Many abuses which modern penology heartily condemns still exist in the county jails of North Carolina, according to reports made by investigating agents of the State Board of charities and Public Welfare recently published in the Board’s Bulletin. These abuses include such specimens of antiquated penal methods as the flogging of prisoners and confinement in dark dungeons. In several of the county jails negro jailers have the keys to the cells in which white women are confined and there are numerous instances where there is no possible privacy for the women prisoners, white or black. The sanitary conditions too are usually miserable.
The reports on county jails in this State published in the Bulletin of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare follows:
“The basis of all constructive change is a thorough knowledge of present facts and present conditions. Future laws and future methods must be based upon those of the present, just as those of the present grew out of the past. Any improvement, therefore, which the Citizens’ Committee may hope to bring about in prison legislation or prison administration must be based upon an adequate knowledge of the comparative efficiency or inefficiency of our present system of penal treatment. The meeting of this committee is the first attempt ever made in this State to work out an ideal yet practical prison system, based upon a Statewide survey of prison conditions. Before we offer recommendations for changes in our prison legislation, we should, first of all, have a vivid picture of present prison conditions in North Carolina.
“Among other things which we inherited from our English forefathers in colonial days was the common jail. The county jails which sprang up in the American colonies were exact counterparts of the English jails of the 16th and 17th centuries, with their reeking filth and vermin-infested cells—veritable breeding places of vice and crime. While other institutions have grown and taken on new life with the introduction of new ideas, the county jail has remained practically unchanged. There is, perhaps, no social institution in the State today wish is so generally neglected as this surviving relic of an outgrown past.
“The modern reader of history is often horrified at the accounts of living conditions in the English jails of the Middle Ages, where disease was rife, and where the dungeon, the thumb screw, and the rack were favorite methods of torture. But the reader would be more horrified still if he knew that many of these conditions exist in the county jails of our State today, and these conditions are allowed to exist because the people do not know what is going on behind prison bars.
Dungeon Still Extant
“In a recent study of some 30 county jails in our State, four dungeons were found, three of which had been used within the past few weeks. One of these dungeons has concrete walls, concrete ceiling and floor, and a heavy iron door, with no window or light or ventilation whatsoever, except such as might find its way through the narrow crack under the door. In this concrete vault, 6x8x10 feet, only a few months ago 17 negroes were confined at one time by the jailer, according to his own statement. The prisoners were too crowded to sit down, and were compelled to stand. That classic illustration of prison cruelty, the Black Hole of Calcutta, where 128 English prisoners lost their lives through suffocation, had two small windows in it. This dungeon has none. It is still being used as a place of punishment. No bedding is furnished. A prisoner confined in it is usually kept in total darkness for two days at a time, with nothing to sleep on but the concrete floor. Please bear in mind that this punishment is not inflicted by a court, but by the jailer, who assumes such authority to himself without any basis in law.
“In another county jail an 11-year-old white boy was confined in jail for about six weeks for breaking a window pane and a lamp shade in the county home. Several times this boy was locked up in the jail dungeon in total darkness for three or four hours at a time. With a child’s instinctive fear of the darkness, and his vivid imagination, what punishment could have been more severe? The jailer, who, by thew way, was a woman, seemed to think she had done nothing out of place, and accepted it in a matter of fact way as part of the day’s work.
“In another jail dungeon, not quite totally dark, a prisoner was confined for four months for fighting another prisoner.
“Four other jails among the 30 visited had devices for closing the windows and making the rooms totally dark as a means of punishment. Some of these are used occasionally.
