Ogle, Perry, Vermillion--5. In Ogle county, the inner prison contains two prisoners' corridors; in Madison, Monroe and Vermilion, the inner corridor, for prisoners, surrounds the block of cells on three sides, and in Perry county, on four.

The jails in class 2 have ordinarily cross-gratings, dividing the prisoners' corridor into two; but Adams, Cass, Fulton, Henry, Livingston, Madison, Peoria, Sangamon and Will are exceptions to the rule.

Adams county has two distinct blocks of cells, separated from each other by an iron grating; Cook county has such blocks, and is divided into three departments, for males, females and juvenile offenders-the two latter in separate wings.

We have, we think, given a sufficiently clear general conception of the jails of Illinois, on the preceding pages, with the aid of the detailed descriptions and tabular statements which follow, to enable any one interested in the subject to master it fully. Much might be said on details of construction--doors, windows, locks, gratings, heating, ventilation, sewerage, etc.; but we reserve these important topics for future study and report. In our judgment, a careful examination of the jails as they exist will satisfy any unprejudiced mind that the jail system itself is vicious: because the number provided for or kept in any one jail is for the most part so small, that it is impossible to furnish labor, education or religious instruction to prisoners, without an amount of expense not warranted by any prospective result from such expenditure; because the association of prisoners, in idleness, with unrestricted opportunities for mutual intercourse, tends still further to corrupt those not already hardened in crime; because the discipline is, of necessity, feeble; and, because the terms of imprisonment are too short. If any effectual fight is to be made in this state against crime, any determined effort to reduce the increasing number of criminals upon our hands, a more vigorous policy must be inaugurated, and severer measures of repression employed. Above all it is essential to deal seriously with juvenile offenders, and to repress crime in its incipient stage of development. This, we repeat, will never be the case until the state assumes the charge of all convicts, for misdemeanors as well as for felonies; aggregates them in prisons of its own, of sufficient size to admit of the introduction of compulsory labor; imposes sentences, of longer duration upon first offenders, and introduces into its prison system the principle of solitary imprisonment for short term `men. The objections to solitary confinement apply only to long sentences and to the final stages of imprisonment.

We add one remark; the number of new jails built in Illinois since this board was established and commenced its work of county visitation and inspection, is surprising. The following is a complete list: Adams, Cass, Cook, Crawford, Ford, Grundy, Jasper, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lee, Logan, Madison, McDonough, Menard, Mercer, Monroe, Moultrie Ogle, Perry, Piatt, Stephenson, Union, Vermilion and Winnebagoin all, twenty-five. Extensive alterations and improvements have been made in many others. We do not, of course, suppose that the building of these jails is due to our efforts; the increased attention paid to the subject of prisons is due to many causes; but we have contributed more or less to the result. If we had been consulted with reference to some of these jails, we could have saved some of the counties from serious mistakes and unnecessary expense. The building of so many new jails is, in one aspect of the question, to be regretted, for the reason that the amount of money spent in their erection, during ten years past, aggregating, as it does, three-quarters of a million dollars, might have been applied to better effect in the construction of disrict prisons, built by the state itself.

DESCRIPTION OF JAILS.

ADAMS.-In basement of court-house; built in 1877, and supposed to have cost eighteen thousand dollars, in addition to cost of court-house. The space used for jail purposes is an apartment sixty-five feet wide by seventy feet in length, with windows on three sides; three large windows on each side, except the east. This space is divided by iron gratings into three compartments-a jailor's corridor seventy feet long, on the east side, and two inner prisons. There are two double blocks of iron cells, each containing fourteen cells, in rows of seven, back to back. A grating extends from the top of each block to the ceiling, to prevent the escape of prisoners, should they cut through the top of their cells. This jail is heated both by steam and by furnaces; it is supplied with water from the city water-works, bathtub, fixed basins and sinks; the privy-seats, in each cell, empty into a sewer; and it is lighted by gas. The outer corridors are light; the cells dark; and the middle corridor is also dark; ventilation is provided for by flues in the external walls, connected with the smoke-stack. Two special cells, for female prisoners, of boiler-iron, have been provided in an adjoining room, on the same floor. The jail is roomy and convenient, and for a basement jail exceptionally good.

ALEXANDER.This jail is a disgrace to the county and to the state. It is in the basement of the court-house, and is in three parts, two for men and one for women. The female department contains two cells, and each of the male departments three. These cells are all alike, ten feet long, seven feet four inches wide, eight and a half feet high, built of plank, with walls nearly a foot thick. The cell doors are of flat bars, crossing each other at right angles; there is an opening in the front wall of each cell, for passing in food, and a second opening, one by two feet, in the rear, for ventilation, but there is very little circulation of air. A corridor not more than three feet in width surrounds the cells, in each department, on three sides; but it is so insecure, that prisoners are not allowed to come out into it. The cells in the room on the south side of the hall are lined with iron, for additional security. Prisoners confined in this jail, black, white, men, boys, women, innocent or guilty, suffer alike from heat in summer, from cold in winter, and from foul air, dirt and vermin, at all seasons of the year. Sometimes half a dozen prisoners are confined in a single cell; and in the heat of summer, both men and women often strip to the skin. It is said at Vienna, that, on examination of the body of a prisoner from Johnson county, who was sent to this jail for safe-keeping, and executed last July, it was found that the lice had eaten his flesh through to the bone. The jail has been condemned by every grand jury for the last ten or twelve years.

