Evening star., 1937-01-14
CUMMINGS PLAN
FOR JAIL STUDIED
$750,000 Prison at Blue
Plains to End CroWding
Is Advised.

Plains to End Cr0WdIng
Is Advised.
Proposals by Attorney General Cum
mings for erection of a new $3.50, 900
Jail unit at Blue Plains, D. c., and
for improvement of the present Dis
trict Jail were being studied, appar-
missioners today.
In a letter to Commissioner Melvin
Hazen late yesterday Cummings Sug-
gested the new Jail unit as means
OF relieving "intolerable" congestion
at the old Jail and at other local penal
institutions.
The new institution would be pat
termed after the model Federal jail
at Milan, Mich, if recommendations
of Cummings and of Sanford Bates,
Federal prison director, are adopted.
The unit would accommodate at least
600 prisoners in modern, well-venti-
lated buildings arranged in a quad
xangle.
Suggests improvements.
Instead of abandoning the present
Jail, which was erected in 1876. Cum
mings suggested it be improved by
erection of a wall or fence at the rear
where prisoners could exercise out of
doors; by providing more adequate in
tirmary facilities for men, by affording
visitors better accommodations and
by absolute abandonment Of the din
ing hall as an execution chamber"
BY transferring at least $50 prison.
ers from the old jail to the new unit,
congestion would be relieved at the
present jail and room would still re-
main in the new institution for 450
short-term inmates and other prison.
ers who otherwise might add to the
congestion at Occoquan or Lorton, it
was pointed out.
Cummings Letters.
Cummings letter follows:
my dear Mr.. Commissioner:
You were recently kind enough to
invite me, in behalf of the Board Of
Commissioners of the District of Co
lumbia, to inspect the District Jail.
On December Z, 1886, accompanied
by Hon. Sanford Bates, director Of
the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and
other members of my staff, I availed
myself of the courtesy you so gra-
ciously extended. Although I am
without jurisdiction in the premises,
I am glad, if it will be of help, to
state my views respecting the penal
institutions in the District of Colum-
bia, an expression of which you have
solicited.
"On the occasion of our visit Supt.
Thomas M. Rives accompanied US on
an extensive tour of the building.
Visits were made to the infirmary,
cell blocks, death chamber, dining
room and kitchen, women's depart
ment, laundry, receiving room, power
plant, etc. The institution was clean,
free from odor, and gave evidence OF
better ventilation than might have
been expected from a casual view of
the structure. Dating from 1876 1t
cannot be classed as a modern jail
building. Its facilities do not reflect
modern penological ideas and the in
stitution is not one in which we can
take any special pride.
Notwithstanding the fact that
prompt shipments of men are made,
as fast as they are sentenced, to Oc-
coquan and Lorton. there still remains
q serious problem of oyercrowding.
When three or four men of different
ages, different standards of life and
varied case histories are thrust into
q single cell while awaiting trial, an
intolerable series of circumstances is
created On the evening of our visit,
after all commitments had been re-
ceived from the courts, the actual pop
ulation was 583, in an institution that,
at best, should not accommodate more
than 480. I understand that the
average population, on an annual
basis, runs to over 600.
while, on the night of our visit,
1t was only necessary to place one
inmate on a cot on the floor outside
the cell block, in the months when
commitments are the highest there
have been as many as 173 quartered
in this manner. Supt. Rives said that
on September 81 there were 152 men
ION the floor" Any considerable num-
ber over 480 means that some spot
in the institution is badly overcrowded.
On the night of December there
were 104 inmates in the women's
section, which has normal capacity
of 78.
The problem, as I view it, is larger
than merely Jail problem. 1t in
wolves the other penal institutions Of
the District, at Lorton and Occoquan,
both of which are badly overcrowded.
Capt Barnard stated at the time of
our visit that they were overcrowded
at Lorton by over 600 and that Occo-
quan, which could comfortably house
300, had 1900 inmates.
While the Jail itself is old and has
many features that are inconvenient,
1t is not in such bad condition as
to justify its abandonment. Its aver
age population should be reduced by
for substantial number of its in
providing suitable quarters elsewhere
mates. The investment in this insti-
tuition is too large and its structure
too substantial, to warrant scrapping.
There are certain obvious improve
ments that could be made at no great
expense. The most pressing are the
provision of facilities for outside exer-
else of inmates through walling or
fencing of the large open area in
the rear, more adequate infirmary
facilities for male inmates better ac-
commodations for visitors, proper
dining room space and, If executions
are to be continued there, the absolute
abandonment of the dining hall as