“In the State Prison there are five or six dungeons on the basement floor, just below the tier of cells where 14 prisoners are awaiting execution. These dungeons have solid iron doors, which render the cells totally dark. Prisoners are kept in these dungeons from two to six days at a time as punishment, usually for fighting. Corporal punishment is sometimes used and the superintendent of the State Prison thinks this a more humane punishment that incarceration in such cells as they have in the State Prison. These conditions are in no wise to be regarded as reflecting of the present management of the State Prison. They are a part of the system which has been handed down from the past. In calling attention to these conditions it would be a great mistake to leave the impression that reform should consist merely in changes in methods of discipline. The real problem goes much deeper, and can be solved only by the introduction of a system of prison industries which would include proper instruction for all inmates capable of receiving it. Thus would be avoided the moral deterioration and the resulting bad conduct on the part of the prisoners, which, under the present system, makes severe discipline necessary.
Whipping as Punishment
“In at least three county jails prisoners are sometimes whipped as a means of punishment. A few weeks ago a member of the staff of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare was looking through the jail in one of our southern counties. In a negro woman’s ward a negro girl about 17 years old was lying n bed with a bloody bandage tied around here head. In the presence of the jailer’s wife the girl said that the previous day the jailer had beaten her with his blackjack and had kicked her into a corner ‘just like she was a dog.’ The jailer’s wife, upon being questioned, admitted that her husband had beaten the girl for cursing her, and when the jailer was questioned a little later, he, too, admitted the beating. Prisoners on the floor below told the visitor the jailer had ‘beat hell out of her.’ The sheriff’s attention was called to the matter through a letter, whereupon the jailer’s wife flatly denied her previous statements to the visitor, and the jailer himself, a large man, weighing well over 200 pounds, and noted all over the county for his bravery, declared that the girl had attacked him and he had to defend himself. Truly, a brave jailer was that, who armed with pistol and blackjack had to defend himself so vigorously against the alleged attack of a 17-year-old negro girl, whose only weapon was her tongue. I mention this instance of prison cruelty to show that abuses cannot be remedied merely by calling the attention of the county authorities to them. Only by arousing the public sentiment of the entire State can we hope to rid our county jails of such conditions as I have described.
“Among other instances of the beating of prisoners by jailers which have come to the attention of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare is the case of an old white woman, temporarily confined in jail because of drug addiction. It was reported that she was given a severe beating with a strap by the jailer when she became unusually noisy after the drug was taken from her. This old woman is now so feeble she is in the county home. Such treatment is not only a violation of the law, but is an outrage against every principle of justice and humanity. The following ruling by the Attorney General is unmistakably clear on this point:
“Mrs. Clarence A. Johnson
“State Commissioner of Public Welfare, Raleigh, N.C.
Dear Madam: You asked this office to state fully whether or not the keeper of a county jail has in any way authority to discipline the prisoners confined to his care. The jailer in North Carolina is simply an employe of the sheriff of the county whose jail he keeps. He is not a public officer, but in all his acts in the scope of his authority represents the sheriff. Our court has held with reference to county convicts sentenced to hard labor upon the public roads that they are not subject to flogging by the officer having them in charge. Section 1,361 of Consolidated Statutes authorizes the board of commissioners of a particular county to enact all needful rules and regulations for the successful working of convicts upon the public roads. This, of course, does not confer any authority upon the county commissioners to make rules and regulations for the discipline of prisoners untried and imprisoned in the county jail temporarily until trial on account of their inability to give bond. The sheriff himself has no authority to discipline prisoners of either of the latter classes. It is very clear, then that when the jailer goes beyond the necessary measures for preventing the escape of prisoners committed to ?? the necessary precautions for his own safety, he offends against the law. In no sense and in no way has he authority to discipline the prisoners committed to him as an employe of the sheriff for safekeeping.
“Yours very truly,
“James S. Manning,
“Attorney General
Humane Laws Disregarded
“On the whole the laws upon our statute books regarding the care and treatment of prisoners are humane, but these laws are generally disregarded. In many instances the jailers do not know the laws relating to their duties.
