Psychiatric Classification in Prison

THE NEW SING SING PRISON, OSSINING, N. Y.—PSYCHIATRIC BUILDINGLewis F. Pilcher,New York State Architect

THE NEW SING SING PRISON, OSSINING, N. Y.—PSYCHIATRIC BUILDING

Lewis F. Pilcher,New York State Architect

The results of Dr. Glueck’s studies have been published in full in “Mental Hygiene” and elsewhere, and form a valuable foundation for the scientific handling of the mental side of prisoners.

The commission and the state were fortunate in having Mr. Pilcher, the New York State Architect, to translate these ideals into actual construction, and the completion of an important part of the plans, including the Clinic Building, and, most of all, the final assigning of the contract for the erection, insured the carrying out of this interesting and important project.

Mr. Pilcher has thrown himself into the undertaking with singular diligence and intelligence, and has entered thoroughly into the spirit of modern scientific treatment and research.

The newest and most original feature of the prison is the Clinic Building, in which the study and classification of the prisoners is to take place, and in which, as well, the general medical and surgical work of the institution will be carried on. It provides for the complete physical and mental examination of every inmate. It contains the hospital wards, dispensary, operating rooms and laboratories and X-ray plant, and indeed, it corresponds on a small scale to the hospital of any community, but differs from this in that it assumes that the whole population of the community may be abnormal, and therefore requires that every member of it shall at some time pass through the clinic for purposes of study and analysis. For this reason, the psychiatric or mental division of the clinic is relatively more accentuated.

It requires courage to attack such a problem as this, an attack that may carry us into troublesome social fields. It seems to be a fact, however, that no other method gives promise of relieving society of any considerable part of this burden of suffering and cost. We must not expect ever to be entirely rid of this burden, just as we shall never be rid of the burden of physical and mental disease; but just as science has diminished and is still diminishing these latter, so we have reason to believe that similar scientific methods, properly applied, will diminish the burden of anti-social behavior, and help us to approach the irreducible minimum, a minimum which must probably always exist in a human world like ours, but a minimum from which we are at present still very far.

ByLewis F. Pilcher,New York State Architect

(Reprinted by permission from theAmerican Architectof January 28, 1920)

Commercial efficiency is determined by the use of the by-products of manufacture. Prisoners are by-products of society.

The modern enterprise that used to discard as waste the by-products of its plant now aims to reduce its overhead and better its system by returning to the community in usable form that which in past times had been considered as lost and unavailable material. Is it not true that the criminal has been for the most part considered in the past as an irreclaimable waste of society, his progress toward a better life inhibited by being held in the strait-jacket of strictly materialistic institutional management and maintenance? As in the case of manufacturing concerns so in the modern penal system, its success will be determined by the economic use, and measured, not by the development of model prisoners enchained securely behind bastioned walls, but by returning to society decent citizens.

In the past the achievement of positive human results has been seemingly impossible to obtain. The chief reason for this failure was due to the inevitable clash between institutional and political interests that always arose and rendered abortive the many attempts that have been made to treat successfully the complex questions of crime and punishment.

Any betterment procedure must be in the direction of individualization. The modern prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory should embody in their respective organizations the function of scientific study of the individual prisoner—and this should be made the fundamental element of the entire correctional process.

TYPICAL DETAIL OF CONSTRUCTION OF ALL BUILDINGS

OUTSIDE CELL BUILDING—NORTH ELEVATIONThe side elevations show the terracing of the site and the advantages derived from the differences in levels

OUTSIDE CELL BUILDING—NORTH ELEVATION

The side elevations show the terracing of the site and the advantages derived from the differences in levels

OUTSIDE CELL BUILDING—FIRST FLOOR PLAN

The dynamic unit of all human problems is the individual. Modern medical science makes the appraisal of this unit possible through the medium of psychiatric treatment and social service research. An undertaking, however, which is really consciously intent on reclaiming the individual prisoner to the limit of his capacity with a view of preventing future returning to misbehavior, would be hampered in its effect if it were to concern itself solely with the native endowments of the individual prisoner. The source of the prisoner’s particular being, life, is a dynamic process; and every contact the individual makes throughout life not only leaves its impression on him, but shapes his mental attitude toward his environment. Thus, it is obvious that the housing problem, touching as it does every phase of the life of man, is of fundamental importance, for the environment determines, through the influence of the associative imagery of the inmate, a control of his conscious acts and the mechanization of the conscious acts of the prisoner establishes his habits. The manner in which the prisoner has been handled in the past has unquestionably been responsible, if not for the great amount of criminal careers, certainly for the confirming of the individual in his life of crime. The character and kind of prison we have had, in the past, had as its sole aim to achieve mediæval security; a housing condition crude and archaic in conception, which has not helped to relieve and protect society against the spirit of crime, but on the contrary has actually tended to its increase.

