Dr. Gilmour: Dr. Jordan, of Boston, is the author of that book, and it is called “Self-Control.” If you hadn’t asked me that question I would have thought I had missed my mission here to-night. Briefly and hurriedly I have just tried to sketch some of the phases in dealing with delinquency. Who are they for whom we should do these things? What claim have they upon us? What is our relationship to them? Did you ever hear the story of the Scotch girl, the one who was carrying a crippled boy over a street-crossing in Edinburgh? A gentleman, seeing her burden, hastened up to assist and sympathize with her; and the girl looked up smiling and replied: “Ah, sir. I dinna mind it. He is my brither!”
CHICAGO HOUSE OF CORRECTION
John S. Whitman, Warden.
The Chicago House of Correction was established and is maintained by the City of Chicago in accordance with the provisions of an Act of the State Legislature, in 1871. It covers sixty (60) acres of ground, the total valuation of real estate, buildings and equipment being $1,618,688.00. During the year ending December 31st, 1910, there were 13,083 commitments to the institution. This total includes 1,383 women, 355 boys under 18 years of age and 11,345 men. The daily average population was 1,631 (a decrease from 1,766 in 1909, and this latter figure was a decrease from 1,852, which was the daily average during 1908). Persons are committed for violation of state statutes in cases of misdemeanor, and for violation of city ordinances. In the latter case the fine imposed is worked out at the rate of fifty cents per day; however, the maximum term of imprisonment for failure to pay fine is fixed at six months, and an allowance of three days per month is made for good conduct if the limit of imprisonment is served. For violation of the state statutes a fixed sentence is imposed by the Court, the maximum being one year. For violation of certain sections of the statutes an additional fine may be imposed, which, if not paid, may be worked out at the rate of $1.50 per day after sentence has been served. The law providing for the allowance of three days per month for good conduct also covers these cases if confinement is for six months or more.
All inmates over 18 years of age who are not incapacitated from work by sickness or old age, are furnished with healthful employment; the principal industries being those that furnish products needed and to be used by the City. A limited and comparatively small percent of the inmates are employed in the manufacture of articles placed on the market in competition with those manufactured by paid labor. For instance, the city uses a great amount of crushed stone in the repair and building of streets. This is quarried, crushed and loaded in the cars on our grounds by inmates at a great saving to the city. They are also engaged in the manufacture of sewer brick used by the city, the clay used in this industry being excavated within the walls of the institution. We also conduct a printing shop where most of the city’s printing is done.
The laundry work for the Police and Health Departments is done here at a great advantage to those departments. We manufacture all clothing, shoes, etc., that the prisoners wear. We make all permanent improvements to buildings and grounds as well as do the new construction work. About one-fifth of our inmates are engaged in the manufacture of chairs, broom and leather goods and these are the only articles placed on the market.
The actual receipts of the institution during the year 1909 were $210,591.48; this amount, however, includes $38,287.00 collected as payment on fines. In addition to the above, it is conservatively estimated that the earnings of the institution in making permanent improvements and in new construction work are not less than $148,873.00. The total expenditures including the purchase of materials for new construction and of amounts appropriated by the city to be used at the House of Correction in its management amounted to $291,053.03.
The per capita cost per diem for feeding inmates during the year 1909 was twelve cents; the cost per diem including all expenditures was forty-six cents. The cost as stated above is somewhat increased because of the fact that we maintain as one of the departments of the institution what is known as the John Worthy School. This is not a school in name only, but has all the facilities for giving the class of boys that are sent to us from the Juvenile Court the education and training they need; and their needs are greater than those ordinarily sent to the public schools, for most of them have not had the chance in life to develop physically or morally as boys have who come from well regulated homes where proper influence prevails, and where they are encouraged to profit by the educational advantages furnished by our public schools. You will find there not only the ordinary class rooms with a competent teacher in charge of each, but manual training facilities and a well-equipped trade school, an indoor gymnasium, as well as outdoor play grounds and a swimming pool. We also teach them to do gardening and in a limited way give them an opportunity to develop any inclinations they may have to follow an agricultural life.
I desire to call particular attention to a cell house recently built here for men, in which there are 334 cells, each having an outside window which can be operated by the occupant of the cell. Each cell is also equipped with high class plumbing, including wash basin; in fact, sanitary conditions are as perfect as it seemed possible to make them. You will find no dark corners in the building or places where the ventilation is not perfect. The valuation has been conservatively fixed at $225,000. The actual cost is less than $65,000.00. The difference between these amounts represents the value of the inmates’ labor and the product of the institution used in its construction. No mechanical superintendents were employed, our officers acting in the dual capacity of guards and instructors, the inmates performing all the labor, even the plumbing, electrical work, and, in fact, all of the labor required to finish the well-constructed up-to-date building. The center corridor is 260 feet long by 30 feet in width, which we converted into a dining hall. All the prisoners occupying cells in the building have their meals served in this space and the tables and benches used for this purpose are also used for carrying on religious and educational work among the inmates during the evening or on Sundays. This is an entirely new innovation in prison management, but is being carried on with success.
The many advantages of a cell house like this one, built on the plan of the center corridor, are becoming more and more apparent as they are put into practical use. The outside window in each cell goes a long way toward preventing the spread of that dreaded disease, tuberculosis. Light and airy cells not only mean sanitary conditions, but afford an opportunity for the inmates to look out through windows and over walls and witness natural, if not pleasant scenes, which have a tendency to inspire them with more wholesome thoughts than if their gaze rested continually upon stone walls and iron bars. The entertainment of wholesome thoughts is much more apt to be an inspiration to better citizenship than can be suggested by dismal surroundings.