Evening star., 1939-05-16
District Is Declared
Penal Orphan
OF Nation
JeIIeff Cites Division
Of Authority and
Inadequate Budget

lllC "a t"O I1OtNA duI1lO4 1G1C0
on crime prevention.
This designation was made by
Frank r. Jelleff, chairman of the
Districts Indeterminate Sentence
and Parole Board, and James B
Bennett, director of the United
States Bureau of Prisons, in ad-
dresses yesterday before the Cor
rection Committee of the Washing
ton Council of Social Agencies,
meeting at the Y. w. C. A.
Il don't think we are doing good
parole job in Washington" declared
Mr.. Jelleff. There is too much
division of authority. Our budget
is inadequate about $4,000 a year
at present.. If we had a moderate
budget, say $25 900 a year, we could
do a job that would be model for
the whole country"
In addition to financial worries,
Mr.. Jellef said, the Parole Board is
threatened with extinction if recon-
mendations of the Griffenhagen re-
port are adopted. The report. he
explained, proposes to transfer the
work of the board to a three-m
Der Board of Public Welfare, which
in Mr.. Jelleff's opinion, would have
so many other duties that little
time could be devoted to parole.
Needs More Officers.
Mr. Jelleff maintained that the
board, and not penal institutions
here, should supervise paroles: that
the board should have it's own bud
get and not have to plead its cause
before the Federal Bureau of the
Budget: that the board should be
given three additional parole off,
GERS and more office help.
Mr.. Bennett agreed with Mr.
Jelleff's statement that Washington
is "the penal orphan child of the
Nation" and said the District
should have separate setup for
handling purely local crime viola
tions. There are or 10 men in
Alcatraz who committed purely
local crimes" he added.
"All too often" continued Mr.
Bennett" the prison system has to
take the rap for failures of many
agencies with which it has little to
do. And we all know that prison
systems usually come last in budget
considerations"
Mr.. Bennett and Mr.. Jellef re-
ported for subcommittee on prison
and parole problems, respectively
Other subcommittee reports were
made by David A. Pine, United
States District attorney, represent
ing the group assigned to study the
effect of speedy trials on crime pre-
vention; Mrs. Pearl Klein, chair
man of the facilities for women
committee, and Dr. James A. Nolan
director of the Washington Criminal
Justice Association, who spoke for
the Committee on Penal Re-organ-
ization.
The Correction Committee, headed
by Vincent Saccardi, is considering
recommendations of the Prison In
dustries Reorganization Administra-
ton report. And Mr.. Saccardi, who
presided at the luncheon. paid
tribute to the Mrs. Franklin D
Roosevelt. who has played very
important part in securing funds
for new Jail, the National Train
ing School for Girls, a reformatory
and other institutions"
To Mrs. Roosevelt, the chairman
continued, this community should
be forever grateful as she accom-
plished more in the past few years
than we did in the past 80 years"
United States District Attorney
Pine attributed the Districts de-
crease in crime rates in recent
months partially to speedy trial OF
alleged law violators. In January
1899, he said rs per cent of the
persons arrested for criminal Of
fenses were brought to trial within
three weeks. And in the past 1e
months, he asserted, so per cent o,
more of those arrested-With the
exception of few holiday periods
were tried within three weeks.
AS proof that crime is on the de.
crease in the District, Mr.. Pine
cited indictment figures for Jan.
uary and April of this year. Ir
January there were 200 indictments
returned by the Federal grand jury
as compared with only 80 indict-
ments in April he said. Indict-
ments, he contended, are an ex-
cellent barometer of crime condi-
tions.
Mrs. Klein Cites Improvements.
In the last six months, according
to Mrs. Klein, the overcroWding o1
the women's sections Of District
jails has been relieved to a large
extent by quicker removal of in.
mates to the reservation at Lorton
Va, and by use of short-term SEN
tences to the reservation" A num-
Der of improvements have beer
made at Lorton, she declared, ano
several workers have been added tc
the staff.
Mrs. Klein insisted. however, thai
some $4,000 worth of renovation is
needed to modernize quarters of the
Woman's Bureau and House of De-
tention. More space is needed, SHE
stated, to permit segregation, classi-
f1cation and better general care o1
inmates.
DR.. Nolan suggested several pro-
cedures that might be adopted tt
prevent criminals, on release from
prison, from being returned to the
same environment that started
their law violations These in.
cluded greater fexibility of SEN
tence in felony cases to give the
parole board opportunity to effec,
corrective measures, indeterminate
sentences for chronic alcoholics
Zone man, he said. served 1875 days
in Jail within year on 13 sep.
arate charges, and appointment o1
officers strictly on basis of merit