Here in New York City the municipality protects the interests of its citizens by the enactment of a structural and sanitary code. Structural safety and physical security and health are provided for all classifications of human activities under the maturely established provisions of that code.

DETENTION BUILDINGTypical floor plan of Detention Building, a basement and four-story outside cell building. This plan shows the arrangement of cells against outside walls, which gives to each inmate direct sunlight and air

DETENTION BUILDING

Typical floor plan of Detention Building, a basement and four-story outside cell building. This plan shows the arrangement of cells against outside walls, which gives to each inmate direct sunlight and air

Scientifically, psychologically and practically important as is the structural side of this great prison problem, I have yet to see any workmanlike attempt to establish for prison planners a code so carefully developed and yet with an elasticity to adapt it to various localities and climates, to the end that the inhumanity of the present day, 1920, toward prisoners would be for all time impossible.

The tremendous security and help that such a code would provide for the development of state prisons and jails and reformatories is at once apparent.

The complete findings of a competent Code Committee would be the average of the experience of all penal housing problems throughout the country and should be determined by a two-group committee, acting under an organization of national scope. In one group should be available the experience and suggestion of the leaders in penal administration, medicinal, psychiatric, industrial, vocational, educational and religious activities. The second group should consist of a small number of architects, engineers or contractual experts—men who have actually planned and structurally executed prison buildings and whose practical experience would enable them sympathetically to translate into constructive form and crystallize the theoretical standards recommended by the sub-committee on strictly scientific phases.

As it is an admitted fact that apperception and interest are the cardinal principles of thought foundation, it may be seen that the chance of improvement in the prisoner will vary in accordance with the thought and action required of him. In order, therefore, that this idea may be efficiently carried out, the prisoner, immediately on commitment to prison, should receive the benefit of an expert clinical examination to determine through his mental and economic possibilities what branch of work he should follow during his term of imprisonment to insure a better existence and a chance to live a decent and productive life after discharge.

The new Sing Sing, therefore, has been planned as a Classification and Distributing Prison, from which the prisoner, after a definite determination has been made of his mental, physical and economic possibilities, will be assigned to that State institution best suited to his individual demands. For example, if it be found that a prisoner is physically unsound, he will be sent to an institution where he can be therapeutically bettered; or, if mentally deficient, to an institution where he can be scientificallytreated, and, if possible, given work that will enable him to direct his minimal capacity so as to exempt him from purely custodial care.

The construction and location of the buildings at Sing Sing mean much more, therefore, than the mere erection of a series of large prison buildings for the detention of those who have violated the laws of the State. It will exist as a twentieth century prison elixir, which will take the recrement of society and so purge and refine it that the result will advance, rather than retard, the onward and upward movement of humanity.

DETENTION BUILDINGSOUTH ELEVATION

DETENTION BUILDING

SOUTH ELEVATION

In order fully to understand the problem of prison registration, let us follow the course taken by the convict upon his arrival at the Sing Sing of the future: Immediately upon entering the prison grounds, the Court Officer conducts him to the arrival room in the basement of the Registration Building. Here he is turned over to the prison authorities, who take and receipt for his personal property and clothes. The civilian clothes are removed for disinfection and storage. He is then led to the baths, situated across the hall from the property room. After being thoroughly bathed, and subjected to a hasty medical inspection, clean prison clothes are provided. Then, contagion from outside sources having been removed, the prisoner is lodged in a classification cell on the first floor, to await his turn for examination in the rooms provided for that purpose on the second floor. When the examiner is ready for him, he is taken upstairs to be photographed, weighed, finger-printed and generally “Bertilloned,” and is then sent across the hall to be given a preliminary examination for the determination of his general physical condition. This over, he is led to the educational examination room, where facts concerning his birth, occupation and general history are recorded, and an examination conducted to determine both the extent of his education and his occupational skill. Following that comes a careful mental examination in which the findings of those just preceding are fully utilized. As a result of these different examinations his first classification is made, subject of course to change from examinations to be conducted later.

