The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1929-10-18
mo MORE CRAP
SHOOTING In
COUNTY JAILS

No more crap-SnOOtIns sbu
poker playing in the county jails;
no more idleness and the degener-
acy which accompanies such; no
more free meals and no work for
incarcerated Negroes and whites.
These evils of the present jail sys-
tenn will be done away with il
Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowaa,
Camden and Currituck take hold
Of the idea of establishing Z dis
trict Jail and operating farm IN
connection with ii. The crap
shooter will become farmer.
Habitually idle criminals languish-
ing in Jail cells constitute one Of
society's greatest menaces. The in
ertia promotes lazineSs, it destroys
the spirit and undermineS the moral
stamina, it develops hate and af-
fords time to brood and plot revenge
or further crime, it inevitably is
followed by degeneracy. And these
things no longer will exist if the
proposed district Jail and farm is
established
This idea of a district Jail and
farm Is fast spreading thruout the
State. Nearly all North Carolina's
leaders of thought and social reform
advocate it as a sensible, cconoml-
cal and social improvement over the
present inadequate system Of county
jails. None of the five aforemen-
toned counties have jails which
conform to the State requirements
and none of them can afford: to
bring their jails up to standard
without imposing more taxes on the
already tax-ridden citizens. And
if they do make improvements on
their jails, they still will be behind
the times. The only change will
be that the prisoners will have
cleaner and more sanitary floors
on which to shoot craps and clean
walls which they can draw and
write the obscenities with which
their minds are polluted.
But these five counties will be
making a real forward step when
they scrap their old jails, pool their
resources and build modern, .ade- z
quate Jail which will meet every
State requirement, will accommo-
date every prisoner and will have a
farm which will furnish work for
the prisoners. That is the end TO
which the county commissioners Of
these counties must work.
Every prisoner in the county jail
Is a drain on the taxpayers. He
eats three meals a day and the citi-
zens pay for them. He does moth
ing. If district farm is establish
ed, the prisoners will have TO get
out. in the fields and pillow to earn
their board. Strength that is vast
ed away in a Jail cell will be built
up and developed OH the district
prison farm. The county will have
no free boarders. Work will re-
move the idleness and inertia that
promote all evils of the present Jail
system.
Sheriff Charles Carmine is in
favor of the district jail. Leading
business men and members Of the
local bar endorse the plan heart
lily. Mrs. Kate Burr johnson. State
Superintendent of Public Welfare
and Charities, is promulgating the
idea thruout the State and she is
anxious to see Northeastern North
Carolina take hold of it. CommiS-
sioners of some of our neighboring
counties have expressed themselves
as being in accord with the idea.
1t seems to be the only sensible SOlu-
tion to the county Jail problem and
Pasquotank must come to it sooner
or later. In the meanwhile, the
commissioners of this county are 60
ing ahead with plans for building
an annex to the present jail. Can
their precipitation into Such folly
be checked before it is too late?