St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-06-19
CITY JAIL A FARCE
And SAINT AIRY MENACE
50 Declares Mr. aFnonli. Of The Prison he.
form Association, Nhe visits OpeIausas.
TOUCHES The PARISH JAIL
Structure MODERN and EeIlEqulppsd, But
Should Have YaFa 10 Which Prisoners Gould
Exercise end Take Fresh Air.

The city Jail Of OpeIousas has long
been the subject Of adverse COM
ments by citizens Of the city and By
visitors, and the press has on several
occasions arraigned it as unsanitary,
inhuman and uncivilized.
This opinion is now borne out by
the agent Of the State Prison Reform
Association, who spent several days
IN 0peleusas this week.
Mr.. j. B. G. Arnoult is the agent
who was here, and he made a careful
inspection Of both jails.
The city Jail is really farce;
merely the end part Of the public mar
ket, walled off with batten door and
two windows, also batten, 90 that
when they have to be closed ventila-
tion is entirely shut out, and there
fore from q sanitary standpoint it's
unsafe and dangerous" said Mr. Ar
noult, TO The Clarion, The place is
full Of cobwebs and DUST the most
noted germ disease carriers known,
and had not been scrubbed or other
wise disinfected for q week, 30 | was
told By Street Commissioner Durio.
The sanitary toilets were ont Of order,
and as a result the stencil was awful.
There was one rsgro woman prisoner
il the city Jail, and why the city Of
fcials do not make this prisoner clean
The jail is Of course best known 10
themselves.
It is the desire Of the Prison Re
form Association that all prisoners
after conviction, whether parochial
oil municipal, should be made to work
on the streets. and others be made to
keep the prison clean,
The city of 0pelousas should have
a jail erected, as their excuse for one
is certainly a blot on this pretty little
town. The cement floor Of the pre-
sent jail after j rain or damp wealth
Ell must be in a very bad condition
for some time afterwards, for the
whole proposition Of Jail IL vile.
AS to the parish prison, while u
is d modern structure, we'll built and
made to answer the requirements of
the parish, like every parish jail in
the State outside Of New Orleans Il
has no brick wall to surround It, and
as q natural consequence the prison-
ers must remain confined in the prison
until their trial, If they are nnfortu-
nate enough TO be unable 10 furnish
bond; and again, there is nothing to
prevent friends Of the prisoners Il
furnish them, during the night, with
files, saws, guns, poison, etc.
While il Shreveport recently
Sheriff Flournoy ID taking me through
the parish prison, showed me where
q safe blower had last year obtained
files and saws through the bars and
fled his way ont, and was only re-
captured three months later in soEne
nelghho boring State.
i brick wall twenty feet higi
around the prison, with onongh 81
yard space to allow The prisoners b
take exercise and fresh Dir daily i
of absolute necessity, and is . matter
that can not be given too serious
consideration.
Then / found only one bath tub i
the parish jail, which is totally IN
sufficient for the number Of prisoner
on hand; but there could Bio added 70
. couple Of dollars 8 shower bath az
Itachmens, which would be of rnucl
1 benefit, as the shower bath system ]
the most sanitary one OF the two,
There were four insane prisoner
locked up ii cells separate from othe
prisoners, which, Of course, is th
right thing; but there we're two boys
negroes, one charged with killing hi
little brother and sister with an ~
and the other with stabbing whit
lboy. They are allowed TO roam q
1 over the iail, and therefore come
contact with the men criminals
4 which is wrong, and in violation {
i the spirit Of the juvenile law.
''sphe food seemed wholesome an
enough, and the floors and cells clea
enough, though the cuspidOrs wei
i full Of sputum and looked as thoug
Ithey had not been cleaned for weel
/ The iailor was very affable, and saI