Category: Sullivan County

Record Number in Blountville Jail

Blountville Jail Has Record Number Over 100 Prisoners Awaiting Trial Sullivan County jail at Blountville has about as many as can be well accommodated. There are about 100 to care for and feed until the next term of the court. This is the greatest number, it is said, that has ever been incarcerated there at one time in the history of the county. It is stated that about 40 of this hundred are from this vicinity, and that about half of them are women. Out of ten sent from Kingsport yesterday, five were women. About 45 of the prisoners are being worked on the county roads, and is the largest prison force ever placed at work for the county.

Johnson City Chronicle – Sullivan County jail at Blountville has about as many as can be well accommodated. There are about 100 to care for and feed until the next term of the court. This..

Filled to Capacity

Jail Now at Capacity. At the present time there are eighty-eight birds in the cages at the Sullivan County jail. Of these jail birds, 75 are white and five negroes, nice are white women and one negress. At the last term of court Sheriff Ford was taking care of 82 prisoners and at the term before that 92 criminals were guests of the sheriff. The next session of court will be held the third Monday in May and at the rate the law is being enforced in Sullivan County, Sheriff Ford and Jailer Rogers expect to have all they can accommodate by that time. However, Jailer Rogers declares he will accommodate all who care to enter, even though they have to be piled several deep on account of the limited space in the jail. It is also understood that the next session of the County Court will be asked to make an appropriation to build an addition to the present structure, which is wholly inadequate for efficient law enforcement. On account of the vigilance of Sheriff Ford and Jailer Rogers, not a prisoner escaped during their administration, even though at times standing room had been a premium. The sheriff and his deputies are proud and their friends are highly elated over the record they have made, Many Stills on Hand The room at the jail where the captured stills are kept is running over and it is understood these stills, which have been chopped to pieces, will be sold for junk shortly to make room for more, as several bids have been received. Jailer Rogers was uneasy Saturday night, left he would have to go through Sunday with the odd number 79 prisoners and probably would have done so had not an obstreperous individual showed up at the jail shortly after noon. The bird came to this jail to visit a relative inmate. He was highly “lit up” and refused to be arrested. He was promptly subdued by the jailer and placed where he could not be bitten by dogs. Strenuous efforts are being made to keep the jail in a sanitary condition and disinfectants are used almost daily. Not a sign of a “creeper” has been seen for more than a year and each one who enters is taken to the inspection room and given the “once over” if they look at all suspicious. Only recently Jailer Rogers received an individual from Bristol who was taken to the inspection room and found to be reeking with vermin. He was promptly deloused, thoroughly sprayed, made to take a bath and his clothes burned, after which he was given new wearing apparel and placed with the other prisoners. However, with the crowded condition of the present jail it is almost impossible to keep it in a sanitary condition as those in charge would like, and Sheriff Ford is convinced and the citizens of the county are agreed that more room is needed under the present system of law enforcement. Yesterday afternoon the Bristol corps of the Salvation Army held services in the jail and Rev. Dan Graham, who resides at Blountville, holds services for the prisoners quite often.

Bristol Herald Courier – …Citizens of the county are agreed that more room is needed under the present system of law enforcement… The room at the jail where the captured stills are kept is running..

Jail Conditions a Menace to Health

Revolting and intolerable conditions exist in the Blountville, Tenn. jail, according to a letter made public here yesterday by a prominent social worker. The letter... declares lice, bed bugs, poor food, and lack of proper sanitation constitute a serious menace to the health of all confined there. Crowded conditions in the jail and disease also play a part in making the place unfit for human habitation.

Bristol Herald Courier – Revolting and intolerable conditions exist in the Blountville, Tenn. jail, according to a letter made public here yesterday by a prominent social worker. The letter… declares lice, bed bugs, poor food… ..

Jail is Crowded

Jail is Crowded Twenty-eight Prisoners Occupy Blountville Bastile. Twemty-eight prisoners are now held at Blountville, according to a statement made yesterday evening by Sheriff J.S. Peoples. This number crowds the building almost to capacity and the county officials will be hard pushed to find more room if they are brought there. Sheriff Peoples said, however, that if more prisoners were brought there he would find room for them some place.

