The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-09-28
COUNTY JA|Ls free
SCHOOLS Of Crime.
Countrywide Investigation Re-
veals Brutal and Inhuman Con-
ditions in Jails.
Professor Henderson Of Chicago
University Makes Some Start
ling Assertions.

The following satanic recipe for
manufacturing crime is literally and
systematically followed in this coun-
try: Force a man into idleness and
give him thieves and degenerates for
companions" That is what our jail
architects and county commissioners
are doing according to the report pre-
sented last Tuesday morning at. the
Chicago meeting of the National Pris-
on association. Professor Charles r.
Henderson Of the University of Chi
cago Is chairman the investigating
committee and for six months past has
been conducting the national .investi-
cation. This committee sent out a
question list to well-known persons in
all the states Of the Union. s
The facts that the committee have
gathered from Investigating practically,
every state in the Union reveal condi-
tions in county jails that rival Dick
ems descriptions in Little Dorrit and
the Pickwick Papers. a.
Structure Of Typical Jail. .s.
The very structure of the typical jail
is wrong. From ocean to ocean one
uniform plan has been slavishly copied
from bad models-a cell or cage Of
cells surrounded by a corridor. Into
this corridor empty the foul breath and!
often the foul language from each cell.
No man builds a pig-pen or hem
coop on such mOnstrous plan, much
less a residence. The jailor,s residence
adjoining always admits sunshine and
air directly into each sleeping and
living room. X
The jails are generally secure, we'll
adapted to keep wild beasts in and
their accomplices' from helping them
from the outside; and if that were the
chief purpose of such establishments
they would be good enough.
The modern barn or chicken house
has an outside court for daily exer-
else; but seldom does the report vary
the monotonous phrase prisoners
walk in the corridor"
Every healthy and moral man works
at some useful occupation; but in the
jails unproductive, def1ling idleness is
the rule. If a man is eager to do son1e-
thing to retain his mental balance, the
chance is denied him, even If he is
innocent. The usual pastime is card
playing, and thousands Of years Of
the nations time have been wasted on
this form of recreation, which is only
a little better than insanity. Outside
the Jail the toilers labor to feed this
hordeSof do-noth hings. ss5s sEsssasss;
ne s sclldut
NAL ism. Not infrequently sick men,
Witnesses men arrested by error. are
compelled to live In hearing Of moral
lepers. It is not a dainty crowd which
peoples the county prisons. Classifca-
tion is a -delusion; the best European
jails give each person a cell. No inno-
cent lad is shut in with felons; no
foul woman is permitted to converse,
even through bars, with those who are
not yet depraved. Our jai]s are built
on the theory that all inmates are bad
and too evil to be injured. This plan
has been excused on the ground that
it is necessary for the safe keeping Of
prisoners. This is absurd; European
jails of the newer pattern are entirely
secure.
The ancient fee system Of paying the
sheriff dies hard because the people do
not know It's evils and a. selfish inter.
est keeps it. alive. The public has not
been instructed by politicians that
when sheriff Is paid forty cents a
day for feeding prisoners that he is
tempted to give nine cents worth of
food and put thirty-one cents in his
savings account, or in the party COR
ruption fund! w.. Z r. s.ss @