Part 1

Plans and Illustrations _of_ Prisons and Reformatories

_Collected by_ HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D. _President of American Prison Association_

_Presented at_ _The_ FIFTY-SECOND CONGRESS OF THE ASSOCIATION

DETROIT, OCTOBER, 1922

NEW YORK RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 1922

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION

WM. F. FELL CO. PRINTERS PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Table of Contents

PAGE

INTRODUCTION. By Hastings H. Hart, LL.D. 7

A SKYSCRAPER JAIL. A Possible Solution of the Cook County Jail Problem. By Hastings H. Hart 9

THE NEW SING SING PRISON. 16

The Clinic Building at the New Sing Sing Prison. By Walter B. James, M.D. 16

Psychiatric Classification in Prison. By Lewis F. Pilcher, New York State Architect 18

THE WINGDALE PRISON. By Lewis F. Pilcher, New York State Architect 27

KILBY PRISON.

Preliminary Note. By Hastings H. Hart 30

Notes on the Design and Construction of Kilby Prison. By Martin J. Lide, Engineer and Architect 31

PRISON FARMS FOR WOMEN. By Hastings H. Hart 38

State Farm for Women at Niantic, Connecticut 38

The Caroline Bayard Wittpenn Cottage at the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women 42

PROPOSED PLANS FOR A STATE PRISON. By Alfred Hopkins, Architect 45

PROPOSED PLAN FOR A REFORMATORY. By Alfred Hopkins, Architect 46

WESTCHESTER COUNTY PENITENTIARY AND WORKHOUSE, WHITE PLAINS, N. Y. By Alfred Hopkins, Architect 47

PROPOSED PLANS OF THE DETROIT HOUSE OF CORRECTION. By Albert Kahn, Architect 55

RECEPTION COTTAGE AT THE HAWTHORNE SCHOOL (FOR DELINQUENT BOYS). By Hastings H. Hart 59

ONE-STORY COTTAGE AT THE THORN HILL SCHOOL (FOR DELINQUENT BOYS). By Hastings H. Hart 61

List of Illustrations

PAGE

CHAPEL OF NEW SING SING PRISON. _Frontispiece_

A SKYSCRAPER JAIL. A Plan for a Metropolitan Jail 9 Administration Floor Plan 11 Typical Cell Floor Plan 13 Hospital and Clinics--Floor Plan 15

THE NEW SING SING PRISON, OSSINING, NEW YORK. Psychiatric Building 17 Typical Detail of Construction of All Buildings 19 Outside Cell Building--North Elevation 20 Outside Cell Building--First Floor Plan 21 Detention Building--First Floor Plan 22 Detention Building--South Elevation 23 Mess Hall and Kitchen Building--Basement 24 Mess Hall and Kitchen Building--First Floor 25

WINGDALE PRISON, WINGDALE, NEW YORK. General View 28

KILBY PRISON, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. Front Elevation 30 General Plan 32 Administration Building--Floor Plan 33 Cell Blocks--Floor Plan 35 Laundry, Bath and Detention Building--Floor Plans 36

CONNECTICUT STATE FARM FOR WOMEN, NIANTIC, CONNECTICUT. Perspective of Reception Building 38 Reception Building--First Floor Plan 39 Reception Building--Second Floor Plan 40 Reception Building--Basement Plan 41

CAROLINE BAYARD WITTPENN MATERNITY COTTAGE, STATE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN, CLINTON, NEW JERSEY. South Elevation 42 Maternity Cottage--First Floor Plan 43 Maternity Cottage--Second Floor Plan 44

PROPOSED STATE PRISON. Photograph 45 Proposed State Prison--Plan 45

PROPOSED REFORMATORY PLAN. 46

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK, PENITENTIARY AND WORKHOUSE. General View from Approach 47 Administration Building--Entrance Side 48 Administration Building--First and Second Floor Plans 49 Typical Floor Plans of Cell Blocks 50 Elevations of Corridor and Cell 51 Ground Plans of Corridors and Cells 51 Recreation Corridor 52 Stair Hall--Administration Building 53 View of Mess Hall from Corridor 53 Cell Block Corridor 54 Typical Cell 54

DETROIT HOUSE OF CORRECTION. First Floor Plan 56 Second Floor Plan 57 Third Floor Plan 58

HAWTHORNE SCHOOL (FOR DELINQUENT BOYS), HAWTHORNE, N. Y. Reception Cottage 59 Reception Cottage--First Floor Plan 60 Reception Cottage--Second Floor Plan 60

