Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-11-04
Council Bluffs
Jurors (ONDENN HE JAIL
County Bastile Declared Unfit Place
to Keep Prisoners
NO LIGHT On GROUND FLOOR
Place Too small for Those Confined
and Facilities for safety aud
Ventilation Are Very Poor
Indeed, They say.
NO LIGHT On GROUND FLOOR

When Judge OIeen convened district
court at $3.50 o'clock Yesterday morning the
instructions to the grand jury, which had
been deferred on account Of the absence
Of one OF the members. were delivered.
so much stress was laid upon the injunc-
ton carefully to inquire into the condi ton
Of the jais Of the county, hospitals and
similar institutions that the jurors disre-
sarded long established precedent in such
matters and took up the duty Of examin-
ing into the condition Of the county Jail
as their first act instead Of making 1t the
final part of their work They disregarded
another precedent by Immediately making
a report to the court
The jurors went over to the jail imme-
diately after organizing and spent an hour
or more making a careful examination.
They peered into every nook and Granny,
Investigated the plumbing heating and
ventilation. took measurements Of the cells
and corridors, looked into the private quar-
tiers Of Jailer Hill and his family and then
went back to their room and diseased the
question OF making the strongest con
dcmnatory report possible They scorched
several sheets of paper and used language
that startled the typowriting machine in
the office, but finally modified 1t enough
to make It printable, evolving a report
! categorically condemnng the jail in all iti
| functions.
Details of Report.
! Following is the report:
The grand jurors would respectfully re
port that they have inspected the county
| jail at Council Bluffs. This jail is abou
/ twenty-five years old. The main part o.
the jail consists Of a revolving cylinde
! three stories high, with ten cells on eaci
! story and two iron hunks in each cell
! The corridors opening Off OF each story
! do not contain to exceed 200 square fee
| of floor space, so that there is very Httlt
| room in which the prisoners can exercise
The steel bars in this corridor are eX
| ceedingly hard and brittle and the jai
has been broken out Of many times. Ii
repairing these breaks the spaces hav
been filled with steel Sheets that tn
little light that WAS originally available i
now almost wholly cut off from the cor
ridor. This is particularly true on tn
At the present time there are confine
| in the jail thirty zone prisoners, The accom-
modations for the TALLER and the facilltle
oners are very poor and the jail is s
poorly arranged that proper and SAT
made by the iailer. We think that tn
lack OF light, lack OF ventilation an
almost total lack OF room for exercis
make the place unsanitary and very in
furious to those who are so unfortunate a
to be compelled to stay there, and ais
call attention to the fact that the Jail
an insecure one in which to keep pris
oners.
All Parties Represented.
As the members of the grand jur
comprise both democrats and republican
whose residences are we'll distributed owe
the county It cannot be- charged that tn
report has any political complexion or
the result of the desire OF the people c
| Council Bluffs and the west end of III
county to influence the voters on electio
day in favor OF the proposition that III
county board has placed upon the off
cial ballot authorizing the issuance G
, bonds 10 the amount Of S7BO0O for III
construction Of q new county jail tt
effect Of the eondemnatory report canno
, however, be other than favorable for Il
E proposed bond Issue.
Judge Green adjourned court last nigl
{ until November 10 TO permit the count
-, officers, who are looking after electIc
I matters 10 have a better opportunity
+ DO so. The grand jury will remain in Sc
sion today when it, too, will adjourn VI
III After nlection