The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1908-10-01
Or. AImah J. Frisby of State Board
of Control, Inspects Keno
sha Institutions Today
SAYS JAIL MUST BE ENLARGED
Urges City to Build City Prison for
City Cases and Frowns on Plan
of City to Buy a Large
Farm for Paupers
(Fr0m Tuesdays Daily

DR.. Almah j. Frisby of Milwaukee,
who has the distinction of being the
| only woman on the Wisconsin State
Board of Control, came to Kenosha this
morning for her annual inspection of
the penal and pauper institutions Of
the city and county and incidentally
to speak before the Woman s Alliance
{ of the First Unitarian church this af-
| ternoon. DR.. Frisby has made wide
study of jails and prisons and it is said
that her opinions carries more weight
with the Board of Control than any
other member of the board. DR.. Frisby
will not make any highly compliment
and while her report viii In no way re-
| fleet on the present officials in charge
of the jail and other institutions, it
will show that the Kenosha County
! Board will be forced to take some
action to make better provision for
| the care of the prisoners of the county
DR. Frisby spent much of her time in
Kenosha at the county jail, but she
threatened to make trip this after
noon TO visit the poor farm. She was not
in sympathy with the plan to purchase
a large farm for the use of the paupers
of the city declaring that paupers do
not work and expressing the belief that
any effort to herd them together in
this manner would prove a failure
She declared that in her opinion the
city would be much better off and that
the paupers would be much better cared
for if the city would be able to rent
smaller houses and keep the various
families Of the paupers separated from
each other and in this way prevent any
herding together and at the same time
rid the city of the squabbles that must
naturally follow the placing of any
number of families in single house.
DR.. Frisby stated that she found two
very bad features at the county jail
and these were the lack of light in the
main cell-room and the fact that the
two tiers were not separated. She de-
clared that this could be remedied by
putting more windows in the main room
at the Jail and by building new stair
way so that the entrance to the second
tier of the jail would not be through
the main room of the jail, but from the
office. The declareu that the crowding
Of prisoners in the county Jail here was
something terrible and that some plan
should be made so that this could be
avoided in the future. ct find, said
DR.. Frisby, "that Kenosha is badly in
need Of police station or city prison
and with such an institution a large
amount of the congestion at the county
Jail could be done away with. [ find
that there is a large number of city
prisoners in the Jail at all times and
| it seems that the city should be able
to take care of these prisoners better
than the county and at lower cost
to the tax payers. y
AS to the action the Board Of Con
troll would take, DR.. Frisby stated that
a strong letter would be sent to the
County Board urging it to take action
to enlarge the county Jail and provide
at least beds enough to take care Of
the people actually confined and to
make some provisions for the separa-
| ton of the criminal classes from the
prisoners taken in for minor offenses
It was stated that the sanitary con
dition Of the Jail was not open to any
complaint and DR.. Frisby had only
words of praise for the sheriff and his
assistants.
In speaking before the women Of the
city this afternoon DR.. Frisby gave
some very interesting experiences con-
nected with her examination Of the
prisoners Of the state and spoke Of the
criminal class and the duty which So
ciety owned to them. She urged the
women of the city to agitate the ques
tion of securing better jails and prisons
and more careful attention to the
care Of the paupers and dependents on
the city. The address proved very
interesting one.
DR.. Frisby will make her report to
the Board of Control at once in order
that the County Board may be fully
advised of the conditions Of the vari-
Gus institutions in Kenosha at it's meet
| mo in November