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I was born, married and had my three children in England. We moved to Canada in 1938, and owing to the war came to live in Southern California in 1944. I crossed the 39th parallel on my 40th birthday and found that life did indeed begin afresh. People are much more interested in you did yesterday than where you came from. I was busy bringing up a family until 1950 when we moved to Palo Alto, California. Here I became interested in the Friends Meeting and after attending for two years became a member. In the meantime I worked as a volunteer in Juvenile Hall and started to collect clothes for men released from the County Jail. Appalled by the condition of the jail, and the stories of the hardship suffered by families of prisoners, I took my concern to the Meeting with the idea of forming some kind of organization to help in this field. The meeting gave me its blessing and $25 and I and a personal friend who was equally concerned went to our good new Sheriff and asked permission to form an Auxiliary to help the Rehabilitation Dept. in the County Jail. Friends are needed as never before to open the eyes the generation brought up in Suburbia who have never seen poverty. The violence in this country is shocking to a mature newcomer and I am convinced it stems from neglect. People feel superior to "doing good", they say they know better now. Organized charity has taken the place of their Grandmother's concern for the hungry family across the tracks...and many sincerely believe that "everyone In America is taken care of." Many women who work for the Auxiliary say frankly they could not believe such conditions existed so close to their own homes. If these conditions exist in one of the richest counties in California - one wonders about the rest of this huge country. This materialistic wishful thinking is a real challenge to Friends. Friends who are so concerned for world peace might well working for peace at home. It's a sobering thought that the child on the street who performs some act of violence is subconsciously trying to draw attention to himself. His basic needs have been neglected. OUR NEIGHBORS IN JAIL ARE OUR CONCERN For the past four years an AFSC sponsored voluntary organization called the Santa Clara Jail Auxiliary has been working with the women prisoners in the County Jail and with the families of men prisoners in San Jose, California. In describing our work with the women we are often asked "What are women prisoners like?" Our answer is that they are exactly like any group of women you might meet window shopping, in the street or coming out of a movie house. We visit the women three times a week. Since there is no work or recreation program offered by the County, we found them lamentably idle when we first visited four years ago….lying on their beds or watching TV. When cleaning is shared between twenty or thirty women it does not leave the individual much to do, and the ironing and mending of the men's clothes is done by women with the longer sentences so that they can qualify for "good time" (day off their sentence for good behaviour). Last year the Auxiliary spent $600.00 on material for handwork embroidery, "do-it-yourself" projects which are prepared by groups in Churches and Women's Clubs, yarn, crochet,cotton and yardage for the sewing class which is held once a week. Many of the women who have never held a needle make clothes for their children and endless presents for family and friends. When visiting the women we go the rounds asking if there are any errands we can do for them. We try to see that each woman has adequate clothing on release and bettor places for them to stay. Womon prisoners constitute a minority group of their own. In our County Jail thoro in a ratio of 600 man to 20-30 women. Why so few women? Because on the whole women are protected. Police do not care to arrest them, and Judges will givo them probation when possible. So the women who do get sentenced are generally very disturbed people, badly in need of treatment. The two types who are the most heart breaking are the elderly alcoholics, homeless and unemployable booalise as soon as they get paid they holo up in their lonely room with a bottle of cheap wine. They hat themselves for being "common drunk" and acknowledge that they are happier in jail where, once sober, they are the useful nice people they were meant to be. Serving a short sentence and out again with no place to go and no planning for the future is one of the glaring faults in tho present correctional system at County level. The other prisoner for whom nothing is done is the "one parent" girl who has been deserted by her husband or who has never been married, and is bringing up her family on welfare. With no home training, generally of low IQ these girls are often the poorest home makers though they my love their children they have never seen children properly cared for. Even tho best "budgeter" might find it hard to afford pleasure on her welfare check. Our clients cannot make ends meet and mostly they are in jail for shop lifting or bad check passing. So they sit for weeks at a time and watch TV while the County pay for their children in foster homes. If a girl has a baby during her sentence she goes to the County Hospital for three days, returns to idleness, while some poor and often resentful relative walks the floor with the baby and,washes the diapers. Can one imagine a more useless way of spending tax-payers money? When the public rises up in wrath and demands a constructive program perhaps those poor mothers will be sentenced to a Homemaking and Child Care course geared down to their requirements. This could be followed by wise understanding supervision in their homes, plus a budget which would allow them a few legitimate pleasures which are necessary to all human beings. Another service the Auxiliary offers is to women of the County who are sent to the California Institute for Women at Corona. We visit them twice a year, write to the friendless ones and rember them all with Christmas boxes. This is very rewarding both by the relationship we have with the girls and the appreciation shown by the Institutional staff. We feel there must be value in being able to boast that "Santa Clara County is the only County that remembers its girls!" Now for the families. The Auxiliary was formed to prove to the men and women in the County jail that there is ccmmmunity concern for them and their families. It is our policy to work with the existing agencies and in cooperation with the County Welfaro to alleviate distress during th period of waiting for the establishment of' County or State Aid. Even the most provident men do not insure against arrest. There are few working families who can afford to lose a pay check, and the shocking things that can happen to a family while waiting for the wheels of the Welfare to turn need to be seen to be believed. Then, of course, there are always those families which do not have residential requirements to make them eligible for Welfare. The only help those people can receive is with the understanding they will go back, to tho Place where residence can be established. So new people come to California from all over the States that "to go back home" often means a permanent break up for the family. Where would they get money to enable them to get together again? The Auxiliary tries to look after such families if the man is serving a short sentence. There is no uniformaty between County Jails….either in the length of sentence an inmate can serve, or the type of crime a man commits to find himself in Jail. We are only speaking for the Santa Clara County Jail when we say our inmates are seldom great criminals and the maximum sentence is 12 months, although a prisoner may have to serve two or more sentences concurrently. Apart from the chronic alcoholics, who, like the women spend more time in than out of jail, and the drunk drivers who represent a cross section of the general public (though we still have to meet a member of a well-to-do family), the men in our jail are mostly immature, irreponsible, untrained and impoverished members of the community. But the look at visiting day and you will see they are often loving and loved fathers, husbands and sons. Where there is love there is hope for rehabilitation, and the Auxiliary does all it can to keep the families together by making them fcel accepted and worth of respect. Once a week an Auxiliary member sees the new inmates in the jail and tells them of the services we offer and if a man is worried about his family we will visit. The next week the visitor reports on what we have been able to do, though in most cases the men already know through their wives. What do we find as we go out with a list of new addresses? Here are three very typical cases which were visited in one day:
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