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JAILS.
Their Construction and Management.
BY A. O. WRIGHT,
Secretary of the Wisconsin State Board of Charities and Reform.
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD.
21
( lxy


JAILS.
THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT.
The true theory of a jail is that it should be a place of
detention for those accused of crime, and not a place of
punishment for those convicted of petty offenses. These
should be sent to district workhouses, as they are in several
states. But meanwhile, the following can be said of jails
upon the usual plan, a large part of which is also applica-
ble to jails used merely as places of detention. A good jail
ought to be built and managed with reference to four
objects:
1. Eafekeeping of prisoners.
2. Health of prisoners.
3. Classification of prisoners, or entire separation.
4. Employment of prisoners (in those jails which receive
persons sentenced for misdemeanors).
No jail can be considered a perfect jail unless all these
requisites of a good jail are perfectly secured in its con-
struction and management.
I. CONSTRUCTION OF JAILS.
1. FOR SECURITY.
To be secure a jail should be built wholly of stone or brick
or iron. All the outer walls should be of brick or stone. No
wood or lath and plaster should be used in the outer walls or
in any partition. The cells and other interior divisions
should be of iron or stone. The floor should be of large and
heavy stones, or of iron. These materials, besides making
it harder for the prisoners to break out, also make the jail

4
perfectly fire proof, which is desirable. All avenues of
escape should be properly guarded. A chain is only as
strong as its weakest link, and a jail is only as secure as its
most insecure spot. The weak places in a jail are apt to be
the following:
The windows—These can be sawed through with steel
saws or even with case knives, if harder than the iron of the
window bars. One clumsy expedient adopted in some jails
is to place so many sets of bars in the window as to baffle
the patience and wear out the tools of the most determined
jail-breaker. A better way is to have bars of mixed steel
and iron so set in the stone work that they cannot be dug
out or pried out. There is also danger at the windows of
friends outside passing in saws or other tools. In many jails
this is prevented by a high board fence close around the
jail, effectually shutting off ventilation. A good jail yard
built of brick or stone at some distance from the jail is
better to prevent communication, and also for other reasons.
When this is not done the windows should be of rough
plate-glass to allow light, but not vision, to penetrate.
The door, Where the jail door opens immediately into
the corridor in which the prisoners are confined, it becomes
a man trap for the jailor, who is liable to be assaulted with
a weapon as he opens the door. The jailer once knocked
down and the keys secured, a rush for liberty is the next
move. To avoid all danger of this, the jail doors should not
open directly into the corridor in which the prisoners are
allowed in the day time. Either a second grated corridor
should intervene, or at least there should be a little space
between the two doors, and the inner door should be grated
and so arranged that the jailer can look each side of it be-
fore opening the door. An additional point in the inner door
of a small jail is to have a little opening in it, thus saving
the six daily openings and shuttings of the door for giving
food and returning dishes. Many sheriffs' wives are left in
charge of jails for days at a time alone, and need this pro-
tection.
The floor — If the floor is properly constructed it will be

impossible for the prisoners to dig out. Floors of brick or
small stone are objectionable on this ground.
The roof — This should be protected with boiler iron.
The privies — Whenever vaults are used the privies are
apt to be the weak spot in the jail. Vault privies are bad for
health as well as for security. Regular sewerage flushed
with water is better. If sewerage cannot be provided and
kept in repair it is better to use close-covered buckets and
have no vault privies.
The cell locks – The cells should be fastened by a single
bar for each range of cells. When padlocks are used it is
possible for expert prisoners to pick them through the bars
or to pry them off from within. If these bars are secured
by levers in the outer corridors, it gives additional security
Besides these precautions, a jail ought always to be so
constructed as to give a jailer's residence in front, with peep-
holes to see without being seen.
2.
FOR HEALTH.
A jail should be so constructed as to be light, dry, warm,
well ventilated and with proper facilities for sewerage. The
basement of a courthouse should never be used for a jail,
for besides being almost always insecure, it is quite sure to
be dark, damp, poorly ventilated and with defective sewer-
age. The sewerage of a jail needs special attention. In a
city with a general system of sewerage, the jail only needs
to be connected properly with it. In a place where there is
no general system of sewerage, a special system can be con-
structed, using a reservoir in the upper part of the jail, sup-
plied by a force pump, or windmill. As newcomers are
often dirty and infected with vermin, a bath room is needed,
as well as for general cleanliness. The methods for making
jails light, dry, warm and well ventilated, do not need dis-
cussion here. All the sunlight should be given possible, and
the jail should stand north and south, so that the sun can
come to every corridor with its purifying, life-giving rays
sometime each day.
It is a shame to the civilization of the country that we

