THE INSANE IN COUNTY JAILS
The sufferings of the insane in the county Poor Farms would so stir the compassion of the humane people of this state, could they but walk among these fellow-citizens of theirs and witness the misery to which they have been abandoned, that almshouse care would not survive the next session of the legislature. Take away, however, the meager attention given in the Poor Farms by those who, while they know nothing of mental diseases or of how to care for them, are moved by kindly impulses and recognize that the insane are sent to them for care and not for punishment; take away this and substitute the harsh discipline of the prison which is designed, by its painful memories, to restrain evildoers from crime. Then some picture can be formed of the lot of these poor sick people in county jails. Almost without exception, they have committed no crime, unless it be a crime to suffer from mental illness, but they share the lot of criminals and in many cases through the fears of their jailers they are denied even the small liberties allowed the criminals. Men and women, white people and negroes, those scarcely out of childhood and those filled with the pains and infirmities of age, those with types of mental disease which would yield readily to even the simplest treatment and those doomed to mental darkness all their days, I have seen them in the cells of the county jails of Texas and learned their needs and witnessed their sufferings at first hand. I can only say that I have never witnessed such depths of misery as those in which these unfortunate people drag out the months and years. Death releases some—the more fortunate—but the others continue to exist in filthy cells without that hope of release after a definite period, which cheers the criminals whose lot they share. The rigors of the jail are intended to impress evildoers with the terrors of the law but with few exceptions the prisoners in county jails are young men, most of them in sturdy health. It is needless to point out how much more severe punishment confinement in such places is to the unfortunate insane, broken in health, many of them acutely conscious of the terrible wrong which their state is inflicting upon them and the prey to delusional and hallucinatory terrors, as well as to those which depend upon actuality.
In not a few instances I found the insane in solitary confinement, simply on account of their mental disease, while the criminals enjoyed the companionship of their fellows. Every convention of life is swept away when these unfortunate people enter the jails. Women are bathed by men in the presence of male prisoners, persons with elusions of sin and impending punishment lie in cells which face the gallows, the weak and helpless are not even protected from physical violence, and, in most cases, there is not the slightest semblance of personal care or nursing. The jailers feel that they have discharged their full duty if the insane are prevented from escaping. Persons convicted of serious crimes enter the jails, serve their sentences and regain their liberty while the insane, who have led upright lives and have contributed by their honest toil to the prosperity of their state, lie in their cells without hope of release. A pathetic fact is that the counties pay the sheriffs more just for feeding the poor people than their care would cost in the state hospitals for the insane. It is needless to dwell further on the inhumanity and the injustice of confining the insane in the county jails. It constitutes a blot upon the honor of the state which every citizen would demand erased were the actual facts widely known.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE COUNTY GENERALLY
Books and Collections of Papers
- American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, “County Government....” (Its Annals, v. 47, whole No. 136.) May, 1913. 326 pp.
- Fairlie, John A., Local Government in Counties, Towns and Villages. New York, The Century Co., 1906. 289 pp. (The American State series) Bibliography.
- The New York short ballot organization: Proceedings of the First Conference for better County Government. Schenectady, N. Y., Nov. 13-14, 1914.
Book References
- Beard, C. A. American Government and Politics. New and rev. ed. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1914. 788 pp. See Index under county.
- Bristow, A. S. H. “Counties.” (In American and English Encyclopædia of Law. 2nd ed. Northport, N. Y., 1898. v. 7:898-972.)
- Clark, F. H. Outlines of Civics; being a supplement to Bryce’s American Commonwealth, abridged edition, ... New York and London, The Macmillan Company, 1899. 261 pp. “The County”: pp. 148-178.
- Fairlie, J. A. “County Government.” (In Cyclopædia of American Government, New York, 1914. v. I: 492-497.)
- Fisher, S. B. “Counties.” (In Mack, William, ed. Cyclopædia of Law and Procedure. New York, 1904. v. II: 325-615.)
- Fiske, J. Civil Government in the United States, Considered with some Reference to its Origin. New ed., with additions. Boston, New York, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1904, 378 pp. See Index under county.
- Flickinger, J. R. Civil Government as Developed in the States and in the United States. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1901. 350 pp. See Index under county.
- Goodnow, F. J. Municipal Home Rule; a Study in Administration. New York, The Columbia University Press, The Macmillan Co., agents, 1906. 283 pp. See Index under county in United States.
- Marriott, Crittenden. How Americans are Governed in Nation, State, and City. New York and London, Harper & Brothers, 1910. 372 pp. “Counties and Towns”: pp. 256-259.
- Miller, W. A. Civil Government, State and Federal; an Exposition of our Policy. Boston, New York, B. H. Sanborn & Co., 1910. 264 pp. “The County”: pp. 23-37.
- Moses, B. The Government of the United States. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1911. 424 pp. (Twentieth Century Textbooks, ed. by A. F. Nightingale.) “County Government”: pp. 313-315.
- Rader, P. S. Civil Government of the United States and the State of Missouri. Rev. ed. Jefferson City, Mo. The Hugh Stephens Co. 1912. 351 pp. “Counties”: pp. 246-257.
- Sherman, W. H. Civics: Studies in American Citizenship. New York, London, The Macmillan Co., 1905. 328 pp. “The County”: pp. 48-53.