Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-27

PACKED IN
JAIL TANKS
PRISON REEKlNG FROM FOUL
CONDITIONS
25s MEN TANNED IN CELLS BUILT
FOR ONE HUNDRED
Many Inmates in semi.stupor, Others
III, While All Suffer from Damp
and coId-Nauseatlng Air
Ovefcomes

Two hundred and forty-three prison
ers crammed into a sordid, reeking,
slime-soal1ed prison built to contain
but one hundred. That was Satur-
day. Sunday there were 259.
The high-water mark was almost
reached again yesterday at the Los
Angeles city Jail. These figures repre-
sent the actual number of helpless
human beings Migrants, drunkards
and petty law breakers-packed,
damned and wedged into the narrow
confines of what is conceded to be the
foulest and most nauseating hell
hole that ever disgraced a civilized
community, or contaminated munich
pal atmosphere with its nauseating,
Inephitic odors.
It is not the fault of the police Of
ficials, and perhaps it is not the fault
of the public, either, but it is undoubt-
edly the fault of someone. Neverthe-
less, these prisoners must be stuffed
into these tanks,
No matter what the grist of the law
mills, or the daily harvest of the drag
net, the product must be stored in this
miserable hole "for safety"
No limitations are recognized; no
capacity considered. Accommodations
are out of the question. 1t is simply
q plain case OF cessity-ineXorable
in its demands, inhuman in it's cruelty,
and fast becoming intolerable in its
results.
There is no legal restriction to limit
the number of prisoners which may be
defiantly wedged into this notorious
incubator of death germs.
No Law Considered
The unwritten or statistical laws of
sanitation and justice cut little figure.
Whatever the number arrested-two
hundred or five hundred-the incon
siderate rule of always room for one
more" is applied to the city jail. The
fact that it was designed for the i'm
prisonment of only one hundred does
not seem to disturb the pleasant
dreams of those who are responsible
for the sickening conditions now pre-
vailing in the city "sardine tanks"
It would appear that the tanks were
crowded Sunday to their fullest capa-
city, but no. That number has been
exceeded.
There was, it is needless to say,
much suffering in the tanks both sat
urday and Sunday. The air was foul
sitting, poisonous from the breath or
sots, the tobacco smoke, and the slime
of the cement floors and iron gratings,
ever kept damp by the respiration OIL
the occupants. The unfortunates sem
fenced to linger there for days, weeks
or months were in many instances in
a semi-stupor from those oppressive
conditions.
The iailors themselves gave utter
ance to remarks not at all compli-
nentary to the jail. or to the policy
which herded so many unfortunates
into It,
Prisoners Chilled
Despite the extreme number of pris-
oners the chill from the iron and ce-
ment tanks all day and night remained
uurelieved. Many ragged Migrants,
huddled together on the floor, shivered
like so many cattle in northern stock
AIDE, and on not a few trc cold and
dampness of the day wrought pitiful
effects.
Many We're coughing, some Violent
ly, while others recovering from pro-
tracted sprees were seized with fever
and suffered of delirium. Not few
of the illnesses contracted in these
filthy tanks within the past few days
may prove fatal.
While Sundays high-tide mark
would seem the limit, it is not. To
prove that the Jail had no more than
it can reasonably hold" the Los An
geles Officials have only to point to the
number confined in the city Jail jan
uary 16. There We're 27S prisoners
then, so why should the city build a
new jail, when such a number can
be squeezed into a hole built for only
100? Tut, tut, tits useless.
Yet, for some reason or other. every
prisoner. jailer police official and even
the dear public is continually asking
what will we do about it,"