_By_ HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D. President of the American Prison Association [Illustration: A SKYSCRAPER JAIL PLAN FOR A METROPOLITAN JAIL CONCEIVED BY HASTINGS H. HART, PRESIDENT AMERICAN PRISON ASSOCIATION Designed by FRANCIS Y. JOANNES AND MAXWELL HYDE, _Architects_ 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. AN OFFICIAL REPORT In 1919, after the State Board of Public Charities had labored fifty years to reform the county jails, the State Department of Public Welfare made a study of the county jails of Illinois. This report contained the following statement: