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3/4 Must Sleep on the Floor

Bristol Herald Courier – Sixteen women are held in the cell of which a portion is shown above. There are only three cots in the cell, so 13 must sleep on the floor… Eighteen men occupy..

Jail Issue on the Ballot

County Jail Issue Confronts Voters At August Balloting Paul Williams “Deplorable”... “shocking” ... “unfit for human habitation.” “Filthy bed clothes... prisoners infested with vermin... inadequate sanitary facilities... inadequate ventilation.” "...It must be seen to be believed.” These are strong words, and they weren’t used to describe the black hole of Calcutta, a nineteenth century London debtor’s prison, or a concentration camp. They are terms used by responsible citizens on a grand jury talking about that twentieth century penal institution, the Sullivan County Jail at Blountville. Condemned Building For twenty years Sullivan County grand juries have regularly lambasted and condemned the ancient brick building. For twenty years Sullivan County has sagely nodded its head in agreement and then forgotten about it. But Thursday, August 5, the people of the county will have a chance to take action on the question, if they want to. One of the questions to be voted on at the general election will be whether or not the citizens would approve a $200,000 bond issue to build a new jail. Just what has all the shouting} been about? What kind of a place is this that has been described so harshly? Almost Picturesque It is a two-story brick building constructed some time before 1900 back of the present site of the county courthouse. Outwardly, with its walls -neatly painted white with green trim, the jail is almost picturesque. Inside it’s a different story. Back when it was built and the prisoner population averaged maybe 10 persons, it was probably the last word. Today, decades later, with the prisoner load ranging from 40 to 65 persons near court sessions, the interior has become overcrowded, badly ventilated, unsanitary, and so antiquated that it doesn’t even do a good job of its primary purpose — keeping the inmates in. Jail Breaks Frequent Jail breaks, though down recently, have been fairly frequent. And two prisoners who escaped in 1953 were able to make a big hole in the wall by digging out the mortar between the bricks with rusty nails and spoons. Plumbing is primitive, toilet facilities don’t begin to meet the needs, and bath and shower facilities are all but non-existent. There aren't enough cells to properly separate the dangerous, the diseased, or the otherwise special prisoners. One prisoner told a grand jury in 1951 that, though suffering from an advanced case of tuberculosis, he could receive no treatment. A pregnant woman prisoner told the jurors that the food she got wasn’t enough to nourish her unborn child. This is the place where Sullivan County sends those deemed to have wronged society, in the hope of rehabilitating them and turning their feet toward the paths of righteousness. Into this same atmosphere are thrust also youthful first offenders, and persons who lack money to make bond before they come to trial, their only proven crime being poverty. Make Criminals “This Jury feels that we in Sullivan County are contributing to the making of criminals rather than to their correction by forcibly detaining them under shocking conditions,” stated the same grand jury, headed by Martin Karant of Radio Station WKPT in Kingsport, which so eloquently lashed the jail in the words quoted earlier. Following the recommendation by the grand jury for March of this year for a referendum the County Court laid the decision at the people’s door by calling for a vote on the proposition. A visiting construction expert told them a modern, two-story jail with a 100-bunk capacity could be built for $175,000 to $200,000. As far as the magistrates are concerned, it’s up to the people now.

Kingsport Times-News – …[We] are contributing to the making of criminals rather than to their correction by forcibly detaining them under shocking conditions… Into this same atmosphere are thrust… persons who lack money to make..

Blountville Jail Has ‘Full House’

Blountville Jail Has Full House The number of prisoners incarcerated int he county jail at Blountville today had swelled to 50. Three persons were added to the list from Kingsport on various minor charges. Ed Morelock, charged with drunkenness, disturbing the public worship, public profanity and possessing liquor, was the chief violator. The other two are being held on drunk charges. A majority of the prisoners now in jail are being held on drunk charges or other minor offenses.

Kingsport Times – The number of prisoners incarcerated in the county jail at Blountville today had swelled to 50… A majority of the prisoners now in jail are being held on drunk charges or other..

Greatly Overcrowded

Blountville Jail Clean, Crowded, Evangelist Avers Capt. Dan McDonald Says He Cannot Say as Much For Other County Jails in East Tennessee Sullivan county's jail, although greatly overcrowded, “is as clean as it can be" and the sheriff (John L. Ford) is doing all he can to take care of the men," according to Captain Dan McDonald, prison evangelist who said yesterday he had visited 85 chain gangs and jails in the last two months. Other East Tennessee county jails he has visited do not merit commendation but the fault lies generally with the county instead of the sheriff, he said. Rev. McDonald, a Baptist minister who devotes his time to prison work, said conditions revealed by the Wickersham report on jails and penal institutions were not exaggerated. “We, as a nation, have lost confidence in one another and as a result our prisons are filled to more than capacity. The conditions in many of them are not such that prisoners will have much respect for law and order when their terms are completed,” he said. McDonald, has never, he stated seen a sheriff who wanted a jail packed with prisoners. ° “If the jail is overcrowded, it is not the sheriff’s fault--he can't build jails. It is the county's fault. 1 know of one that is more than 100 years old and is being used today, holding far more prisoners than it was ever intended to.” The evangelist said “several penal institutions in Tennessee have great room for improvement, particularly Brushy Mountain.” Of the Sullivan county jail, McDonald said Sheriff Ford was doing all possible and that the jail was well kept but that the 104 prisoners are too many for that size jail, which at one time was considered crowded with 85 men. The evangelist said the Virginia state road convict camp near Hilton was well conducted by Warden Reams, whom he described as “a very fine gentleman who treats the boys all right and has their respect.” He also said Sheriff H. W. Culbertson was handling the Scott county jail well but that he was handicapped in his efforts because it is “antiquated and overcrowded.” McDonald's theory of prison reform, he stated, is to seek "the cooperation of the prisoner with the officials, thereby leading to constructive prison reform, the moral and physical uplift of the prisoner, and the restoration of the offender to good citizenship.” He visits chain gangs and county jails, he said, because “there !s the beginning of prison reform and because they do not, as penitentiaries do, have chaplains.”

Bristol Herald Courier – …We have lost confidence in one another and as a result our prisons are filled to more than capacity… Conditions… are not such that prisoners will have much respect for law… ..

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