Read Ebook: The journal of prison discipline and philanthropy (Vol. XV No. I January 1860) by Philadelphia Society For Alleviating The Miseries Of Public Prisons

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OF NO. 1.

BRIEF NOTICES. Escapes and Pardons 40 Early Crime 43 Compromising with Rogues 45 Consumption of Intoxicating Drinks 46 Prisons and Prisoners in South Carolina ib. Annual Census of the Philadelphia County Prison 47 A Quarter's Police Work in New York ib. Alabama State Prison ib. New York Prison Association 48 Deliberate Murder by a Boy under Nine Years of age ib. Distribution of Labor in Paris ib. New Jersey State Prison ib.

JOURNAL

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

We hear with unfeigned pleasure of any improvement in the construction of city and county gaols. Convinced as we have been for many years, and by testimony from innumerable sources, that in most of them we shall find a fruitful soil for the production and growth of criminal purposes and habits, we can conceive of few objects of municipal oversight which demand earlier or closer attention. What the gaol does to make a bad man worse, the penitentiary cannot easily undo. If a thief or burglar or counterfeiter, while waiting for trial or sentence, serves a few weeks' or months' apprenticeship to one or more adepts in those branches in a gaol, he is a very unpromising subject of penitentiary discipline. He is, perhaps, rather braced against any influences which may be employed to change his course of life, and buoyed up with the anticipation of pursuing his criminal projects under more favorable circumstances, and with greater skill and success, upon the termination of his sentence.

So deep are our convictions of the immeasurable evils inflicted on the community by bad gaols, that we accept an attempt to improve them, in any respect, as a token of good. If a cell that was dirty yesterday is clean to-day--if the sexes are separated--if, instead of allowing prisoners to herd together day and night, they are separated by night--if for darkness, dampness and a pestilential atmosphere, the light and air have free access--if, in a word, there is some decent respect shown to the species represented in these suspected and perhaps fallen, degraded, and certainly discreditable specimens of it--we take courage.

The following description of the gaol, illustrated as it is by the accompanying engravings, will give our readers the means of judging for themselves of the design and character of the new edifice:

The jail stands in close proximity to the penitentiary, and comprises a centre building, and north and south wings.

There is a block of cells in each of the two wings, 15 cells in length, 2 in width, and 5 stories in height, making 300 cells in the two wings, for the confinement of prisoners.

These two wings are on what is known as the "Auburn plan," being a prison within a prison. The cells are surrounded by corridors formed between the block of cells and the exterior walls.

The cells are 8 feet by 11 feet, and about 10 feet high, they are built of bricks, with segment and arched ceilings, and brick floors; each cell has an iron grated door and window opening into the corridors. The corridors are 13 feet wide, and have floors of hard flag stone on a level with the floors of the first story cells, they are open from this floor to the top of the upper story cells.

All of the cells above the first story are reached by galleries and staircases of iron. Each cell has a ventilating flue constructed in the wall, with an opening into the lower part of the flue for the reception of the prisoner's night pail, to be closed with an iron slide, and another opening near the top of the cell for ventilation, which is also provided with an iron slide, by which it may be closed. These flues all open into a large ventiduct constructed on the tops of the blocks of cells, the vitiated air is taken from the cells through these flues and airducts, by means of large ejecting ventilators, placed on the roof and connected with the ventiducts.

Light and air is admitted in abundance by the large windows in the exterior walls.

There are five sink rooms in each of the four corner towers, making one sink room for each range of fifteen cells; the iron galleries are continued across the corridors to the sink rooms, and each one is fitted up with an enamelled iron hopper and trap, through which the contents of the night pails are discharged into the soil pipes and sewers; there is also an iron sink with a sufficient supply of water. Each sink room has two windows for light and ventilation.

There is a tank in the upper story of each of the four towers to insure a constant and adequate supply of water.

The guard room in the centre building is 57 feet 6 inches by 59 feet 6 inches, and about 38 feet high, and is separated from the wings by heavy iron screens or gratings, to confine the prisoners to the corridors and galleries of each wing at such times as they may be allowed privileges outside of the cells; these screens are constructed so as not to obstruct the view into the wings from the guard room. The corridors, stairs and galleries of the wings all being in full view from the guard room--the floor of which is on a level with the lower gallery of the wings, and is formed of 144 plates of cast iron, supported on rolled iron beams, so arranged as to form a bearing for all the four sides of each plate, the beams being supported by nine iron columns and the four side walls. The guard room is lighted by three very large windows. The only entrance to either the north or south wing is through the guard room.

The kitchen, in which all the cooking, baking, washing, &c. will be done, is under the guard room and on a level with the first story of cells, and is of the same size as the guard room, and 11 feet high.

