THE COUNTY PRISONS.
BY A. H. VOTAW, SECRETARY.
The Secretary during the last year has paid some visits to a few of the county prisons. The tendency is toward improvement in the line of furnishing employment and in sanitary accommodations.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY (CITY PRISON).
Conditions are much the same as last year. The management is very ably conducted under Warden Lewis. The inmates are largely those who are detained for trial. Out of 445 prisoners, 50 were convicts. Bread is made in the prison, an economical feature whenever the population has an average of thirty or more. Here meats are generally served in the shape of hamburg steaks. We commend this practice to many of our wardens. The meat is eatable, palatable and all the coarser parts may be utilized. The cost of the food in 1916 was 8.4 cents daily for each prisoner, one cent more than the previous year. Considering the higher cost of all provisions, the additional cost is by no means surprising. Too many were detained for non-payment of fines. We trust they are now availing themselves of the law, passed by the late Assembly, allowing those held for costs and fines to be released on condition of agreeing to pay said charges by instalments. Most letters received for those awaiting trial are delivered unopened. Tho it would be a task to inspect all incoming letters, it seems to us that it would be wiser to have a universal rule providing for inspection of all letters.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY (THE WORKHOUSE).
The apartments of the women have been greatly improved. No women are now hired out. This may or may not be an improvement. If they work out under proper influences and can earn some wages, they may be improved thereby. Doubtless there are difficulties encountered in making satisfactory arrangements for their care. As there appears to be work for them at the institution, the necessity for their finding work outside is not apparent. The women now eat in a large dining-room at concrete tables with surface of rubber composition rendering breakage unusual and affording a surface which is readily cleansed.
The earnings last year of the farm and industries were $111,290—the largest amount ever reported by the institution. The overhead cost of each inmate is in gross 57 cents, but this is reduced to 14 cents in consequence of the splendid earnings. The time may come when this institution will become self-supporting.
BERKS COUNTY.
We are delighted to report some improvements in the prison at Reading. After strenuous effort by some members of the Board, a few men have been allowed to work on the poor farm. In 1917 they succeeded in raising several hundred bushels of potatoes and were helpful in drainage projects. The experiment is considered a success in every point of view. Next year under the law providing for the employment of prisoners on county land, which was approved July, 1917, more land may be cultivated and more prisoners employed.
Striped suitings, which it was once thought was a custom so firmly rooted as to be ineradicable at Reading, have been entirely abrogated, a plain jeans suiting being substituted.
We learned that 22 men were on parole, an increase over the report last year. These men were generally doing well. Thirty-two men and boys had been placed on probation, serving no part of their sentence in jail. They have a small yard in which the men parade thrice weekly for a half hour each time. This is insufficient. Measures should be taken at once to allow more time in the open air under the blue sky.
The women prisoners should be entirely segregated from the men’s quarters.
We now revise our estimate and make it approximately 70 per cent.
BLAIR COUNTY.
The Secretary was hoping to have opportunity to revise his estimate of the efficiency of the prison at Hollidaysburg, but was informed that the Commissioners requested that he should have an audience with them prior to making the usual examination. The Commissioners were not in session at the time of his visit, and so he did not insist upon his right as an Official Visitor. His rule is to be subject to the local regulations. Last year the Secretary was not favorably impressed with the sanitation and some features of the management. He trusts that some improvements have been made. He was pleased to learn that some men were working on the county farm and others on the roads. He did not learn whether the inmates were allowed to use the yard for exercise or whether they had the privilege of remaining outside of their cells longer than two hours a day. Letters ought to be inspected when received.
The fee system is still in use, a practice generally more or less abused. The Commissioners should very seriously consider a proposition to appoint a warden who should purchase provisions by contract. They buy bread. It would be more economical to bake their own bread.
Parole has not yet been instituted in this county.
On account of the road and farm work, we increase our estimate of the efficiency from 41 per cent. to 48 per cent.
CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Twenty-two men are reported to be working on roads. Several men have been raising vegetables on land, part belonging to the county and part rented for the purpose. A good beginning. We think that next year Warden E. H. Knee will endeavor to increase the amount of farm work.
Sixty-five prisoners are reported to be released on parole.
They ought to inspect incoming letters.
Those who enter a plea of guilty may be sentenced any month in the year, and hence the number of those detained for trial is greatly reduced.
They have long discontinued the fee system, the food by contract costing the county daily for each prisoner 8.62 cents. The workers eat at a table, and the warden wishes he had tables for the entire population. They bake their own bread.
On account of the additional number doing good work for the county we have raised our estimate from 59 per cent. to 65 per cent.
CHESTER COUNTY.
We are pleased to report that new and satisfactory sanitary appliances have been installed.
A sufficient amount of provisions is supplied and care is taken in the preparation of the food. What is surprising, when we take into consideration the greater cost of food, is that the cost per diem for each prisoner in 1916 was 11 cents as against 12.3 cents the year before.
All the inmates are kept at work. The industries are carpet weaving and chair-caning. They paid for materials $3,431 and received $5,387.
The authorities are willing to allow some of the men to work on farms but there is no county farm, or land belonging to the county, which is available. Grade raised to 77 per cent.
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
Here there are about 180 prisoners, say, 150 able-bodied persons, detained in idleness, from a few days to a year with no duties except in the line of domestic service. The bakery, the kitchen, the serving and the work of sweeping and scrubbing give nearly 25 per cent. of them some employment, and the good warden by a system of rotation endeavors to give all their turn at being useful. But what an appalling waste of labor!
There is no available land belonging to the county on which they might raise supplies for the institution. Dauphin County needs a prison farm.
Formerly the warden received 25 cents per day for each prisoner whom he maintained. Now the cost is 13.5 cents per day and the menu is far superior to what was formerly dispensed under the fee system. The meat ration is one-half pound daily, which is regarded as too much for unemployed men. They bake their own bread.
Strange to state, notwithstanding the lack of employment, none are paroled. In this respect, the county is very much in the rear of the procession.
As a rule, letters ought to be inspected before delivery.
Of the 168 hours in the week, the men may spend four hours in the open air. Conditions are not as they should be and cannot be improved materially till the question of employment is solved.
DELAWARE COUNTY.
The county prison is fortunate in having a warden who does not slumber on his job. If the laws of the State restrict employment in some lines, this warden gets busy in some other lines. It is vexatious to him to see able-bodied men dawdling about with nothing to do. He gives them all the open air possible. On occasion they may play games in their limited enclosure. Recently he has constructed a special building in which the looms are installed. No longer do they work in their cells, where they were obliged to live, eat and sleep in lint-laden air. The men assist in making improvements, and somehow there is something doing in the line of repairs or improvements every minute.
At the personal request of the warden, the Court had liberated some selected men to work on the poor farm, and the result had been exceedingly satisfactory. They raised much of the vegetables for their own use, and what they could not eat at the time they canned for future use. They bake their own bread.
The Court here was one of the first to adopt the principle of parole, and in no county of the Commonwealth have so many offenders been placed on parole and probation and with such good results. Grade increased from 67 to 75 per cent.
FAYETTE COUNTY.
Average number of prisoners every day in 1916 was 130, of whom they manage to employ 30 per cent. and would be glad to have all at work. Some 25 men have been at work on roads and farms at a wage of 25 cents per day. The road-making has been very profitable to the county. The general results have been altogether satisfactory.
They buy their bread, but we think they could employ some of their idle men in making and baking bread and also save money by the operation.
Cost of food 15 cents each prisoner daily, four cents more than the year before. They now serve three meals daily instead of two.
They need sheets and pillow cases. They have abundant help for a laundry.
Unless the men are at work, they are never in the open air, but they have the freedom of the corridors during the daytime.
LACKAWANNA COUNTY.
No special changes since 1916 to report, except that the number of prisoners has decreased about 50 per cent. This may indicate for that county a higher average of morals.
Last summer they were buying a pound loaf of good bread for 5 cents, and while flour is $14.00 the barrel they were not disposed to construct a bake shop.
While they were willing to employ convicts on land belonging to the county, they thought it would be difficult to find among their convicts, many of them serving quite short sentences, enough reliable men to constitute a workable gang.
Food is purchased by contract, and the county allows the prison authorities to expend as much as 20 cents daily for each inmate.
Whoever has power to order repairs ought to get busy. We understand the grand jury usually calls attention to the urgent need of improvements, but their suggestions are unheeded. It is poor economy to allow these unwholesome conditions to continue.
LEHIGH COUNTY.
Farmers are encouraged in this county, as labor is scarce, to apply to the parole officer for the privilege of employing some prisoners who can be recommended. Thus, some twenty-five men have been released to work on farms. The results appear to be satisfactory. The men receive wages and the county is not charged with supporting them in comparative idleness. Some of the men are employed in carpet weaving and rug-making, the profit on which in 1916 was $1,500.
When the law providing for the release of prisoners held for fines on condition of paying the charges by instalments was approved, the Court and parole officers immediately put the law to practical use. Within eight weeks the sum of $2,600 was collected on this account—an amount more than saved, since otherwise the men would have been maintained at the expense of the county and not one cent would have been received.
We trust that by this time the new entrance planned for access to the apartments of the women prisoners has been constructed. Heretofore the women have been obliged to file through a corridor occupied by the men, a custom salutary for neither men nor women.
The work of probation, parole, non-support, truancy and collection of fines under the recent law is all administered from one central office by a general officer with assistants. On the ground of economy and practical results, we commend this policy to other counties.
Percentage of efficiency raised from 60 per cent. to 70 per cent.
LUZERNE COUNTY.
As is frequently the custom of county prisons, this prison contains both prisoners committed by the county court and also the city misdemeanants. The city prisoners have been allowed to work outside on the county farm. The authorities have not been willing to assume the responsibility for paroling the county prisoners for outside work. It is quite possible that in the spring of 1918 they may take action under the special legislation of the late Assembly.
There are some acres of ground about the institution which is kept in an admirable order by the inmates, but no space has been set aside or adapted for an exercise ground for the prisoners. This is a matter which should receive attention. The open air is wholesome, and men should not be deprived of this privilege even if they are felons.
This institution was one of the last to adhere to a striped costume, which has finally been superseded by suitings of plain colors.
They ought to add a bakery to their cooking department. We believe this prison would profit by the employment of a professional cook.
The warden manages to find employment for nearly all of the prisoners in some sort of domestic service, tho no special industries are maintained.
A liberal application of the privilege of parole is noticeable in this county. The results are very satisfactory.
General efficiency the same as the year before.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Early in the season of 1917 some men were paroled to work on the county farm. The satisfactory results are reported in our account of the Wardens’ Meeting. The authorities have been so well pleased with this experiment that it is probable next season will witness some enlargement of these activities. Some of the men have been employed in finishing rugs, but this industry last summer was lagging.
They bake an excellent quality of bread, and prepare a menu somewhat above the average. Their experiment with cocoa nibs was not satisfactory; the men greatly prefer coffee. At some institutions, cocoa is being served occasionally as a substitute for coffee, and the inmates appear to enjoy it. A drink made from cheap cocoa nibs may not have much nutriment, but real cocoa possesses considerable nutriment, while coffee has no value as food, but may act as a stimulant.
Estimated efficiency now rated at 75 per cent.
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY.
Here they are considering a proposition to place a gang of laborers on a county farm. The warden is favorable to the experiment and will do all he can to make the effort a success.
So far as we know to date, they are not discharging prisoners, detained on account of fines, on condition of paying costs or fines in instalments. Next year we hope to hear they have established this system which in some other counties has proved to be eminently satisfactory.
