PRISONERS SWELTER IN
OVERCROWDED
WORKHOUSE.
On Men's Side Capacity is 112, and
Number of Inmates Is 131.
While the sun's rays sizzled down upon the roof of the Kansas City workhouse yesterday afternoon 131 men lay in cells, panting and sweltering. The cells on the men's side have equal space for fifty-six white men and the same number of negroes, the total capacity being 112. If there are more than that number there are no more bunks for them.
Instead of the men being divided equally, yesterday there were eighty-three white men and forty-eight negroes, making it necessary to place one-third of the white men with the negroes. The municipal farm at Leeds relieves the situation some. There are twenty men there, and if these were in the workhouse it would make living intolerable.
At this season of the year the workhouse is generally running "short-handed." The police, however, in the last month have been extraordinarily vigilant. Many commissions have expired, and more soon will expire, and the new board has announced that recommissioning the men will depend entirely on their records.
The women's department at the workhouse has accommodations for sixteen white and thirty-two negro women. This department, however, is not so crowded. Yesterday there were fifteen white and nineteen negro women prisoners.
The board of pardons and paroles relieved the situation some yesterday by paroling eleven men and two women, all but one of whom will be released today. One of the men will not be released until July 1, when certain conditions have been complied with.
