Mrs. L. W. Fletcher of the 6th District and Mrs. J. Poole of the 19th District are the oldest matrons in the work, having held appointment since September, 1886. Mrs. Fletcher has to do with that known as the tenderloin section, Eleventh street above Race. Within this district dwells a larger portion of girls and women whose vocation makes them liable to arrest more than any of the other thirty districts. Mrs. Fletcher has proved well-fitted for the work, the combination of good common sense, sympathetic gentleness and determined spirit which is hers, is one that is needed in the Sixth District more than any other perhaps. Mrs. Fletcher speaks of the many unfortunate girls brought to her as “her girls.” “They are to be pitied as much as condemned. Force of circumstances, I have learned, drives the majority of them into the lives they lead. Contact with them has taught me that few of them are wholly bad. Many can be made to see the folly of vice and led to abandon it.” She speaks authoritatively, and keeps track of many reclaimed, who are happy in their several employments as wage-earners, and owe their present happiness to her timely advice and sympathy.
Chinatown is in this division, and it exerts its worst influence; but kindness wins. They are not locked up in cells, but the matron places them in an upper room or ward. The matron is very seldom used roughly, her appearance seems to command respect, even from the most abandoned. She often accompanies them to court trial, and it is a comfort to them, they never fail to appreciate.
All our seventeen police matrons seem to be well-fitted for their work. Some of our lieutenants who have heretofore opposed having matrons for the female portion at station-houses, are beginning to see the folly of their former judgment. Our statute law requires every station-house to have a matron. Why is it not obeyed in the other fourteen districts?
Woman’s Prison.—The women of the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., are urging the establishment there of a Woman’s Prison. How much better if it were a Reformatory. This is sadly needed in State of Pennsylvania, and especially in Philadelphia for the 350 women in our Penitentiary, County Prison and House of Correction; at the present time there is a movement to ask the Legislature to establish a Reformatory prison for women in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.
Mrs. L. W. Fletcher,
Police Matron, Sixth District, Philadelphia.
TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF JOHN J. LYTLE, GENERAL SECRETARY.
In presenting this, my Twelfth Annual Report, I feel more and more solemnly impressed with the magnitude of the work in which I have been for so many years engaged, the importance of which cannot be overestimated and I have faithfully endeavored to perform my duty, seeking for Divine guidance in all of my undertakings. The Pennsylvania Prison Society has its officers and an Acting Committee of fifty other members, who, by act of the Legislature, are made official visitors to the Penitentiary and County Prisons. They are particularly interested in visiting the Eastern Penitentiary and the two County Prisons in this city, and the House of Correction—though we have members who visit the County Prisons of the State and make reports to the General Committee. The members, after a careful visitation of the convicts in their cells, endeavor to gain their confidence, and thus become friends to them, which is kept up frequently long after their discharge. We encourage a correspondence with them after they leave the prison, so that we can retain an influence over them for good and continued good.
Many interesting letters have been received, showing that what has been done was warmly appreciated, and instances are not wanting where they are leading honest lives, and are willing to admit that the lives they had been leading were dragging them down in ruin and could thankfully say that their incarceration had been a blessing to them, and they had determined with the Lord’s help, to lead better lives.
We have earnest, faithful Christian women members of the committee who visit the women prisoners of the Penitentiary, the County Prisons, and the House of Correction. In this connection I desire to call attention to the efforts which are being made to establish a temporary Home for discharged women prisoners, an institution which has been much needed, where they can remain a short time until they can obtain situations, in the meantime being under Christian influences. There is also the Howard Institution for discharged women prisoners, situated on Popular street, near Sixteenth street, where they have a comfortable home and are taught house-work and laundry, and being expected to stay at least six months, there is hope for reformation for those who desire to lead better lives.