The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-29
DISGRACE TO THE CITY
The Need of a New Jail Is En-
phaSiZed.
MRS. BOYDEN'S OPINION
9'VILEST PLACE IN ALL THE
WoRLD.n
Philanthropic Lady Visits the Pest
Hole and Expresses Her Indigna-
tion-Man In For Vagrancy
Makes Numerous Charges That
Are Mostly Fabrications.

Times unnumbered the condition of
the city Jail has been called to the pub
lie mind. and there is probably not a
public-spirited man or woman in Salt
Lake who would not heave sigh Of
relief if the old calaboose could be
wiped off the face of the earth.
Judging from facts which have been
brought to light through Mrs. Louise
Boyden, a phila.nthropic lady who
spends much time working among the
prisoners at the penitentiary and Jails.
things have reached even a worse pass
than before in the city Jail. Mrs. Boy
den visited the city Jail a day or so ago
in response to appeals from a prisoner
who knew her by reputation.
1t is the vilest place in all the world,
1 believe" she said yesterday, describ-
ing her visit. They took me into the
upper cell, which l now learn is rather
the better Of the two. The stencil in
there was simply dreadful-dreadfuli
could scarcely breathe. il was so bad.
The prisoners have no place even 10 sit
down, unless they sit on the floor. There
was no sign OF a bedstead. The men
sleep on the floor with a few blankets
or quilts as bed clothing, and the YER
min simply swarm in there. There is
no ventilation and almost no light. If
the prisoners want to read they must
light candles. They live in perpetual
twilight.
Jailer Not to Blame.
4 don't bl1n the jailer so much. He
cannot help me dreadful sanitary con-
dition of the place. but there are some
things he could do. They tell me that
the prisoners are not allowed to bathe.a
except when they are discharged.
Think of that-some of them are in
there for two or three months withoutl
a BATH and in this hot weather. too. ~
Il talked with Dr. Beatty about the
place, and he said ii was a Veritable
pest house, a charnel house. II the men
who are put in there are bad, they
come out worse. That horrible place
brutalizeS and beastialiZes them. We
might as well kill them outright as to
destroy their health. There is no hui
name society here, and as the city
council has refused to do anything
about the place, think the newspapers /
ought to take the matter up and agi- !
tate il until the taxpayers demand a |
new jail. And in the meantime we
ought TO do something to ameliorate |
the condition of the poor Wretches who /
are in the Jail now. Let a committee of |
prominent citizens go through there !
and see what a place they are forced to |
live in, and I'll warrant something |
would be done for them that would |
make life less a curse to them than it
is now"
Letter From a Prisoner.
Mrs Boyden produced a letter from
a prisoner now in the Jail for vagrapcy,
which gives a graphic and vivid de-
scription of the conditions now exist
ing at the Jail. 1t was, in part, as
follows:
i would like to call your attention
TO conditions as they are in this prison
at the present, which 1 am sure you
are unacquainted with.
In visiting the prisoner yesterday, it
is too bad you only saw the one de-
partment. The one Immediately I'M
derneath, with its foul dungeon cells,
vi1iated and fetid air, filthy bedding,
swarming with bedbugs and lice, che
floor sticky with accumulated filth and
flooded around the closet, from which
foul gases are constantly escaping,
with the whole place full of men
breathing the impure air and practi-
cally no ventilation-this must be seen
to be appreciated.
The time to do so is the forenoon. A
person coming in from the outside can
not distinguish one man from another,
the darkness being so great. If you
found the department above bad, this
one is terrible. To be confined in it
soon undermines the health and leaves
the victim a spiritless wretch. unable
to reason or act with any clearness.
How Sick Are Treated.
"A man suffering with bladder and
kidney troubles was in terrible pain
from distended and infiamed bladder.
1t took the united efforts of the prison.
ers to get the jailer to send for DR.. ke- ,
OCH at the end of the third day of this
poor prisoners agony. He was five ,
day man, in for drunk, and had 10 stay !
his full time, although he had a home ,
to go to. j
This is the way sick people are treat {
ed. No attention is wasted on sani-
tary conditions. Most inmates are un-
provided with a second shirt or draw
ers so that they are obliged to go with
out a change during their term of con- n
fnement. Bedbugs and lice swarm all
over the place. The bedding is horribly
filthy. A citizen of the city in for in
toXication is using quilts clotted with >
the blood of a suicide. No disinfect-
ants are used, nor are there any facili-
ties for fumigating bedding or clothes.
The only thing used for the extermina- /
ton of vermin is bedbug powder. which
seems to make no impression at ALL !
Prisoners see a. bathtub. but are not /
allowed to use it until the day of dis :
charge. The jailer never steps inside :
Of the corridor, unless to accompany a
visitor, and yesterday was the first !
time this had occurred since my i'm q
prisonment (fifteen days., when he
came in with you.
The weak prisoners have to submit '
TO the dictation of the strong. and wait l
Tor their deliverance in hourly fear of a
trouble. Poor old inoffensiVe drunks c
are afraid 10 complain; others usually 2
cave town when their time expires j
and citizens in for drunkenness are
to say anything when their e
line expires. l
Everyone has a wholesome fear of "
should ii be found out on u
hem that they smuggled complaints TO
people about conditions here,
Is the dungeon or sweat box on bread
md water for a term of days is the
east they expect. Hoping you will E
ook into the matter, l am, respectfully,
JOHN SMITH"
-AILER KIMBALL,S STATEMENT h