Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-03
'MOYA" is VERY
GOOD OR VERY BAD
Grand Jury's Criticism
Starts Discussion as to
Merits of Prison
SOME FOLKS UPHOLD 1T

! boou OF unusually Dad,
IL Is CfIe OF the best prisons in the United
| States or II Is one of the worst
Its superintendent, Fred A. Cooke, and
| the board of prison inspectors, headed by
| DIR. Joseph NJ Reeves, should either be
| locked up In the cells OF the prison In pun
ishment for the way It ~ managed or be
| publicly commended
| Those arc the unsatisfying facts as OBJ
! tained from persons who know Moyamen-
sling Prison or, having seen 1t, ought 10
/ know Il
A reader who has never set out to find
| whether such an institution Is good CT bad
! may think the task simple one. just
! ask the prisoners" he may say. Yes, ASK
| the prisoners Well, they say IL is terrible
| place; the conditions are untolerable No,
! only some of them say that The others
! say II Is a frst-class prison, the inmates
| Of which are well cared for. So far as
| prisoners opinions are concerned. the
goodness or badness Of Moyamensng de-
pcnds on which prisoners opinion you
want to take. a good many folks don't
want prisoners opinions at all, putting
little faith in the statements Of anybody
who is bad enough or unfortunate enough
to get into iail.
no USE TO ASK KEEPERS
well. you can ask the keepers" As
well ask Mr.. Jones II his small son Is the
brightest boy in the square. Mr.. Jones will
say he Is unless the child is an absolute and
hopeless idiot. Mr.. Jones Is preiudiced in
his sons favor. He Is his son. Maybe he
really Is the brightest boy in the square,
but Mr. Smith, who also has a boy, won't
admit II. Superintendent Cooke and Doctor
Reeves say the prison Is well managed.
We'll, let the Grand Jury say whether
it's good or bad" The Grand Jury has
said It's bad. The october Grand Jury in
its final presentment yesterday said the
conditions were so unsatisfactory that
Cooke and Reeves and all the other in
spectors should be put in the cells until
they should come 10 their senses, when they
would he better fitted to conduct an insti-
tuition Of the kind
But
Samuel Thompson. secretary of the Grand
Jury, while admitting that conditions at
Moyamensing might not be perfect, refused
70 gn the report He thought II was un-
justified by the facts.
Try the inspector Of the Pennsylvania
Prison Society"
The inspector Of the Pennsylvania Prison
Society is Frank ]. Pooley. He says the
prison compares fayoraSly with the best
prisons in the country.
So there you are. If you are not salts
fed go TO 'the Moya" yourself and look It
over and form your own opinion. But II
you express it, be prepared to have an ar
gument
REPORT RENGVES DISCUSSION
The Grand Jury's report on the prison
revived the old discussion as to the COM
potency of the management of the prison.
Everybody seems to have view and
nobody seems able to prove what he says.
Two years ago there was much criticism
OF the conduct of the prison and the
Board Of Judges, after an investigation
gave the institution "A clean bill of
health" Nobody's opinion apparently was
changed a whit thereby Those who had
said the prison was we'll managed said
see? What did we tell your" Those
who had criticized said, "Of course What
did you expect but a whitewash?"
Here is what the Grand Jury now has
to say:
This prison is run in the most unsatls-
factory manner. We found here that
their cells, The outside doors Of the cells
are sol lid and are always kept closed.
The only light and air that the prisoners
get comes through very small window
The men and women confined there tell
us that the only time that they are al
when they go TO bathe. We cannot con-
ceive why the board of inspectors and
the superintendent keep the prisoners so
As most prisoners are held here only
until they are tried, we no reason
why they should not receive better treat
ment. They have less liberty than the
long-term prisoners in the Eastern Peni-
tentary The board and superintendent
WheO tneV
think that they are doing what is best
for the prisoners. We think that thew
are driving them deeper into crime by
this treatment. The prisoners should be
treated like human beings and not he
confined like a lot of wild beasts
We therefore recommend that the pris-
OnerS should receive 1t once enough to-
bacco to last each one week and the same
amount each week thereafter be exer-
cised forty minutes every day and the
board and superintendent be confined to
cells, receive the same treatment as the
prisoners until they are brought TO their
senses and then they may be better ft-
If the board. and especially the superln-
tendent, hold their positions by political
influence. we think 1t is about time TO stop
this and appoint board and superin-
tendent who will try 10 uplft the prison.
ers instead of driving them deeper into
crime.
We therefore recommend that the
board and superintendent he removed at
once and men such as Messrs. McKenty
warden of the Eastern Penitentiary, and
Patterson, superintendent of the House
of Correction. he put In their places.
When Mr.. Pooley was asked what he
thought OF this he said
There must he a mistake somewhere
All the prisoners are allowed TO exercise
every day think it is for an hour. The
prison is sanitary and we'll managed 1
think they probably took the word of
some prisoners who would find fault and
complain no matter how they we're treated. I"
been
visiting Moyamensing a reporter asked.
About twenty years"
Have you visited many other prisons
in other cities?'
yes. many of them"
CALLS IT GOOD PRISON
How, in your opinion, does MoyamensinK
| compare with them2'
VERY favorably with the best of them -
Are you interested in politics?' Mr..
| Pooley was asked.
Well / am a Republican, but I don't
| do anything more than go out and vote,
| I am not active in politics"
.'Have you anything to do with any OF the
political tactions?'
mo. Just go out and vote the Repub-
| Iican ticket"
| Superintendent Cooke said:
THE Grand Jury was here about three
hours. | knew they would criticize the
| prison management as soon as they came
| could tell II from their attitude. tries
| 10 make them understand that II was a
| prison and should be judged as a prison
but couldn't make them understand The
prison is here. Anybody that wants h
| can come and look at II. I'm not afraid n
show Il 70 any one. Instead OF being al.
| lowed TO exercise only one day a week, they
are allowed to exercise every day but one :
Doctor Reeves said:
The prison Is well conducted Anybodv
that goes through Il and knows anythins
/ about prisons and prisoners can tell that