TABLE VII. Gives a circumstantial view of the state of the penitentiary and prison, on the 19th July, 1816, specifying the number of convicts then confined, from each county; the several employment; and the number of untried persons at that employments at which they were placed, the number at each period. STATE OF THE PENITENTIARY, Convicts, whose term of service is one year and upwards. Negroes and mulattoes, 176 3 Males, 63 Females, Additional from the city and county of Philadelphia being those whose time of service does not amount to one year.. Untried prisoners aud vagrants... And amount brought forward.. Total. 25 283 407 715 No. IV. A View of the New-York State Prison. By a Member of the Institution. SECTION I. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS, WALLS, AREA, &c. THE Prison is situated on the east bank of the Hudson river, at the distance of about one mile and an half from the Cityhall. The buildings and courts comprise four acres of ground. A more pleasant, airy, and salubrious spot could not have been selected in the vicinity of New-York. The west front overlooks the river, into which a spacious and convenient wharf has been extended beyond the prison wall. The upper apartments command an extensive view of the city, harbour, the adjacent islands, and the surrounding country. The principal front is on Washington-street, and the center is projected and surmounted by a pediment: a correspondent projection and pediment adorn the west front. The whole length of the front is 204 feet, from each end of which projects a wing, extending towards the river; and from these wings spring two other wings in the same direction, but of less extent. The edifice consists of a basement, and two principal stories of fifteen feet each. The roof is covered with slate, and the pediment or center is crowned with a handsome cupola, in which is a bell to sound the alarm when any disturbance or accident takes place. The walls are composed of free-stone, and the windows are grated with iron inlaid with steel, and hardened. The whole fabric is of the Doric order, and contains fifty-four rooms, 12 feet by 18, for prisoners, sufficient for the accommodation of eight persons in each. In the north wing is a large room, with galleries, neatly finished as a chapel, where divine service is regularly performed every Sunday. A corresponding room in the south wing is used as a dining-hall, and a like-room above this one is occupied by the shoemakers. The apartments in the center of the building are appropriated to the use of the inspectors and agent, the keeper, his family, and assistants. The women have hitherto been confined in the north wing of the prison, on the front ground-floor, and under the chapel. They have a court-yard entirely distinct from that of the men, with whom they are allowed on no occasion to communicate or to hold conversation. At the end of each wing, and adjoining thereto, is a building of stone, two stories high, the upper part of which is formed into solitary cells, eight feet long, six feet wide, and fourteen feet high: the windows are eight feet from the floor. Each building contains seven cells. The halls run through the prison from the end of one wing to that of the other, and, with a room, occupy the width of the building; but do not open into the cells. The rooms in which the prisoners lodge are on the outside of the prison in every part, except the center, the dining-hall, and the chapel. The halls are numbered from one to nine, beside the hospital, which occupies the second floor of the north-west wing. The rooms are also numbered from one to thirty in the front, and from one to twelve in each of the farther wings. The ground-floor of the first south-wing, immediately under the dining-hall, forms the kitchen for the prisoners; which has a correspondent room in the first north-wing, under the chapel, occupied by the women. The space of ground between the west part of the prison and the west wall, is divided into two yards, denominated the upper and the lower yard. The upper yard contains all the ground which is enclosed on three sides by the west-front of the prison and the two wings; and is separated from the lower yard by the uppermost workshop, and by a palisade fence running parallel with the east-side of it to the extremity of each wing of the prison. In the lower yard are the principal workshops. All the prisoners, except the shoemakers, those who are sick, the women, and some few who are selected as clerks, gardeners, cooks, and waiters, are here employed. The three chief buildings in this yard run parallel with the main body of the prison, and are occupied by the prisoners as places of labour during the day time: they are built of brick. The eastern is called the upper, the next the middle, and the western the lower workshop. The upper shop is 106 feet in length and 20 in breadth, and for the distance of 60 feet in the middle part of it is three stories high. At each end is an addition of 23 feet, in the same direction, only one story in height. The middle shop is 85 feet long and 22 wide, two stories high. The lower shop is 200 feet long and 20 wide, and is also two stories high. In this yard are two pumps with good water for common uses; and another pump supplies a large bason with water from the river, in which the prisoners frequently bathe during the warm season, for the purposes of cleanliness and health. Beside these conveniences, in the upper yard is a large well with two pumps, which afford at all times an abundant supply of excellent water for every purpose. Both yards are paved, and have suitable drains for carrying off the filth. The ground within the walls on the north side of the prison is denominated the north-yard. In this yard there is a commodious building occupied as a store-house for brushes, chair-stuff, lumber, and other bulky articles; also an excellent,saw-pit, a cellar, ice-house, smoke-house, fire-enginehouse, pump, &c. Part of the yard is likewise allotted for storing fuel, and other necessaries for the use of the prison. The area on the south-side of the prison is appropriated to a garden, which is in excellent order, and produces abundance of vegetables, medicinal herbs, &c. for the use of the prison, the keeper, and his family. The entire of these grounds and buildings is surrounded by a wall of stone, twenty-three feet high on the river side, and fourteen feet high in front, extending in length on one side five hundred feet, and in breadth two hundred and seventy-nine feet. The original cost of the ground, buildings, and wharf, was two hundred and eight thousand eight hundred and forty-six dollars. |