The cooking and the heating water for the various purposes is all to be done by steam, and the baking in two brick ovens. The kitchen is lighted by three windows in the east side, two angle windows in the west side, and 4 floor lights, taking the place of four of the iron plates of the guard room floor.

There are two rooms in the front part of the centre building on a level with the kitchen for the reception of prisoners, one on each side of a vestibule through which they are entered--they are fitted up with iron bath tubs, water closets, and a fumigating oven for the purpose of cleansing the filthy before placing them in their cells.

The entrance to these reception rooms is under the landing of the steps to the upper vestibule, and there is an iron staircase from the lower to the upper vestibule, by which the prisoners are taken from the reception rooms or lower entrance to the guard room and cells.

The two rooms in the front part of the centre building, on a level with the guard room, are for the use of the warden and his deputies.

There are six rooms in the front part of the centre building for the confinement of witnesses, or for privilege rooms, four of which are about 20 feet square, and the other two about 15 feet square; these rooms have private water closets, and are supplied with water, they have high ceilings, are well ventilated, light, pleasant, and cheerful; they are approached by private staircases in the two towers of the front part of the centre building, and are connected with the galleries of the north and south wings by a gallery on the west side of the guard room.

There are three hospital rooms in the upper story of the front part of the centre building, they have private water closets, bath tubs, with warm and cold water, and shower, they can be reached from the cells of the north and south wings by the gallery through the guard room and iron staircases, and also from the stairs in the front towers; they are well lighted and ventilated.

There is a water tank in the upper part of the centre building to supply the kitchen, water closets, baths, wash basins, &c.

The chapel is in the upper part of the centre building over the guard room. It will seat over 400 persons. There is an entrance to it from each of the wings, and also from the front part of the centre building. It is about 22 feet high, well lighted and ventilated, and so planned that the prisoners can be separated into classes if deemed desirable. The chapel floor is supported by two double lattice wrought iron girders.

There are ventilating flues and ejecting ventilators constructed in all parts of the centre building, and all of the windows and other openings throughout, are made secure by wrought iron gratings. All the floors are on iron beams and brick arches. The building is thoroughly fire proof in all parts except the chapel and roof framing, and is warmed by steam from two large boilers located in the boiler house on the east side of the jail, and lighted at night by gas. There is a thorough system of drainage from all of the waste pipes, soil pipes, and rain water pipes, through brick drains and sewers to Jones' Falls, a stream running within about 200 feet of the jail.

The entrance gateway and lodge, the clerk's office and the residence for the warden, are on the south side of the jail lot, fronting on Madison street. There are two chambers over the lodge and office on the east side of the gateway. In the Warden's residence, on the west side of the gateway, there is a kitchen, dining room, parlor, five chambers, and bath room, with hall passages, pantry, store rooms and closets, and all other requisite appurtenances and conveniences for the comfortable accommodation of a family. The yard for the warden's residence is separated from the jail yard by a stone wall and iron gate.

The prisoners are received and discharged through the gates on Madison street.

The exterior walls of the jail and other buildings are all of stone, together with all the corbels, copings, quoins, chimney tops, &c. The base, up to the second range of window sills, is of granite, cut and set in large blocks. The walls above the base are of light blue stone, laid in rubbled masonry, with splayed jambs and arches. The window sills above the basement, and the quoins, corbels, copings and other dressings are of marble. The roofs are of slate. The interior walls, arches, &c., are all of brick.

The site is a good one, being easy of access from all parts of the city, and convenient to the court house and penitentiary. There is ample space on all sides for a free circulation of air. The lot has a gentle ascent to the north and east, and a dry self-draining gravel sub-soil. Its proximity to Jones' Falls, and its elevation above the water level, affords the best means of drainage.

In designing this prison and working out the various details of the plan, we endeavored to carry out the following general principles, viz:

And finally to provide, by every possible means consistent with security, a proper degree of economy and a salutary discipline for the healthfulness, comfort and convenience of the prisoners; for while a prison is a place of confinement for criminals or persons charged with crime, and as such should be made so secure as to shut out all reasonable hope of escape, that the proper ends of justice may be met, yet humanity and indeed justice herself demands that the life and health of the prisoners shall be carefully protected, and every suitable means afforded them for repentance and moral improvement.