6
still persist in putting so many prisoners into utterly un-
healthy places. It is hard enough for persons accustomed
to out-door life to stay all the time in-doors in enforced idle-
ness, without having the air poisoned with noxious stenches,
foul breath and dampness. Our jails are not much better in
this respect than the English jails of Howard's time.
3. FOR CLASSIFICATION.
If proper sanitary arrangements are needed for the physi-
cal health of prisoners, a proper classification is needed for
the moral well being of many of them. When prisoners are
herded together without distinction of age or character, the
jails become schools of crime and vice. The hardened
offenders teach the young and comparatively innocent, or
those arrested for the first time, lessons in the art of preying
upon society, and of breaking jail, or of otherwise escaping
punishment. Here in the long and weary hours of impris-
onment many a tale of past adventure in crime is rehearsed,
many a plan is laid for future crime, many a jail friend-
ship is made, which will hereafter ripen into comradeship
in crime, and many a plan of escape is concocted. The
young are taught that "the world owes them a living," and
that it is not crime, but being caught in it, which is to
be dreaded.
Visiting a jail, you are liable to find mingled indiscrimi-
nately together (1) professional criminals waiting trial for
state prison offenses; (2) non-professionals, who have com-
mitted some crime under temptation, but who do not live by
crime; (3)innocent persons accused of crime; (4) insane per-
sons; (5) idiots, frequently filthy in their habits; (6) per-
sons sentenced to jail for petty offenses; (7) dirty tramps,
sentenced as vagrants, or given lodging in the jail as a
tramp hotel; (8) persons held as witnesses. In some coun-
ties the only place for a person who is sick and without
money or friends is the jail. Boys are generally, and
women sometimes, put in with men. All these persons are
thrown together in enforced idleness. Their only labor in
most jails is doing a few chores under the oversight of the

7
jailer. Their only recreation consists in handling a greasy
pack of cards, in telling low stories, or in looking at pictures
with which the cell walls are often decorated. They rarely
have any considerable amount or variety of reading
matter.
A proper classification of prisoners would prevent many
of the evils arising from their herding together. But to
accomplish this, jails ought to be constructed in so many
divisions that classes can be made and adhered to. The
best plan is a separate cell for each prisoner, with the object
of absolute separation of each prisoner from every other.*
Where this, for any reason, is not done, the next best plan is
to provide for at least four classes. Four classes for adult
male prisoners is the least number that ought to be made.
It is a classification easily carried out in the construction of
a jail. For one window can face each way in each of two
stories, thus making four divisions of the jail, and many of
the jails now erected could be easily used in this form now
by care on the part of the jailer.
The cage plan is the fashionable plan in jail architecture
at present. This plan provides for security and healthful-
ness, but not for the proper classification. But even this
plan can be so modified as to provide for separation or
classification of prisoners.
Two or more rooms for female prisoners and for boys should
always be made in the jailer's residence, entirely separate
from the jail proper. Any ordinary rooms with barred
windows and strong doors will do.
4.
FOR OCCUPATION.
With few exceptions, prisoners sentenced to the county
jail at hard labor generally spend their time in the exceed-
ingly hard labor of telling stories and playing cards. The
easiest way for a lazy fellow to pass the winter is to steal
*Examples of juils intended to provide for complete separation of
prisoners are those in Boston, Philadelphia, Lancaster,"Pa., Mansfield, 0,
and those now in procese of construction in Milwauke, and in
Fergus Falls, Minn.

8
isomething of small value, have a spree upon the proceeds,
and then go to jail, where he is supported in idleness at the
expense of the county. It is obvious that this is very poor
economy, as well as an encouragement to petty crime to
that part of the community who do not care for the name
of being in jail. Such people ought not to be supported in
idleness at the expense of the honest and ipdustrious part
of the community, and even if their work is not of very
much value in itself, it is well worth while to keep them at
work for its moral effect on themselves and others. Tramps
especially flock to those jails where they are fed in idleness
and shun the jails where they are treated to the labor test.
Every jail ought to have a secure jail yard, at least a
quarter of an acre in size, with a high stone wall surround-
ing it. Within the yard, but at a distance from the wall,
there should be a shed for shelter in stormy weather. In
this yard, under guard, all the prisoners sentenced to impris-
onment in the jail should be made to work at sawing wood,
ibreaking stone or other unskilled labor. All the wood used
in the jail and courthouse can well be sawed by the prison-
ers. An agreement can usually be made with the city or
village in which the jail is located to do the hauling if the
prisoners break the stone in the jail and yard. Of course,
all the cleaning and other work around the jail should be
done by the prisoners, and all tramps who apply for lodging
and breakfast should be given an opportunity to show their
muscle in breaking stone or sawing wood.
II. MANAGEMENT OF JAILS.
1. SAFE-KEEPING.
No amount of care in construction will make up for care-
lessness in guarding prisoners. All prisoners held for any
serious offense should be searched for saws and other tools.
All knives and other articles capable of being used as tools
should be taken away. Knives, forks and spoons used in
eating should be carefully counted after each meal by some
responsible person. A thorough inspection of the jail should

