Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/20

 12 PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLIXE school is held once a week ; in others two to five evenings a week. The regulations concerning correspondence and visits to prisoners vary greatly in different prisons. In some the fre- quency of both is optional with the warden ; in others the convict is allowed a letter and a visit only once in three months. Little has been done in the United States toward estab- lishing special prisons for women. The best institution of this class was opened in Indian- apolis in 1873; it is a state institution, and has penal and reformatory departments. New York has a prison for females at Sing Sing, under the same administration with the male prison, and the legislature of Massachusetts has authorized the construction of a reforma- tory prison for women. The state prisons of the United States, with the number of cells and average number of prisoners in 1873, as reported by the national prison association, were as follows : STATE. Whin rffcuud. N W Will. ATMM. ,, ' prfcoOT In Ign. Alabama 210 200 Arkansas Little Rock ... 200 California. 438 915 Connecticut. . . Weathersfleld . j ISO Florida. Cbattahoocbee. ! 48 Georgia MilU-direviUe. 478 Illinois 3 . 1,000 1,438 Indiana, north " south Michigan City. . . rrtnuii-ai ft ttt MB ., u women's. . . rntm M fe 90 j.' Iowa Fort Madison . . 813 270 Kansas 844 831 Kentucky Frankfort 7 Massachusetts Charieatown 5 843 4."-' Rhode Island Providence. .... S3 74 South Carolina Tenneae Texaj Columbia. Nashville Hunts vflle 850 M 2:>0 744 1,150 Vermont. Windsor 104 Virginia. 78 T3i West Vinrtnia. MoundsviOe i 98 Wisconsin Wapun 590 130 Total 1 i/.'N 1-.4-J There is a class of prisons in the United States, generally called houses of correction, work- houses, and sometimes penitentiaries, which hold a middle place between the municipal or county jail and the state prison, and are in- tended for the treatment of those convicted t Recently constructed. of lighter offences, though felons are some- times confined in them. These institutions form an important link in any true prison system, and from them have sprung many of the practical reforms of prison administration wrought in America. They are preventive of crime by their wise and thorough treatment of misdemeants who are as a rule developing into felons. They are commonly managed and maintained by the county or city, but sonu- re- ceive state convicts. Most of them have sys- tems of discipline, labor, instruction, &c., simi- lar and sometimes superior to those of higher prisons. Institutions of this kind are main- tained in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Nv York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wiscon- sin, Kentucky, Missouri, California, and per- haps some other states. New York has six under the title of penitentiaries. The most noted and best managed of these institutions are the Albany and the Monroe county peni- tentiaries in New York, the former brought to its high degree of excellence by Amos Pils- bury ; the Detroit (Mich.) house of correction, organized and conducted during the first ten years of its existence by Z. R. Brockway ; and the Allegheny county (Pa.) workhouse at Clare- mont, under the superintendence of Henry Cordier. In each of these there is an excess of earnings from the labor of the prisoners over the expenses of the institution ; and each has excellent schools. The house of correction in Boston, Mass., is sometimes self-sustaining. Another prison of this class, called the .-t:.te house of correction, is in process of construc- tion (1875) at Ionia, Mich. ; also one at El- mira, called the New York state reformatory. The Albany penitentiary is one of the principal places of confinement for United States prison- ers. For institutions for the treatment of ju- venile offenders, see REFORMATORIES. The sys- tem of penal treatment in England in many re- spects is similar to that of Ireland. The inter- mediate or probationary stage, which forms so important a feature in the Irish system, is not found in the English, except in the treatment of female convicts. All convicts sentenced to penal servitude are required to pass through three principal stages. The first is passed at Pentonville, and continues for nine months, during .which the prisoner spends his entire time, excepting that devoted to prayer and exercise, alone in his cell, working at some industrial or remunerative employment. The treatment here, especially the diet, is stern- ly penal ; but the convicts have the use of books, and, besides receiving religions instruc- tion, are taught reading, writing, &c. From here the prisoner is removed to one of the other convict prisons, where he works in as- sociation, but spends the rest of his time in a separate cell. The prisoners are chiefly em- ployed on public works, farming, clearing and reclaiming land, &c. ; but in some of the pris- ons boot making, tailoring, and other indoor employments are carried on. The convicts
 * west'n
 * Large dormitory.