The architectural style of the building is castellated Gothic, and presents in the durable stone of which the building is erected those simple, yet bold, strong and massive features which convey the idea of fitness--that basis of all proportion--which affords to us an emotion of pleasure, or that feeling of satisfaction arising from the contemplation of means properly adapted to their end, and possessing those qualities of order and harmony which excite our admiration. Any attempt at mere architectural display, by elaborate ornamentation or expensive finish, would have been the work of supererogation. Propriety and fitness forbid the use of elaborate embellishment. Strength and security should be the most prominent features in the design for a prison, that it may by its austere beauty wear a suitable expression, and thus proclaim with truthfulness the purpose for which it is designed.

The total cost of gaol, warden's residence, heating, cooking, &c., is not far from 0,000.

In March, 1848, the Legislature of Texas, in pursuance of a provision in the State Constitution, passed an act authorizing the Governor to appoint three Commissioners to select a location, and report the details, for the erection of a Penitentiary; the action of the Commissioners to be subject to the approval of the Governor. After careful and full consideration of the comparative advantages of the several sites offered, the town of Huntsville, the county seat of Walker county, was selected, and the selection approved.

Walker county lies just under the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and between the eighteenth and nineteenth degrees of longitude west from Washington; and the Trinity river forms its north-eastern boundary. Huntsville is very nearly the geographical centre of the county, and is about one hundred and twenty miles a little west of north from Galveston; and about one hundred and sixty miles north of west from Austin, the capital of the State. The town stands upon a low gravelly ridge, bare of trees, and with deep ravines upon three sides. Some few scattered houses, as well as Austin College and the Andrew Female College, are built upon corresponding ridges, which rise on the opposite sides of these ravines. There is no extended growth of heavy timber in the immediate vicinity of the town. The approach from the east for some five or six miles, is through a sandy region covered with a dense growth of scrub oak and underbrush. Upon the west and south the country is more open, gradually merging into the rolling prairies of Grimes and Washington counties. Small streams run through the ravines and find their way into the lesser branches of the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers; but the supply of water is irregular and the ravines are often dry. The situation is a healthy one, the air pure and bracing, and the climate favorable. The town is regularly incorporated, and has from sixteen hundred to seventeen hundred inhabitants.

Upon the eastern outskirt of the town, on both sides of the main road from the lower Red River country, are the buildings and grounds of the Penitentiary. The main buildings and enclosure are upon the southern side of the road, and extend back down the slope of the ravine, with a gradual and slight descent. Upon the opposite side of the road are the storehouse and warehouse: the storehouse, which includes under the same roof the offices and residence of the Financial Agent, is sixty feet front by fifty deep, and two stories high; the warehouse is about forty feet front by fifty deep, and two stories high. The two buildings are separated from each other by an open space of some two hundred feet front; the intervening ground, together with a considerable lot in the rear extending back of the storehouse and warehouse, is mostly under cultivation as a vegetable garden for the convicts. The warehouse is used for storing the wool and cotton for the factory. In the storehouse are kept the manufactured goods for sale. The front of the Penitentiary faces north, and extends a distance of some three hundred feet directly upon the road without any intervening fence or wall. The storehouse and warehouse are immediately opposite the respective extremities of the front, the main entrance of the Penitentiary in the centre, facing the open space above mentioned. The front elevation consists of a centre building some sixty feet front and three stories high, with two wings, each one hundred and twenty feet long and two stories high. The entire front presents one uniform extent of brick wall upon the same line for the whole distance, unbroken by any recesses or openings except the large, but plain, arched gateway in the centre and the rows of windows; and unrelieved by a single projection or attempt at ornamental or architectural display. The only thing to relieve the monotonous uniformity of the front is the additional story upon the centre building. The bricks of which all the Penitentiary buildings are built are made in the neighborhood, and are coarse and of a dingy red color.

At the main entrance, the large, solid, double leafed door, which mostly stands wide open in the day time, is stationed a guard, armed with a six-shooter in his belt, and a double-barreled shot-gun, loaded with buck-shot and ready capped, in his hands. An admission fee of twenty-five cents is charged for each visitor, and the amount received goes into the general accounts of the prison, and very nearly defrays the expense of the extra guard who is kept for the express purpose of waiting on visitors through the establishment. Any one, however, who has a higher motive than mere curiosity, and desires to examine the condition and management of the Penitentiary through an interest in the subject of prisons and prison discipline, and will make himself known to the Superintendent, will always be courteously received and every facility afforded for his inquiries and observations without charge. Passing through the archway, the visitor is admitted by the guard through the large grated iron gate which closes its inner end, into the yard of the prison. In the middle of the yard is a two story log-house, used now as the shoemaker's shop, but built originally as a place of confinement for the convicts who were employed in the erection of the Penitentiary. The entire space enclosed within the limits of the prison walls is about three hundred feet square: the enclosure upon the northern side is formed by the front or main building; the southern side of the enclosure and the portions of the eastern and western sides adjacent thereto, are shut in by substantial brick walls; while the rest of the eastern and western sides is formed by ranges of buildings connected with the main edifice. Just within the prison wall upon the southern side of the yard is the factory, a substantial building of brick, two stories high and two hundred and seventy feet long by fifty deep. Both cotton and woolen goods, chiefly of the coarser kind in demand for plantation wear, are manufactured. The establishment of the factory was authorized by the Legislature at the session of 1853 and 1854, and an appropriation made for the erection of the building, and the purchase of the necessary machinery. Carding and spinning were commenced in June, 1856, and the first loom started late in July of the same year. Steam power is used to drive the machinery, and the factory has been kept steadily in operation from the time of its commencement, the number of looms having been gradually increased as the success of the undertaking developed itself. The machinery was all made in Massachusetts.

