130 years ago in 1893, taken from a larger article in the Youngstown Vindicator:

“Shameful. It is safe to say that nine out of every 10 law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of Youngstown never saw the inside of that building which is known under the various appellations of ‘the city bastille,’ ‘lockup,’ ‘cooler,’ ‘hotel Miller,’ etc.

“Of course there is a certain portion of the population that has visited the jail so often that they now claim they own certain numbers of bricks, and indeed have set aside for themselves certain banks which they call their own. Usually, that class of people do not ‘cut much ice,’ but as one would suppose that they have become accustomed to the place, he would be surprised to learn the opinions of some of those hardened wretches after they have recovered from the drunken condition in which the policemen found them.

“Even they are disgusted, and that is saying a good deal.

“A short description of the place will suffice to show its awful condition, and the effect it must have upon anyone who has even a little self-respect left. The jail consists of two stories, an upper story just a little higher than the street and a cellar underneath it.

“The upper story is occupied by male prisoners and the lower portion by females. A heavy flag stone pavement is the floor of the men’s department, and the cellar is floored with cement, and some old warped boards. Sun light is filtered in the upper story through five dirty windows on the north and south sides, about six feet from the floors. They afford the only ventilation that is afforded the place and that is next to nothing.

“Sometimes the windows are swung open and a little air is let in through the iron gating. Upon the walls crawl myriads of cockroaches and the iron benches hung around the walls are alive with vermin. A small and noisome water closet in one corner of the big room, for it is all in one except four iron cells in the middle, fill the air with a bad smell and has overflowed on the floor. The water has run over the stones into the cells and the stench that it has stirred up is disgusting and sickening.

“The place has been condemned by the board of health and by all decent people who have so much as put their noses inside the place, but it is not only allowed to exist, but even to remain as it has for the past seven years.

“To the women’s department! A villainous place to put any woman, for no matter how bad she is, she is a woman and is entitled to receive from the city at least, the same treatment that anyone should. It is dark, extremely dirty, and a better fit for a chicken coop or a pigpen than the woman’s department of the Youngstown Jail. The canvas bunks are so dirty and vermin-covered that no one can sleep in them.

“Another thing that is needed is a detached cell in which men suffering with delirium tremors, or ‘snakes,’ may be kept away from other prisoners, and also a padded cell where they may be kept without injury to themselves.”

• Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, MVHS curator of education.