Pennsylvania Act 1871-1209 — HOUSE OF CORRECTION ACT

Act text

HOUSE OF CORRECTION ACT
                 Act of Jun. 2, 1871, P.L. 1301, No. 1209             Cl. 61
                                  AN ACT

     To establish and maintain for the city of Philadelphia, a house
        of correction, employment and reformation for adults and
        minors.

        WHEREAS, The select and common councils of the city of
     Philadelphia, in the month of December, one thousand eight
     hundred and seventy, elected ten persons, five persons by select
     council, and five persons by common council, to serve as
     managers of the house of correction, employment and reformation;
     therefore,

        Section 2.  Appropriations for Improvements; Railroad
     Connection; Commitments
        Whenever the managers of the House of Correction, Employment
     and Reformation, shall desire to make any additional permanent
     improvement, or purchase additional ground, and shall recommend
     that the same be done, and after the Committee of Councils of
     Philadelphia on House of Correction shall indorse the said
     recommendation, then the councils of the City of Philadelphia
     shall make all necessary appropriations asked for by the said
     managers, for the purposes so recommended; and the managers of
     the House of Correction, Employment and Reformation, shall have
     power to superintend and direct the erection, completion and
     furnishing of said buildings during the progress of the said
     work. The said managers may extend from their property a single
     track railroad along and over such lands as may intervene
     between their ground and the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad
     Company, and connect therewith: Provided, The said railroad
     company assent thereto (the distance of the said road not to
     exceed two thousand yards), and to purchase right of way over
     the land to Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, and to erect
     wharves upon their property; the managers may provide for such
     inmates as may be necessary to aid in the construction of the
     permanent building, and after the two first wings have been
     furnished, the said board of managers shall have full and entire
     control to regulate the inmates therein, and shall, at such
     times as they think proper, certify to the court of quarter
     sessions and to the board of managers at the Blockley Almshouse,
     which court and managers, and the inspectors of the Philadelphia
     County Prison, respectively, thereafter may commit to the said
     House of Correction, Employment and Reformation, such able-
     bodied paupers and vagrants as may have been committed or
     sentenced to be confined in the county prison or Blockley
     Almshouse for a period of not less than three months; and it
     shall be the duty of the said judges of the court of quarter
     sessions, and the Inspectors of the Philadelphia County Prison,
     to commit to said House of Correction, Employment and
     Reformation, all vagrants, habitual drunkards, street walkers
     and disorderly persons, adults or minors, whom they may deem
     best to so confine; and it shall be the duty of the managers of
     the Blockley Almshouse, managers of the poor for Township of
     Germantown, managers of Lower Dublin and Oxford Poorhouse, to
     transfer, within twenty-four hours after entrance in said
     almshouse, all able-bodied paupers, adults or minors, except
     such as may be necessary to employ in the service of said
     almshouses.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 2.
        Section 3.  (3 repealed Oct. 4, 1978, P.L.  , No.173)
        Section 4.  (4 repealed Oct. 4, 1978, P.L.  , No.173)
        Section 5.  Arrest of Disorderly Minors
        Upon complaint made on oath to any police magistrate or
     justice of the peace, against any child within the City of
     Philadelphia, not under the age of sixteen, by his or her parent
     or guardian, or other person standing to him or her in place of
     a parent, as being disorderly, such magistrate or justice shall
     issue his warrant for the apprehension of the offender, and
     cause him or her to be brought before himself or any other
     police magistrate or justice for examination.  1871, June 2, P
     L. 1301, Sec. 5.
        Section 6.  Commitment of Disorderly Minors; Appeal
        If such magistrate or justice be satisfied, by competent
     testimony, that such person is a disorderly child within the
     description aforesaid, he shall make up and sign a record of
     conviction thereof, and shall, by warrant, under his hand,
     commit such person to the House of Correction, employment and
     reformation; and the powers and duties of the said managers in
     relation to the said children shall be the same in all things as
     are prescribed as to other minors received by them; and it shall
     be the duty of such magistrate or justice as aforesaid, in
     addition to the record of conviction, to annex the names and
     residence of the different witnesses examined before him, and
     the substance of the testimony given by them respectively, on
     which the said conviction was founded: Provided, That any person
     committed shall have the same right of appeal as is now secured
     by law to persons convicted of criminal offenses; but on such
     appeal, mere informality in the issuing of any warrant shall not
     be held to be sufficient cause for granting a discharge.  1871,
     June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 6.
        Section 7.  Employment of Inmates
        Every person in the custody of the said board of managers,
     not disqualified by sickness or casualty, shall be employed by
     the superintendent in quarrying stone, cultivating the ground,
     manufacturing such articles as may be needed for the prison,
     almshouse, other public institution of the State or city, or for
     other persons, and at such other labor as shall, upon trial, be
     found to be profitable to the institution, and suitable to its
     proper discipline and to the health and capacities of the
     inmates; and the superintendent may detail such numbers of the
     inmates as he may regard proper to do the work, outside of
     grounds of the institution, for any of the departments or
     institutions of the city, or for such other persons as may be
