The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-02

The inconvenience arising from the pres ent congested condition of the courthouse is most and worst felt on the third floor, where the chancery court, three divisions of the city court and first division of the criminal court are located. This conges- ton is largely, If not altogether. due to the presence of the criminal court, for the reason that 1t attracts great crowds of negroes, both as spectators and witnesses, and the large number of jurors sum- moned. The second division of the crim- inal court and the grand jury on the fourth floor also contribute their quota in the shape of witnesses who crowd around the clerks office to obtain their cer- tifoates. Altogether tho criminal court is responsible for fully one-half the num- Der of people who throng the third floor. This being the cause the remedy natural ly suggests itself.
 The present courthouse. with some slight alterations, is amply sufficient to accommodate all courts engaged in the transactions of civil business and it should be used for that purpose only. A new building, to conform architecturally with the present courthouse, should be built on the site of the present jail, and q jail built elsewhere. If there are any changes to be made in providing more and better accommodation for the transaction of courthouse and county business (and it Is evident that something needs to be done) it should be done at once, and with view to meeting conditions which will probably exist 25 years hence.
 The jail has been called a carbuncle, 1t is all that and worse. It is an inferno over whose door it would take Dante to inscribe an appropriate sentence. Res idents in the neighborhood compare 1t to menagerie. Towing and shouting, shriek- ing and screaming, changing and banging of iron doors go on without intermission for IA hours a day, and every day in the week. This Is what those at dis tance hear, but the visitor hears worse. He hears the blasphemies, the obscenities. the imprecations and the ribalderies of prisoners who relieve their feelings or exupress their resentment by such means Sweating, smothering and swearing there they are, men and women, young and old, black and white, a pot-pourri of all that's abominable. Instead of elevating such condition 10-story high 1t should be sunk 10 cellars deep out of sight.
 The county jail Is not prison for the punishment of evildoers; 1t is a place of detention where persons who have been arrested are held pending trial. Every one is presumed to be innocent until proved guilty and although many of those pris- oners are found guilty still there are some who are found not guilty and are discharged AS rule, prisoners are three or four months in jail before trial, and whether they be convicted or acquitted they have the same treatment and un- dergo the same punishment while be- hind the bars. If prisoner is convicted, although he may be fined only s1, he has to work out the costs of his detention which sometimes amount to $75 and means nearly q year at Flat Top. This is not meant to be an attack on the feo system or criticism of the sheriff but merely to inform the people of Jefferson county of a condition which exists and upon which they may be asked to vote very soon.
 The jail should and ought to be re- moved outside t... city. There should be at least 40 acres of land purchased by the county for jail purposes. Prisoners should be allowed to exercise in the light and pure air. They should be pro- vided with some sort of employment which would occupy their time and for which they would be paid either in money in case of acquittal or credited to them