THORN HILL SCHOOL (FOR DELINQUENT BOYS), WARRENDALE, PENNSYLVANIA. One-story Cottage--Floor Plan 61 One-story Cottage. Photograph 62

Introduction

Prison building has been for the most part suspended during the past seven years. State prisons have been under construction at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; Sing Sing, New York; Statesville, near Joliet, Illinois; and Montgomery, Alabama. Westchester County, New York, has built and Detroit, Michigan, has begun a prison for short term misdemeanants. New York City and the District of Columbia have partially completed reformatories for young men. New reformatories for women have been established in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Most of them have adopted cottage plans similar to those of industrial schools for delinquent girls. All of them are in process of development. Most of them have erected from one to three new buildings and are making use of old farmhouses as temporary cottages.

Comparatively few new county jails have been built. Probably the most notable one built in the past seven years is the Hamilton County Jail in Cincinnati, which is reported as a modern and model jail, located in the top of the Court House, like the jails in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Oakland, California, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Plans for a new county jail system at Chicago for Cook County are being worked out by a local committee which has retained Dr. George W. Kirchwey, of New York, as expert adviser.

From the newer prisons, a selection of noteworthy plans and illustrations is presented herewith. They have been selected with special reference to unusual or improved features, such as modern cell houses, clinical laboratories, improved lighting, and sanitation. The plans selected include state prisons in New York and Alabama and tentative plans for a state prison and a state reformatory; plans for single buildings at two reformatories for women; plans for cottages at two reformatories for boys, and tentative plans for a metropolitan jail designed by the writer with special reference to the needs of Chicago.

It was desired to include the plans of the projected prisons of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, but it was found impracticable. Elaborate plans were made and published some years ago for a new Ohio Penitentiary, but building has not commenced and it is understood that the plans will be abandoned or greatly modified. The new state penitentiary at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, which is to supersede both the Eastern and Western Penitentiaries and to provide for 4,000 to 5,000 prisoners on a farm of over 5,000 acres, was begun ten years ago; but its development was hindered by the war, and thus far temporary provision has been made for about 500 prisoners. Construction is now proceeding rapidly. The ultimate plans are still in process of development.

The state of Illinois is erecting a great penitentiary, designed by Zimmerman, Saxe and Zimmerman, Architects, about six miles from the old prison site. It is intended to accommodate about 2,000 prisoners. Two cell buildings have been erected, each containing 248 cells. The cells are 6½ feet wide, 10 feet 8 inches long and 8 feet high, and are intended to house but one prisoner.

The cell houses are circular, resembling a gas tank with a conical roof. They are a practical execution of the “Panopticon” proposed by Jeremy Bentham in the year 1787, a plan of which will be found in Punishment and Reformation, by Dr. Frederick Howard Wines, page 144. The interior wall of each cell is of glass and a central tower enables the guard to keep every prisoner under observation every moment, day and night. Each cell is well lighted by an exterior window. An elaborate system of ventilation was installed, but on a recent visit the writer discovered that the cell houses ventilate themselves through the outer windows and the skylight, and the fans were not in use. It is doubtful whether a system of perpetual espionage will find favor with prison administrators, but the experiment is an interesting one.

Special efforts were made to obtain the plans of the new Illinois Penitentiary for this publication, but were unsuccessful.

HASTINGS H. HART

A Skyscraper Jail

Proposed Design for a Metropolitan Jail

(A Possible Solution of the Cook County Jail Problem in Chicago)

_By_ HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D.

President of the American Prison Association

County jails are schools of crime, according to prison officials and jail inspectors. They are so constructed and conducted that the prisoners generally come out far worse than they went in.

No metropolitan city of the United States has yet succeeded in constructing a satisfactory jail for the detention of prisoners awaiting trial. The New York City “Tombs” is a gloomy pile, properly described by its name. The ancient Charles Street Jail of Boston has recently been reconstructed at a very large expense, but does not meet the needs of the present day.

The county jail ought to be the most reformatory institution in the land. It receives offenders at the beginning of their careers, before they have become hardened and confirmed criminals. More can be accomplished for the reformation of a young criminal in the first week of his imprisonment than by six months’ confinement in a state prison after he has become a confirmed law-breaker. This was demonstrated by John L. Whitman when he was jailer in the Cook County Jail, where, notwithstanding the most unfavorable conditions, he did wonders for the reclamation of wayward boys and young men.