9
be made frequently to detect any place where prisoners have
been working at the windows, the doors, the walls, the floor
or the roof. It should be remembered that the traces of
such work are usually concealed from the casual gaze.
Shackles and handcuffs should be used only in extreme
cases of desperate characters in very weak jails. When
more than ordinary precautions are needed to keep any
prisoner he should be locked in his cell. Great care should
be shown by the jailer in entering and leaving the jail. One
door should always be locked before the second one is opened.
Prisoners should not be allowed to go outside unguarded,
except as specified by law.
2. HEALTH.
The first thing a sheriff or jailor should do in taking pos-
session of a jail should be to have a thorough housecleaning,
to get rid of ail dirt and to exterminate all vermin. He
should have a housecleaning as often as once a month there-
after, in addition to the daily sweeping and mopping. The
beds should be filled with clean straw, which should be re-
newed frequently. Clean blankets should be given to each
new prisoner, and they should be washed frequently. Clean
white sheets and pillow cases should be provided each week.
The privy is usually the worst nuisance in the jail, which
can be smelled at all seasons of the year, but especially in
summer. No vault-privy ought to be allowed in a jail, and
no sewerage unless properly flushed, as well as connected
with running water. No cesspit should be connected with
a jail. Unless the sewerage can be kept in good condition
all the year round, it is better to use close-covered buckets
emptied twice a day under guard.
The food of the prisoners is usually plentiful and good
enough, but with little variety and not always well cooked.
It costs no more money to give a variety or to cook food
well — only a little more care. At present the food usually
consists of beef and pork, boiled or fried, bread, potatoes,
coffee or tea. This diet for sedentary people leads to consti-
pation and various diseases. To avoid this, beans, oatmeal,

10
(both cooked a long time), with vegetable soup and brown
bread, should be supplied frequently. The ventilation and
heating should be looked to daily. When the jail is damp,
fires should be frequently made even in warm weather. In
all cases of sickness a physician should be called in, and his
advice followed.
3.
GOVERNMENT OF THE PRISONERS.
The three great moral evils of a jail are enforced idleness,
unrestricted association and lack of restraint on the beha-
vior of prisoners. It is good for no one to be idle. Occupa-
tion of some kind ought to be furnished prisoners. Work
should be provided for all sentenced prisoners and all others
willing to work, and good reading matter or innocent games
for all when not at work. The Police Gazette and other
papers giving accounts of crime ought to be strictly forbid-
den in a jail. The jail should not furnish the literature of
crime to criminals.
It is impossible to separate prisoners absolutely from one
another as jails are now usually constructed. But there can
easily be a classification into two or four classes, according
to the number of corridors. Female prisoners should be
separated from male prisoners. Boys should be separated
from men, dirty tramps and drunkards from clean men, and
professional criminals from non-professionals. For a jail
which has four corridors, the following is as good a classifi-
cation, perhaps as possible. In one corridor, the safest in
the institution, put all professional criminals, and all desper-
ate characters not professionals. In another corridor put
all men sentenced to jail for petty offenses. In still another
put all the tramps and men brought in drunk. Take special
pains to keep this clean. Reserve one corridor, and that the
pleasantest one, for persons waiting trial who are not pro-
fessional criminals or vicious in their general habits. Each
of these classes should be kept separate from all the rest.
It is the habit of many jailers to open the whole jail except
the outer door during the day-time and allow the prisoners

11
the freedom of the whole jail. This should not be allowed.
The freedom of the corridor into which his cell opens is suf-
ficient for a prisoner, except when at work.
Where a jail is constructed to allow of separation the
prisoners should be rigidly kept separate, except when at
work.
The behavior of prisoners is a matter of considerable im-
portance. In some jails the prisoners are respectful to vis-
itors and to one another; in other jails they are impudent to
the officers, impertinent to visitors, vile in their language
through the windows to the passer-by, and constantly quar-
reling with one another. Such conduct is only allowed in a
very loosely-managed jail. For a jailer to say that he can-
not control his prisoners is to acknowledge himself incom-
petent for his office.
The following rules are based on the practice of the best
jails. If these or similar rules were posted up in each cor-
ridor of a jail, and strictly enforced, there would be better
discipline than now exists in a majority of the jails of this
country. It would be well to furnish a copy of these to each
prisoner when received.
RULES OF THIS JAIL.
1. Prisoners will be required to keep their cells clean, their weds made
up, and their persons and clothing clean.
2. Prisoners will not be allowed to lie upon their beds in the day-time
unless sick.
3. No one will be allowed to deface or soil the walls of the jail in any
manner.
4. No loud talking or obscene or profane language, and no quarreling
will be allowed.
5. Prisoners are forbidden to speak or motion to any one through the
windows.
6. No disrespectful or impertinent behavior to officers or visitors or to
fellow prisoners will be allowed.
7. The use of intoxicating liquor is prohibited. Those using tobacco
must spit only in the spittoons provided for that purpose.
8. Prisoners sentenced to labor shall do such work around the jail or
elsewhere as shall be provided for them.
9. Prisoners may receive visitors in the office by permission of the sheriff,
and under such conditions as he shall prescribe.

12
10. All letters and parcels passing in or out of jail must be inspected by
some authorized officer before delivery.
11. Complaints and requests of prisoners should be made to the sheriff,
and all such will receive due attention,
12. Written orders will be given to officers and prisoners as occasion
may arise for issuing them, which will have the same force as these rules.
13. For disobeying these rules or any other lawful order, either verbal
or written, such punishment will be given as is provided by law.




Pam
1890
wr
Wright, A.O.
35932-E
[Reynolds]