institution was discontinued. Sheets and pillow-cases were provided and the buckets removed from the cells during the day. Special provisions were made in the yard for them. Reception quarters were provided so that prisoners could be properly cleaned up before placing them with the general population. Special effort was made to free the institution of vermin.

The development of the county jails at all times, and particularly recently, in New York State has been largely due to inspections by the Prison Association and the Prison Commission. The following enumerates briefly improvements, some of which exist in all jails, others in numerous jails, and some in a few, with good prospects of spreading rapidly so as eventually to include every jail in the state. From the physical standpoint most of the jails now serve as satisfactory criteria, thus bringing to a close a long-waged campaign for habitable living quarters. Plain, wholesome food, served three times a day, is constantly urged, and at present less than six counties serve only two meals daily. The fee system, whereby the sheriff received a per capita sum for the board of prisoners, has been entirely abolished by law. Cleanliness of the jail and of its equipment is an absolute requirement. The out-door exercising of prisoners is constantly urged, and in many cases, particularly where jail yards are provided, this is granted. Separate quarters are reserved for females, likewise for the convicted and unconvicted. Greater frequency of grand jury sessions is sought, and the co-operation of county judges to this end has been obtained on several occasions. Padded cells are provided for violent prisoners, and the retention of insane persons is not permitted. Civil prisoners are now confined separately, also minors and adults. Children are not sent to the jails or transported in the company of adult prisoners.

The old type of stone-vault cell, with its dark, unventilated and usually damp interior, has given way to the large, better ventilated and lighted steel cell, equipped with modern toilet and washing accommodations. The obnoxious bucket system, while much in evidence in our state prisons and penitentiaries, is a rarity in the jails. In most jails a single iron-frame bed, attached to the side wall by hinges and chains, is provided. These are usually equipped with suitable mattresses, blankets, sheets and pillow-cases. In some jails the cell equipment is further added to by a small-sized cabinet and a stool. The feeding of prisoners in cells, a practice productive of dirt and vermin, has been reduced by providing a common mess hall, usually in the basement. Aluminum cooking and eating utensile are taking the place of tin and crockery. Separate eating utensils are urged for prisoners having communicable diseases. A commendable change is

the addition in some jails of receiving quarters, usually in the basement, equipped with shower bath or tubs, a fumigating apparatus for clothing, and a clothes closet. After a thorough cleaning, a prisoner is supplied with a non-stripe uniform and assigned to a cell in the jail proper. Through the interest and efforts of the Jail Library Committee, a group working in co-operation with the Prison Association of New York, libraries varying from 25 to 50 books were installed in every county jail in the State of New York. This was not for the purpose of establishing a club-like atmosphere in the jails, but to supply some means of occupying the attention and minds of the prisoners and thereby hoping to remove them as much as possible from harmful influences. For grand jury prisoners and those awaiting trial there is always need for something of this kind, in so much as those prisoners are not permitted to work. In jails, where there is not sufficient work for prisoners, the books again can be of much help. At the beginning there was much doubt expressed as to just how the undertaking would work out, some stating that the prisoners would spend most of their time destroying the books. Some books have been destroyed, and I am sorry to report that in three or four instances entire libraries have disappeared at the expiration of a sheriff's term of office. Nevertheless, considering the number of jails and books involved the losses have been exceedingly small, and it is sincerely felt that the undertaking was well worth while. These libraries have been kept up now for nearly five years, and a move is under way to interest the local libraries in taking over the work.

During the last few years the Prison Commission has made a special point of improving the lockups throughout the state. I am confident that an examination of the reports and their records will show that the condition of lockups in this state today is far superior to those existing before special attention was given to these places.

The importance of the county jail is often too lightly estimated. It is an institution in which the convicted and unconvicted prisoner spend much time. It is now generally conceded that the rational treatment of the prisoner requires that the reformatory spirit should prevail in the county jail, practically the first institution to which the offender is brought, as well as in others. The chief obstacle to reformation in the county jails is the lack of employment and educational advantages. Particularly during the last two years, great strides have been made toward the employment of prisoners on farms. Working on the theory that idleness leads to physical, moral and mental deterioration, the Prison Association has campaigned persistently for the daily employment of able-bodied prisoners, for their own good and

to reduce the cost of maintenance to the county taxpayers. Many of the jails no longer serve as a "soft berth" for the repeater. The supervisors, in counties that for many years were supporting their prisoners entirely from the taxes, are now enthusiastic as they see the jail prisoners toiling as they should on farms or highways.

