San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-05
WESTERN TEXAS
SENDS MANY To
FEDERAL JA|LS
Ten Per Cent Of Total U. S.
Prisoners for Year From
This District.
Ell PASO HOLDS LEAD
Figures Cited in Effort to
Obtain Penal lnstitu-
ton on Border.

Slightly over 10 per cent of the
population of the federal penitentiary
at Leavenworth, Kan, figuring upon
the basis of 260O prisoners estimated
to be now i'm that institution, has been
furnished by the Western District OF
Texas during the fiscal year ending
June 30, according to figures COM
Piled by United States Marshal d. A.
Walker in furtherance of his efforts
to have federal penal institution es-
tablished in the Southwest. From the
Western District of Texas, 271 prison.
ers have been consigned to Leaven-
worth during the twelve-month period.
This number, however, does not in
tory at Bonneville, No., or women
sent to Caldwell, n. j.. Canyon City,
Colo, and Leeds, Mo. The total num-
Der of prisoners sentenced to all fed
eral penal institutions from this dis
tr:ct during the fiscal year was BIS.
Of this number, 253 were sentenced by
Judge w. X. Smith of the FL PasO
division and G5 were sentenced by
Judge DuVal West of the San An
t, MO division.
Ell Paso in the Lead.
Of the prisoners sentenced to Leav-
enworth, III were from FL PasO; AZ
from San Antonio Z from Del Rio
. from Austin. 3 from Waco. Of those
sentenced to Bonneville, 20 were from
FL I'aso and 1 were from San An
tonic. FL Paso furnished 16 women
to Caldwell, Canyon City and Leeds,
while San Antonio sent Z.
The large number of prisoners sent
from the FL PasO division is attribut-
ed BY federal officers to the fact that
since FL Paso is border city, viO-
iations of the law that would nor
mally be handled in state courts come
under the jurisdiction Of the federal
courts. One guilty of the theft of ar
automobile. for instance, would be I'M
der the jurisdiction of the state courts
il he did not transport the automobile
outside the boundaries of the state. III
the latter should be the case, he would
be guilty of violation of federal
statute.
Another cause for the enormous
amount OF business transacted by the
federal court for t.>s FL Paso division.
arises from the fact that the liquor
and narcotic traffic from Mexico
would naturally be diverted toward
any city of considerable size on the
border.
Need Prison in Southwest.
For several months Marshal Walker
has been compiling and Analysing sta
tistics for the purpose of convincing
the department at Washington that it
would be both expedient and economic
al for the government to establish n
federal penal institution to serve the
courts of the Southwest. The saving
in transportation expenses alone would |
be sufficient to justify such action by |
the government, Marshal Walker con-
tends.
An alarming increase in the num-
Der of narcotic cases has brought |
home the fact that an institution de-
signed primarily for the treatment of
addicts is n necessity, the marshal |
BY reason of its location |
FL PasO or some point i'll that terri |
tory would be the logical site for an
institution of that nature. Marshal
Walker believes. The institution. he
says. could economically and efficient
" serve vast territory that must
now send its prisoners long dis
lance to the nearest federal penal in
stitution.