Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-04-06
transferred from the Leavenworth


transferred from the Leavenworth
penitentiary. These prisoners will
be utilized as a cleanup squad for
the purpose of preparing the institu-
ton to receive other prisoners COM
mitted from court, transferred from
local jails, etc.
For the next fiscal year Congress
has been asked to provide an appro-
priation for the maintenance of $50
prisoners at per capita rate of Coo
per day. This is the method used
by the Federal Bureau of Prisons of
the Department of Justice for estimat-
ing the requirements for mainte-
nance and operation. The per capita
rate must include all expenses of OPP
Grating the plant, provide three meals
day for the inmates, the cost of
maintaining shops and other facil-
tiles, and the expense of clothing
and transportation provided the in
mate upon release.
The medical and hospital personnel
and facilities will be furnished by
the United States Public Health
Service. Each prisoner upon admis-
sion to the institution will be given
thorough mental and physical ex-
animation, classified according to his
character and the type of crime he
has committed and assigned to work
and quarters in accordance with the
findings of the classification COM
mittee. Those prisoners who do not
fit into the program at Sandstone,
will be transferred to some other
Federal institution.
A Step Forward.
James v. Bennett, director of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, in COM
menting upon the institution stated:
1.-THE government looks upon the
opening of this institution as an i'm
portant step forward in prison man.
agement. It believes that the insti-
tuition will not only provide reason
ably decent treatment for those de-
tanned on Federal charges, but also
will serve to demonstrate the funda-
mentals of economical and efficient
Jail management"
He said further that: MANY of
the county jails in the United States
operate under the jurisdiction of Of
ficials elected without consideration
of their qualifications or experience
in prison work and look upon the Jail
as source of personal income. The
fee system is the root of much of the
difficulty. The laws in many juris-
dictions permit the sheriff to charge
the county per diem fee for each
prisoner held in his Jail. This fee
has no relation to the service rem
dered, and in some cases sheriffs make
a handsome profit by depriving the
prisoner of reasonably decent food,
medical treatment, etc., and pocket
the amount between the cost of OPP
Grating the Jail and the fee received
from the county. In great many
jails of the country inadequate per-
sonnet is employed to maintain dis
cipline among the inmates. The con-
sequence is that system of 'Kanga-
roo Courts" has grown up in great
many county jails. A Kangaroo Court
is an organization of the influential
and usually most brutal prisoners
who, by self-election, hold court for
the purpose of extorting money for
their own use from other prisoners
and to mete out the tasks connected
with the operation of the jail. If a
prisoner refuses to pay what the
court demands or comply with its
orders, he is severely punished by
means of the lash or some other
ignominy The Federal prison sys-
tenn is strongly opposed to this sys-
tenn and will not use a Jail for the
housing of Federal prisoners where
a kangaroo Court exists.
For Rehabilitation.
1.-THE average county Jail is an
anachronism in our modern social
structure It survives through the
indifference of the public and because
of a shortsightedness which would
exploit the offender. BY and large
most county jails lack proper sani-
tary facilities; young and old, the
sick and the well, the guilty and the
innocent are allowed to mingle in
Discriminatory. In few jails is any
effort whatsoever made to rehabili-
tate the prisoner, provide him with
modicum of work or improve his
physical and mental condition. It
was because of these conditions that
the Federal government embarked