The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-11-01
The County Jail
~ Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1918. by Frank Crane)

| The worst blot on civilization has been
its prison system.
1t has been characterized by an in
humanity, vicious cruelty and neglect
that would be disgrace to Turkey.
There has been deal of agitation for
prison reform, here and there have been
instances where humane warden has
endeavored to bring a little reason and
heart into the treatment of convicts, and
the public has vague idea that things
are growing better.
The deadly fact is, however, that the
whole prison business, from temporary
detention cells in cities to penitentiaries
and convict camps, are still shocking and
abominable as rule
Mr.. Henry M. Hyde, in recently pub
lished exposure of the great American
business of manufacturing criminals by
public institutions, has called attention
to the fact that one of the worst fea-
lures Of all is the average county Jail.
One would suppose that the citizens of
small towns and rural communities would
be free from the monstrosities that pre-
vail in the handling of the swarming
criminals Of cities. On the contrary,
James A. Leonard, late president of the
American Prison Association, declares
that "by common consent, the county Jail
system in the United States is the worst
feature of our penal system"
MIR. Hyde brings these accusations;
that some jails are still underground, in
regular medieval fashion; that they have
solid doors and shutters kept tightly
closed. preventing the entrance of fresh
air; that in many there are no toilet
facilities save leaky and uncovered pals:
that bedding often is unwashed for
months at time, until it is literally
crawling with vermin; and that the foul
smells are appalling.
Miss Annie Hendrichsen, an investiga-
tor of the Illinois Board of Administers
ton, states in her report that in four
fifths of the Illinois jails there is but one
bathtub to jail. prisoners and their
clothes are washed in the same tub"
Healthy men. sick men, young old, clean.
filthy, tubercular. and syphilitic use the
same tub, soap and towel. Six jails have
no sewage drains. The odors sometimes
discenible half block away, proclaim
the methods of sewage disposal"
Mr.. Hyde goes into definite particulars
concerning the county jails at Danville
(the home OF the ex-speaker OF the ma
tional House of Representatives, at OF
tawa in LaSalle County, at McLeansboro
in Hamilton County, at Cairo in Alex
ander County, and others.
The details he gives are revolving
enough to satisfy the most Zolaesque
taste.
Can we realize that kindly, civilized
people permit such things?
Add, also, that eighty per cent. Of the
unfortunates confined in these jails are
merely held for trial or locked up as wit
nesses. They are, in the theory of the
law, presumed to be innocent. Many OF
them are proved innocent and dis
charged.
But in the meanwhile they are detained
in these sinking holes, exposed to
syphilis and consumption, boys charged
with petty offenses mingling indiscrini-
nately with hardened perverts.
Mr.. Hyde is to be encouraged in his
campaign.
It all helps toward forcing home to the
American people that the chief factor in
the creation, conservation, and propaga-
ton of the criminal class is our system
of criminal procedure and the hideous
prison system which is its centre and
citadel.