Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-12


| Il il not possible to obtain efficient guards
at the rates OF compensation hitherto paid
by the trustees of the workhouse for such
services We feel that there ought to be
at least three additional guards, and that
| they should be employed Immediately. At
least one guard should be constantly on
/ duty in the center corridor, and also Mt
such times rs prisoners under sentence of
! death are in the workhouse, there should
be guard over these prisoners all the
time from the date of sentence until
| execution.
Two of the guards whose duties were
| to guard gangs Of prisoners doing outside
work were found to have received extra
| compensation from private corporations
| for whom the gangs of prisoners bad been
| working One of these guards received
as much as 800 month for himself and
did not tell the warden or the trustees
| Of the workhouse about it. The other
| guard received various sums from differ
| ent corporations, and ut one time was
receiving three dollars AID hall day
| extra compensation an examination of
| the trustees upon this subject disclosed
a very vague and hazy knowledge on
their part rs to this practice of extfa
compensation to guards. Upon one oc-
casion they had allowed one of these
guards to work for New Castle county
at the rate of 81 day, but had stipulat-
cd that the work was TO be performed
outside of the regular working hours for
| the wurkhouse This practice of extra
compensation creates great dlscontent
among the various guards at the work
house, and throws upon them certain
| duties which should be performed by the
guards who are IN charge Of the gangs OF
prisoners doing outside work. II also
gives rise to ugly rurnors of graft and dis
honesty and has n generally demofailztug
effect on the efficient operation of the
work house. We believe this practice
of extra compensation tn guards paid by
private corporations ls wrong, and We
would recommend its discontinuance in
the future
ESCAPES.
The escapes from the prison since
December, 1919, when Warden Cross
first took charge were considered These
escapes may he divided III two class es.
escapes Of prisoners from within the
workholse and escapes of prisoners while
out Of the workhouee. During this period
Of more than four wears, there were Int
two escapes from the workhouse itself
and one Of these was Price. In this time
there were between 10000 and 10000
prisoners confined ia the institution
1 be escapes from the outside were as
follows:
1916. : escapes: 1917, s escapes; 1918,
Q escapes. 1910. q escapes.
Most Of these were escapes of short
term prisoners from the farm, Of which
approximately 30 per cent were recap
tlrcd.
tprI.tHFNRIoN or EscArEp PRISONERS.
Upon the escape Of prisoner, notice
should he given as soon rs possible to the
proper authorities including tho police
department If the city 0f " llminqton. the
state detectives, and county consfables
Complaint was made bv the police author
tiles 10 the erect that in some cases they
were not gwen notice until long after the
time of the escape of the prisoners, and
~ other eases they were gwen no notice
whatever If such escape We find that the
warden and the trustees do not use sutii-
cent diligence after the first report Of
the escape II made IN following It up
All prisoners should be photographed
and have their finger prints taken in
order that the trustees may use these
photographs and finger prints IN locating
escaped prisoners.
II was iii evidence that the warden of
tit k4i4S'#lt itiAif iAtEstliIli ~ itf IEtAtft
DEPARTMENT to lave the photographs and
finger prutS taken Of number If long
term prisoners then confined in the work
house ! his Was about three years ago.
The police authorities consented to do the
work, but Mr. j Frank Ball, one Of the
trustees. objected t. 1t being done and
ordered the warden not t0 have tie work
done lie was seen by the sergeant al
detectives and told the sergeant that these
photographs and tnger prints Of prisoners
then In the Workhouse could not be taken
MIR. Ball was again seen BY Attorney
General Rcnhardt and again refused to
/ consent TO the taking Of the photographs
and finger prints, stating that he had the
authority Of the board Of trustees for thi,
action When Mr. Ball vas asked about
this he declared he had no recollection oi
the subject ut all The other trustees
stated that they never heard OF. It. 1'he
failure to take these photographs and FIN
ger prints was grave mistake, as q long
term prisoner afterwards escaped from the
+ workhouse and there WAS no photograph
nor finger prints by which he could bt
located and returned, and he is still al
large
Ne strongly condemn and censtue such
action on the part of Mr. Ball
We would recommend that the sherifs
i OF Kent and Susscx counties he instructed
that before taking convicted prisoners
10 the woIkholIse they be brought to the
j Police Headquarters IL Wilmington II
order that they may be first photographed
and their finger prints takel.
LONG TERM PRISONERS ALLOWED TO 90
AT LARGE.
We fund that certain long term prisoners,
/ and especially those convicted of homicide,
are allowed entirely too much freedom
! without the walls OF the workhousc.
In one instance, a man convicted OF
/ manslaUghter. sentenced to term of
| twenty-five years was, within four month,
after his sentence. allowed to go TO his
home III the city OF Wilmington in charge
OF one Of the farmers at the Workhouse
The farmer topped his wagon about half
1 a square away from the home OF the
prisoner and the prisoners was allowed to
20 10 his home unguartied This created
a serious disturbance and great excitement
/ in the neighborhood Another prisoner
convicted Of manslaughter was used as
t stonemason on the farm within short
! time after his conviction, and shortly
/ after he was allowed 10 be on the farm he
escaped, and has not since been appre-
/ hendcd Still another prisoner, Negro,
/ was convicted Of manslaughter and sen
fenced TO one year. He was put cut on the
| farm, and II is believed money WAS sent
/ him by his employer lie escaped, and
! has no been apprehended since.