426 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
condemned for bad sanitation ; 27 had no means for classifying and separating the prisoners, or had failed for some other reason ; 46 had no employment for the inmates ; and i jail contained two cases of tuberculosis.
'Ihe report is relieved by an occasional congratulation, such as: "This jail was found in excellent condition ; " but pathetically frequently occur such as the following: "This jail, as at present constructed, is a criminal boardinghouse a school for the instruction of crime and tends to increase and perpetuate the very thing which a jail is intended to diminish and prevent." " The entire lower floor is practically without either light or ventilation." " The prisoners in this jail are undoubtedly having 'too easy a time of it while confined in jail. They are well-fed and housed, and are not only absolutely without employment, but are allowed to spend their days in the corridors, visiting, playing cards, and having a good time generally." " The lower floor is practically a cellar dark, damp, and unsanitary." " The condition of this jail tends especially to produce tuberculosis and rheumatism." " All are allowed to mingle together in the cells and corridors, making this jail a veritable hot-bed for the culture of the bacilli of crime." " This whole jail seems to have ben constructed on the single idea that the only purpose of a jail is to keep prisoners from escaping." " The corridors are dark and the cells si ill darker .... the gas had to be kept lighted all day." "The keeping of all grades and classes of criminals in enforced idleness, and in enforced association with each other, makes this jail an institution for the manufacture of criminals rather than for their punishment and reform." " A moral pest-house rather than a criminal hospital." " The jail is so damp that the sheriff has to keep a fire in it practically all summer to make it habitable." T. J. R.
TOas * The Fifty-Eighth Annual Report of the Prison Association of New York for the Year 1902. -i. The fee system. The association recommends the abolition of the fee system : for the sake of economy ; because it would facilitate the application of a system of indeterminate sentence, parole, and probation ; and on grounds of moral and humane considerations.
2. Jail construction. All the old jails and many of the new ones are not built in such a way as to make possible the enforcement of the law requiring that all persons confined in a county jail shall be kept separate from each other, and that prisoners committed to jail under sentence shall be constantly employed at hard labor, when practicable, during every day except Sunday.
3. Labor in jails. Idleness of the jail population is a persistent and lament- able evil. Prisoners are turned into habitual vagabonds and criminals by enforced idleness. The Raymond Street jail in Brooklyn is one of the worst sinners in this regard.
4. Treatment of misdemeanants. Provisions for dealing with these are totally inadequate. The most important reforms in the domain of penology now relate to the treatment of this class. A system of probation, indeterminate sen- tence, and reformatory institutions are essentials greatly needed. While the Elmira reformatory is overcrowded, the Napanoch is little used and only partially equipped.
5. Women probation officers. The salaries of women officers who do proba- tion work should be authorized by the state, instead of being dependent upon charitable interests.
6. Extending the parole law. The present law is arbitrarily limited to cases in which the maximum sentence could not be more than five years ; it is recom- mended that the scope of the law be made general. The practice of parole can be shown to be economically advisable.
7. United States prisoners in reformatories. Federal prisoners should be placed on the same footing as other inmates, and the statutes should be so modified as to make applicable to federal prisoners sentenced to reformatories the inde- terminate sentence and parole laws which govern state prisoners therein confined.
8. The county penitentiaries. It is recommended that the six district peniten- tiaries owned by counties in the state should be purchased by the state and be made establishments for the systematic treatment of sentenced misdemeanant offenders.
