Part 4

By the construction of an additional cell house in the space indicated by the dotted lines on the ground plan, and by the construction of an additional kitchen and mess hall between the present mess hall and the power house, the population of the prison may be doubled. The present prison is designed to accommodate 800 prisoners on a basis of five men to the large cells. By putting six men in the cells, however, the present population may be increased to something over 900. By constructing an additional mess hall and kitchen, racial segregation may be more completely effected.

The present capacity of the hospital is 32 patients, but this capacity may be increased by extending the surgical and medical wards.

At the rear of the prison a cotton mill and a shirt factory are being constructed to consume the labor of the present prison population.

ECONOMY

The dominant consideration in the construction of the present prison has been the question of the maximum possible economy in first cost consistent with permanency and the security and welfare of the prisoners. All buildings are practically fireproof, but are no larger than are absolutely essential, and as far as possible all non-essential features have been eliminated. All essential utilities, such as a complete telephone system, alarm signal system, steam heat, an adequate lighting system for both the interior and the exterior of the prison, hot and cold water, etc., have been provided.

OUTSIDE CELLS

Economy in first cost was the guiding consideration in the construction of the cell houses, although a monolithic concrete structure with brick veneered exterior walls is by no means a cheap construction. But it is a permanent and safe construction. Economy in the construction of the cell house was secured through its compactness.

The outside type of cell house can be made practically secure for all classes of prisoners when surrounded by an outside wall of adequate height, with its top guarded by high tension charged wires, provided the windows to the cell houses are barred with steel-proof window guards and the prisoners are reasonably well guarded.

The relative hygienic and physiologic advantages of the outside and inside cell construction I will not discuss here except to say that we considered the outside cell construction manifestly superior in both of these respects. While we consider these features very important in a permanent prison, the question of economy in initial cost was also important in that the outside cell type of prison is a considerably narrower prison for the same cell capacity, and, furthermore, since continuous mechanical ventilation is not essential with the outside cell type, it can be more densely occupied, which further promotes economy in construction.

In designing the outside cell type of prison the problem is one of providing a certain definite external wall area for the sides of the prison, since for given dimensions of cells and a specified number of these cells a definite external wall area is required. The problem of maximum economy in construction then resolves itself into a question of providing the maximum of wall area with the minimum of floor area. Two general forms of outside cell buildings have been proposed: one, the narrow rectangular type adopted at the Kilby prison, and the other the cylindric type. It is demonstrated in geometry that of all figures a circle has a maximum of area for a given length of periphery, while a very narrow rectangle or quadrilateral has a minimum of area for a given periphery. It is, therefore, obvious that for a given external wall area, or a given cell capacity, the narrow rectangular type is more economical in first cost, since it reduces the ceiling and floor area to a minimum.

Economy in construction was also promoted by constructing our cell house five tiers high instead of four tiers, as is more usual.

Finally, additional economy was secured by the use of the multiple man cell. Our multiple man cells accommodate six prisoners, while three single man cells of the same cubic contents containing two partitions, two extra prison doors and locks, two extra lavatories, two extra water-closets, two extra radiators, with all of the necessary connections to these utilities, will only accommodate half as many prisoners. It will, therefore, cost more than twice as much in cell-house construction to incarcerate a given number of prisoners in the single man cells than in the six man cells.

It will, therefore, be noted that we have secured economy in cell-house construction (which is the most expensive item of prison construction) by increasing the density of occupancy in the cell houses. But this density of occupancy carries with it responsibilities in the matter of providing adequate ventilation for the inmates. Recognizing this responsibility, we have designed our cell house to secure the very maximum of natural ventilation. This is secured, first of all, by a very large proportion of window area to wall area; by ventilating the windows top and bottom; by constructing the cell house with a cross-section shaped like a chimney, with a large number of large ventilators on top of an open pitched roof, so as to secure the very maximum of chimney effect and also the very maximum effect from breezes.

Finally, to insure an adequate supply of ventilation in the summer, when there may be neither wind nor temperature difference, we have mounted disc fans in each ventilator, driven by ball-bearing shafting from a push-button-controlled motor. By this means the cell attendants, by pushing a button, will be enabled to flood the cell house with fresh air at any time the air becomes foul, and since the attendants will be on the inside of the prison, where the air will be most foul, they will probably make use of their opportunities.

