The county jail ought to be the most reformatory institution in the land. It receives offenders at the beginning of their careers, before they have become hardened and confirmed criminals. More can be accomplished for the reformation of a young criminal in the first week of his imprisonment than by six months’ confinement in a state prison after he has become a confirmed law-breaker. This was demonstrated by John L. Whitman when he was jailer in the Cook County Jail, where, notwithstanding the most unfavorable conditions, he did wonders for the reclamation of wayward boys and young men.
The utter inadequacy of the Cook County Jail has long been realized by thoughtful people. The Chicago Community Trust, by request of the Board of County Commissioners, has made a Cook County Jail Survey and has organized a committee of representative Chicago citizens for the purpose of abolishing the old Cook County Jail and removing the scandal which has disgraced Cook County for more than fifty years.
An Official Report
In 1919, after the State Board of Public Charities had labored fifty years to reform the county jails, the State Department of Public Welfare made a study of the county jails of Illinois. This report contained the following statement:
“Illinois has 20 county jails which maybe classified as good; 19 as fair; 41 as very poor or bad; 21 as unfit for use. Except for the high standard of cleanliness of the women’s department, it is difficult to find any good points about the Cook County Jail.... It is recognized as an insanitary, dark, overcrowded institution that is a disgrace to Cook County.... They [the prisoners] are locked in their cells from 11.30 in the morning to 3.30 in the afternoon. There are two or three men in each small cell (six by nine feet and eight feet high). It is impossible to distribute the men according to their habits of cleanliness or decency. Twenty hours out of each twenty-four must be spent locked in the insanitary, dirty, crowded cell. All meals are served to the men in their cells. The time for exercise, 9.30-11.30 a. m. and 3.30-5.30 p. m., they stand or walk around or sit down on the floor of the ‘bull pen’ or ‘exercise corridor.’ In the ‘old jail’ this ‘pen’ includes all the floor space of the cell house not occupied by the cell block. It is a big room swarming with men. In the departments of the ‘new’ it is the corridor into which the cells open. The cells are kept locked during the four exercise hours. There are no seats or benches in the ‘bull pens.’ In all departments the pens are crowded during the four ‘exercise’ hours.... Cook County does not furnish jail clothes for prisoners. They have access to laundry tubs once a week. Prisoners wash their own clothes.... Those who do not [have changes of clothing] manage the best way they can. They may wash their clothes, dry them, and put them on again; they may also borrow from cell mates.... There are only 14 shower baths, exclusive of the receiving ward, for all the men prisoners ... (population on the day of inspection, 546).
“One part of the floor space on the dark side of main cell house of the old jail is screened off for a hospital ward. There are no windows in this hospital. The air comes from the ‘old jail.’ It is lighted always by electric light.... The large airy hospital on the eighth floor of the ‘new jail’ is used only for special cases.”
The Committee has retained as adviser with reference to the jail problem Dr. George W. Kirchwey, of New York, formerly Dean of Columbia University Law School, ex-warden of Sing Sing Prison, and a leading expert in penology. He finds all of the evils above mentioned and many others—especially that prisoners are inevitably degenerated in body and soul by the present conditions; that the Cook County Jail, like most county jails, instead of being a preventive, is a prolific source of crime; and that the county bears a heavy burden of expense in detaining prisoners who might better be at large, as is shown by the fact that in many cases, after several months’ detention in the county jail, the prisoner is released by order of the State’s Attorney, either because he is found to be innocent or for lack of sufficient evidence to convict. He finds also that many prisoners are held because they cannot give bail who might safely be at large pending trial, without damage to the community.
Dean Kirchwey’s Recommendations
Dr. Kirchwey recommends that steps be taken to reduce the jail population: first, by prompt and thorough investigation immediately after arrest, in order to ascertain whether there is sufficient evidence to justify holding the prisoner; second, by so reorganizing the courts as to secure speedy trials and avoid the necessity for long detention; third, by releasing, on their own recognizance without bail, many prisoners who, having families or having regular employment, are not likely to run away.