“Among some of the most important requirements in regard to county jails are the following:
“Plans for new jails must be approved by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. County commissioners, as a rule, are ignorant of this provision. “Every county jail shall be provided with at least five separate apartments for prisoners. Only a few jails have five or more apartments, the majority having only three or four apartments. Two jails recently visited had only one apartment, so that there were no provisions whatever for separation of races or sexes. Some of the jails are badly crowded. In one jail 20 negroes were confined in six cells, while in another jail six negroes were locked up in one cell where there were only four bunks and one of those broken.
“The races and sexes must be kept separate. In four counties the whites and black were actually confined together at the time of the visit. In one instance a white woman was confined in the same cell apartment with an insane negro woman. In another jail when women are confined they must be kept in the jailer’s corridor. There are no toilets in the jailer’s corridor, so that the women are compelled to use buckets, with no privacy except as darkness might afford. The judge refuses to send white women to this jail, but negro women are sometimes sent.
“Every prisoner within 48 hours after had admission to any jail must be given a thorough physical examination. Two county physicians in the State claim to be fulfilling the law in this respect. In some counties prisoners are examined for venereal disease within a week or 10 days, and if infected with disease, are treated. Several county physicians have stated that they did not know this law was upon the statute books; others explain their neglect by saying this physical examination of prisoners is unnecessary. In most instances the county physicians visit the jail only upon call, after the prisoner has become sick enough to be confined to his bed.
Sick and infectious prisoners shall be kept separate from the other prisoners. This law is directly dependent for its enforcement upon the physical examination of prisoners by the county physician, as stated above. Without such examination it is impossible to tell what prisoners are diseased. That the enforcement of this law is extremely important is brought out in the following description of a typical jail in Eastern North Carolina.
“There were 20 negro men in the negro ward. Nine of these negro prisoners were being treated for venereal disease by the county health officer, and one prisoner was diagnosed as a positive tubercular. The diseased men were managing with those not infected, and no attempt at segregation was made. In some of the cells four men were sleeping the tubercular prisoner along with the rest—thus allowing to each man about 61 cubic feet of air place, an amount far too small when compared with the minimum set by the State Board of Health of 600 cubic feet of air space per prisoner. The window area of the cell compartment, which should have been one-fifth of the total floor area, was only one-nineteenth of the floor area. The cells were in semi-darkness at midday, and such light and ventilation as they had was obstructed by a high board fence. One window as almost totally closed by a mulberry bush growing alongside it. There were two lavatories for the 20 negroes, and no towels except some meal sacks. The diet consisted of soggy rice and baker’s bread for breakfast, and cabbage and fat meat for the other meal. The dieting fee was only 40 cents a day.
Each prisoner shall be provided with a clean mattress or tick, sheets, and blankets or quilts. In six county jails visited recently no mattress of any kind was provided. The majority of the jails use cotton or straw mattresses. A few jails still have canvass hammocks. In only one jail were sheets found. The bed clothing as a rule is indescribably filthy.
Each prisoner shall be required to have not less than one general bath every week. Nine county jails recently visited had no bathing facilities whatever; three others had only tin basins or tubs. In some counties where the buts or showers were located in the jailer’s corridor the prisoners complained of not being allowed to take a bath in several weeks. Few jails have arrangements for providing hot water for bathing purposes. In a number of jails the plumbing had been out of order for months, and no attempt made to remedy it. In one case the plumbing had been out of order for several years.
Jails Miserably Kept
“Jails as a rule are miserably kept. The floors are seldom swept and still more rarely scoured. Many are in semi-darkness at midday. Crowded together, as prisoners frequently are, in these dark, dirty cells, with wholly inadequate toilet facilities, compelled always to breathe air laden with the sickening prison odor, and fed upon the cheapest and coarsest food with never a chance to exercise, and constantly exposed to infection from syphilis, gonorrhea, and tuberculosis, it is any wonder that these men come out with a grudge against society and the fixed determination to get even. Most of the prisoners are only awaiting trial. Some of them will be found innocent.