Besides containing the general Administration Offices, the Bureau of Registration and the Record Bureau the Registration Building will include a reception room where prisoners may converse with visiting relatives and friends. In the past this problem of a reception room for the visitors to prisoners was a difficult one for prison authorities, as it was practically impossible while allowing prisoners a reasonable amount of freedom for the discussion of private and confidential matters to prevent the transfer of weapons, liquors, drugs and implements of escape. This difficulty, however, we think, has now been successfully solved through the following arrangement: Two parts of a large room are separated by two wire nettings, so placed that they form an enclosed passage six feet in width, where guards can be stationed to prevent any attempt to pass articles to the prisoners without, at the same time, interfering in the carrying on of a conversation.

MESS HALL AND KITCHEN BUILDING—BASEMENTThis Floor Contains a Bakery with Flour and Bread Storage Rooms and with Equipment to Provide Bread for the Entire Institution, Refrigerating Rooms for the Storage of Unprepared Food, a Plant for the Making of Ice, and an Ample Kitchen Store Room.A Mess Hall with Independent Coat Room and Outside Entrance, a Guard’s Toilet, Recreation and Lunch Room are also Provided.

MESS HALL AND KITCHEN BUILDING—BASEMENT

This Floor Contains a Bakery with Flour and Bread Storage Rooms and with Equipment to Provide Bread for the Entire Institution, Refrigerating Rooms for the Storage of Unprepared Food, a Plant for the Making of Ice, and an Ample Kitchen Store Room.

A Mess Hall with Independent Coat Room and Outside Entrance, a Guard’s Toilet, Recreation and Lunch Room are also Provided.

MESS HALL AND KITCHEN BUILDING—FIRST FLOORThis Building Occupies the Central Position of This Group and is Easily Accessible from all Cell Buildings.The Mess Halls are so Designed as to Take Complete Care of the Inmates of One and Two Cell Buildings in Each Hall Respectively.The Inmates of the Detention Building Can Enter Their Mess Hall Directly from the Detention Building by the Enclosed Passage.A Kitchen Economically and Efficiently Equipped Occupies the East Wing of This Building.

MESS HALL AND KITCHEN BUILDING—FIRST FLOOR

This Building Occupies the Central Position of This Group and is Easily Accessible from all Cell Buildings.

The Mess Halls are so Designed as to Take Complete Care of the Inmates of One and Two Cell Buildings in Each Hall Respectively.

The Inmates of the Detention Building Can Enter Their Mess Hall Directly from the Detention Building by the Enclosed Passage.

A Kitchen Economically and Efficiently Equipped Occupies the East Wing of This Building.

Adjacent to the Registration Building, and on the same high plateau overlooking the Hudson, is the Temporary Detention Building, with cell rooms on separate floors, so arranged as to place the prisoners under the constant supervision of the clinical experts, who will conduct their examinations in the adjoining Clinic Building.

The clinical laboratory was developed under a medical commission composed of: Dr. Walter B. James, President of the New York Academy of Medicine; Dr. Charles W. Pilgrim, Chairman, New York State Hospital Commission; Dr. Thomas W. Salmon, Director of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene; Dr. G. H. Kirby, Director of the Psychiatric Institute of the State of New York; Dr. Isham G. Harris, Superintendent of the Brooklyn State Hospital; Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, Alienist, and Dr. W. F. Brewer, Surgeon. Provision has been made on the first floor for a modern X-ray apparatus and its various accessories; three rooms for the physician in charge of the venereal examinations; a surgical laboratory; rooms fitted for the examinations of the eye, ear and throat, psychiatric and psychological examining room, dental operating room and laboratory, and a laboratory for the use of the staff working in the diagnosis and examination rooms.

On the second floor is a quantitative and qualitative laboratory; a museum, a recording room, a library and lecture rooms, and on the third floor are surgical wards, subdivided for major and minor operative cases, together with medical wards, so planned as to have ordinary and chronic medical cases in separate divisions. The hospital is to be freely used for detailed observation as well as for treatment.

The fourth floor contains a complete operating department with two operating rooms, one for major and the other for minor operations, each having separate sterilization facilities, together with preparation, etherizing and recovery rooms, while the remainder of the floor is given up to rooms for the male nurses and a convalescent solarium.

In addition to using the building as a clinical hospital for the housing of psychiatric and medical requirements of the prison, it is also planned to use it as a school for the education of male nurses, as it is found that efficiency in prison nursing is directly proportional to the nurse’s understanding of the relation of scientific, medical and psychiatric knowledge to the peculiar problems of a prison community.