The following are a few indications of a change in the handling of sentenced prisoners:

The Board of Supervisors of Essex County has purchased a 250-acre farm, the largest jail farm in the state. About 87 acres can be used for farming, the remainder being available for timber and quarrying. The farm is about two miles from the jail. The prisoners go to and from the jail each day. The value of the products obtained from the farm have contributed considerably in reducing the cost of maintenance. Niagara County employs its prisoners on the city stone-crushing plant, and also on the highways. Franklin County has purchased a 30-acre farm and also employs its prisoners on the highway. Erie County employs its prisoners on a large farm and also on the highways. Those working on roads are paid ten cents a day for their labor. Broome County employs its prisoners on the county poorhouse farm. Monroe, Onondaga and Westchester counties maintain farms in connection with their penitentiaries, their county jails. being used mainly for the detention of prisoners awaiting trial or the action of the grand jury. Oswego, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Madison, Nassau, Jefferson, Oneida and other counties also employ prisoners on farms.

The county authorities, through persistent urging, have now come to realize some of the needs and are enthusiastically endeavoring to reduce to a minimum the idleness among sentenced prisoners.

Without any personal desire to justify inspection, except for what I have shown and feel it to be worth, I believe its continuance should be encouraged. Many of the changes which have come about in the prisons, jails and reformatories would not have occurred if it were not for the fact that inspectors from time to time have visited the institutions and urged improvements, pointing out that such and such a thing had been done at another institution and could be done again. It should be borne in mind that few administrators have had the opportunity to visit numerous other institutions. It is not uncommon to find sheriffs, wardens and superintendents who know only their own and have followed the same methods and systems year after year, feeling that they have the right and only procedure. The willingto-try spirit on the part of administrators should be more generally developed.

A STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF ONE THOUSAND DELINQUENTS SEEN IN COURT

V. V. ANDERSON AND CHRISTINE M. LEONARD1

The original purpose of this study was to determine what part— if any-routine physical examinations may play in the disposition of a delinquent's case in court, and later in the institution of reconstructive measures while on probation. Such a consideration seemed clearly worth while, particularly in view of an ever widening scope of interest manifested by the court in the needs, as well as the deeds, of the individual delinquent.

The old and archaic conception of the judicial function was one limited purely to the determination of guilt or innocence; and in case of guilt, the imposition of fines and sentences has fortunately disappeared along with other equally archaic and fruitless theories. In its stead we have come to realize that the essential problem facing the court in connection with any individual who has offended against the law and order of society is the problem of readjusting that person to society.

It needs little argument to show that in order for the court to attain an adequate readjustment of any delinquent it must take into consideration all the facts in the case; it must take into consideration the individual and his needs, and deal understandingly with the offender, as well as legally with his offense.

In the accomplishment of this function the court may employ certain tools-most important of which are probation and penal treatment.

In probation it possesses an agency of far reaching usefulness in this direction, whose capacity for effective service in readjusting human individuals, in restoring delinquents to the community, safe and free and capable of taking their part in the complex demands of social life, is scarcely realized; and yet the keenness, the sharpness and the efficiency of this tool can be dulled and impaired by improper use. For, with the opportunity to rehabilitate and readjust himself while on probation, there should go in the case of every delinquent an intelligent understanding of what is required to accomplish this rehabilitation.

The vital importance of the physical condition in this connection, 1Director and Assistant Medical Directors, Municipal Court, Boston.

particularly in relation to his economic efficiency, his ability to support himself, can not be overestimated. It needs little argument to show how exhausting physical diseases can so impair one's economic efficiency, so hamper one's ability to earn a living, as to render him a social misfit, causing him to drift from place to place, lowering his resistance to alcohol, drugs and such and, in short, bringing about the very conditions that probation should seek to prevent.

But that which is of most far reaching importance in this connection, is the necessity for seeing to it that the delinquent be not a danger to the community. Reference is made to certain communicable diseases, regarded as dangerous to the public health-from which offenders in court are commonly suffering. We refer to venereal disease, considered in many quarters as the most serious menace facing the human race. It is clearly the duty of those having to do with delinquents to see to it that these conditions are sought out and treated, if such individuals are to be returned to the community.

With the aim in view of showing the practical relationship of such facts, as those above mentioned, to the routine work of the court, the following study was undertaken.

Records of the last 1,000 cases examined were taken from the files, and the physical condition of each person noted, also the relationship which his physical condition bore-if any-to his economic efficiency. Case records of both men and women were included in this series.

Additional tables of a group of six hundred consecutive venereal studies are included.

The following table gives a general picture of the physical health of these 1,000 individuals. Those rated good were practically free from any condition that might impair health. Those rated fair were suffering from minor ailments of little consequence to general health, and produced very little impression on the physical strength of the individual. Those rated poor were sick people, and urgently in need of medical treatment. Those rated bad were emergency hospital cases.

Six hundred and sixty-eight individuals, or 66.8% of our cases,

were in good or fair health.