Pennsylvania Act 1897-52 — HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR JUVENILES IN FIRST CLASS CITIES PROVIDED FOR

Act text

HOUSE OF DETENTION FOR JUVENILES IN FIRST CLASS CITIES PROVIDED FOR
                   Act of May 12, 1897, P.L. 65, No. 52               Cl. 11
                                  AN ACT

     To provide for establishing a house of detention for juveniles
        in cities in the first class.

        Whereas, There are annually in the city of Philadelphia about
     two hundred and sixty juvenile offenders, mostly boys between
     the ages of eight and sixteen years, committed to the county
     prison and therein locked in a felon's cell who receive the
     stigma of having been imprisoned, many of them for a first and
     trivial offense, and though fifty per centum are discharged
     before trial, and twenty-five per centum at the trial by the
     magistrate, there is a growing desire on the part of the
     Pennsylvania Prison Society and many philanthropic people, to
     have established a house of detention for juvenile offenders
     below sixteen years, to be located in the neighborhood of the
     county prisons; and
        Whereas, It is very desirable to remove such a stigma on the
     young offender, and try to reclaim him or her to the better
     walks of life, and believing that if the object be made known
     some benevolent persons will combine to make such a house or
     houses of detention a success speedily; and
        Whereas, It is thought desirable to purchase some large, old
     fashioned house that can be remodeled or adapted, or to erect a
     suitable building or buildings, with the approval of the mayor
     of the city, the chief of the department of public safety, the
     president of the board of inspectors of the county prison, and
     their prison agent, as to location, arrangement of such building
     and equipment, that said house or houses of detention when fully
     completed may be transferred free of cost to the city
     authorities, and cared for in the same manner as the county
     prisons, therefore

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That authority is herein
     granted to cities of the first class in the State of
     Pennsylvania, or to any reputable society connected with prison
     work associated with other benevolent donors, to purchase, alter
     or erect a suitable building or buildings, to be known as a
     house or houses of detention for untried juvenile prisoners of
     both sexes below the age of sixteen years, with convenient
     capacity for its needs in said cities of the first class.
        Section 2.  That the location, the building and equipment of
     said houses of detention shall be with the approval of the mayor
     of the city, the chief of the department of public safety, the
     president of the board of inspectors of the county prison and
     their prison agent.
        Section 3.  That when fully completed for occupancy and
     transferred free of cost to the city authorities, the cost of
     maintaining said house or houses of detention shall be provided
     for in the same manner as the county prisons.
        Section 4.  There shall be a board of five managers appointed
     by the mayor who shall receive only reasonable official
     expenses, and shall hold their office for five years, and shall
     be so classified that one of their number shall go out of office
     on the first day of January of each year. They shall manage and
     direct in connection with the mayor and department of public
     safety the business thereof, and make all needful regulations
     therefor not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the
     Commonwealth.
        Section 5.  The said board of managers shall receive into
     said house or houses of detention all untried juveniles of
     either sex committed thereto under the age of sixteen years,
     (except those charged with murder or arson), and shall retain
     them until their dismissal by trial and conviction or acquittal.
        Section 6.  When the buildings are ready for occupancy and
     its regulations established, the committing magistrate shall be
     officially notified by the mayor that after a given date all
     untried juveniles below sixteen years of age are to be sent to
     said house or houses of detention in place of the county prison.
     The judges of the court of quarter sessions and the magistrates
     of the county of Philadelphia are hereby empowered to commit all
     minors under the age of sixteen years charged with any offense
     against the law to the house of detention while awaiting trial,
     or while their cases are being investigated.