The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-06-19
County Offices Investigated

The grand jury, which has been in
vestigating the business methods and
general conduct of various county de-
partments, presented a written report
to Judge Lippincott on Tuesday
The report shows that the clerks,
sheritf's and surrogate's offices, and
the asylum and almshouse were inves-
tigated.
The report is as follows;
To the Honorable William D. Lippincott, Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas:
We, the Grand Jury of the April term, 1917.
desire to submit to your Honor the following
Communications and recommendations concern
ing the various departments and institutions of
this county.
Justice Kalisch having called to our atten-
ton the escape of one Iraca from the county
jail, who had been convicted of murder, rec
commended that we make thorough investiga-
ton with view of ascertaining whether the
sheriff or the officials at the Jail were in any
way eriminally negligent in his escape or if
the conditions of the Jail were such that it
was not safe for the confinement of a person
convicted of high crime
We have carried out the instructions of JUS
tice Kalisch in this respect and the result of
our Investigations is such that we believe the
escape of Iraca was made possible because of
an antiQuated jail and also because the organ
ization and rules of the guards that have been
enforced for years do not properly provide for
the detention of desperate criminals, and we
| make the following recommendations, viz:
That proper locks be placed on the doorss
clock
g. That matron be appointed to look after
| the women prisoners.
4. That prisoner convicted of murder be
especially watched, both during the day and
night.
5: That two men be on duty both day and
night.
6. That a limited number Of steel cells be
| installed for prisoners confined for higher
Z. That in the future the sheriffs of the
county should be obliged to reside at the resi-
dence provided by the county, during their
/ term of office.
County Asylum and County Farm.
We have carefully investigated the conditions
| highly commend the administration and care
| of the county asylum and county farm.
SurrOgate's Office.
| At the Surrogate's Office we found the coun-
TVS office being methodically conducted and a
| new system of docketing estates, recently in
| stalled by the present surrogate working very
| satisfactorily and resulting in the expediting
| OF office business. The office force consists of
| the surrogate, his deputy and transcribing
| clerk, and numbers the same under recent
previous admins trations. We do not see how
the, work, of the Office could be satisfactorily
performed with smaller force. The surro-
gate is in daily attendance at his office and his
deputy and clerk duty regularly within
| the usual office hours. We recommend that the
II
| and lined with wooden shelves and compart-
ments for books of record and official papers
should be made fireproof without delay, by the
removal of the wooden fittings and the substi.
tuition of steel filing cabinets and shelves. We
believe that present conditions in this vault
constitute a serious menace to the county rec
| ords in the surrogate's custody.
County Clerks Office.
At the County Clerks office we found salts
factory conditions with respect to the dispatch
| with which official documents are returned
after recording, and to the general perform
ance of the Office routine. There appears to b.
| some lack of office discipline, though, and more
or less irregularity in attendance of those con
| nected with the office. Our inquiry and the in
formation obtained lead to the conclusion thai
If regular office hours were observed in thu
clerks office, and rules laid down for III,
maintenance of official discipline. which al
attaches of the department were compelled t,
obey, the present clerical force might be re
| duced and the same amount of work accom-
plished without affecting the efficiency of tn
Office or the quality Of the public service.
We also recommend the adoption of new
systems of indexing judgments and filing map
| of record.
The Judges room, adjoining. the court room
| IS in need of re-paperlng and other improve
ments and recommend that this work
ordered by the Board of Freeholders.
| We recommend closer cooperation betwee
the Board of Freeholders and the sheriff's OF
fee so that such prisoners as shall be avail
} | able may be used on road work and on othe
!, | county operations and that two guards
placed over each unit of eight or ten men S
|, employed. and that the Court urge the use Z
prisoners by the county whenever in its judl
ment it seems wise.
We would suggest that these recommends
] tons be transmitted to the several county d,
partments. -, n n....s.s.uss,u.