Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1908

Drink and Crime

In a recent Congressional hearing upon the question of prohibition for the District of Columbia, Warden Harris of the District jail said:—

It is my judgment, based upon ten years’ experience, that nine tenths of all crime committed for which persons are incarcerated in the jail is directly or indirectly because of the use of strong drink. My report shows at times more than five hundred prisoners in the jail, which has cells for only three hundred. More than two hundred of these cells contain two prisoners. The cells are exceedingly small, and were never intended to have more than one prisoner in each. If it were impossible for this class of prisoners to obtain strong drink, the present size of the jail would be sufficient, and save the cost of the new jail which Congress is being urged to build as soon as possible.

This testimony is not exceptional, but could be duplicated in almost every State in the country. Why should the business of producing criminals be protected by law?