The prisoners listlessly parade for an hour and a half each day either in the corridors or in the small exercise yard. They spend the remainder of the time in their cells excepting those who weave carpet or engage in domestic duties.
In 1916 the average daily cost of the food per prisoner was 17.8 cents, and there was an attempt to serve some variety. They purchase bread.
None were reported on the parole list. What is the matter with this county? Are there no prisoners fit for parole? Or is the Court still unconvinced? Will Northampton County be the last to adopt a system, the principle of which is becoming universally recognized?
No change this year in Efficiency grading.
PHILADELPHIA COUNTY.
The two departments of this prison, one the convict prison at Holmesburg, the other the receiving prison at Moyamensing, pursue the even tenor of their way. There is little change to report. The sanitary appliances have had much attention within the last few years, and are now in practically perfect condition. The latest cell blocks at the Holmesburg prison represent the best thought in most ways of prison construction. The cells seem like rooms, not cages, the windows deserve the name, and the sanitation is correct. At this prison the solitary system may still be studied. Those who work, however, and there is a goodly proportion, eat at tables and converse freely at all times while employed. There is still no special work other than domestic service and work of repairs and extensions.
The hospital at both departments is well equipped.
For years prisoners have not suffered much detention on account of non-payment of fines. Fines have been imposed but within the last five years less than 10 per cent. of the amount has been collected. We have no report of the operation of the new law by which fines may be paid in instalments.
Grand juries may come and grand juries may go, but the institution pursues its unwavering course. Sometimes the jury recommends improvements which the management desires as sincerely as the jury. Many of these improvements have been made, and it may be the published reports of the grand jury may have rendered the task of securing appropriations a little more easy. But it is an impossible task for any body of twelve or fifteen men within the time of two or three hours to study the conditions of an institution so as to present a well-developed scheme for its management.
We hold no brief for the Philadelphia County Prison. Doubtless some conditions could be improved. But the jury occasionally in its zeal magnifies a possible wrong or views some punitive feature out of its proper prospective. The discipline for a body of untried prisoners, some of whom may prove to be dangerous criminals, must not be squared by the discipline meted out to convicts who remain year after year in the same institution. You deal with one set as with people you know, the others present unknown dangerous proclivities. The tendency is to treat a body of transients with a stricter set of regulations. Just how far the principles of “The New Penology” have entered the precincts of Philadelphia County Prison, we are not prepared to discuss. There is a medium ground in all things and in prison management, probably the safest plan is to take the middle course. Compared with the “Tombs,” the New York County prison for those detained for trial, the prison at Moyamensing compares very favorably. The advantages, the employments, the general discipline of the New York Convict prisons at Blackwell’s and Riker’s Islands are perhaps in the main superior to our convict prison. The regulations for those held for trial should be as mild and reasonable as is consistent with safety and the convenience of the accused person. While they are not yet convicts, many of them are well-known recidivists, more or less dangerous, some are entirely unknown and need watchful care, so that any system founded on uniform treatment for all is liable to criticism. A system which combines moderate restraint with exactly the right proportion of reasonable freedom presents a problem which a novice can no more readily solve than an ignoramus the elements of an eclipse.
Down at Moyamensing they have the buildings and the space for the detention of the untried prisoners, and we have little doubt but that the manager and the court officials, if they were to meet for a conference, could unite in the adoption of regulations which would be satisfactory to all parties concerned. It is to the city’s direct interest to make use of the facilities already possessed. We are inclined to the belief that the construction of a new prison for the untried may be an economic blunder.
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
We learn that ten men have been working on the county farm.
This county for some years has been allowing men who were fined to be released on condition of making payments on instalments. In 1916 they collected from this source the sum of $2,081.14. If these men and women had been maintained in prison in accordance with the old law of 1836, their board and maintenance would have cost the taxpayers $4,025.38. Hence by the new arrangement a snug profit to the county of $6,106.52. They were pioneers in the rational treatment of those who were fined.