Apart from humanitarian considerations, which in a large measure should dominate the designer of a prison, there is also the economic question of securing the maximum mental and physical output from the prisoner while at work. In an industrial prison a man can do more and better work if he sleeps and rests sufficiently. If the cotton mills are to be operated double shift during summer months with a large portion of the population sleeping during hot summer days, it is doubly important that the prisoners be confined in well-ventilated and sanitary quarters. This fact we have borne in mind in the design of the cell houses at Kilby Prison.

Prison Farms for Women

_By_ HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D.

Several States are developing prison farms for women on the cottage plan. We present herewith plans of two cottages recently constructed at the Connecticut State Farm for Women at Niantic and the New Jersey Reformatory for Women at Clinton.

State Farm for Women at Niantic, Connecticut--Reception Building

State reformatory institutions for women are rapidly being developed in the United States. The first two institutions of this class, the Indiana State Reformatory for Women at Indianapolis and the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Framingham, were prison structures, less rigid and formal than typical prisons for men, but still following prison models.

In the meantime the cottage system for younger girls grew up, and it was soon found that delinquent girls could be safely kept in ordinary cottages without any surrounding wall and without prison construction.

When the New York State Reformatory for Women was built at Bedford, cottages were erected instead of a large congregate building, and the gates of the institution stood open day and night. While occasionally escapes took place, the number was not large, and the fugitives were usually speedily recaptured.

All the new institutions for delinquent women are on the cottage plan, and in most cases the cottages are of simple construction, without window gratings, strong bars, walls, or even fences. In some cottages an iron grill protects the lower sash; sometimes this grill is masked by window plants.

The Connecticut State Farm for Women receives women committed for misdemeanors from all parts of Connecticut. There are only eight women convicted of felonies in the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield, but a considerable number of women are still committed to the county jails throughout the State. All the women at Niantic are committed for criminal offenses.

Three old farmhouses have been refitted to serve as cottages, and one new Reception Building has been erected to accommodate 27 incoming women. This is a wooden building, similar in construction to a well-built farmhouse. On the first floor are a kitchen, a dining-room, a living-room, and a reception department for incoming prisoners, with hospital wards, isolation wards, and accommodations for officers.

The dining-room and living-room are practically one room, so that the dining-room with its tables is available as an evening sitting-room and living-room.

On the second floor are single rooms for inmates, with accommodations for the matron and her assistant. The rooms are about 7 by 10 feet. They are simply but neatly furnished. Notwithstanding the fact that this cottage is designed for the incoming prisoners who are most likely to run away, the doors of this house are unlocked throughout the day.

The farm contains about 500 acres. Three old farmhouses, having been repaired and supplied with plumbing, furnish houseroom for three groups of women, each under charge of a matron. No one of these buildings is in any sense “secure”; but escapes are infrequent, and escaping prisoners are usually recaptured.

The only secure place on the farm consists of three small “thinking rooms” located in the basement of the receiving cottage. These rooms have strong doors and barred windows. Their construction is not satisfactory, but they will be replaced by more suitable detention rooms when additional buildings are erected.

The present buildings are inconvenient and ill adapted to the care and supervision of the women. When permanent buildings are erected, the work of the officers will be greatly simplified; but the probability is that the new buildings will be of simple construction, similar to that of the buildings that have already been erected.

The small number of escapes from the Connecticut State Farm for Women and Clinton Farms in New Jersey appears to be due to the establishment of a certain morale among the women. This morale rests partly on the fine spirit of the superintendents and their staffs, partly upon the certainty of recapture, and partly upon the spirit of the inmates. Running away is contrary to the practice of the place. “It isn’t done.”

Newcomers have to be carefully watched for the first few days until they overcome homesickness and become won to the place. After that they are less likely to attempt to abscond.

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

We present herewith the plan of the maternity cottage of the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women. This cottage is designed for the reception, care, and treatment of young mothers and babies. The building is 102 feet long and 40 feet wide, with a rear extension 24 by 28, containing the kitchen on the first floor and bedrooms for inmates on the second floor. The whole aspect of the house is cheerful and there is no appearance of a prison about the place.

