clusions are embodied in this report.
tº Municipal League Report
, , ; OIl . . . .
City and County Jails and Los Feliz Hospital
! Introductory -
Following is the report of the Municipal League's Committee on Socia
Welfare relative to city and county jails and Los Feliz Hospital which was
unanimously adopted July 18th by the Executive Committee of the League. .
Participating in the several conferences that led to the adoption of this
report were: Chairman W. H. Workman, Jr., Vice-Chairman John Newton
Russell, Jr., Messrs. H. J. Backus, A. E. Bruce, Jas. G. Cortelyou, L. C. Dale,
Miss Lloy Galpin, Rev. E. Stanton Hodgin, Dr. J. O. Hunt, Mr. E. G. Judah,
Rev. Edwin P. Ryland, Mr. W. C. Shelton, Mrs. Fenner Webb, and Rev. Ed-
win A. Waldo, all of the Committee. -
The following ladies and gentlemen, members of corresponding commit-
tees of their respective organizations, Mrs. Carrie Parsons Bryant of the Fri-
day Morning Club, Mrs. E. K. Foster of the Juvenile Protective Assn., Mrs.
Wm. Reed of the Ebell Club, Miss Mary J. Wörkman of the Alliance of Social
Agencies and Mr. Clifford McKnight, instructor, at the night school at the
- cast Side Jail supplemented with further reports the Secretary's findings and
by their attendance at committee meetings were most helpful to the Commit.
tee. * . . ; ; , . .
There also participated in the Committee's deliberations: Rev. G. A.
Briegleb of the Ministerial Assočiation, Mrs. L. E. James of the Los Feliz
Hospital Board, Mr. Otto Zahn of the Social Service Committee of the Epis-
copal Diocese of Los Angeles, Mr. P. D. Noel and Mrs. F. W. Johnson. . .
A special sub-committee of architect and engineers, consisting of Mr.
W. J. Dodd, Mr. Frank H. Olmsted, Mr. Chas. E. Richards, was appointed, on
the physical aspects of the City Jail, which submitted a painstaking and valu-
able report based upon first hand acquaintance with the problems. Its con-
\
Endorsed by: - - . :
Public Affairs Committee of the Friday Morning Club.
Eaceutive Committee of the Ebell Club.
Juvenile Protective Association. -
Alliance of Social Agencies.
Social Service Committee of the Church: Federation.
Social Service Committee Lpiscopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
It has been said that the treatment of prisoners is the acid test of civil-
lization. If this be true, jail conditions here prove beyond the peradventure
of a doubt that Los Angeles has failed to emerge from medieval darkness.
The supposedly long discredited idea of a jail as a place of punishment
still survives here and is evidenced at nearly every turn we take.
* We find in Los Angeles jails prisoners thrust promiscuously into tanks
and cells that are ill smelling, ill lighted, ill ventilated and teeming with
cockroaches, lice and bed bugs. Here our fellow men and women, largely the
victims of social maladjustments for which the more enlightened of us are the
most to blame, are forcibly detained with little or nothing to do but to plot
vengeful retaliation. A few of the men prisoners, after being sentenced, are
taken out to the industrial farms and thus, in contact with mother earth, clear-
ing land and planting crops, with the mountains just far enough off to make
a picture to rest the eyes upon, are getting healthy appetites and a more nor-
mal reaction toward society, but most of the men prisoners and the poor girls
at the jail and in the Los Feliz Hospital fare worse. We force upon them,
deficient in self control, up to 180 days of comparative idleness with little to
do but to nurse their own bitter thoughts and we turn them out finally hardly
having tried to fan into a flame the spark of respectability latent in everybody.
We then absurdly wonder at the number of repeaters in our jails, and while
raving at the cost in cold cash to taxpayers, we appear totally oblivious or in-
different to the cost as measured by the lowered moral stamina and physical
deterioration of the whole community. We practically say to them “An eye
for an eye,” and they pay us back with interest in the same coin.
