The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-09-02
THkW IS NOT WANTED.
Prison Inspector Says His Presence in
Jail Is DemOralizing.

Albany. N Y, Sept. "A protest is
made in a report submitted to the state
commission of prisons by Secretary
Geo. Mclaughlin against the further
confinement in the Duchess county
prison at Poughkeepsie of H. K. Thaw'
acquitted of the charge of murder on
the ground of insanity. Mr.. McLaugh-
Inns report is on an inspection he made
on August "a last. The report says
among other things that Thaw's pres
ence in the Jail demoralizes the dis
cipline of the institution.
The report says in part:
Mr.. Thaw has been held in this jail
for several months pending the out
come of litigation which looks now as
though it might be interminable. His
presence in this Jail is embarrassing
to the sheriff and Objectionable on
many accounts. The sheriff has no
room for him except in the padded cell.
Even this he needs for temporary uses
and it would be an entirely unfit place
to confine man for months. Having
been adjudged insane with homicidal
tendencies the sheriff would not be
justified in combining him with other
prisoners. He can not keep him in the
quarters intended for boys. To do this
would compel him to keep the boys
with the adult prisoners which the law
forbids. He can not keep him in the
hospital room for two reaSons-hrSt, IL
is not sufficiently secure; secondly, 1t
can not be spared for the permanSnt
occupancy of Mr.. Thaw. The result is
that the sheriff has to give him an en-
tire corridor with the Is cells adjacent
in the principal Jail for men. He needs
this room for his other prisoners. He
consumed large amount of the time
of the jailer in escorting him to Fish
kill Landing, White Plains and other
places to attend hearings before the
court and before referees, time the
jailer needs for his other duties.
There is a good deal of public talk
that some of these hearings are on
fake suits instituted by his friends to
give him these outings. The Jail is not
the proper place for confinement of
lunatic. His presence here demoralizes
the discipline of the institution. He
sleeps in the corridor and not in cell.
He has all the fixtures and parapher-
MALTA of a business office He orders
his food from the hotel, which has to
be brought to him three times day.
Silly people send him bouquets of flow
ers He is allowed the use of the whole
corridor constituting one-quarter of
the entire Jail for men while the other
prisoners are crowded two in cell
frequently.
"All these things are under the OBJ
servation of the other prisoners and
create dissatisfaction, a belief that
men with money constitute a separate
class even in prison.
These things produce an ugly feel
ing of discomfort and rebellion among
the other prisoners.
1.-The county law requires the board
of supervisors to furnish Jails having
separate places for different classes OF
prisoners. This law does not require
Jail to have facilities for the care of
Insane people and this commission has
no power to require the local authori-
ties to furnish such facilities. There
are in this same county two state in
situations for the care of the insane
1t would seem that a person who had
been adjudged insane but who is now
conducting proceedings for his dis
charge on the ground of recovery
should be detained in an institution
where he would be under the observa-
ton of experts who could note his
change as 1t occurred.
Certainly neither the sheriff nor his
jailer has any such expert training or
knowledge as would qualify them for
the proper care of the insane and this
commission should protest against the
further continuance of Mr.. Thaw in
this 1ail."