Changes in English and American law are effected slowly. Trial by combat has been abolished, but we still have the coroner's inquest.
Virginia Jails
JAILS in the Diocese of Southern Virginia are declared by the Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church to be reek with immorality. Conditions are asserted to be barbarous. According to the report of the committee on social service, white and colored prisoners of both sexes frequently are confined together. The truth is said to be so bad that it cannot be printed.
These are the charges of a responsible committee of a great church organization. Admitting the possibility of exaggeration, experience suggests they are yet essentially true. Virginia must reform her methods of caring for misdemeanor offenders. At the root of much of the trouble is the law that permits the jailer to profit by the confinement of human beings. It is to his advantage that his jail be full all the time. That single circumstance facilitates and encourages every abuse of which the church council complains.
This medieval law should be wiped from the statute books. Until this is done there is small hope of bettering conditions permanently. 