The Delinquent, Vol. IV, No. 8, August, 1914 — John Shaqi
The Delinquent, Vol. IV, No. 8, August, 1914Various
Science
The Delinquent, Vol. IV, No. 8, August, 1914
Various
Prisons -- Periodicals
_Funds for Deserted Wives._--According to the Pittsburg Times,
Pennsylvania’s law which went into effect a year ago, providing
payment to wives of men committed to the workhouse for non-support
and desertion during the time the husband is serving his sentence, is
proving a wonderful aid to women of Allegheny county, as proved by a
record of the first year’s results. About $5,200 has been paid to 107
women since July, 1913, when the law went into effect, the average
having been $12.50 for each woman.
Lawrence M. Fagan, probation officer in Allegheny county, through
whose hands these funds went, is enthusiastic. “It’s been an excellent
thing,” he said, “an arrangement which has solved a problem that has
confronted probation officers ever since the first man was sent to
prison for non-support. Previously the wives were no better off while
a man was in jail than they had been before and often were much worse
off. They had nothing at all coming in in most cases. Seldom did they
receive more than their earnings which in no case were large.”
These women now can expect help each month. Every man is credited 65
cents a day for every day he works and the money is given his wife.
This has amounted to $17.45 a month in some cases, although often it
has only been a few dollars, but in every case it has been received
with great welcome.
Mr. Fagan explained that men are sent to the workhouse only as a last
resort. They are generally given a chance to support their families
after being arrested for the first time and then if they fail they are
committed to prison. The payments have averaged $400 from this source
alone.
The general funds that pass through the hands of the probation officer
from husbands who are supporting their families on order of the court,
with the probation office as an intermediary, and from the workhouse to
wives, reached $55,500 during the past six months. During June alone
the total was $10,600.
NOTES.
An autobus has been installed to carry prisoners from New York City
to Sing Sing prison. This will do away with the necessity of marching
prisoners from the station at Ossining to the prison, a distance of
about half mile. The prison is thirty miles from New York.
* * * * *
A hospital for tubercular convicts is to be established at the Maryland
State Penitentiary, an appropriation of $35,000 having been made by the
legislature. A prison school is also having excellent success.
* * * * *
Prison contracts are to be continued “indefinitely” in the New Jersey
State prison, according to the Bayonne, N. J., Review of July 2d,
because there are not sufficient funds for the installation of the
State-use system. About 1,500 convicts are employed at the prison. Were
the contracts permitted to lapse, the prisoners would be idle.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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