The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-14
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can seldom afford to build a prison
suitable for the classification and iso-
lation of all sorts of offenders, and the
very form of the small building COM
pels the sheriff or jailer to herd the
lawless inmates without distinction in
the same class The Jail has been fitly
called a free school In the art OF
crime supported at public expense
What is the remedy? 1t is simple
and approved by all the competent
and it appeals to common sense as
soon as stated The Jail should be SO
constructed that each prisoner should
be unable to see or be seen, to hear or
be heard by any person except the
officers The jail should be reserved
absolutely for the single purpose of
detention of persons not yet convicted
of a crime, but under arrest awaiting
trial AS soon as person has been
convicted Of violating a law of the
state he should be sent to state in
stitution. district workhouse or q
farm colony, to serve his reformatory
sentence under the principle of the
correctional sentence Any other pur-
pose than reformation, after society
is duly protected by confinement, is
mere barbarism State institutions
can be classified according to the ma
ture of the various kinds of offenders
and the rsatment adapted to each
class All that a good county jailer
can do now Is 10 keep his charges in
their nasty and dei:ling cage, clean as
well as he can n III lool: on at tho pro-
cess of deepe ainS degradation when
id1onocc anA ho1 &c! in. it,,i,
produce The ref.r Il must be radical:
function of prot ec:iEy order and o.
reforming all reformable convicts 1t
Is illogical and dangerous to leave the
execution of reformatory sentence
to local officials. because the law un-
der which a prisoner Is held is
state. not a county. law
"A necessary factor in the reform
OF jails is the abolition Of the short
sentence for habitual offenders of the
vagabond, degenerate class. so numer-
GUS in all our jails and city houses of
correction. and in many city reform
schools as we'll For this kind of man
or woman a short sentence merely
places one more weight on the neck
Of the drowning person 1t is not long
enough for physical renovation and
moral reformation. but It Is lona
enough to deepen shame into shame
lessness. to darken the shadow Of des-
pair, to destroy the little of self-re-
spect which remains and to add to
the distrust which the prisoner en-
counters when he goes outside Our
jails are often crowded with this brok-
en- human nature. and the Jail does to
it nothing but harm
"The county Jail and the city lock-
up will remain simply as places of
detention for prisoners awaiting trial,
and for this purpose they will be con-
structed like the cellular prisons In
France
THE casual visitor to a county Jail
seldom has eyes to discover the real
sources of moral damage II there are
no very bad smells and floors are toll
erably clean. the inexperienced and
unframed citizen is not shocked But
the trained inspector sees through
these superficial appear ances. and he
knows that a prison of the ordinary
Jail type, however physically clean.
must degrade those who have not al
ready touched the lowest levels of
evil; and most prisoners are compar-
atively young and their reformation
hopeful
"Probablyp one reason why the
united protest OF reforemrs for fifty
years has had little influence on leg
islatures is that county politicians.
the ring. are interested in keeping the
jail near home. because the sheriff is
paid fees and also profits on his idle
boarders Meantime the majority Of
good citizens ignore the place. and
the ministers either forget the text.
I was in prison and ye visited me- or
they visit the jail without previous