The results of the employment of convict labor in this department of manufactures, is regarded by the Directors and officers of the Penitentiary, as a decided pecuniary success; and the Osnaburgs and woolens made here bear a high reputation throughout the State, and are undoubtedly of most excellent quality and finish.

The centre building of the front is about forty feet deep, and is occupied for the offices and residence of the Superintendent and other prison officers, except the Financial Agent. The lower story is curtailed in room by the archway passing through its entire depth, and affording access for vehicles as well as persons to the prison yard. The wings are occupied entirely for cells: these are built in three tiers one above the other from the floor to the roof. The tiers of cells are entirely separated from the exterior walls of the building by corridors about six feet wide, which are open from the floor to the roof of the buildings; access to the cells in the second and third tiers being had from narrow galleries reached by stairways, one at the end of each wing nearest the centre building. One of the buildings upon the western side of the square is also occupied for cells arranged in similar tiers. Each cell is eight feet long by five wide, and eight feet high. The door of each is a grating of cross-barred iron, and affords the only means of ventilation and the only access for light; and as the doors are but five feet high, with the bottom edge on a level with the floor, the ventilation is necessarily imperfect. All the air is introduced from the corridors, and the windows of the corridors which open to the outer air, are small in size and not very numerous. The corridors, however, are sufficiently lighted for all ordinary purposes, except perhaps on very dark days. The interior of the cells and the walls of the corridors are kept thoroughly whitewashed. There are no water closets in the cells, but each is furnished with a movable vessel. In addition to the cot with its bedding, each cell is provided with a small table and stool, and a few have some one or two other small articles of furniture. There is no uniformity of neatness or cleanliness in the cells, the care of each being entrusted to its occupant; and beyond a certain, not very high standard, no special attention to these matters is enforced.

The floors and ceilings of the cells and the roofs of the prison buildings are of wood, and a few years since the prisoners occupying three cells one over the other, made their escape by cutting through the floors and roof, and so getting down upon the outside. Since that occurrence the prisoners have been searched regularly twice a-day--once when they return to their cells for dinner, and again at supper time.

All convicts who can read are furnished with a copy of the Bible, the Mexicans with Bibles in the Spanish language. They are also permitted to read such other religious or moral works as the Chaplain may approve. They can have but little opportunity for reading except on Sundays, when they are confined in their cells all day, with the exception of the time of public worship. The Chaplain preaches regularly on the Sabbath twice a-day. There is no chapel or hall provided for assembling the convicts. The convicts are marched out of their cells, each bringing his stool with him, and ranged along the opposite sides of one of the long narrow corridors, in no very strict or regular order. The Chaplain stands about the middle of the corridor, while at each end are the guards fully armed; the Superintendent is also present.

There were but three female convicts. One was undergoing a sentence for arson, and the other two had been convicted of murder. One of these latter occupied a cell immediately under one in which her husband was suffering imprisonment, as an accomplice of his wife in the crime for which she was sentenced. She had murdered her father, to get his money. The husband of the other woman had died, in prison, but a few weeks previous to our visit. He, too, had been convicted as an accomplice of his wife; the victim of their crime being a niece of the wife, who had excited her jealousy.

Each prisoner occupies his own separate cell at night and during meal-times. Among the prisoners was a boy of seventeen, who had been sent there for want of any better place for him: his offence was stabbing. In consequence of his youth, he was not subjected to the same strictness of discipline as the other convicts, and was allowed many privileges, occasionally even being allowed to sleep in the same cell with another convict. His opportunities of intercourse with the others must have been frequent, and the association will, in all probability, prove most disastrous in its consequences. His return to the Penitentiary, in the course of a few years at most, can be calculated on with reasonable certainty. Whatever disposition he may show, or whatever efforts he may make, upon his release, to lead a proper life,--all will be neutralized, almost inevitably, by the knowledge of the fact that he has been a convict in the penitentiary; and some of those who have been his fellow-convicts, of a more hardened experience in crime, will be constantly on the watch to lead him astray, and with an influence of great power.

