Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1912-12-30
WOULD REMOVE
PRISON; ABOLISH
JERSEYS JAILS
Commissioner Favors
Reorganization Of
Penal System.
COUNTIES SHOULD Do
MORE IN SOME LINES
Correctional institutions Should
Be in Country, Where There
Is Room.
[From . stan correspondent.l ]

Byers, State commissioner of cEari-
ties and corrections, today submitted
to Governor Wilson the annual re-
port of his department
The report is interesting and con-
tains a number of important recon-
mendations. There is also a pretty
general review of the workings of
the States correctional and charita-
BILE institutions, with comment and
criticism. The criticism is not as to
the manner in which these institu-
tions are conducted, but as to the
system underlying their existence
Mr.. Byers believes that certain work,
along correctional and charitable
lines now done by the State, should
be done by the counties, and he be-
lieves that the States correctional in
stitutions, particularly the State
prison, should be conducted along en-
tirely new lines.
Would Move Prison.
Mr.. Byers believed, first of all, thai
the prison should be moved away
from Trenton, where it is now To-
Gated in the heart of the city. The
prison, according to Mr.. Byers, shoulC
be conducted on the theory of out
door employment for the convicts
and to this end he believes the prisoT
should be located where 1t would bs
surrounded by great area of land
upon which the prisoners could worl
in agricultural and other pursuits
making themselves more self-sup.
porting and adding to their health
and moral conditions.
Because it is fast becoming thu
centre of a congested district Mr.
Byers also recommends that tn.
State Home for Girls should be re
moved from Trenton. When this
home was first established, il We
In what was then rural section, bu
the city of Trenton has grown tc
such an extent that the home il
now fast becoming surrounded by
dwellings, If the home is to remain
where it is Mr.. Byers says that ad-
ditional land should be bought al
once, but he fears the price is pro-
hibitive. A new site, he says, would
afford an opportunity for the plan
ming and development of a home
that would more completely meet the
needs of the wards Of the State.
States Penal System.
In discussing a plan for a general
reorganization of the States penai
system, Mr.. Byers says that there
should be juvenile courts in each
county, suspended sentences for both
adults and juveniles. with adequate
facilities for probation work; houses
of detention in each county for per-
sons accused of crime, or held as
witnesses, to which no convicted per-
sons should be sent, and that the in
mates of these houses of detention
should be Kept separate and apart
from each other Mr.. 3yers makes
a fourth recommendation for county
or district houses of correction OF
warehouses;, such as now exist in
Essex, Hudson and Mercer counties
These warehouses;, Mr.. Byers says
would be for persons convicted oi
minor crimes, and with the institu-
tions so located that the inmates
could be employed in out-of-doo
work, such as farming and road
building.
Abolish County Jails.
With this workhouse system il
operation, Mr. Byers would abolish
county jails, and through the carry.
ing out of this plan he has suggested
he believes there could be a solution
of the vagrancy question and pro
vision made for proper treatment Of
inebriates.
AS a further development of his
plan of reorganization, Mr.. Byer:
suggests whether 1t would not b.
better TO have the care of the sicl
and incurable, as well as the proper
training of delinquents, made a mat.
ter of county supervision and cost
He however, suggests that there /:
great necessity for additional facili-
ties if the State is to continue thi:
work. The need for additional room
at the State hospitals for the insane
has come to a point that no Longer
admits of argument. He also recon-
mends additional room at the Home
for Feeble Minded Women and at thu
Epileptic Village. There is also neeC
for more room for the training fol
feeble-minded children (not idiots)
but Mr. Byers thinks that a grea
deal of this work is largely a loca
school problem, and THAI it will event.
ually be solved through the estab.
lishment of classes for backward
children. He would have the State
only take care of those children
whose mental development is so de.
fective as to require permanent care
The State law of 1912, providing
for county institutions for the care
of tuberculous diseases. Mr.. Byers
thinks, is legislation along the righi
lines. He sees no difference between
tuberculosis and other diseases in
the matter as to whether treatment
and care should be by the State OF
by the localities, and he thinks that
in all similar cases, no matter what
the disease may be. the treat
ment and care should be through To-
cal institutions.
R0V AND SISTER DPQMN