The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-20
Money-Making Machine

Pubnclty Is not only political anti
 septic but Is the sure antidote for most 1 If not all, of our governmental ills l The fact that 23,613 persons were pris-
 oners in the jails of Alabama during the last fiscal year should be published broadcast. and with this fact the cause and results.
 1 The cause may be un1med up in one word. Dollars"
 It is sad commentary on our state l but a fact nevertheless that our jails 1 are money making machines.
 l The vile, pernicions, peryerting, fee lsystem beggars description, and my vocabulary is inadequate to describe its deleterious and baneful effects. It in- euleates into the management of our jails the almighty dollar; prisoners are arrested because of the dollar and 1 tivity for months, in steel cages, for
 no other reason than the almighty dol | lar.
 If through Indifference, incompetency, ignorance or connivance on the part of officials, persons are compelled to re- | main in the jails of our state. I an clearly of the opinion that such length 1 of time as they are kept in jail should apply on any sentence they may receive;
 more particularly is this true in refer ence to misdemeanants. This practice is in vogue In the United States courts. | As the law is today a man can be 1 kept in jail for year or more await | ing trial for some petty offence, and 1 if convicted the year in jail counts for 1 nothing on his sentence.
 Condition of Old Jail
 When the department of state prison | inspector was created I found that ab- solute ignorance of the rudimentary
 principles of ventilation and sanitation had been evidenced in the building oi the old jails throughout the state, and in most cases, the bulk of the money expended had been placed in a com
 modious residence for the sheriff, with from one to four small rooms in a wing of the building for the jail, in which rooms placed in the center, are cells,
 usually so per cent solid metal with 20 per cent openings. The elementary prin- ciples of sanitation were totally ignored and so-called disinfectans were used in lieu of the scrubbing brush and soap Black was the favorite color used | in painting the interior of these 5ails, resulting in dungeon-like darkness which was almost invariably con- tributed to by dirty windows obstruct- ing the entrance of light. The busldings were unclean, often vermin infected, ill-ventilated, foul smelling structures with no room for exercise and scant, ii l any, provision for, and no incentive to- personal cleanliness. and the inmates | were exposed to every peril of ire and | disease The food was scarce. iu-pre- pared and ill-served and every auxil- I iary with which modern science fortf- fies the physical constitution against the inroads of disease was conspicuous
 by its absence Isolation and segrega- 1 tion of prisoners were totally ignored.
 The hardened criminal, first offender
 and Juvenile prisoners have been con fined in the same cells, thus convert
 ing our jails into veritable schools ol crime. and the constant contamination by association must have been incai- culable, while 1t was not uncommon to find white and negro prisoners con fined in the same apartments.
 During the last fiscal year there wers confined in the jails of Alabama SSt white women. Of these 11S. or Sol per
 cent were confined in the Jenerson
 county jail. Women prisoners, regard- less of their color or the crime or wnicn
 they are accused, are cared for and are under the absolute control of male dep. uties. There arc no matrons in any o' the jails of tho state of Alabama. com
 ment would be obnoxious.