The lower floor represents the Criminal Court Building, which may have
any number of stories]
County jails are schools of crime, according to prison officials
and jail inspectors. They are so constructed and conducted that the
prisoners generally come out far worse than they went in.
No metropolitan city of the United States has yet succeeded in
constructing a satisfactory jail for the detention of prisoners
awaiting trial. The New York City “Tombs” is a gloomy pile, properly
described by its name. The ancient Charles Street Jail of Boston has
recently been reconstructed at a very large expense, but does not meet
the needs of the present day.
The county jail ought to be the most reformatory institution in
the land. It receives offenders at the beginning of their careers,
before they have become hardened and confirmed criminals. More can be
accomplished for the reformation of a young criminal in the first week
of his imprisonment than by six months’ confinement in a state prison
after he has become a confirmed law-breaker. This was demonstrated by
John L. Whitman when he was jailer in the Cook County Jail, where,
notwithstanding the most unfavorable conditions, he did wonders for the
reclamation of wayward boys and young men.
The utter inadequacy of the Cook County Jail has long been realized
by thoughtful people. The Chicago Community Trust, by request of the
Board of County Commissioners, has made a Cook County Jail Survey and
has organized a committee of representative Chicago citizens for the
purpose of abolishing the old Cook County Jail and removing the scandal
which has disgraced Cook County for more than fifty years.