Bristol Herald Courier – Twenty-eight prisoners are now held at Blountville, according to a statement made yesterday evening by Sheriff J.S. Peoples. This number crowds the building almost to capacity and the county officials will…..

These Conditions Are Disgraceful

A copy of a lengthy letter to Dr. E. E. Dudding of the Prison Relief Society at Washington, D. C. , signed "Prisoners of Blountville, Sullivan County Jail," has been sent to the Herald Courier. The letter requests that "some Christian person, man or woman," be sent to the jail to investigate sanitary conditions and to inquire into the treatment of prisoners confined there. It also suggests a number of questions to be asked the prisoners, among them the following: Are there any vermin in your beds and in your clothes? Are your blankets ever washed? Is your clothes ever washed? Do the rats build nest in the mattresses you sleep on? What do you have to eat for breakfast? for dinner? for supper? How much do you have? Do you get enough? Do you have the same diet all the time? Do you get water more than twice a day from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.? Are there any venereal diseases in a bad state among the prisoners? Do these prisoners drink water from the same bucket with other prisoners? Eat from the same pans? Wash their faces and hands in the same pans? If you are sick do you get proper medical attention? If the attending physician gives you medicine and orders you to stay in from work, does the Jailer or the Sheriff make you go out and work? Do you ever have any trouble about your mail? Do you Write letters, some of them important, and trust them to Jailer to be mailed, that never reach their destination? If conditions at the Sullivan County jail are such as these suggested questions are presumed to indicate, these conditions are disgraceful. No doubt there are prisoners at Blountville as elsewhere who would complain in any circumstance, but the question whether Sullivan County prisoners have just cause for complaint. Are conditions at jail sanitary or notoriously insanitary? Are the prisoners properly treated and properly fed? In short, is the institution conducted on a humane plan? Evidently, the prisoners desire an opportunity to answer these questions. The opportunity should be given them, but it should not be necessary to bring the situation to the attention of the Prison Relief Society at Washington. There are organizations or authorities nearer who could and should investigate conditions at the jail.

Bristol Herald Courier – …Are there any vermin in your beds and in your clothes? Are your blankets ever washed? Is your clothes ever washed? Do the rats build nest in the mattresses you sleep..

Conditions Do Not Improve

It seems that conditions at the Sullivan County Jail at Blountville do not improve. There still are close to 60 prisoners confined in that institution, which was built to accommodate twenty-five prisoners. The capacity of the jail is more than doubly taxed, and what is worse, the sanitary conditions are said to be very bad. Overcrowding an insanitary prison is not a modern idea. And there is no prospect of early release from the congestion except by the liberation of prisoners. The County Court finally decided some time ago to enlarge the jail, and the contract for an addition was let, but the latest report from the contractors is no more definite than that construction work will start some time in the future. The recent term of the Circuit Court resulted in the release of but few prisoners, leaving fifty-seven still in jail. It is not said that unless fewer prisoners are consigned to the jail in the next month, it will be necessary to hold a special term of court, thus entailing extra cost upon the county. Perhaps most of the prisoners confined at Blountville are guilty of more or less serious offenses and must be punished according to the law. But it is also probable that many of them are held for offenses of a trivial nature, such as vagrancy and “hoboing.” It would help the situation materially if these prisoners were turned loose with the admonition to move on out of the county.

Bristol Herald Courier – It seems that conditions at the Sullivan County Jail at Blountville do not improve. There still are close to 60 prisoners confined in that institution, which was built to accommodate twenty-five..A Badly Overcrowded Jail