     approved by the board of managers.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301,
     Sec. 7.
        Section 8.  Punishment for Refusal to Work
        If any person committed to the said House of Correction,
     employment and reformation, according to law, shall refuse or
     neglect to perform the work assigned to him or her, it shall be
     the duty of the superintendent to punish such persons by close
     confinement, on a diet of bread and water only, for such time as
     may be deemed necessary; which refusal and punishment shall be
     forthwith reported to the managers and shall, by the clerk of
     the board, be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose; it
     shall be the duty of the physician of the institution to visit
     every person, so confined for punishment, at lease once in each
     and every twenty-four hours, and he shall record, in a book to
     be kept for that purpose, his opinion upon the health of the
     person confined; upon his opinion being given of said
     confinement acting injuriously thereon, the said confinement or
     diet shall be altered in such manner as he shall direct.  1871,
     June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 8.
        Section 9.  Punishment for Destroying Property
        Any inmate of said institution, who shall wilfully break,
     destroy or injure any material, machinery, tool, property, or
     thing belonging to the said institution, or shall escape
     therefrom, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
     conviction thereof before any court of record of the county of
     Philadelphia, may be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for
     not less than one month, or more than one year.  1871, June 2,
     P.L. 1301, Sec. 9.
        Section 10.  Supplies; Reports
        The superintendent shall make a monthly requisition on the
     board of managers for all articles which he shall deem necessary
     for the said institution, and such as shall be approved by them
     shall be purchased; the superintendent shall, once in every
     month, report to the board of managers the number of persons
     committed, discharged, sick, dead, or remaining in the
     institution, also the quality and kind of labor performed; and
     the board of managers shall transmit annually, to the councils
     of Philadelphia, a condensed statement of the affairs of the
     institution.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 10.
        Section 11.  Deficiency in Maintenance
        For any deficiency in furnishing, keeping and maintaining
     said House of Correction, employment and reformation, in
     conformity with the provisions of this act, the managers are
     authorized to apply to the said city councils for such sum or
     sums as shall be necessary, and the said city councils are
     hereby directed to appropriate the said sum or sums deemed
     necessary.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 11.
        Section 12.  Term of Commitment for Adults
        Every adult person committed to the House of Correction,
     employment and reformation, of the City of Philadelphia, shall,
     for the first time, be committed for a term of not less than
     three months nor more than one year; for the second time, shall
     be committed for a term not less than nine months nor more than
     eighteen months; for the third time for a term of not less than
     eighteen months nor more than twenty-four months; and for four
     times, or at any time thereafter, for a term of not more nor
     less than twenty-four months; and said board of managers shall
     have discretionary power to discharge the said inmates.  1871,
     June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 12.
        Section 13.  Habeas Corpus
        Any person committed to the said House of Correction,
     employment and reformation, by any other authority than the
     court of quarter sessions of the peace of the City and County of
     Philadelphia, may apply for a writ of habeas corpus to any judge
     of the said court, and upon return thereof, if such judge shall
     deem there is sufficient or reasonable ground for granting the
     same, he shall enter upon a rehearing of the evidence, and
     either discharge the individual, modify or confirm the
     commitment.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 13.
        Section 14.  Inebriates
        The managers of the House of Correction, employment and
     reformation may, if in their judgment they regard it necessary,
     erect, establish and maintain a separate building upon their
     grounds as an asylum for inebriates, to which the mayor,
     alderman, judges of the court of quarter sessions, may commit
     for such length of time as in their judgment may seem proper;
     and those inebriates who are able, or who have friends able to
     pay for their board and clothing, shall be admitted and charged
     such an amount per week as the managers may direct: Provided,
     This shall be a separate building, to be known as the hospital
     department, in which all aged and sick persons, including
     inebriates, shall be treated; and when such persons are relieved
     and able to perform service, they may be discharged from
     custody, unless they may prefer to be transferred to the Labor
     Department, and work at their trade or some profitable
     employment, from which profits their expenses shall be deducted,
     and the balance paid to them on discharge, for the purpose of
     aiding them in being re-instated in society.  (1871, June 2,
     P.L. 1301, Sec. 14.)
        Section 15.  Power of Department of Public Welfare
        The same power and authority that are given by ordinance of
     councils or acts of Assembly to the guardians of the poor,
     prison inspectors and managers of the House of Refuge of the
     City of Philadelphia, are hereby extended to the managers of the
     House of Correction, employment and reformation, of the City of
     Philadelphia.  1871, June 2, P.L. 1301, Sec. 15.
        Section 18.  Annual Statement
        The board of managers shall, on or before the first day of
     November of each year, submit to councils a statement of the
     sums necessary for the maintenance of the House of Correction,
     employment and reformation, for the ensuing term.  1871, June 2,
     P.L. 1301, Sec. 18.