The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-05-06
The Jail a Social Institution.

he jail social INSTITUTION.
We do not read anything about Jail in
Palestine in the days of Joseph, but in
the civilized land of Egypt. A Jail is an
institution of civilized life, and implies
organization and concert of action on the
part of the community 1t is the ex-
preston of the body polite concerning
those who are kept in ward for the time
being. Hence the kind of Jail you build,
the place you put it in the way you keep
it, will show your attitude towards the
unfortunates who are within its walls.
Some think that the determining consider
alton should be the convenience of the
judges and juries; others the interest of
the sheriff, but hold that the first thing
to do in the erecting of a jail is to see
that 1t conserves the best interest of those
who occupy it. You have no right 20
have an unhealthy Jail, where neither
sunshine nor exercise is possible.
A jail is not place in which to punish
people Poor Pig Ford was punished
by being confined in place not fit for
cattle twenty-one days before he was
ever convicted Have we right to pun
ish people simply because We suspect
them of crime? And yet that is just
what we do Is it the will of the people
of this community that men as yet inno-
cent in the eyes of the law. shall be put
In punishment? That will tell what sort
of a people you are in doing justice, low
ing mercy, and walking humbly before
your God
Let this jail be put in some place where
the inmates may enjoy something of fresh
| air and sunshine. God gave them this
right and you and | have no right to
| deprive them of it ON mere suspicion of
| crime. Let it be put where the prisoner
may work and reap the products of his
work. Pig Ford, if he had been put
all 4
| compensation for his labor could have
made more than enough money to have
| paid his fine when he was convicted.
| We arrest men for vagrancy, confne
| them In enforced vagrancy. and train
| them in vagrancy. Pig" Ford was ar
rested for not working, put in Jail where
| he could not work, kept there in idleness
| for the better part of a month. Is that
| the way for us to deal with a man guilty
| of this misdemeanor of being idle? Let
| there be in our new jail something to
keep the prisoners employed. for 1t is
| required both by equity and their health.
Let the Jail be so arranged that the pris-
oners may be separted according to the
class or degree of crime with which they
| are charged. Let not the man who is just
| beginning a career of crime come under
| the tuition of the mature criminals Do
not let us keep a college of criminality.
AS at present conducted and constructed
| our jails are little more than schools for
| the making and graduating of criminals.
| and more desperate criminals are made
by serving terms in jail than by any
| other agency. Let the jail be so con-
structed and operated that 1t will tend to
correct criminality and not promote It,
Especially do we have need to look
| after this in handling negroes who are
| so susceptible to influence. Let it not
| degrade, but rather let it conserve the
| morals of those who are within It's walls
Let us deal with these people like they
were human beings and not pen them up