Evening star., 1935-03-07
Rives Plans City Institution
in Line With Future Needs
at New Site.
PRESENT FACILITIES
DECLARED INADEQUATE
0vercrowding With Obsolete
Equipment, Shown in Wei
fare Figures.

A new District Jail capable of ham
ding from 1000 to 1900 prisoners
and costing from S1,800,000 to $2,000,-
600 has been proposed to the Board
of Public Welfare by Thomas M.
Rives, superintendent.
RiveS suggests that the project be
made a part of the new work-relief
program when and If that program is
adopted and funds are made available
to the District.
In arguing for the new prison, Supt.
Rives pointed out that the present
jail was constructed and first occu-
pied in 1876. A wing was added in
1927. All of its equipment is obsolete
and the jail is so overcrowded that
on 102 days in 1884 prisoners in the
misdemeanor wing were forced to
sleep on mattresses on the floor. In
the felony wing that condition existed
81 days. At one time $50 in one wing
and 81 in the other were forced to
sleep on the floor.
Average Population 565.
Rives also pointed out that the
average prison population has jumped
from 368 daily in 1925 to SOS in 1884,
and that commitments to await trial
increased from 1851 in 1925 to 20,851
last year.
The superintendent also pointed out
the lack of proper facilities either for
close confinement of condemned pris-
oners or for actual executions which
now have to be carried out in the
jail's mess hall.
The present location he also de-
clared to be improper since it is in a
thickly populated residential section.
He suggested that since it is conven-
iently situated adjacent to Gallinger
Municipal Hospital the old building
could be converted into wards suff1-
ciently large to house 500 patients
New Site Located.
RiveS suggested that the new jail
should be located on a 50-acre tract
near the Home for the Aged and In
firm at Blue Plains. Such a tract,
he said, Is available and could be
purchased for price not in excess
OF $1,000 per acre. He argued that
the location OF prisoners there would
serve the double purpose of provid-
ing work for them and at the same
time help in the cultivation of the
farm at the Home for the Aged and
Inflrm which has been neglected be-
cause of the unavailability of labor.
Rives pointed out that, although the
Census Bureau estimates the Districts
population as $4,000, the adjacent
metropolitan territory is thickly popu-
lated and consequently the city needs
Jail for a population in excess of
the official figures He also declared
it should be sufficiently large to meet
the demands of the next 20 years.
875 Single Cells Wanted.
The superintendent estimate of the
Jail equipment would provide a min
imum of CTS single cells and dormi-
tory space for 325 prisoners. Better
judgment. he said, would dictate a
larger Jail with a minimum Of 875
single cells and dorrnitory space for
325. making a total capacity of 1900
mo workman should be expected to
do work with poor TOOLS" Rives' report
stated. Neither should the District ex-
pect to make progress in crime pre-
vention with facilities which provide
no means for the segregation of the
youthful and the first offender. There
Is an acute need for proper Jail facili-
ties If the District expects to make use
Of accepted methods in crime preven-
tion and control"