The entire Sing Sing project includes kitchens, dining rooms, library, school, vocational shops, recreation hall, roads, walks, a modern sewage plant, a power house to heat and light the many buildings and to operate the industrial plants, and a church for the development of religious and community ideals.

In addition to the proper placing and co-ordination of the structures and their component parts, and the abolishment of unsanitary conditions in the interiors, by the architectural treatment of buildings and site, a great step forward has been taken in the creating of a proper and fitting atmosphere and environment. The old idea of the ugly, heavy barred and broken walls, which produced the dismal, forsaken, isolated and jail-like appearance of former prisons, has been discarded. In their places will be many-windowed, substantial brick structures, extending from the river to the plateau in the rear of the elevated site, in dignified and well-proportioned stages.

The causes which formerly created in prisoners the feeling of being entombed, useless and hopeless exiles have been done away with. It is our hope that ideals of respectability, industry, efficiency and co-operation will arise from these new prison conditions and make strong, beneficial and lasting impressions on the mind of each prisoner.

It is only by such utilization of the experiences in allied fields and their thoughtful application to prison conditions that progress may be hoped for in solving this important human problem.

ByLewis F. Pilcher,New York State Architect

(Reprinted by permission from theAmerican Architectof January 28, 1920)

The more advanced of the modern penologists are rapidly discarding the old theory that a certain humanity and kindliness should be eliminated from society’s dealings with its less responsible citizens. They are substituting in its place the idea that the majority of criminals are not inherently bad, but, lacking the idealistic principles of good citizenship which result from environment and education, are only wayward.

If we accept this new theory, and make negligible the assumption that most criminals have inherited a tendency toward wrong-doing, it becomes necessary for us to revise many of our ideas concerning the government, discipline and housing of prisoners, and to acquire an impressionable quality of mind susceptible to new theories and experiments which concern the welfare and advancement of our less fortunate fellow men.

With all these things in mind, and with the desire to do our part in ameliorating prison government, the Commission on New Prisons has endeavored, in the building of the Wingdale Prison, to achieve a good architectural result combined with these essential reforms. In order that these aims may be fully understood, I shall attempt to explain both the architectural plan of this new prison and the reasons for selecting a sloping rather than a level topographical site.

If one surveys the history of civilization and investigates the growth and final results of the structural plan of either religious or civil communities, it is at once apparent that the final housing scheme of any given settlement is determined by the topography of the region of its location.

For example, the study of the settlements of antiquity shows that the higher locations were universally chosen as the sites of palaces and temples, and that where the configuration of land did not permit of such natural elevation, mounds or raised crepidomas were constructed, in order that by means of the terraced elevations a distinction might be made between the different degrees of religious prominence.

That the Egyptians who inhabited the level areas of the alluvial Nile appreciated the psychological effect of such terraced elevation is shown by the architectural arrangement of their temples. To emphasize the hieratic mysteries, the worshiper was led from a pyloned gateway into an atrium with a pavement slightly graded above the level of the dromos. This atrium, open as it was to the effects of the brilliant Egyptian atmosphere, offered a subtle psychic preparation for that elation of soul which stimulated the novitiate when, after ascending the steps on the far side of the atrium, he entered the sombre shadow of the hypostyle hall. This elation increased in many cases to a religious ecstasy when the novitiate ascended into the upper region where the esoteric mysteries were performed.

A simpler expression of this religious constructive arrangement may be seen in the Temple of Kohn. Here the priestcraft developed a form of temple construction which crystallized all the associative imagery of man and reflected in its different stages of elevation of the various sections the relevant distinctions of class and the progress of humanity toward its idealistic goal.

Thus in the low grade level of the atrium the light, the air, and freedom of movement suggested that lack of function and freedom from formal life which exists among the multitudes; the conscious effort of ascent in walking from the atrium to the hypostyle hall suggested the difficulties of rising from a lower to a higher social order, while the further ascent to the small, calm and dimly illuminated holy-of-holies symbolized the fact that only through struggle, loneliness and pain may a devout one hope to attain the quiet and sublime dwelling place of the gods.

