Evening star., 1946-04-28
Bennett Is Due
To Name Penal
Head This Week
Honds-O Off Pledge
OfWeIfure Boord
Will Speed Reforms
By John W. Thomson. Jr

The way is now paved for swift
reforms IN personnel and procedure
at District Jail.
This week James v. Bennett. di-
rector OF the Bureau of Prisons of
the Justice Department, may rec
ommend' a new general superin-
tendent Of penal institutions, who
Will be expected to bring in addi-
tional assistants.
In conformity with a 1926 law, the
Board of Public Welfare will imme-
diately recommend the Federal
nominees to the Commissioners for
formal appointment:
The new general superintendent
Will replace Howard B. Gill whom
the Commissioners dismissed We'd
hesday on six charges of ineff1ciency
incompetence and INSTRUMENTATION
preferred by the Welfare Board.
Gill Was Federal Aide.
Before taking Diver the city adult
penal institutions in May, 1914, Mr..
Gill himself was an assistant to the
director of the Federal prisons, and
was well versed in Federal penal
thought. 1t is therefore, likely that
many of the ultimate changes in
Jail administration and practice
will be in line with what Mr.. Gill
advocated and which were, in some
measure, the course of his difficulties
with the Welfare Board and the
Commissioners.
Thus Mr.. Bennett had to be sure
that If he loaned the District an
expert and other assistants in line
with the recommendation of the
House District Subcommittee which
recently investigated the Jail prob
lens. his man would have a free
hand in all respects. Without this
assurance it was considered quite
possible at the District Building
that Mr.. Bennett might not want
to expose his personnel to the chaos
that overwhelmed Mr.. Gill.
On top OF this the Commissioners
were advised by Corporation Coun-
sci Vernon E. West that until new
legislation is enacted the Welfare
Board is still exclusive overall ad-
ministrator of the institutions bv
the act of 1926.
Got Promise From Morris.
Late last week the Commissioners
called Chairman Edgar Morris of
the Welfare Board into conference
and requested complete assurance
before they wrote the attorney gen.
eral asking the loan of one or
more prison experts, that the man
would not "be hamstrung" in his
reorganization by the board.
Mr.. Morris gave that promise
and later that day he and his full
board assured Mr.. Bennett per-
sonally that his nominee would
have a free hand.
Only then did the Commissioners
send off their letter to the ATTORNEY
General.
Since Mr.. Bennett has expected
the request for several days he is
believed to have already selected
the man to send in and is awaiting
approval of his Attorney General
Clark, to 60 ahead. Mr.. Clark is
due to return to Washington today
from Louisiana.
Once the interim administration
has been established for the institu-
tions, the Commissioners are due to
press legislation establishing them
In department of corrections sepa-
rate from welfare institutions and
directly under the Commissioners.
Will Raise Status.
This will bring penal institutions
from subordinate position as one
OF many welfare institutions into
full competition with other major
city departments for the tax dollars
in the District treasury.
Under such setup the director
OF corrections can go direct to the
Commissioners the men who control
the purse strings-for what he needs
instead of clearing through some
other agent or agency which has
other financial responsibilities and
needs to meet along with his.
At the moment the Commissioners
are decided on Incorporating the
law creating the department of cor
rections into their pending bill to
reorganize the Welfare Department
The bill is designed to take away
the present administrative powers
OF the Welfare Board and make it
advisory to welfare department
under the Commissioners. The
amendment would constitute a re-
writing of the bill to set up two
separate departments-one of well
fare and one of corrections under
the commissioners.
Seeks Speedy Action.
At least one of the Commission
ers Is favorable to the idea of OBJ
tanning Congressional action on the
two plans separately in the hope
OF setting up the corrections depart
ment during this session of Con-
gress. This would hold to a mini
mum the interim period during
which legal fiction of welfare board
control must be maintained under
the 1926 law while actually giving q
Federal administrator a free hand.
Representative Hebert, Democrat
OF Louisiana, whose subcommittee
investigated the Jail, also favors
separate handling of the two meas
ures. He said he thought it would
be mistake to link legislation deal
ing with immediate need for a
separate corrections department with
a broader plan for permanent reor.
ganization of the entire welfare
set up.
The other two Commissioners
(See PENAL, Page Aid