The building contains 20 sleeping rooms for inmates, with a sleeping porch having room for ten additional inmates, and having a separate dressing-room for each person. There is a nursery for 12 or 14 infants, with a large sleeping porch.

The building is so arranged on both floors as to minimize the amount of waste space. There is a corridor on each floor which is only 60 feet long and 6 feet wide. This corridor terminates at each end in a large room so as to avoid unnecessary corridor space. The rooms for the inmates are about 6½ by 10 feet. Each room has a good outside window.

In this cottage kitchen space adequate for preparing of mothers’ and infants’ food is provided. A diet kitchen adjoining the larger kitchen assists in the preparation of the infants’ food. A dumbwaiter shaft extends from this diet kitchen to the second floor, where a small diet kitchen for food service and storage of milk formulas is provided. In this diet kitchen is a refrigerator especially adapted to the needs. This refrigerator is six feet high and six feet wide, porcelain lined, with shelving specially planned to hold wire baskets containing the regular eight ounce nursing bottle. No other foods except the milk formulas are kept in this refrigerator.

Room is provided in the basement for milk pasteurizer with 144 bottle capacity. This is connected with high pressure steam.

Adjoining the nursery is a specially equipped infants’ bath-room. A small bath-tub and two bath-slabs provide ample bathing facilities for both small infants and those of larger size. Tiled floors and hard finished walls make this a most sanitary arrangement.

This building is constructed entirely of hollow tile and stucco corridors of cement, and rear stair and front stair fireproof towers of metal, and fire glass construction with cement stairways. The room floors and nursery floor, living room floor, and dining room are of hardwood construction, but you will note that all exits and main corridors are fireproof.

General plan of using gray slate roof on our institution buildings has been adopted. Dormer windows in the roof give ample storage space in the attic for clothing and other stock. The laundry is situated in the basement, and here the mothers are taught properly to care for their infants’ clothing.

The other cottages are similar to those which are built for younger delinquent girls in State industrial schools, without prison construction, strong doors, or window-bars, except that in some cottages the lower window-sash is protected by an iron grill which obstructs but does not prevent egress. Some of the cottages are old farmhouses which have been repaired and equipped with plumbing in order to adapt them to their present use.

It must be borne in mind that all the women in this institution are committed for criminal offenses, including many petty offenses and sex offenses. They include also such crimes as grand larceny, burglary, assault with intent to kill, atrocious assault and battery, highway robbery, and manslaughter.

There are no walls or high fences surrounding the buildings.

Notwithstanding the absence of prison walls and prison buildings, the number of escapes is very small and escaping prisoners are usually recovered within a few hours.

The institution was opened January 8, 1912, and it has received 584 women. Of these, 33 have escaped, of whom 25 have been recaptured and 8 still remain at large. This makes a record of only one and one-third per cent of successful escapes, which in view of the absence of prison restraints is a remarkable record. It certainly justifies the policy of the Board of Managers in adopting the cottage plan and discarding prison walls.

Proposed Plans for a State Prison

In 1915 Mr. Alfred Hopkins, architect of the Westchester County Penitentiary, drew tentative plans of a large state prison for the New York Prison Association. These plans were drawn in consultation with the late Dr. Orlando F. Lewis, Secretary of the Association. Mr. Hopkins describes the plans as follows:

It was proposed to house 1500 inmates, all told. These were divided into four general classifications: the main or institutional group was to contain 800 inmates, a disciplinary group was to house 150 inmates, a defective or abnormal group was to contain 150 inmates, and the honor group in cottages was to house 400. By looking at the accompanying plan it will be seen that the institutional group is composed of eight cell blocks of 100 men each, four cell blocks disposed on either side of the main court and all joined by a connecting corridor, establishing two general classifications which are consistently maintained throughout every function of the institution.

The cell blocks are three stories high, each floor separated and segregated from the other floors, which makes 24 classifications--all that will ever be required. There are two bath-houses, one for each group of four-cell blocks.

The administration building is placed at one end of the court and the mess hall at the other. The mess hall is arranged with entrances at each end so that the two general classifications can be kept separate in the dining room as well as in the school-rooms on the floor above. On the third floor is the large auditorium. This has been set back at the ends so as to let into the main court the maximum amount of air and sunshine.