Segregation, except in extreme cases, is apparently unthought of.
- Food, unless (in the county jail) a prisoner is fortunate enough to possess
financial resources that will yield him in his enforced idleness at least $5.00 per
week, and unless he is classed as a trusty and is performing certain menial
tasks, is served but twice a day and even that thus served is of so monotonous
a character and of such a kind as will not maintain a normal well person in
health, to say nothing of these unfortunates whose very crimes, in many cases,
science traces to malnutrition. Prisoners are put through an ugly mill,
mechanical, inelastic, dehumanizing, and when finally poured out at the com-
pletion of their sentences, the preponderance of probability is that they have
either been broken or hardened in the process. This is the sad thing. Faith-
in fair play, in gladness and happiness is extinguished and all of society suffers
in consequence. -
REcoMMENDATIONS *
We are not now going to fill in the details of this dark picture which we
have roughly sketched of the spirit and conditions in our jails. Suffice it to
say, the detailed reports by both men and women whose ability to see and
accurately report what they see is unquestioned are on file and accessible in
the Municipal League Offices. We want to outline, however, what in our
opinion should be done and done at once to remedy the actual conditions:
THE IMMEDIATE PROGRAM
1. Physical Changes at Present Jails: -
. That temporarily and until consolidation of the City and County Jaiis
shall be brought about, the old jails be overhauled. In the opinion of
our committee of architect and engineers, even the city jail can be
made habitable for human beings by the expenditure, for a ventilating
system, of some $5000 and by letting in the sun, by making more win-
dows on the south side of the building. - •
That with the removal of a large number of the sentenced prisoners
kept as trusties at the city jail, to the farms, it will be possible to tear
out the mezzanine floor on the east side and thus remove the most
prolific breeding places for vermin and aid greatly in the matter of
'light. - .. -
With the removal to the industrial farms of a great number of the
prisoners and with a marked reduction in the number of arrests since
the closing of saloons over a year ago, a much better arrangement of
both city and county jails will be possible, and should be undertaken
at once. This will greatly aid in the matter of segregation, vastly im-
prove dining and sleeping facilities and render more adequate fumiga-
…tion possible. . . . . . .
2. Further Develop Industrial Farms:
* That the industrial farms, at the East Side Jail, hear Los Feliz Hos-
pital, and in and north of Griffith Park, so well inaugurated by the city,
9.
be rapidly developed and that all prisoners, including the present men
detained in the jails as trusties, physically capable and shown by psy-
chological tests to be adapted to this kind of work be put to work on
these farms. - . . . - . . . . . .
Further Industrial Training:
That unsentenced prisoners also, if willing, be put to work as far as
possible, and that other kinds of industrial training for prisoners be
instituted as rapidly as possible. ... , w
Test Mental and Physical Condition of Prisoners: .
That adequate psychological and medical examination be provided
for all prisoners upon conviction and that no sentences be imposed by
any judge upon a prisoner without data secured by such examinations
before him.
Segregation of Diseased Prisoners:
That prisoners should be examined as to physical condition before
being put into tanks or cells so that proper medical care may be admin-
istered and those suffering from communicable diseases may be segre-
gated. -
Disinfection of Clothing:
That prisoners be deloused upon entering the jail. That provisions
for adequate fumigation of clothing and bedding be provided and that
clean temporary clothing be provided for the period of detention; also
that night robes be furnished. J &
Helping Prisoners Get on Their Feet: .
That prisoners on being put to work on the farms be provided with
work shoes and work clothes for use during their detention and that a
small remuneration of at least 35c per day be paid the prisoners for
their work at the completion of their sentence so that they may go
back to society with some money which they have themselves earned
and with their own clothes in no worse but in somewhat better condi-
tion than when they entered. -
That an employment division be established at the jails that will
directly connect the man or woman on leaving with a respectable job. !