When the Greeks rose to intellectual and artistic position they evolved the Greek form of temple, which was simply an Hellenic translation, through the medium of the Mosaic temple, of the Egyptian hieratic imagery. Perhaps the most typical of these temples is the great marble Parthenon (438 B. C.) which was reared upon a three-stepped crepidoma, a worthy stylobate support, a marvelous peristyle, reminiscent of the open air atrium of its Egyptian prototype. Further on, and beyond the peripteros, and at a higher level, the pronaos led through a great door into the shrine chamber of Athena. Thus did the architects, Ictinus and Callicrates, express in much the same manner as the Egyptians the essence of crystallized human experience.

GENERAL VIEW, WINGDALE PRISON, WINGDALE, N. Y.Lewis F. Pilcher, New York State Architect

GENERAL VIEW, WINGDALE PRISON, WINGDALE, N. Y.

Lewis F. Pilcher, New York State Architect

In the flat country of Mesopotamia the architects built lofty zekkurats in order to provide high substructures for the crowning cella or shrine, and these lofty, temple-capped pyramids had a materialistic as well as a spiritual value in that they helped to form in the minds of the people an ideal as to the position in the community of both temporal and spiritual power.

To the north, at Khorsabad, a city of Assyria, the rulers constructed, as part of the great wall, an enormous plateau. This artificial mound, towering as it did some sixty feet above the level of the city, was used as a place of residence for the king and his court, while back of it, and so high that it bathed the plateau with its shadows, was constructed the many-stepped, cella-crowned temple of the priests. Thus religion looked down upon royalty and royalty, in turn, on its walled city with its level streets and multitudinous inhabitants, and thus in this segregated and self-sufficient community a natural and unwitting psychological arrangement of class housing was worked out by these early architects.

This same community phenomenon which we have noted in the Orient existed at the same time at Mycenae, Thyrns, Argos, Attica and Rome,—the heights being always occupied by the rulers, the foot-hills by the nobles and the adjacent plains by the people.

By these few examples taken from the religious and civil architecture of early civilization I have endeavored to show that class distinction tends to express itself through the use of different housing levels, the height of each group being directly proportional to the power of its social division, thus giving a concrete expression to the theoretical grades by which the human mind differentiates the social status of the people who comprise any given group.

If we apply this rather pragmatic psychology to the problem of planning a new prison, we find it obvious at the outset that a prison population forms, together with its dependencies, a complete segregated community and therefore presents few phases which have not been successfully solved in the various treatments of community houses in past eras. Bearing in mind both this and the psychological principles which determine the function of any segregated community, it becomes perfectly clear that the old system of plotting an entire prison plan on an absolutely level piece of ground does not agree with either the teachings of history or the psychological principles which determine the site of community housing, and it thus becomes manifest that if we are to plan a prison which will be both a protection and a benefit to society we must select our site and construct our plans with the idea of having different grades of elevation for different degrees of social eminence.

If, remembering this, we summon practical experience to our aid we find that a prison population divides itself naturally into three major divisions, two of which are composed of actual inmates and a third of those in authority over them. The first and largest of these groups is made up of sub-normals and general recalcitrants who of necessity must work, eat, and sleep under constant and direct supervision. These will be confined in strong, well-guarded buildings situated within a walled enclosure and the work which they do will be such as can be efficiently done within the comparatively small space to which they are restricted.

The second group, composed of prisoners who have shown themselves worthy of trust, will be allowed privileges which are denied the first. A concrete expression of these privileges will consist of lodging them in buildings situated on a higher level and with no enclosing walls, thus allowing them to carry on dairying, farming, stone crushing and similar industries.

As the working out of our community idea demands that the governing class occupy a higher site than those they govern, we have planned an adjacent but higher elevation for the offices, dwellings and other buildings necessary for the proper maintenance of a model prison.

In our plan for the new Wingdale Prison we have attempted to express a prison which will meet the scientific and historic precedents which we have at our command, and we fully believe that our plan will exert as beneficial an influence on our prisoners as did the noble monuments on the Acropolis at Athens on the humble people who constructed their mud-brick houses at its base.

ByHastings H. Hart, LL.D.

Alabama was the last of the Southern States to retain the convict lease system. The system has been very profitable, having produced for several years past more than $1,000,000 per year of net revenue.

The last legislature decreed the abandonment of the convict lease system in January, 1924, and in preparation for this change the State has undertaken the construction of the most elaborate prison in the south, with the possible exception of the United States Prison in Atlanta.

