The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-03-12
THE RESPONSIBILITY.

! q
The knowledge of the escape of Stova from our
county Jail will come as a shock to every citizen s
Stovall escaped almost without effort He walked
out of the open door of the Jail and went on his
way rejoicing the careless stupidity OF the turn
key We have no wish to Grub it i'm to Sheriff
Bell, we have not a doubt but that he feels the
worst about it of any in the count, and the
cape not his personal fault. The responsible
ty is his however, and it his fault that a better
system has not been employed which would make
the county Jail some better than sieve. 1t was
not the sheriff's fault that the turnkey did not
think tosee if all the prisoners were locked in the
main cell room; it not the sherif's fault that
the turnkey went down cellar for some minutes
and left the jail door unlocked while he was gone.
1t the fault of the sheriff that Stovall took
advantage of this most favorable opportunity and
calmly walked out of the open Jail To our humble
understanding the Jail has always appeared as an
institution which should be kept locked. The
sheriff was not to blame in this matter but his is
the responsibility, and his is the fault that such
thing could possibly have occurred. 4 The escape
shows that there was no system and no discipline
about the Jail. 1t makes it appear as a matter
purely of luck whether prisoner is detained there
or not and in fact it is largely matter Of choice
ercse to the somewhat conining life Of the Jail and
he strolled away. Sheriff Bell is distinctly to blame
for the lack of system and it is-upon him that the
heaviest weight of public .dsapprov al will fall He
is the man whose tenure of office may be effected
and he is the man who will have to spend his mon .
ey to make every possible effort to recapture the
prisoner. Sheriff Bell is not alone in the RESPONSE
bility however. The town of Denison ought to
:tof ltcl,o~
for its home town but just SO long as the city neg
lects its duty in building city Jail and house Of
detention for tramps, drunks and petty thieves so
long will it be next to impossible for the county
Jail to be safe place of detention for those charged
with serious crimes. There practically is but one
room in the Jail building and into this are crowded
ansever varying ever shifting group Of men rang
ing from the professional thief and the common
tramp to the occasional drunk and the first offend
Il is we'll nigh impossible to maintain rigid dis
/. cipline over such crowd. Men are taken to the
jaif day and night simply as matter Of pro-
lection from the weather Tramps make the coun-.
ty jail their laundry, they wash out their clothes,
get few square meals and journey their way.
The county Jail should be for county prisoners and
should be as safe penitentary. 1t has been a
reproach to Denison that there has been no city
Jail 1t has aroused prejudice against our city
among the other towns of the county; it has given
rise to angry disputes between boards of supervis7
ors and town councils and has been an endless
source of annoyance to all concerned. For an int
considerate amount the basement of the city hall
could be fitted up safe and convenient place of
detention for all offenders against municipal law.
Tramps are seldom looking for chance to escape
and this is also the with the ordinary run Of
police court offenders The man who has but
thirty days to is the MANY who breaks Jail.
The basement of the city hall would not therefore
have to be fitted up as securely as regular jail
building and still it would all the purposes
Of the municipality. While Sheriff Bell is the re-
sponsible partyn the matter of Stovall's escape
there are number of mitigating circumstances not
the least of which is the fact that the county jail is
made the dumping ground for all the vags arrested
by Denson police.