Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-21

these small cells are colored women and
girls and white women and girls: there
are sentenced women and presumably in
nocent women awaiting trial.
There are women in ordinary health
and women whose bodies are branded
with the hot irons of vice. The sem
fenced women who are not sick scrub and
scrub and scrub; they keep the quarters
as clean as can be done. They sew for
the men prisoners and for themselves; q
few Of them learn to sew while under
going sentence: the short-term women are
often quite ignorant of the use of the
thimble and. needle.
To teach them to sew and to have
them experiment on the garments made
for use is impracticable. The outcome,
the net result of their ignorance and their
criminality. is that they stay in their
cells. pollute the air by their physical ex-
istence, eat the food provided and sleep
long hours away. When released they 20
out with somewhat rested bodies, but.
having received no industrial training or
gained added moral strength to resist the
temptations of animal instinct and social
vice, they have not by systematic and en-
forced employment got glimpse of the
possible economic beauty of honest toll
which out Of physical WEAKNESS brings
refreshing sleep, renewed bodily vigor and
moral fiber.
A Faithful Matron.
The matron seems to me to do as we'll
as is possible with the facilities she has
She is faithful. kindly woman of long
experience in Jail work. She must have
ability, otherwise there would be utter
chaos or open rebellion in her realm
The lips refuse to utter or the pen to
trace. neither is it necessary in any way
Toe detail the actual features and incl
cents OF the low plane of association
among criminals. The nursery rhyme
satan fnds some mischief still for idle
< I'll
iustrated in jail. His satanic majesty
could devise no more prolific hotbeds in
which TO breed vice and crime than are
ceiis IN crowded jails where in vitiated air
men or women consort together.
In the District Jail now under consider.
ation there Is no danger from association
OF the sexes. This is securely guarded
Nelther Is there cruel punishment The
man; but otherwise the conditions Of this
JAIL, which might have been ignorantIv
PermNteo TO exist century ago, are in.
excusaoie' they are intolerable to the
CIVIC consciousness Of today
There is no provision for work for tbe
men IN the Jail 1t is not possible to
Keep more than small fraction busy in
gong gong the necessary routine work Of
nianlng the premises and feeding the
wicked work. unoccupied minds are fruit
1ui territory for evil imaginines and
suicidal and homicidal manias. 1t is
n.
nc money: IT is dangerous to society; it
is BAD. only bad. and wholly bad to keep
men In confinement without work
Recommendations.
Il. The present congestion in the jail
could be somewhat relieved if the court
would send short-time men and women
10 the workhouse when the law will per-
NIT, and all men and women sentenced
Tor over one year to the penitentiary in.
stead Of to the District Jail.
Z. Action should at once be taken to
secure an appropriation for the purchase
OF farmland in or near the District on
which TO erect modern reformatory for
an male prisoners-not 'habitual crimi-
poys and girls to enter the District re-
form schools
3. The reforma tory should be located
In the midst of at least thousand acres
or farm and forest lands. Prisoners
should under sufficient guards clear the
land. quarry and break stone build roads,
dig bitches and do every kind of work
possible In the construction of the new
establishment Hard work in sun and
air Is punishment to the lazy and vicious.
Is welcome to the merely criminal victim
OF unfortunate surroundings and is re-
salutary comment on the scripture doc
Urine III man will not work neither
shall he eat
- AS soon as possible sufficiently
large model dollhouse should be built at
the new location TO accommodate the
sentenced men. From that time on farm
work should be scientifically planned and
progressively developed and varied in
dustries installed conditions warrant
.. The Jail. thus relieved of the larger
part OF its present population should be
thoroughly renovated. sanitary plumbing.
modern cellhouses, a dining room and a
hospital supplied The entire plant
should be modernized and thereafter used
as place Of detention only. and possibly
a part used as a woman's reformatory
&c. Such an undertaking as above pro-
posed is required by the most conserva-
tive estimate Of the governments re-
sponsibility to and for its criminal
classes. Present conditions are wasteful
of public moneys and are menace to the
good order of the Capital city. They are
an insult to its moral tone.
There is no remedy but to do the right
thing and to thus materialize the noblest
ideals of the twentieth century civil re-
sponsibility. Anything which ought to
be done can be DONE