Under the laws of the State the prison managers have authority to expend the revenues from convict labor for land and improvements. Acting under this authority, Gov. Thomas E. Kilby; Hon. C. B. Rogers, President of the State Board of Control; and Dr. William F. Feagin, Warden General of the penitentiary system, have united in the effort to perfect a model southern prison.

The general plan of this prison was suggested by the Minnesota State Prison, with the important change, however, of adopting the outside cell system instead of the interior cage system. The adoption of the outside cell plan of construction increases the opportunity for escapes; therefore the prison wall surrounds the entire prison. None of the buildings except the office building is on the outer wall.

Following the example of the United States Government prison at Atlanta, the cells above the first tier are constructed to accommodate five prisoners each. The lower cells for one man each are of generous capacity, 7 feet wide, 10 feet long, and 8½ feet high, with an outside window for every cell, and elaborate ventilation system.

Alabama has about 3,000 prisoners. The new prison is designed to accommodate 800 men, with plans for enlargement to double that capacity. The remainder of the State convicts will probably be kept, as heretofore, in prison camps and employed on State farms. It is probable that the prison at Speigner, with the State cotton mill, will be continued, at least for the present.

FRONT ELEVATION

The employment of prisoners in the cotton-mill industry has been successfully tested at Speigner, and it is purposed to establish a new cotton mill at Kilby Prison which will employ the greater part ofthe prisoners. It is proposed to manufacture cotton cloth suitable for shirting and to establish a shirt factory where the cloth will be manufactured into shirts for the market. The manufacturing will be on State account, the shirts to be sold at a contract price agreed upon in advance under certain standards of quality.

A large farm is attached to the prison where a model dairy has already been constructed with a herd of 90 Guernsey cows and an extensive piggery.

It is expected that this new departure will bring Alabama from the rear of the procession in prison administration to the front rank.

ByMartin J. Lide,Engineer and Architect

Kilby Prison is designed essentially as an industrial prison. There are about 3,000 State convicts in Alabama. The labor of the majority of these heretofore has been leased out, principally to mining and lumber corporations. The State is poor in revenue and backward in education. It is, therefore, essential that these convicts be put to productive work in order that they may be at least self-sustaining. By act of the Legislature the leasing of convicts must cease after January, 1924. In order to receive these convicts from the mines and lumber camps and to place them into productive work this prison is being constructed.

As will be noted from the ground plan, the prison, exclusive of the administration building, is contained within a surrounding walled enclosure. The wall is about 20 feet high, 12 inches thick at the top, and 20 inches thick at the bottom, and sits on a concrete mat 6 feet wide. At the four corners of the wall are concrete guard towers, and on one side there is a lock gate 120 feet long, equipped with steel doors suspended with rollers. The walls are 1,000 feet long at the front and are 1,200 feet long on the sides. The wall is constructed in sections 30 feet long. Expansion is taken care of by the construction joints. During cool weather these joints were painted with tar, the thickness of the coating depending on the temperature at the time of the pouring. The concrete aggregate was mixed in the proportion of 1: 2: 4 parts of cement, sand, and gravel, the sand and gravel being mined on the property by the State. At the top of the wall four strands of barbed wire are mounted, alternate strands being charged to a potential of 6,600 volts, and the other strands being grounded. The connections to these strands are such that in case the charged wire is either cut or short circuited, an electric siren will blow.

It will be noted from the ground plan that the administration building is in front of the prison on the outside of the walls. Thus all free office employees work outside the prison. The administration building is a one-story building of brick and concrete. Connecting the Administration Building with the cell house is a corridor flanked on either side by rooms whose purposes are set forth in the ground plan drawing.

The main cell house is a monolithic concrete structure veneered with brick and with cement tile roof laid on steel purlins. All cells and walkways are of concrete. The cell house contains five tiers of cells, the first tier being composed of single man cells and the remaining four tiers of five or six man cells. The single man cells are 7 feet wide, 8½ feet high, and 10 feet deep, and the multiple man cells are of the same height and depth, but are 22 feet wide. The rows of cells are separated by a 15-foot corridor with an open well in the center and with 3 feet 6 inches walkways in front. Every cell has one or more windows which are screened, barred with tool-proof steel guards, and equipped with counterbalanced steel sash. The cell building is so constructed that the multiple man cells may be converted into single man cells at any time in the future. Toilets and lavatories are provided for each cell. Forty-eight-inch roof ventilators are mounted on the cell house at 15-foot intervals. These ventilators also have fans mounted in them, the fans being driven by a common line shaft from a motor in the attic. By means of these fans it will be possible to completely ventilate the cell house at intervals, the air being drawn in from the windows and discharged from the roof.