“There are a few jails which stand out in striking contrast to this dark picture which has been painted above. The Wake County jail and the Rowan County jail are as clean as a hospital, and have no prison odor about them. The floors of the Rowan County jail are scoured every morning. The State Prison is also scrupulously clean.
“In four of the county jails, Kangaroo Courts were found. A Kangaroo County is an organization among the prisoners with three objects in view: to raise money for buying luxuries such as sugar, cigarettes, safety razor blades, and playing cards; to enforce certain rules in regard to the cleanliness of the jail and the comfort of the prisoners; and to furnish amusement and sport.
“Each prisoner on admission to jail is assessed a fee of from 25 cents to a dollar by the other prisoners. The penalty for refusal or inability to pay, or for violation of the rules of the Kangaroo Court is from five to 100 licks with a belt for from 5 cents to a dollar. A new prisoner who has the misfortune to be ‘broke’ is held over a barrel or a bunk and strapped. It is a gala day for the other prisoners when a bunch of penniless ‘hoboes’ are brought into jail. Such punishment of prisoners by other prisoners, either by fines or by strapping, is of course extra legal, and frequently is subject to cruelty and abuse. In one instance the jailer was reported being not only in sympathy with it, but was credited with being the head of the Kangaroo Court. In two other instances, the jailers denied all knowledge of the existence of such organizations in their jails. In all four4 instances the original set of rules and regulations were secured from the ‘officers’ of the Kangaroo Courts.
Women at Jailer’s Mercy
“During the past summer negro men carried the keys to two county jails. In at least one of these jails the negro had free access to all wards, including that for white women. Since that time, however, this negro jailer has been replaced. So far as is known, the other negro still carries the keys to his jail. In many jails there are negro jail helpers. When a negro jailer carries the keys, or when negro helpers have free access to the women’s wards, the embarrassing position in which the women may be placed is seen in the following report of conditions as they existed in a county jail last summer:
“There was no privacy for the women prisoners—white or black. When the visitor entered negro women’s ward, a negro girl was lying half clothed on a blanket at the far end of the prisoners’ corridor within full view of the negro jail helpers. Another negro woman was vainly trying to take a bath in the little privacy she coul secure by hanging a blanket across the bars. In the white women’s ward several of the women were lying on blankets on the floor of the prisoners’ corridor. One girl was bare almost to the waist when the negro helper brought the food, and she had covered up her face and breast as best she could lying face forward on the floor. At the first opportunity she ducked for a cell to get more clothing.”
“Buncombe County has recently adopted a more enlightened method of treating the woman offender, which clearly demonstrates that such conditions as described above need not exist. Four months ago, an entirely separate ward for women prisoners was set aside in the Buncombe County jail, with a full-time matron in charge. The women prisoners do their own cooking and housekeeping, and have the freedom of the enclosed yard during the day, being confined in their cells only at night. This ward has none of the atmosphere of the common jail. It is true that the floors of this old section of the jail are in bad condition, the walls need repairing and painting, and a number of windowpanes are out; yet somehow the matron, Mrs. Williams, has given a home-like atmosphere to the place. As one sits in the combined kitchen and dining room and chats with the group he forgets that these are what the world calls bad women. Whatever the offense may be, Mrs. Williams always takes sides with her girls, believes in them, and they in turn confide in her. The girls go out from such an institution with an increased faith in their own ability to succeed and go straight, and many are writing back to the matron that they are making good. Truly this matron has caught the spirit of Christ, who said unto the woman taken in sin: ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.’
“The abuses described above in this report are not confined, as some might think, to a few isolated counties. Some of the worst conditions have been found in the counties usually ranked among the first in the State in wealth, in education and in general progress. While these counties have not been named in this report, they can be furnished upon request by the State Board of Public Welfare or the Conference for Social Service if there is a legitimate reason or doing so.”
From page 19, Raleigh News & Observer, Sunday, February 11, 1923
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