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. |