The utter inadequacy of the Cook County Jail has long been realized by thoughtful people. The Chicago Community Trust, by request of the Board of County Commissioners, has made a Cook County Jail Survey and has organized a committee of representative Chicago citizens for the purpose of abolishing the old Cook County Jail and removing the scandal which has disgraced Cook County for more than fifty years.

AN OFFICIAL REPORT

In 1919, after the State Board of Public Charities had labored fifty years to reform the county jails, the State Department of Public Welfare made a study of the county jails of Illinois. This report contained the following statement:

“Illinois has 20 county jails which maybe classified as good; 19 as fair; 41 as very poor or bad; 21 as unfit for use. Except for the high standard of cleanliness of the women’s department, it is difficult to find any good points about the Cook County Jail.... It is recognized as an insanitary, dark, overcrowded institution that is a disgrace to Cook County.... They [the prisoners] are locked in their cells from 11.30 in the morning to 3.30 in the afternoon. There are two or three men in each small cell (six by nine feet and eight feet high). It is impossible to distribute the men according to their habits of cleanliness or decency. Twenty hours out of each twenty-four must be spent locked in the insanitary, dirty, crowded cell. All meals are served to the men in their cells. The time for exercise, 9.30-11.30 A. M. and 3.30-5.30 P. M., they stand or walk around or sit down on the floor of the ‘bull pen’ or ‘exercise corridor.’ In the ‘old jail’ this ‘pen’ includes all the floor space of the cell house not occupied by the cell block. It is a big room swarming with men. In the departments of the ‘new’ it is the corridor into which the cells open. The cells are kept locked during the four exercise hours. There are no seats or benches in the ‘bull pens.’ In all departments the pens are crowded during the four ‘exercise’ hours.... Cook County does not furnish jail clothes for prisoners. They have access to laundry tubs once a week. Prisoners wash their own clothes.... Those who do not [have changes of clothing] manage the best way they can. They may wash their clothes, dry them, and put them on again; they may also borrow from cell mates.... There are only 14 shower baths, exclusive of the receiving ward, for all the men prisoners ... (population on the day of inspection, 546).

“One part of the floor space on the dark side of main cell house of the old jail is screened off for a hospital ward. There are no windows in this hospital. The air comes from the ‘old jail.’ It is lighted always by electric light.... The large airy hospital on the eighth floor of the ‘new jail’ is used only for special cases.”

The Committee has retained as adviser with reference to the jail problem Dr. George W. Kirchwey, of New York, formerly Dean of Columbia University Law School, ex-warden of Sing Sing Prison, and a leading expert in penology. He finds all of the evils above mentioned and many others--especially that prisoners are inevitably degenerated in body and soul by the present conditions; that the Cook County Jail, like most county jails, instead of being a preventive, is a prolific source of crime; and that the county bears a heavy burden of expense in detaining prisoners who might better be at large, as is shown by the fact that in many cases, after several months’ detention in the county jail, the prisoner is released by order of the State’s Attorney, either because he is found to be innocent or for lack of sufficient evidence to convict. He finds also that many prisoners are held because they cannot give bail who might safely be at large pending trial, without damage to the community.

DEAN KIRCHWEY’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Dr. Kirchwey recommends that steps be taken to reduce the jail population: first, by prompt and thorough investigation immediately after arrest, in order to ascertain whether there is sufficient evidence to justify holding the prisoner; second, by so reorganizing the courts as to secure speedy trials and avoid the necessity for long detention; third, by releasing, on their own recognizance without bail, many prisoners who, having families or having regular employment, are not likely to run away.

Dr. Kirchwey regards the present jail site as entirely inadequate. He would prefer to remove the jail to some other part of the city where sufficient ground could be had to provide a suitable yard for outdoor exercise. The present site is only 600 feet square, and it contains both the jail and the Criminal Court Building.

The writer is in the fullest sympathy with the purposes of the Committee and with the principles advocated by Dr. Kirchwey. He agrees with Dr. Kirchwey that women, young prisoners, witnesses, and insane persons should be excluded from the county jail and provided for in separate detention houses. When this is done, however, there will still remain an indefinite number of men, which may be 200, 300, or at times even 500, who must be held in detention awaiting the action of the grand jury or the criminal courts. He believes that suitable provision may be made for these prisoners, in strict accordance with the principles advocated by Dr. Kirchwey, in the manner hereinafter suggested.

