The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-12-12
BAMBERG JAILER PRAISED.
Mrs. Edgar Dickinson Ranks First in
State, Says Board.


county jails, and some interesting
facts and figures are given.
The five best jails in the State this
year are Greenville, Richland. Flor
ence, Chester and Spartanburg, in the
order named. Last year, 1917, Rich
land was first, and its score is higher
than it was then, but Greenville's
score increased more than Rich
lands, which put the Mountain City
institution ahead. The Florence jail
is new, being scored for the first time
this year. Upon a basis of 1000
points as perfect, Greenville scores
S21, Richland SIT, Florence S13,
Chester TT and S~partanburg IT'S.
The splendid new Newberry Jail was
not scored, the contractors turning it
over to the county only about three
weeks ago, but had it been scored it
would almost certainly have ranked
among the best five, and probably
would have led the State in perma-
ncnt plant. The report says, in part:
1.-THE best managed Jail in the
State, the plant being taken into
consideration, is the Bamberg jail,
| which is managed by a woman, Mrs.
Edgar Dickinson. The Jail itself is
miserably out of date, but it is spot
lessly clean. and in spite of the fact
that the obsolete dieting fee is used
in the county, the prisoners are given
! three regular meals daily. The work
of this woman should make some OF
our men thoroughly ashamed OF
themselves. Closely following Bam-
berg in management by sheriff or
jailer comes Richland, Greenville,
Aiken and Florence, in the order
named, and all under new jailers this
year. The Richland, Greenville and
Florence jails are new and are more
easily kept clean and in good condi-
ton than the older institutions, but
aside from this the jailers themselves
are good men and alive to the neces-
sity for clean surroundings for pris-
cners.
"The five poorest jails are Hamp-
ton, Laurens, Saluda, Lancaster and
Calhoun, in the order named, all of
them being very old plants except
Calhoun, which is comparatively new
but is small and poorly designed and
is run in a rather haphazard fashion.
Lahrens county made provision sew
eral years ago for building a new
jail, but the plans were not pushed,
and in the meantime the prices OF
building material went sc high that
the money appropriated was INSULT
Gent for the work. 1T is hoped that
the county delegation from Laurens
vii! take the matter up and push the
plans to completion at the earliest
eoSsible moment.
NThe greatest needs in the jails of
the State are more medical supervis-
ion, matrons in those jails which
have prisoners in them at all times,
and which now have 10 matrons, and
the abolition of the dieting fee sys-
tenn of management. This last need
is urgent, for the protection of the
prisoners and of the sherifs, too. In
the small counties the dieting fee
does not pay the salary of the jailer,
and the sheriff loses money on the
proposition, which no county has a
right to expect him to do. In the
large counties the dieting fee system
is more costly than the system of
buying the supplies al for the aim
houses and chaingangs. The most
progressive counties have begun the
movement toward the abolition Of the
dieting fee, and all other counties
should follow their example. Rich
land county has used the improved
plan of management in her jail for
several years with excellent results,
both from a social and a financial
point of view.
I'm the Richland Jail the board re-
ports one especially noteworthy i'm
provement since last year, namely the
erection of a fireproof partition be-
tween the male and female cells,
which makes it impossible for the
sexes either to see or hear the other.
A. new jailer has taken charge also
and since the inspection was made
during the summer a matron has been
added to the jail staff. The windows
of the building on the ground, or
basement, floor, should be barred
more securely to enable the Taller to
use prisoners in the laundry and
kitchen more safely than he can now
do, and in addition this additional