BOND. In rear of sheriff's residence, two blocks south of courthouse; brick walls, lined with boiler-plate; boiler-plate floor and ceiling. The ceiling is in the form of an arch across the corridor. The space used for jail purposes is sixteen by thirty-six feet, with two boiler-iron cells at each end, four cells in all. The open space in the centre is the prisoner's corridor, which is heated by a stove, and lighted, on the east side, by two windows, protected by cross-barred grating. Two additional windows have recently been put in, one and a half by

two feet, for ventilation, in the north and west walls. Privy-seat in each cell; vault under the jail, not connected with any sewer, not flushed with water, and the odor comes up into the prison. No bedsteads, no conveniences. No special provision for female prisoners. The ventilation and sewerage are bad; and until very recently, this jail was so insecure, that prisoners had to be locked in their cells. There have been no escapes since it was lined with boiler-iron.

BOONE-On the main floor of the court-house; a small affair; walls tnirty inches thick, half stone half brick. Inside measurement thirtytwo by forty-three feet. Three cells, built of plank; cell-doors of plank, with horizontal iron bars across opening in upper half; three rough plank cells in cellar, not used. Water-closet in one corner of corridor, flushed by hand, occasionally; one window, four by six feet, protected by perpendicular bars and by a picket fence, outside, twelve feet high. Cells dark. No special provision for female prisoners. This jail does not appear to be very strong; the ceiling is of lath and plaster, but the floor of the court-room above is sheathed on the under side with iron; we do not however learn of any escapes. It was built about the year 1855.

BROWN.-Detached structure, in court-house yard; walls of stone, two feet thick. Six stone cells, on north side, in two tiers, one above the other; corridor on the south side. No special provision for female prisoners. Jail heated below by stove, with drum above; light tolerable; ventilation poor; very insecure; and when visited, needed cleaning and whitewashing. Prison yard (not for use of prisoners, but to prevent communication from outside) is enclosed by a stone wall, ten feet high, with a four-foot iron railing on top of wall.

CALHOUN. In rear of sheriff's residence, in court-house yard; stone wall, two feet thick, lined with iron. Two cells, one above, one below, each fourteen by eighteen feet; no corridor. Very dark; poorly ventilated; one of the worst jails in the state; repeatedly condemned by grand jury as unhealthy and insecure.

BUREAU. In rear of sheriff's residence, on jail lot; walls of brick, plastered on the inside; floor of boiler-plate; ceiling of lath and plas ter, with iron floor above; eight iron cells, in double block, back to back; prisoners' corridor surrounds them on four sides. Four windows, two on east and two on west side; the cell-doors open on the north and south corridors; the light therefore does not reach the cells, which are dark. Heated by furnaces; the only ventilation, which is not good, is by doors and windows; privy-seat in each cell, flushed with water from wooden tank in court-house yard, across the street; lighted by gas. The upper story, over the jail, is divided into two apartments for female prisoners. Built in 1855, and cost about ten thousand dollars.

CARROLL. In basement of court-house; inside measurement, thirtytwo by fifty-two feet; stone walls, two feet thick; stone floor laid on concrete, on the earth; ceiling of boiler-plate, bolted to floor joists above, lined on under side with plank. The plan of this jail is peculiar: there are six plank cells, lined with iron, with stone floors; two rows, of three cells each; a wide corridor, (sixteen by twenty feet) in the centre, between the rows; the whole surrounded by an outer corridor, on all sides; the outer and inner corridors separated from each

other by an iron grating. There are five windows, and the outer corridor is very light; but the arrangement is such, that the inner corridor and especially the cells are very dark. The ventilation is not good; the smell from the vault comes up through a seat in the corri dor. The wall is not strong, but easily broken, and communication with the outside, through the windows, is easy. Female prisoners, when there are any, occupy the north corridor.

CASS.-In rear of sheriff's residence, one block south-west of courthouse; walls of stone, two feet thick; inside dimensions, twenty-five by thirty feet. Twelve stone cells, in rows of three, two tiers, one above the other, back to back, surrounded on three sides by prisoners' corridor. Privy seat in each cell; attempt at ventilation in rear wall of cells, but not very successful. Cell doors closed by bar-lock, operated from the jailor's corridor, which is six feet wide. Windows small, only two feet square, placed high, three on each side. Heated by stoves; poorly furnished, no bedsteads. Two special cells, for female prisoners, in sheriff's residence. This jail was built in 1875, and cost a little over fifteen thousand dollars. It is of average strength, clean, in good repair. The corridors are light, but the cells dark. It is one of the best jails, of its size, in the state.