EVILS TO BE REMEDIED

The evils in the present Cook County Jail, as pointed out by Dean Kirchwey and his associate, Mr. Winthrop D. Lane, are as follows:

First, insufficient yard space for exercise and separation from the public. The county owns a piece of ground about 600 feet square on which are located the Criminal Court, the old jail, and the “new jail” (built some thirty years ago). To provide a suitable jail yard with room for exercise would require a space at least 1,200 feet square; and even with that space the jail yard must necessarily be dark and be deprived of the free circulation of air because of the proximity of high buildings.

Second, overcrowding, under conditions which make it practically impossible to enlarge the present plant, with the result of confining two or three men in each cell. The jail should be so situated as to permit of enlargement at any time without disturbing its general plan.

Third, lack of classification. It is generally agreed that prisoners ought to be divided into classes according to age, color, criminal experience, condition of health, especially with reference to communicable diseases, and disposition to attempt escape or inflict injury upon officers or other prisoners. Such classification is impossible in a jail of the ancient type which characterizes the present buildings.

Fourth, enforced association with the worst people to be found in the county. The prisoners are released from their cells four hours out of the twenty-four to relieve the bitterness of their confinement under present conditions and to obtain such exercise as they may by moving about in the crowded corridors.

Fifth, lack of employment. The constitutional provision that slavery or involuntary servitude, except for crime, shall not be permitted within the boundaries of the United States is universally construed to mean that unconvicted prisoners cannot be compelled to labor. But such prisoners may be _permitted_ to labor, to their own great benefit; and the jail should be so constructed as to make it possible to provide workshops where prisoners may labor voluntarily at simple employments with proper compensation. An admirable example of the possibility of such employment is found in the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City in the department for insane prisoners who formerly stagnated in the insane wards but who are now diligently, profitably, and happily employed in a variety of simple industries.

Sixth, lack of exercise and recreation. These unconvicted prisoners are not only entitled to humane and decent detention pending trial and conviction, but are entitled to be kept under such conditions as will not impair their health. Physical exercise is indispensable to good bodily health, and we have now come to recognize that wholesome recreation is equally indispensable to mental and spiritual health; and it is very desirable that both physical exercise and recreation shall be provided, as far as practicable, outdoors.

Seventh, lack of clinical and hospital provision. The majority of the inmates of our jails are in need of medical, surgical, dental, or psychiatric treatment. In many cases their unsocial tendencies are due, in greater or less degree, to these conditions. It is necessary to treat those who come in with communicable diseases in order to protect the other prisoners and to protect the public after their discharge. It is necessary also (a necessity which is being recognized increasingly by judges and legislators) to enlist the psychologist and psychiatrist, both for the study and treatment of such prisoners, in order that they may be so dealt with as to conserve the public interests.

WHY NOT A SKYSCRAPER?

While agreeing fully with Dr. Kirchwey that separate and distinct provision entirely apart from the county jail must be made for the younger men, for women, insane prisoners, and witnesses; and that it is desirable to locate the central jail for the older male prisoners on a larger tract of ground in a less congested district: if, however, it should be decided for economic reasons, or for the convenience of proximity to the Criminal Court, that it is necessary to build the new jail and Criminal Court on the present site, the plan set forth in the accompanying illustrations is proposed by the writer as a possible solution of the problem.

It must be borne in mind that the prisoner awaiting trial in the county jail is on a different footing from the convicted prisoner. The law provides that every person shall be deemed innocent until he is proved guilty, and it is universally recognized that the person awaiting trial is entitled to humane treatment. He is entitled to decent living conditions and as little hardship as is consistent with his safe-keeping. The theory of the law is that the prisoner is not to be punished until he is proved to be guilty. It has been the practice in this country to use the county jails as places of confinement for sentenced prisoners convicted of minor offenses, and in most of the county jails these two classes of prisoners mingle freely together. Not only that, but insane prisoners and witnesses, accused of no crime, are often kept in the jails, where they come in contact with other prisoners.

The prevailing type of building in Chicago for offices, for light manufacturing, for residences, is the skyscraper. Its adaptability for public purposes is exemplified in the City Hall and Court House Building. In New York City this type of building is being used successfully in the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 10 stories high, closely resembling an ordinary office building. A roof garden, reached by elevators, provides playgrounds which are used by the pupils in sections at different hours. The possibility is suggested of adapting this plan of building to the Criminal Court and County Jail.

Let the Criminal Court Building be 400 feet square, with interior lighting courts, or in the form of a cross, with a frontage of 200 feet on each of the four sides. Let the Court House contain as many stories as may be needed: four, five, or six, as the case may be.

Let the County Jail start from the roof of the Court House in the form of a cross, of which the arms will be 90 by 40 feet, with a central rotunda on each floor about 60 feet square.