Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-18
ON THE SURFACE ONLY
Paint Will Not EAace Police
Court 0dors.
NEW BUILDING NEEDED
APPEAL MADE TO CONGRESS BY
THE OFFICIALS.
Some Of the Inconvenience Expert
enced in the Old Structure
Conditions Explained.

Ouly SuOTl IluQe ago q coat OK paint WAS
put on the front of the Police Court build
ing to give the old structure neat appear
ance, and several painters are at work per-
forming the same office on the interior Of
the temple Of Justice While 1t Is true that
the outer walls and the inner woodwork will
be given an improved appearance, there
will be but slight change made in the
sanitary condition of the place, where thou
sands Of persons are assembled. some for
trial. some as court officials and yet others
as witnesses, each year. 1t is the sanitary
condition in which the people are interested.
and not the color Of the front nor the tints
on the walls and woodwork That the build
ing is wholly unsuited for the purposes for
which 1t is used those most interested say
there can be no doubt. Complaints of all
kinds have been registered against the
place, and sometimes employees have had
complaints lodged against them, all &C
count of the construction of the building.
More than twenty years ago the court build
ing was purchased, after 1t had been used as
a place of religious worship by Unitarian
congregation. Congress has appropriated
money to be expended on the building from
time to time, but the old church edifice is
not now much better suited for court pur-
poses than it was at the time it was
bought.
The question of providing a properly con-
structed building is one in which the citi-
ZenS generally are interested. Those who
are compelled to attend the sessions of the
court are entitled to conditions which they
do not now enjoy. There are many incon-
veniences encountered which can only be
overcome by the erection Of new build
ing AS the offices are now arranged there
Is no such thing s privacy in the matter
Of investigations in the offices of the prose-
cutting attorneys, and the same isstrue con-
corning the clerks office. 1t resolves itself
into a question of what is one person bust
ness is public property.
Inconvenience Experienced.
There times when the prosecuting
officer desires privacy in the investigation
Of a case, and the warrant clerk does not
always want the public to know what writs
he issues, publicity meaning that defend
ants may be warned in time to allow them
an opportunity to escape. Under present
conditions 1t is almost impossible to con-
duct such Investigations without the public
knowing all about it. Besides this disad
vantage, the cramped condition of the
clerks office causes much inconvenience
and retardS the work. The distribution of
witness fee certificates takes place in the
clerks office each morning, and while this
Is in progress other business cannot be
properly attended to. There is an absence
of toilet facilities about the building which
would not be tolerated in any other public
building. A question of some Importance in
connection with the present unsuited struc-
ture Is the care ana treatment OF prisoners.
1t is not true by any means that everybody
who is forced to occupy the dark and un-
sanitary cells is criminal or that he has
been used to such surroundings. Hundreds
of those who occupy them because of pow
erty or other reasons are acquitted, and
complaint is often made that punishment
before trial Is not what the law contem-
plates.
There are only three cells provided for
the prisoners and they are dark and poorly
ventilated. At times there are more than
100 prisoners in the three eight by nine
apartments and when this occurs in the
summer time it is difficult to prevent suffo-
cation of those with weak lungs. In this
connection there is something to be said on
behalf of the several clerks who labor in
the building several hours each day. They
have to nhale the atmosphere from the
cell rooms and other places about the build
ing and this vitiated air does not seem to
improve much under the use of strong dis
infectants. There mas always been an ex-
cellent janitor service about the court, but
the old tmbers have become much satu-
rated and the odor is there to stay. new
building, Judge Kimball declares, is the
only remedy.
The Care of the Prisoners.
Another thing that has been often con-
demned is the manner in which the prison.
ers are handled Under the present ar
rangements they are unloaded and marched