The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1919-08-08

Sdry IN many instances TO assign III
mates to do officers work Trouble,
it is said, may be expected until this
practice can be stopped.
Girls Make Charges.
On the other hand, the girls accused
in the recent outbreaks are making
counter-charges Of cruelty at the
hands of officers, declaring that they
/ are severely punished for minor viola
/ tons Of the rules.
1 Girls arrested for the recent dis
turbances have told the police they
| would prefer to be committed any
where, rather than be sent back to
! the Home.
Management and methods at the
State Home, together with a review Of
legislative proceedings relative to the
institution. and provisions for more
adequate quarters, are dealt with in
! the report, which is a joint statement
Of Mrs H. Crittenden Harris and Mrs.
Leon Cubberley, of the board of man
ayers, of Commissioner Burdette q.
Lewis of the State Department Of
Institutions and Agencies, and DIR.
Mary B. Harris, superintendent of the
Home. The statement follows:
Text of Statement.
Our investigations at the State
Home for Girls indicate that DR.. Mary
B. Harris, superintendent of the home,
was correct in stating that very few
girls have been responsible for the
difficulties which have continued for a
/ long time and which have now Gull
minated in an attempt to burn down
/ the oldest building on the grounds in
4 order to produce some excitement For
the most part, the actions of prac-
| tically all of the girls in the institu-
| ton have been proper. In fact, the
i great body of inmates are to be high
4 ly commended for the way they helped
/ with the difficult situation. 1t is the
old, old story of the very few bringing
/ hardship upon the many. OF the six
who pleaded guilty to the charge of ar
son in the First Precinct Police Court
there are one or two ringleaders and a
number of weak tools.
These particular few girls ought
never to have been left in this insti-
! tuition. They were there because adj
vantage was not taken two or three
| years ago of the opportunity to trans
! fer them to the proper institution and
because during the current year all of
| the available space in the various 9TH
/ er institutions has been taken, so that
| it has not been possible to take adj
vantage of the very satisfactory stat
ute which permits transfers of just
1 such inmates from the State Home to
/ the proper institutions. Since the girls
must be handled under the difficulties
/ of this overerowding, the Board of
Managers, superintendent and the
/ faithful officers of the home have been
grievously handicapped by the short
comings and inadequacy of the insti-
tuition in dealing with this type Of un-
stable girls.
Several months ago the Board of
Managers and Commissioner Lewis.
with the approval of the State Board,
recommended that facilities be pro-
! vided for the isolation of girls of just
!
/ stable class; continuous baths for
treating them when they are excited,
| in accordance with the best modern
| conception of scientific correctional
! treatment; the transfer of all such
cases at the earliest possible moment
to the proper Institutions: proper
classification of the inmates by means
| of psychiatric and psychological tests
to determine who the potentially I'M
stable type are in order to segregate
| them in small groups for training and
treatment.
Lack of Money.
These recommendations were not
put into effect because of the lack of
appropriation. Unless sufficient money
is forthcoming for the reconstruction
of the building which the girls at
tempted to burn and also to provide
an increased force of officers, so that
the institution may discontinue its long
| practice of assigning inmates to per-
| form officers duties, such disturbances
will happen from time to time. The
legislature appropriated $4,000 in the
| present budget, which became effective
| July /, 1919, for the reconstruction of
one wing of this old building This ap-
preparation was made with the hope
that the Characterization bill. then
pending in Congress. granting federal
aid to states for handling correctional
/ problems growing out of the war,
would pass which carried an appro-
priation of $4,000 TO meet the $4,000
| the state had been asked to appro-
pirate. 1t was estimated that this
| $4,000 would be sufncient TO recon-
struct one wing of this building, so as
to provide these much needed facili-
/ ties. The fire which destroyed the
roof and the water which has brought
additional damage win make it neces-
sary to have an additional amount to
secure the desired results.
The Board of Managers and the SUI
perintendent have been fully cogni-
zant of the situation and have done
everything in their power to meet the
conditions as fully as possible. despite
the lack of facilities and lack of appro-
priation. 1t is indeed unfortunate that
this particular incident could not have
been prevented.
The Board Of Managers held a
special meeting at the institution yes
terday, which was attended by Mrs.
Lewis S. Thompson and Mrs. Fl. Otto