Board Reports Deplorable Conditions

Sullivan County Jail A representative of the Tennessee Board of State Charities, which is authorized by law to investigate all public institutions in the State, has inspected Sullivan County Jail at Blountville and found it to be in deplorable condition as to sanitary arrangements and conduct. In the first place, according to the inspector’s report, fifty-nine prisoners were crowded into the jail, which has a maximum capacity of twenty-five. The condition makes proper care of the prisoners impossible, to begin with, but it is only part of the trouble. The jail is practically without toilet facilities and the plumbing is miserable. There are practically no bathing facilities. There is no running water, and drinking water must be carried to the prisoners in buckets. Each cell is provided with a straw tick and these ticks are filthy. There is an average of seven prisoners to a call when there should not be more than two. The floors, walls, bars, windows, cells, everything is insanitary, and the atmosphere in the jail is foul. The jail yard presents the appearance of a city dump and the filth is sufficient to jeopardize the health of the prisoners and the entire community. There, briefly, are the conditions which the secretary of the Board of State Charities found at the Blountville jail. The board recommends that the two large rooms on the first floor be property fitted up with cells, which would give capacity for at least twenty more prisoners; that the jail be equipped with sufficient toilet and bathing facilities; that hammocks or bunks take place of the filthy straw ticks; that provision be made for the separation of white and colored women prisoners; that a water system be installed; that provision be made for the separation of young and first offenders from older offenders; that prisoners be provided with a change of clothing and opportunity to bathe at least once a week; that the entire interior of the jail be cleaned and painted and kept in proper sanitary conditions. The County Court should adopt the recommendations of the State Board of Charities and proceed as soon as possible to make the needed improvements. The jail should never have been allowed to get in the condition in which the Board found it. A further idea on just how disgraceful this condition is may be gained from that fact, as stated by the inspector, that some of the prisoners have been in jail for more than seven months without a change of clothing and without an opportunity to wash the clothes they have been wearing. Proper sanitation being practically impossible as long as the jail is so badly overcrowded, probably the first step that should be taken is to equip the two large rooms mentions with cells. In the meantime, the county officers might cease to arrest tramps or “hobos” who are not suspicious characters or who may be trying to make their way out of the county. Also, it may be well enough to relieve the congested conditions of the jail by releasing some of the tramps not confined there on condition that they leave the county.

Bristol Herald Courier – A further idea on just how disgraceful this condition is… prisoners have been in jail for more than seven months without a change of clothing and without opportunity to wash the..

Jail Crowded to Double Its Capacity

Bristol Herald Courier - Building Intended to Accommodate 20 Prisoners Now Housing 53.  Sheriff Barger to Ask for More Room.  Will Request County Court to Build Additional Cells in Present Structure. Declaring that the Sullivan County jail is housing 53 prisoners while it was built to accommodate only 20, Sheriff George S. Barger yesterday announced that he will at the next term of the County Court, in October, ask the magistrates to either build additional cells in the building or provide money for a guard to watch it night and day. "The 53 prisoners in the jail building now crowd it to more than twice its capacity." said Sheriff Barger. "It was built to accommodate only 20 prisoners and has only 3 cells in it, one of which cells is a large one and where most of the men are being confined. The condition created by this crowding of that many men together is not only unhealthful for them but dangerous for the county because there is not room enough for them in the three cells in the building. There are two other cells also, an insane ward and a hospital ward, but it is not safe to keep active prisoners in them. By the building of two or three more large cells in the present building accommodations could be made for as many as 60 prisoners without making an enlargement of the building. I shall ask the County Court to do this at the next meeting or else provide guards to watch the jail night and day to prevent the convicts from escaping." The number of prisoners now in the county jail is the largest the county ever had, said Sheriff Barger. "Nearly two-thirds of these men were arrested in Kingsport," he said. "The rapid growth of that city attracted many people with criminal instincts and it has, naturally, been the scene of more arrests than the rest of the county."

Bristol Herald Courier – …The condition created by this crowding of that many men together is not only unhealthful for them but dangerous for the county because there is not room enough for them in..

County Jail is Filling Rapidly

The Sullivan county jail is filling up rapidly as a result of the success of Assistant Chief of Police Samuel L. Odell, in running down thieves. During the past five days he has sent three prisoners to the Blountville jail to await trial on the charge of larceny.

Bristol Herald Courier – The Sullivan county jail is filling up rapidly as a result of the success of Assistant Chief of Police Samuel L. Odell, in running down thieves. During the past five days..

Sullivan Co. Jail, Blountville, Tenn.

A vintage postcard of the Sullivan County Jail shows the facility as it looked c. 1908. Located behind the county courthouse in downtown Blountville, the jailhouse, at left, was built in 1870. The larger building,..Read More

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