Evening star., 1946-03-21
Welfare Board 5
illness Becomes
Inquiry Issue
Counsel for Gill
Brings Up Question
On Managing Jail

On managing J0iI
The controversy over the fitness
|of the Board of Public Welfare tc
manage the operations of District
prisons was out in the open today
for the first time, after the issue
was raised yesterday before the
Commissioners inquiry board by
Howard B. Gill, suspended pena
superintendent, in his fight against
the Welfare Board recommendation
for his removal.
Mr.. Gill took the stand in his own
defense. He will continue to answer
charges Of inefilciency when the
hearing resumes tomorrow at 1890
am.
Although the board of inquiry
announced it would not permit the
hearing to become a trial of the
Welfare Board, Mr.. Gill succeeded,
over the objections OF corporation
counsel, in bringing out his inability
to obtain funds he considered nee
essary to make the District Jail
secure.
While promising to answer every
one of the piddling charges brought
against Mr.. Gill-what Is left of
them" Defense Attorney John j.
Wilson said he had a right to show
that what caused imposition of the
charges was a dispute between Mr..
Gill and Ray L. Huff, director of
welfare.
Would Consider Fundamentals"
"Is the Board of Public Welfare
a fit instrumentality to handle the
prisons of the District Of Columbia
and especially the District Jail?" he
asked. "Are the present personnel
and facilities at the jail adequate
to provide safe custody and treat
ment for the prisoners confined
therein?
"The director of public welfare's
answer to these two questions Is ::
Yes. Mr.. Gill's answer is, No
If We are permitted, we shall lift
this hearing from the trivia present.
ed by corporation counsel to a
consideration Of fundamentals af-
fecting the Jail which concern the
people of the District of Columbia. "
The Inquiry Board, however, will
conf1ne itself to considering the
specific charges, Chairman Walter
NJ. Bastian announced. At that
point, he ruled for the first time
that nowhere in the charges is it
stated or implied that Mr.. Gill had
any responsibility for the escape of
five prisoners from the jail Novem-
Der "a.
Suspension of Mr.. Gill on Deem
Der 6 followed an investigation of
the jailbreak by the Welfare Boards
Institutions Committee. Mr.. Wilson
contended that Assistant Corpora
ton Counsel Chester H. Gray i'm
piled Mr.. Gill bore some respon-
sibility when he said in his opening
statement that Mr.. Gill was not
solely" responsible.
Charges Cut to Is.
Thirteen of the original 16 charges
filed against him remain for Mr..
Gill to answer. Mr.. Gray, who pre-
viously. had dropped two of them,
yesterday abandoned a third and
amended a fourth. He dropped the
charge that Mr.. Gill permitted Ger
tain inmates to correspond with un-
authorized persons on the ground
that testimony did not support 1t.
A charge Mr.. Gill issued verbal
orders contrary to existing written
orders was amended to say he issued
one contradictory verbal order.
In answer to a charge that he
abandoned basement control cells
for punishment without providing
an effective substitute, Mr.. Gill said
he suggested using upstairs isolation
cells as part of an experiment de-
signed to overcome some of the
jaiPs insecure features.
When the Jail was remodeled be-
tween 1889 and 1941, its control CEN
ter was closed and the main corridor.
from which guards should be able to
control the entire prison, was built
on six different levels, he asserted.
"To any prison man, that spells
disaster" he declared. "It was
partly responsible for the fact it
took us an hour to find out who had
escaped from the Jail November "a.
Because Of the rambling layout of
the prison, the conduct of inmates
cannot be observed. I asked for
$55, 900 to perfect the jail,s inner
control system. I got $500. With it,
we managed to reduce the number
of levels to four"
Says Entrances Excessive.
Another insecure feature of the
jail, he pointed out, is that it has
two pedestrian and two automobile
entrances when it should have only
one Of each.
Mr.. Wilson complained loudly
when he was stopped from ques-
tioning Mr.. Gill about the alcohol
clinic he established. Pointing out
that Fred S. Kogod, Welfare Board
member, had referred to it as one
of Mr.. Gill's "crazy ideas," Mr.. Will
son said the Commissioners, who
have the final say on dismissal,
should have his answer to all the
testimony of opposing witnesses.
In his opening statement, Mr..
Wilson called on the District Com
to request the resignation
of Mr. Kogod from the Welfare
Board for arbitrarily Haunting" the
rules for protection of Federal en-
ployes established by the Civil Serv-
ice Commission.
Wilson Hits at Huff.
Citing a rule requiring specific
charges to be drawn so the employe
may know the offense with which he
is charged, Mr.. Wilson observed:
so carelessly and lightly did the
Welfare Board hold these rules that
one of them declared before you:
We didn't try to charge Mr.. GIN.
: We didn't expect all Of this
rigamarole.'"
..a