Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31
WARDEN HARRIS PLEA
THAT ARE UR-
GENTLY NEEDED AT THE JAIL.
Would Abolish the Present System Of
Feeding the Prisoners-Demand
for More Cells.

Capt. James II. Harris, warden or the
| JAIL finds little for which to be thankful
| during the past year so far as his Official
| life is concerned. All he will have to do at
| the beginning of the year will be to repeat
| the resolution he has so frequently made
! to continue his efforts to get a modern
prison. On the other hand, the members of
| the East Washington Citizens Association
| will do what they can to defeat the war
| den No one can be found who will deny
| that many improvements are needed In
| order to make the big brown structure as
| habitable as some of the country prisons,
| but the members of the association men
| toned will deny that the prison should be
within the city limits at all. Their cry is to
| erect a new building outside the city, where
property interests will not suffer, and where
| the sad scenes will be out of sight of pc
destrians.
Warden Harris is in the position of want
ing only that to which the prisoners are
| entitled. Complaints made about the
building from time to time, and some of
! them are directed at the warden. He can
not make the necessary changes and i'm
provements, however unless Congress pro-
vdes him with the necessary cash. Occa-
sionally some prisoner complains that he
has not meat enough in his stews, or that
the meat is of the wrong kind but this is
not the chief complaint. Objection is made
to the serving Of meals in the cells, the
method of feeding instituted years ago. The
congregate system is what is wanted and
| then the prisoners will be able to sit about
a table and enjoy their meals as well as
they can be enjoyed in prison.
Warden Harris has been doing the best
he can to improve the conditions at the Jail,
but has not met with much success, as the
prisoners best know. In one of his nu-
merous communications with the authorities
he took occasion to explain what was really
| needed at that time, and did not ask for
| more than is enjoyed by the prisoners in
other similar institutions. In a recent COM
| municaton the warden spoke of the dining
room question in the following words:
A Crying Need.
81 again call attention to the fact that
the Jail has always had very poor ar
rangements for feeding prisoners, being
compelled to put the meal for each pris-
onec in a little tin box. and pass it in to
him through the bars of the cell door. 1t
is impossible in that way to serve the
prisoners in what l would consider a re-
spectacle manner A dining room for The
United States Jail. with sufficient capac
ity to seat at least 400 prisoners, is IN
my judgment a crying need
Some interesting information respecting
the cell room and other matters was also
given. 1t is probably surprising to some
people when they are informed that as
many as 527 prisoners have been incar-
cerated in the Jail at a time. There are
only about 300 cells in the prison that
prisoners exceeds the number of cells
there is nothing left to do but adopt the
'doubling-up" method of accommodating
| them. The cells are only five feet wide
| and less than eight feet long. 1t is easily
seen that with two men in such a room
and without even modern plumbing in
them health problem is presented which
might cause a wholesale slaughter of the
| Infortunates. The warden is in constant
| fear of contagious disease attacking the
prison and taking off his boarders by the
Wholesale Additional cells and dining
room wanted by the warden, who
| thinks that modern plumbing would still
| further decrease the danger of disease
among the convictS.
At Moundsville.
prisoner who returned from the
| Moundsville penitentiary, and celebrated
| his freedom in a manner to cause his ar
| rest and incarceration in the Jail, made
some unfavorable comments upon the local
| prison
"You would hardly think that way up
| there in the mountains you would get bet
| ter treatment than you do down here ne
| said to fellow prisoner. Il never knew
| that there were plumbers in the country
| before, but they had them up there, and
| man did not have to wait on himself as
much as he does here in the city prison.
When dinner time comes the men are
| treated like men and given seats at table,
instead of being compelled to eat from tin
| boxes. It's enough to turn mans stom-
| ach when he is given some hash and vege-
| tables piled into a tin box, and piece of
bread such as a beggar would get at
| back door.
But" he concluded, when you get In
| here you have to do as they say. and not
| as you know is right. When I've got to
go to prison you can send me to the pen1-
Tertiary, where l can work and be treated
like a man."
1t is just this kind of treatment that
Uar Ha il,o tn friv pric
oners. but until Congress provides the
needed improvements the prisoners WIFI
have to content themselves with living
the same old way"