To the right of the institution are the cell blocks and shops for the hardened offenders who will be confined here and will not leave their quarters. On the corresponding side to the left is the hospital and the quarters for the abnormal and defectives. The power house, over which is a gymnasium, is located behind the institution. The shops have been placed so that they form a large enclosure, giving two athletic fields with the gymnasium between and used jointly for both, so that the two general classifications of the institution group each have their special fields for exercise. In front of the institutions is the cottage group, whose inmates will work largely in the fields. The cottages are all in smaller units where the men may be housed in dormitories or in single rooms.

Proposed Plan for a Reformatory

ALFRED HOPKINS, _Architect_

This tentative plan was developed by Mr. Alfred Hopkins, Architect, along lines suggested by Superintendent Frank Moore, of the New Jersey State Reformatory at Rahway. It provides for three general classifications: An Administration and Custodial Group, an Agricultural Group and an Industrial Group; the various departments of the institution being connected by a covered passageway. Mr. Hopkins remarks: “While this plan is only in the nature of a preliminary sketch, it is interesting in showing that a practical prison man is quite willing to get away from the old idea of supervision which established the radiating plan and the long type of cell block.”

Westchester County Penitentiary and Workhouse, White Plains, N. Y.

_By_ ALFRED HOPKINS, _Architect_

(First published in February, 1918)

The Westchester County Penitentiary is a simple form of the type of a plan whose various parts are brought together by the use of the connecting corridor to provide indoor circulation throughout the group. This system of design is well known in connection with other types of building, but seems to be new to prison architecture. Indeed, such an arrangement would have only been tolerated in the present attitude toward the offender. Modern penology demands, first of all, adequate possibilities for segregation and classification. These are of vital importance in the administration of the modern penal institution, and cannot be properly had in the huge cell block. To achieve this classification and segregation, the connecting corridor offers the greatest possibilities.

THE GENERAL PROBLEM

The general problem was as follows:

Westchester County had purchased at East View, at a very reasonable price, a fine estate of some four hundred acres of exceptionally tillable land. On this property it was proposed to build a Poor House for about 700 and a penitentiary and workhouse for about 350, all short-term prisoners, the maximum sentence being thirteen months. Most of the men were to be employed on the farm, but in an institution of this size there are always men who will do better in shops so that the two kinds of work ought to be available. The plan was to build the institution by contract and the shops by prison labor.

The general scheme is set forth clearly in the plan, and it may be said that at the very beginning it was determined the men should be housed in smaller units than was usual. There are four cell blocks of three tiers each, all with outside cells, there being 27 men on a floor and 81 to a cell block. The connecting corridor 16 feet wide runs approximately east and west, and to this are joined the four cell blocks on the south, and on the north the reception building, the refectory, and school building. Between the two central cell blocks is placed the administration building, connected to them by an open passage.

The administration building has on the ground floor the warden’s office on one side of the hall, and the clerical office on the other, and in the rear, a long corridor which has been called the “guards’ corridor” but which will be used largely for the intercourse between the prisoners and the public. On the second floor of the administration building are quarters for a hospital and some rooms for the officers. It will be noted that the officers’ rooms on the second floor and the guards’ rooms on the third floor are accessible from the public space, but the hospital is accessible only from the prison side. In other words, the hospital is in the fortified portion and the guards’ quarters in the unfortified. The main stairway goes up to the third floor of the administration building, devoted entirely to guards’ rooms, and these were made large enough so that two guards could occupy one room, and while this is not generally advisable it was a wise forethought because some of the rooms have already been used in this way.

HOSPITAL AND RECEPTION BUILDING

The hospital quarters are small, because in the prison with the individual room a man who is sick is better off in his cell than he would be in a general hospital ward, and the men very frequently prefer to stay by themselves.

The prisoners brought to the institution enter the bath and reception building at the rear, where the process of their reception is as follows:

They enter to the left, where they undress and bathe. Their clothes are tied up in a bag, temporarily placed in a metal-lined closet, which can be fumigated, and later taken to the general county farm laundry and sterilized. After the prisoner has had his bath he goes into the doctor’s office, where he is given a careful physical examination, and here also are made the finger-print and other records of identification which are very desirable from many points of view.