Imperial Valley press., 1915-05-20
JAIL SCORED BY
STATE BOARD MAN

Here are some Of the charges made
against conditions at the county jail
by Ernest p. Van Allmen, county
agent for the State Board Of Chari-
ties and Corrections:
That the Jail is overcrowded
That it is not properly ventilated
That it violates the state law in
not maintaining proper segregation OF
prisoners.
That it is a very inadequate jail,
in fact one Of the most inadequate in
the state.
That the Jail register shows that
youths under IA years of age have
been confined in the county iail, and
that no juvenile detention home is
maintained.
Jail statistics, for the first time in
the history of the state, are being
compiled by the State Board of Chari-
ties and Corrections, and today En-
nest p. Won Allmen. county agent fon
that department of the state, is in
FL Centro cleaning those facts from
the county Jail register.
"What is the purpose of the statis-
tics?" he was asked.
Replying to the query, Mr.. Won AL
men said:
"rhe State Board of Charities in
the past has been without statistics
on crime gathered from the registers
of the county jails and the compiling
lof them is being made in order that
all the facts concerning the criminal
element may be ascertained and some
method Of elimination devised.
"The facts which are gathered from
the county jail register are these:
The age and sex of the prisoner; the
offense for which he has been COM
mitted and the length of time he has
beer sentenced to serve. Through this
source the state board gains an in
sight into criminal conditions which
may enable it to devise some means
as a criminal preventative.
conditions here are very poor" he
continued; "in fact, this Jail is onc
of the very poorest in the state. Pri-
laa..i5 Imperial county is violating
Section 1898 of the Penal Code, which
governs the segregation of prisoners
in county jails.
"The code governing that segrega-
ton states that not only must oppo-
site sexes be segregated. but prison
ers awaiting trial on misdemeanor
charges as well as those awaiting trial
en- felony charges aud prisoners serv-
ing time must be segregated Tha. !
is not the case in this county jail !
Although those of opposite sex are
segregated, the remaining prisoners
are crowded into the same confine-
ment without segregation of any kind
While the jail is inadequate in many
respects, | will not say it is the worst
in the state
Dhl IL Is one Ol the WORST III lnC
state he added, as an afterthought
There is one thing | will say in
commendation of the jail he said
Imperial county provides outdoor
work for some prisoners, which is !
rarity in California, and which is 5
practced in comparatively few coun- ,
ties"
Replying to a query as to what the
attitude of the state board would be
relative to the jail conditions here,
Mr.. Won Allmen said:
''The board is not in a position to
demand. The only thing we can do
is to stimulate interest through pub
licity and impel the people through
that medium to agitate the question
themselves
Van Allmen arrived here this morn
ing, examined the jail register almost
continuously since his arrival and this
afternoon completed a personal in
spection of the tanks, the cells and
the womens ward. He will be here
short time completing the work of ,
compiling the statistics.