The grades of punishment for refractory convicts are: 1st. Confinement in the dark cell. 2d. Confinement on bread and water. 3d. Confinement, and deprivation of tobacco. 4th. Irons, with or without confinement. 5th. Standing in the stocks. Flogging is also permitted, but only by special order of the Directors, to whom the Superintendent reports any case he may think deserving of that punishment, and the Directors decide on the expediency of the infliction. It cannot, however, in any case, exceed one hundred lashes, and is administered with a leather strap.

In case any of the prisoners escape, one of the guards has some two or three hounds trained to catch runaways, and used to track the fugitives. As some of the prisoners are employed outside the prison yard, about the storehouse and warehouse, and in the garden, the opportunity thus presented, for attempting an escape, is sometimes improved; and the dogs are then brought into use. Escape, however, is a matter of difficulty; and the attempt, even, is hazardous: for, in addition to the armed guard at the main entrance, the immediate vicinity of the prison premises is further watched and protected by armed guards, on duty constantly, in guard-houses a little distance from the walls, outside,--one at each corner, and one opposite the middle of each side, except the front.

Visitors are not allowed to hold any communication with the convicts, either by word or sign; nor are the master-workmen allowed to hold any conversation with them, except in giving necessary information or direction concerning their work. The master-workmen are also forbidden to converse, in the hearing of convicts, with other persons on matters foreign to their work. The convicts are also prohibited from holding any communication among themselves; but the impossibility of preventing this entirely, was manifest, and, indeed, was frankly admitted. The friends and relatives of any convict are permitted to see and converse with him, in the presence of the Superintendent, at his discretion.

The officers of the Penitentiary are,--a Superintendent, Financial Agent, and three Directors; all of whom are appointed by the Governor, for four years. In addition to these, the master-workmen, physician, chaplain, sergeant of the guard, and steward, are considered as officers of the prison, and all hold their appointments from the Directors. The salaries of the Superintendent and Financial Agent are ,500 per annum, each; of the Directors, 0 each; of the Physician, 0; and of the Chaplain, 0.

The present Superintendent is Col. J. H. Murray, who has been in office some eighteen months. He is a gentleman of liberal and intelligent views, and feels the responsibilities of his office. To his courtesy and attention we were indebted for the opportunity of obtaining much of the foregoing information. The present Chaplain is a Presbyterian; but ministers of other denominations occasionally supply his place. Any convict who may wish is allowed to see a clergyman of his own particular denomination. The Directors are required to visit the Penitentiary at least twice in each month, and to report to the Legislature biennially.

A few words as to the County Prisons of Texas. The only opportunity which offered for visiting a county jail was at Brenham, Washington County. The jail building stands near the court house, a little off from the public square, in the centre of the town, and is without enclosure of any kind. It is a plain, two story building, about twenty-five feet square, built of a double thickness of hewed logs. A narrow corridor runs around the inside of the lower story, and surrounds the dungeon, which is the only room upon this story, and has walls of a triple thickness of logs. The entrance to the dungeon is through a heavy iron trap-door in the floor of the second story. The single door of the jail itself opens directly from the street into the corridor. The second story has but two apartments, which occupy its entire extent; and one of these is appropriated for female prisoners, when there are any. There was but one occupant, a man, at the time of our visit. A short time previous, a prisoner had been confined in the dungeon, awaiting his trial on a charge of murder, but had succeeded in making his escape, in which he must have had assistance from the outside. No jailer or other officer lives at the jail, nor is any special watch kept. The only furniture was a rude stool or two, and a few bed-clothes, laid upon the bare floor. There are no windows in the building, and a few narrow, horizontal openings in the log-walls, secured with iron bars, afford the only supplies of light and air; no shutters, sashes, or other means of closing these openings are provided. There is no provision made for warming the prison, and the cold must sometimes be severe, especially during the prevalence of the Northers. The jail is in charge of the Sheriff, and the food of the prisoners depends altogether upon his discretion. It is possible, that in Galveston, and perhaps in one or two other places, the County Prisons may be upon a better plan, but in none of them is the separate system in force. The prisoners, untried as well as convicts, have an almost unrestrained intercourse. From all that we could learn, it is to be feared that the jails of many of the Counties are even less comfortable than the one at Brenham. But very many things combine to render it peculiarly difficult to awaken the public mind of Texas to the necessity and importance of a careful consideration of the subject of Prison Discipline.

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