Condition of the Common Jails. 95 



The Ohio Board of State Charities, in their second annual 

 report, in speaking of their county jails, use the following em- 

 phatic language : 



" It is a startling and terrible proposition, sustained by this report (the 

 report of their secretary), that Ohio is to-day siipporting, at public ex- 

 pense, as base ' seminaries of crime ' as are to be found in any civilized 

 community. Children, youth, the young man, the middle aged, the old, 

 all at the first simply accused of crime, and more or less wrongfully ac- 

 cused—many for their first ott'ense, some old ofienders, some debauched, 

 cunning corrupters of men, — representatives of each of these classes are 

 found congregated in our jails. And to perfect the -wrong they are crowded 

 often into an ill-ventilated, dirty, dark prison, where the whole being, 

 physical, mental and moral, is soon fitted to receive all ' uncleanness with 

 greediness.' With bad air, vile quarters and depraved associates, little 

 can be added to hasten the perfection of the student in crime. And these 

 schools of crime are to-day found in every county in the State, sustained 

 under form of law, and at the expense of the public." 



The Committee on Prisons, of the late Constitutional Con- 

 vention of New York, in a report to that body, sum up the 

 result of their investigations as follows : 



" That there is no one of the sources of crime which is more operative 

 in the multiplication of thieves and burglars than the common jails of 

 the State, as at present organized." 



The Committee of the Prison Association of New York, in 



their report for 1867, speaking of the jails of that State, say : 



" They are, indeed, as now constructed and managed, nothing less thaa 

 seminaries of vice and nurseries of crime." 



Miss Dix, the eminent philanthropist, after an extended ob- 

 servation, says : 



"If it were the deliberate purpose of society to establish criminals in 

 all that is evil, and to root out the last remains of virtuous inclination, 

 this purpose could not be more eff"ectually accomplished than by incar- 

 ceration in the county jails, as they are, with few exceptions, constructed 

 and governed." 



From the report of the Prison Association of New York for 

 1870, we find that but little improvement has been made in 

 the condition of the jails of that state, although the attention 



