The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-24
COSTS THE CITY BUT FIFTEEN GENTS ID FEED|TS PRISONERS Is Better Than That Pro- vided County Prisoners
 at Thirty
TWO MEALS A DAY
 AT LATTER PLACE
Conditions at ''Carbuncler Horrify Chicago Man-Finds White Woman Confined in. Condemned Build
 ing on Technical Charge
By ALLEN J. KREBs. sR.

A review of the monthly reports pre-. pared by City Purchasing Agent R. M Griffin on the cost of feeding the pris. oners at the Southside stockade proves to be interesting as well as good argu ment for the bill which was placed be. fore the legislature treeommending the price per day for the food of the state prisoners be reduced to 20 cents instead of the present rate, which is 30 cents.
 In view of the fact that the prisoners at the county jail are fed only twice a day. o'clock each morning and again at noon. it is regarded not surprising tc find that the cost of 30 cents per day seems too high an allowance Neverthe. less. ythe bill which was put before the legislative body at Montgomery met an overwhelming defeat.
 The report of R. M. Griffin for the feeding of the city prisoners shows that To cents is the maximum cost per day for each prisoner. while some months show an expenditure of only 1o1b cents per day per prisoner.
 City Food the Best
 The food at the county jail consists of fat side meat and peas and cornbread, and il is said the diet is seldom if ever changed
 The fare at the city jail consists of a variety of foods well cooked and properly prepared. Buttermilk. biscuit, fried ba- con, peas syrup and coffee are the usual menu for breakfast There is ample for each man and nothing is used that isn t good. C.
 The Jefferson county jail has been con- demned and more has been written about It than any other institution in the state. Fundamentally, it is all wrong The jail is old, musty, foul and unclean It al- new one is built. Sheriff's forces by the score cannot keep such building clean. No amount of scrubbng can rid the jail of the millions of germs that have thrived and multiplied at the expense of Gods most unfortunate creatures
 I am surprised to see such conditions in any jail, said w. E. Roberts of Chi cago, who accompanied an Age Herald reporter through the jail yesterday T could not help but notice the bed cloth Ing and mattresses on the hunks. They appeared not to have seen wash tub in months. It is no wonder that cock reaches abound in the place. s4
 White Woman in Jail
 The spen--no one could call it anything elsewhere the young white woman was confined on the charge of vagrancy, is too horrible to contemplate when one thinks of having to sleep and live in such place. It is terrible to think that the sovereign state of Alabama would make any woman stay in such a place on "a technical charge of vagrancy. I have never felt quite sorry for anyone as 1 felt for that young woman, as | saw her turned in that foul hole and the deor locked upon her. A suitable inscription should be placed above that door of the woman's room: Who enters here aban- dons all hope. The woman was young; she might do better if she had a chance It IS surprising that she could not be re- leased on bond approved by the deputy who made the arrest
 Tt looks to me as if Birmingham, or Jefferson county, needs another jail badly There isn't a finer city in the entire coun- try than Birmingham. I am southerner by birth and love my native land, but to see the horrible conditions that are visi- b'e to the casual observer makes one shver at the thought of what you could actually see and experience if by any un- fortunate chance you became one of the inmates"