnishing of some
rooms upstairs for women and children.
the prisoners have been better cared for
bot RI nc q 10
ent management is perhaps doing every
thing in its power to combat the evils
which continually threaten to creep into
such an institution. In any remarks that
we shall make, therefore, we wish distinct
| ~ to be understood as implying no reHec-
ton upon the Intelligence or efficiency of
the officers in charge.
1t is nevertheless true that the system
under which our County Jails are conduct
ed is deplorable one. In this Jail there
are at present thirty inmates; some are
convicts, the majority are held for trial for
| petty offenses, a few are accused of aggraY-
ated felonies. and three or four are aetain-
ed as witnesses. In the principal room,
upon which most of the cells open, about
twenty men, of all ages, are confined to-
gether. They have no employment what
ever, except that two or three of the con-
victs are made useful at times in helping to
clean the jail nearly the whole time is
spent in absolute idleness Many of them
spend every day, Sunday included, in play
ing cards. Your committee think that
this is probably better for them than the
conversation and thoughts which would
occupy their minds if they we're deprived
of this occupation. Inquiry into the his
tory of some of the prisoners now awaiting
| the action of the Grand Jury has revealed
to us glimpses of tragedies in real life
which, if they could be recited in detail,
would touch every heart, and would, we
4
perfections in our laws which make such
histories possible.
Without dwelling on individual cases,
however, we are firmly convinced that the
only true remedy for the defects and mis-
cries of the present system is a complete
revision of our penal laws. Our County
Jails ought to be abolished. A house of
detention for persons awaiting trial, and if
necessary place of detention, not pris-
on for witnesses, might be maintained in
the vicinity of each of our criminal courts
but these places ought not to be used for
combining convicts. Every prison to which
any man is sentenced for crime should be
able to furnish opportunities for systematic
labor, and to require such labor of every
inmate. This is the first and great con-
dition of its usefulness. Further, an equal
ly necessary part of any adequate reform is
the adoption of a probation system sub
stautially similar to that which has produc-
A bill establishing such system was pass.
ed by the Legislature of 1897, but was lost
| through the failure of the engrossing
bureau in the Legislature; the bill was in
troduced again in the session of 1898, but
no action was taken upon it. Our Legis-
| lature which has just adjourned has also
failed to make any appropriation for the
completion of the proposed Railway Re-
formatory, another important element in
the reform of our penal system. We must
therefore wait indefinitely for any action,
in this direction by our Legislature. Mean
while, some palliation of the moral evils
continually wrought by our method Of con
1 fning prisoners in this County is possible
| if intelligent visitors to the institution will
continue to interest themselves in bring
ing instruction and entertaining reading
to the inmates, and thus giving them some
thing else to do and to think about than
the exchange of criminal experiences and
the instruction of one another in criminal
motives and practices.
| Upon motion the report was adopted
and it was suggested that it be published
in the local npvvsnq r1ars