Abolish Undemocratic Discrimination:
That the pernicious system in the county jail of allowing those pris-
oners who have the price to board at the rate of $5.00 per week, or at
any other sum, be abandoned, and that a varied, balanced diet, sufficiefits
in quantity and including fresh vegetables be provided all prisoners.
HUMANE TREATMENT:
While we appreciate the trying position of the officers and attendants
at penal institutions, we cannot too strongly urge upon those in charge
to insist upon humane treatment being given the prisoners. Also that
courteous and self respecting language be used in and about the jail.
Repeated lapses from this practice should be punished by dismissal
of attendant. The jail should be permeated with the helpful spirit that
comes from the modern conception of the criminal as largely a product."
of social maladjustment. - . - . . . .
10. More Adequate Appropriations for Los Feliz: -
That pending the taking over by the county of the Los F eliz Hos-
pital, the city should meet the present inadequate accommodations there (
by a larger appropriation, and that Dr. Powers should be given the
services of the psychologist for Los Feliz which he desires. . . . .
... (Requiring, ho
º,
THE ULTIMATE PROGRAM:
wever, immediate action by city council and the people)
11. Ordinance Consolidating City and County Jails: -
An ordinance should be adopted by the city council to be submitted,
. . . under our charter, to the voters of the city, consolidating penal fund-
. . .tions of city and county as was done in the matter of assessing and
collecting taxes. This will save greatly overhead expense. Two things
should issue under the proposed consolidation— :
(a) A new up-to-date building should be provided, designed only for
“. . . . . . . . the detention of city, county and federal prisoners awaiting trial.
, (b) The present city's detention farms should be fully developed and
. . . utilized and workshops should be provided where adequate in-
dustrial and academic training may be given. .
PROGRESSIVE STEPs ELSEwHERE
. . . . To prove the practicability of treating prisoners as human beings, which
is the chief burden of all our recommendations, may we quote from just one
report—that of Dr. J. T. Gilmour, Superintendent of Ontario's provincial farm
at Guelph : (Other instances of like successes elsewhere could be quoted).
w
... “We commenced farm work four years ago this spring.” (1914). “Odr.
farm.consists of 840 acres. It is fifty miles from Toronto. We commenced
first by taking gut fourteen men and two officers, then increased it to fifty
men, and then built a cheap frame building in which to house a hundred and
fifty, or the last two years, we have had an average population of three hun-
dred. Our average term is one year on the "farm.... We haven't a gun nor-a
weapon Gf any kind whatever. ... We never have had and we never expect to
have'. “The men that come to us range in age from sixteen to sixty, and are
. . . . . .
“What these men want is direction and help. We conduct a labor bureau
sent to us for all the calendar of crimes known except the great crime of mur-
ider: We have learned this, that these men are weak and can be controlled as
Mr. Whittaker controls them, by a firm and kindly supervision. . .
in connection with our institution and no man has gone out in the last twelve
* *
years who needed work and was willing to take it but we had a situation
awaiting him. * * * * * - . . . . . . *—
“Less than two per cent of our men escape. Our farm is in the open
country, with no walls, no stockade, no barbed wire, but they are under con;
titluous stipervision day and night. We operate a stone quarry, and built our
^{ithe kiln. We have our stone crusher, our brick plant turning out twenty-five
thousand a day, with fifty men and two officers. We have our orchards. We
milk seventy cows every day. We have probably twenty-five teams working
re-
* -s: P
July 22, 1919. Anthony Pratt, Secretary.
all the time, We have a kitchen garden of ten acres and there are always
enough men who can be absolutely trusted on the outside to carry on the work
economically.” -
- LET Los ANGELEs LOOK ABOUT HER. SHE HAS BEEN A
PIGNEER IN MANY THINGS. SHE CANNOT AFFORD TO BE
LONGER DERELICT IN THIS VITAL MATTER THE ACID TEST
of OUR REAL ATTAINMENTS As A CIVILIZED COMMUNITY.
Respectfully submitted,
THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF Los ANGELEs.