Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-22
ROW MAY BE
CAUSED BY
FILTHY JAIL
BRITISH SUBJECT PROTESTS
TO VICE CONSUL
C. WHITE MORTIMER TO INVESTI-
GATE CONDITIONS
lHsanitary City Prison May Become
Subject of international lmpor=
lance - Many Prisoners
Taken to Hospital

C. White Mortimer, British vice con-
sui in Los Angeles, will make an in
spection of the Los Angeles city Jail
today and the Conditions as he finds
them may become a question of inter-
national Importance.
Confined in the city Jail as a mem
Der of the chain gang is Charles
Greenfield, a British subject and a
former resident of the Transvaal,
South Africa.
Greenfield several days ago wrote
letter to the vice consul describing,
from his viewpoint, the horrible and
filthy conditions which exist i'll the
Cit prison and complained the place
of his confinement was unfit for hui
man habitation; that it was insanitary,
lily ventilated, swarming with vermin
and filthy to an unspeakable degree
Mr. Mortimer is not a sensationalist
and he is not inclined to make trouble
or raise a lingo row, but he desires to
see and talk with the prisoner and find
out the actual conditions under which
he is confined, and if they are inhu-
man as stated he will take such, steps
as are possible under the law and the
treaty between the two countries to
ameliorate such conditions.
1t is an undeniable fact, and admit
ted by the police officials, that the Los
Angeles city Jail is, to say the least,
not the best place in the world to con-
fine prisoners.
Twelve years ago when the Jail was
built it was a fairly good place as
prison until it began to get old and
the prison faint got hold of it, and
then it retrogaded as a penal institu-
ton from a humanitarian standpoint.
Becomes overcrowded
Then when it began to get over
crowded the conditions at times became
unbearabe, and last summer when the
hot weather came on and there We're
$50 to 300 prisoners confined in jail
built for 1926 the officers in charge
stretched a point occasionally and
turned men out that they might at
least breathe pure air.
At the present time the number OF
prisoners ranges from 250-double the
jail capacity-to $50.
From rs to 100 men each night are
compelled to get such rest as they can
on the floor of the cells, oftentimes
without bedding of any kind under or
over them.
While Jailer John McCauley keeps
the Jail as clean as possible, he cannot
improve the ventilation or make the
health conditions better.
The sick call in the Jail each even
ing shows a constantly increasing
number of prisoners. Monday night
10 asked for the doctor. Four of these
we're seriously i'll and one is in crit
ical condition.
Last night 30 men lined up for sick
call and a dozen of them were or
dered off work and placed in care of a
trained nurse for treatment and OBJ
servation.
Chief of Police Kern and his officers
are trying in every way to better con-
ditions at the Jail, but until the coun-
Gil sees fit to give the city a new prison,
built on modern lines and ample to
accommodate the number of prison
ers which must be handled daily, there
will be a constant increase in the
number of sick as we'll as in the num-
Der of complaints.