CHAMPAIGN.—In rear of sheriff's residence, in court-house yard. This jail is simply an iron box, twenty-four feet square, two stories in height, with three iron cells on each side of the corridor, on each floor. One of the cells up stairs has however been left off, so that there are in all only eleven cells; and one, of these, for women, has a door outside and does not open into the corridor. At the end of each corridor, in each story, is a privy-seat. This box is placed inside of the brick wall of the sheriff's house; and in 1864, a second wall, of stone, was built on the outside, at a cost of four thousand dollars, and an enclosed space, four feet wide, left between the two walls. To secure ventilation, curved pipes, of iron, pass through the stone wall, admitting fresh air, and an opening, three by six inches, in each cell, extends through the brick wall; these openings are of little value. There are also openings, secured by cross-barred gratings, in the iron floors and iron ceiling. There is no basement, but there is an attic, with a sky-light. This is one of the darkest jails in Illinois, badly ventilated, damp, of insufficient size, and has been repeatedly condemned by the grand jury, as it deserves to be.

CHRISTIAN.--Occupies entire upper floor of sheriff's residence, two blocks south-west of court house. An iron jail, with ten cells, in two rows, five on each side of a central corridor, has been substituted for the old plank cells. This corridor is lighted by a window at one end, covered with a perforated iron plate, very painful to look at and injurious to the sight. A jailor's corridor, well lighted, extends around three sides of the iron box containing the cells. One of the cells, for women, opens on this outer corridor. The ventilation is bad, and a foul odor, from the vault below, pervades the prison.

CLARK.-An old jail, built forty years ago, in rear of sheriff's residence, two blocks northwest of the court-house. There are two cells, one above the other; the upper one, for women, has walls of brick, not lined; the lower has wall of stone, two feet thick, and stone floor,

The

lined; top, bottom, and sides, with boiler iron. This cell is lighted by three small windows, less than a foot square, and is so dark, that prisoners burn a candle in the daytime, in order to see to read. ventilation is necessarily bad. Sewer-gas escapes from below, through a hole in one corner of the stone floor. This jail is a disgrace to humanity, and deserves to be condemned as a nuisance.

CLAY.-In upper story of sheriff's residence, in court-house yard. A very irregular jail, with two log cells, and one of boiler-iron; all three of different sizes; all three of them dark, especially the iron cell, which is the only one which is at all secure. Brick walls, lined with plank; plank floor and ceiling, driven full of iron spikes. When visited, in the heat of summer, the prisoners were suffering fearfully and most of the time wearing no clothing. In winter, the jail is very imperfectly heated by a drum in one of the cells. Has been repeatedly condemned by the grand jury. No provision made for female prisoners.

CLINTON. Occupies entire upper story of sheriff's residence, on jail lot; inside dimensions, twenty-eight by thirty-two feet; floor, of boileriron; ceiling, of loose boards. Eight cells, of boiler-plate, four in each row, back to back; surrounded on four sides by a corridor, three feet wide, well lighted by ten good-sized windows; one of the lightest and most airy jails in the state. Privy-seat in each cell, and some odor. Prisoners are kept all the time in the cells, on account of the insecurity of the corridor: the entrance door, at the bottom of a staircase, is a common house door, and to be in the corridor is to be out of jail.

COLES. In the court-house, on the ground floor. A space about

twenty-two by thirty-eight feet, without a window of any size or description whatever, has been lined with timber, driven full of spikes; the jail is entered by a grated door, through the coal-room. In this dungeon, on one side, are five boiler-iron cells, each seven feet cube: this is the jail, and there is nothing more to say about it, except that there is a privy-seat in each cell, and a vault under the prison, connected with a sewer; these seats are flushed from the roof when it rains. The walls swarm with vermin. In this hole, on the day of inspection, there were fifteen prisoners, of whom two were women. Women are kept in a room fourteen feet square, with one window, opening on the corridor of the common jail, and entered through it. The confinement of three prisoners in cells like those in this jail allows to each about one hundred cubic feet of air, or one-tenth of the proper allowance. The jail was built in 1866, and has been repeatedly condemned by the grand jury.

COOK.-The jail in Cook county forms one of a group of three buildings, on Dearborn street, between Illinois and Michigan, devoted to the use of the criminal court. Debtors, insane persons and sick prisoners are provided for in the building occupied by the jailor and guards; but the rooms designed for this purpose are at present occupied by the county officers, until the completion of the county court-house. The jail proper fronts on Illinois street, with a frontage of one hundred and forty feet, and has two wings extending north and south, about forty by eighty feet each. The main cell building, occupied exclusively by adult male prisoners, comprises one hundred and thirtysix stone cells, in a double block, four tiers in height; in the west wing