Here they believe in the principle of parole and put it into practice.
| Number on parole and probation over 16 years of age | 154 | ||
| Number on parole and probation under 16 years of age | 124 |
Some failures reported, the majority being juveniles arrested for truancy, etc.
They still continue their antiquated toilet arrangements. The closets are flushed by dumping therein water from buckets. The water is readily obtainable from spigots, so that the inconvenience is reduced to some extent, yet this system is justly condemned.
Trusties keep the Court House and the grounds in good order. Some are employed in making carpets and knitting socks.
Except murderers in the second degree, practically all county convicts are detained in the county prison. They have room for them in the old bastile, so why send them to the penitentiary on per diem charges?
The prisoners are turned absolutely loose one hour each day in the prison yard.
General Efficiency the same as the previous year, but on account of the farm work we estimate the grade at 70 per cent.
WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Here is a county prison reporting for the year 1916 an average daily number of inmates of 58. And yet they could send 12 men to work at road-making in a prison camp, and 10 men to work on the county farm. The employment record is a vast improvement over the report of the previous year when a few at domestic employments about the jail were the only inmates at work. It is thought that next season the agricultural operations will be increased.
The Directors ought to contrive at once to improve the cooking arrangements or, better still, to construct an entirely new culinary department.
They eat at tables in the corridors. We believe that it would be well for wardens generally to adopt this method. The cells are more readily kept clean, and the appearance has a civilized effect.
There are no sheets and pillows, a lack which some philanthropic organization might supply. They have plenty of time to do laundry work.
On account of the new opportunities for employment, we cheerfully revise our estimate of the Efficiency from 53 to 65 per cent.
YORK COUNTY.
No official visit has been paid to the prison at York since the last report. We have learned that conditions are generally unchanged. If this be true, there is much ground for complaint.
There is no employment except that a few assist in domestic service at the prison.
The food supplied is utterly inadequate. A few weeks ago the bill of fare for one week consisted of bread and coffee served twice a day for the seven days and a ration of soup with meat and vegetables was served twice during the week. On one other day three potatoes were dealt out to each prisoner. A certain amount of molasses is given out each week. No prison in the United States or Canada has such scanty fare. The prisoners are allowed to supplement their fare by purchasing supplies from a dealer who calls almost every morning, but the majority of them are penniless. Their friends, if they have any, may bring provision.
The sheriff receives forty-five cents a day for providing this meagre fare. Again and again we have called the attention of the good people of York County to these disgraceful conditions. One hundred and thirty years ago in the prisons of Philadelphia, each prisoner was furnished with water and a half loaf of bread every day. Those who had money could buy additional supplies; others must beg and depend upon friends. The York Prison has maintained a similar system to the present day. There has been no progress. The sheriff follows in the line of his predecessors. The authorities, under whom this iniquitous system has been allowed to continue, are the responsible parties. If the fare at other prisons, where a sufficient quantity is served, costs from 12 cents to 16 cents per day, the fare at York County prison costs barely 10 cents per day. Possibly the sheriff finds the business profitable, but that has little to do with the matter. The system is wrong. Any plan whereby the superintendent of any prison derives his profit from boarding the inmates is liable to abuse. The only remedy is to change the system. Act 171, Laws of Pennsylvania 1909, provides that all counties having a population between 150,000 and 250,000 must have a warden who purchases supplies by contract. Such a warden may be appointed in counties having less than a population of 150,000. The remedy lies with the citizens of York County. A number of prisons in counties having less than a population of 150,000 are controlled by either a warden or sheriff who serves for a salary and purchases food by contract. In such prisons, the conditions are always better than under the fee system. Grade 40 per cent.
Later. As we are going to press, we learn that proceedings are being brought before the court in York County with a view of making some wholesome changes. This Society endorses the efforts of the good citizens of York to remove an evil which has too long been a reproach to that community.