As will be noted from the plans, large day-rooms or school-rooms separate the two wings of the cell house. These rooms are located on the second and third floors. These rooms will be used for religious purposes, as school-rooms, and for rest-rooms during rainy Sundays and holidays. In the rear of the cell house is a corridor flanked on either side by rooms whose purposes are explained on the ground plan. The corridor connects with a concrete and steel building in the rear, one wing of which will be used as a detention cell house and punitive cell house and the other wing as a utility house.

KILBY PRISON, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA—GENERAL PLAN

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING—FLOOR PLAN

The detention cell house is two tiers high and contains 60 single man cells, each 6 by 10 feet, and 8½ feet high. These cells are otherwise similar to the single man cells in the main cell house. As may be inferred from the designation, the detention cell house will be used as a clearing-house for all new State convicts. All new convicts will be sent here for a quarantine period of ten days to two weeks. During this period the new convict will be given a careful mental, moral, and physical examination, and his past history will also be investigated. Obviously, the purpose will be to protect the prison body from the infectious diseases brought in by new convicts, to correct physical defects in the new prisoner, to make the necessary identification records, and to study the mental and physical characteristics of the prisoner, in addition to his past history, in order that he may be properly classified. By this means the mental and physical degenerates, confirmed criminals, and diseased criminals may be isolated from their fellows by placing them in the single man cells. It will also be possible, by proper classification, to segregate convicts of the same social and moral strata into the same multiple man cells.

At the outer end of the detention cell building is the punitive cell building, containing 24 concrete cells supplied with mechanical ventilation. Twelve of these cells will face the windows and will thus be solitary light cells, while the remaining 12 cells will face the dark corridor and will thus be solitary dark cells. In future, confinement and other methods of punishment will supersede corporal punishment in Alabama prisons.

On the opposite wing from the detention cell house is a utility building which is a brick and steel building containing clothing storage rooms, laundry, shower-bath, clothing and shoe repair room, and locker room for the clothes.

A concrete and brick corridor, 10 feet wide, connects the detention cell house with the kitchen and mess hall in the rear. Space is provided between these two buildings for the future construction of another cell house which will double the cell facilities.

The mess hall and kitchen consists of an open brick and steel building, with brick walls, steel trusses, cement tile roof, no ceiling, and with concrete floor. The building is approximately 65 feet wide and 225 feet long. Forty-eight-inch ventilators are mounted between each pair of trusses. Steel factory sash with large ventilators are used throughout. All windows are barred and screened. The mess hall will also be used temporarily as an auditorium for speakers and picture shows. On the opposite wing from the mess hall is the kitchen, which will be equipped with steam cooking equipment. In the rear of the kitchen is the cold storage plant, consisting of vegetable, meat and ice storage rooms, and a complete refrigerating plant. In the rear of the mess hall is a covered concrete walk connecting same with the power plant. This walk is of permanent construction, with cement tile roof. The essential purpose of the shed covering the walk is to protect prisoners from the rain in going to and from the factories in the rear of the prison yard.

The power plant is located at the end of the covered walk. It consists of a brick and steel building with cement tile roof and concrete floors. The boiler plant consists of three 200 H.P. boilers connected to a radial brick stack 6 feet 6 inches in diameter by 150 feet high. In front of the boilers is a concrete bin underneath the railroad tracks, which are on the yard grade. The power plant contains a 100 K.W. emergency lighting generator, switchboard, vacuum pumps, feed water pumps, heater, and piping. All buildings are supplied from the power plant with vacuum steam heat, hot water, and electricity through a system of tunnels which connect the power plant with all buildings. Hot water is also supplied to the several buildings from a large heater located in the laundry room.

To the left of the prison proper is located the hospital, as indicated on the ground plan. This building is of brick and concrete, with cement tile roof. In general, as indicated, the hospital consists of a central administrative and operative portion, connected to wings at either end by means of corridors which are also flanked by rooms. Racial segregation will take place by placing white and colored patients at opposite ends of the hospital. At each end of the hospital are provided surgical and medical wards, each connecting into a sun-room.

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.

CELL BLOCKS—FLOOR PLAN

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.

LAUNDRY, BATH, AND DETENTION BUILDING—FLOOR PLANS

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.

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 bemore 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.

ByHastings H. Hart, LL.D.

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