Evening star., 1900-09-18
Police Court building.

The Judges set forth at length the reasons
which induced them to recommend an ad-
vance in their salary and other increases,
ard have this 10 say of the Police Court
building:
IN making our report we desire to call
your attention 10 :he fact that the Police
Court building is entirely inadequate and
untitled for the purposes for which 1t Is
being used. Under the act of Congress
passed at its last session provision was
made for a house of detention for children
and female prisoners. There is no place
i'll the Police Court building or its premises
where the children can be kept separate
and apart from others Some appropria-
ton ought to be made al once to enable
the court to carry out the law as was in
tended. The rooms used by the District
attorney for the United States. and the
District of Columbia are entirely made
quate for the purpose. having no privacy
whatever, and all persons in attendance can
hear the facts in any case being investi-
gated by the several attorneys, and ad-
vantage of this is frequently taken.
The clerks office Is in a very crowded
condition and is entirely inadequate to ac-
commodate the large number of persons and
officers who daily attend there~It is crowd
ed TO its utmost capacity: in summer 1t Is
hot and in winter it is cold. The valuable
records of the court are kept in a vault,
which is now almost filled to Its utmost
capacity, and provisions should be made
at once for additional room to store the
court records. The Police Court cells are
erected upon rented property, and the large
outlay that has been made for them has
been made upon the property of the land
lord. There are three cells of the old-fash-
Toned kind for men, and frequently, espe-
cially in the summer. one hundred or more
prisoners are packed in them. The pris-
oEers al the door are able to get a little
better air than those in the rear. 1t is n
disgrace to the capital that such cells
should be allowed to continue. There is a
large room upon this rented property set
apart for women. and while it fs in a very
poor condition the women prisoners are a
great deal better off than the men.
Inconveniences and Defects.
Not the least of the many Inconvenience
and defects of the Police Court is the need
of water closets for men. Hundreds of
men have business with the Police Court
every day. and there is not a single water
closet in the building to which the public
can have access. The Police Court build
ing was originally a church that has been
remodeled to make it fit for it's present
use 1t takes a large sum every year to
keep 1t in any sort of repair, and year by
year it will require larger appropriations
for that purpose. 1t seems to US that
proper economy requires the erection of an
entirely new building of sufficient size for
the needs of the District.
I'VE call your attention to these things
for the purpose of asking you to take such
steps as will secure, either by condemnation
of the property adjoining the north and
east of the court building sufficient ground
with that now owned by the District on
which to erect a modern building suitable
for the uses of the court or to secure a
suitable place for the court elsewhere. 1t
seems TO us that this is due to the capital
OF the nation. There is no other court in
the District that comes much into the
lives of its citizens, that Is so necessary to
the proper and orderly conduct of the bus-
ness of the capital city is the Police
Court, and. ii seems unjust that the citi-
zens should be compelled to do business in
building of the character we have tried to
describe"