A STUDY
OF - ** - * -
THE CONDITIONS WHICH HAVE ||
A CCUMULATED UNDER MANY -
ADMINISTRATIONS AND NOW EXIST
IN THE
PRISONS
ON .
WELFARE ISLAND
NEW YORK CITY
WITH
A PLAN - -
FOR THE ERECTION AND ECONOMICAL FINANCING
OF A NEW PENITENTIARY ELSEWHERE
BY
A SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF
THE REGULAR GRAND JURY AUGUST TERM
I 92.4
ENDORSED AND PUBLISHED BY
THE PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK
AND
THE ASSOCIATION OF GRAND JURORS
- NEW YORK county
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W 4.
A STUDY
OF
THE CONDITIONS WHICH HAVE
A CCUM ULATED UNDER MANY
ADMINISTRATIONS AND NOW EXIST
IN THE
PRISONS
ON
WELFARE ISLAND
NEW YORK CITY
WITH
A PLAN -
FOR THE ERECTION AND ECONOMICAL FINANCING
OF A NEW PENITENTIARY ELSEW HERE
BY
A SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF
THE REGULAR GRAND JURY AUGUST TERM
I 92.4
ENDORSED AND PUBLISHED BY
THE PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK
- A ND
THE ASSOCIATION OF GRAND JURORS
NEW YORK COUNTY

AN AIRPLANE VIEW OF WELFARE, RIKER'S AND HART'S ISLANDS.
HARTs is AND
* CENTRAL
ºes º
Reproduced by permission of the Committtee on a Regional Plan for New York and its Exvirons, owners of this plate.
1–Queensborough (59th STREET) BRIDGE. 5–FLus HING BAY.
2–Long Island City. 6–FoRT Totten.
3–HELL GATE. 7–Throgs Neck.
4–Astoria, L. I. 8–Hudson River.
9–City Island.

2-6-72 y - Table of Contents
PREFATORY NOTE
“OUR BIGGEST TAx—THE COST OF CRIME” - sº - º º º e
PRESENTMENT OF THE AUGUST GRAND JURY OF NEW YORK County To JUDGE ALLEN,
RELATING TO THE PENITENTIARY FOR MALES AND CORRECTION HOSPITAL FOR FE-
MALES ON WELFARE ISLAND
LETTER FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE AUGUST PANEL, NEW YORK County GRAND JURORS,
AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF AND APPROVING THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL
COMMITTEE - -
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE RELATING TO THE CONDITION AND MANAGEMENT
ExISTING IN THE PENAL INSTITUTIONS ON WELFARE ISLAND AND THE PROPOSED SITE
FOR THE NEW PENITENTIARY
An outline of the progressive development of the functions of the Penitentiary
Inadequate number of cells
Some of the bad consequences of the poor location
Correction Hospital for Females and the three most important factors upon which
its removal from Welfare Island depends
Riker's Island, the first choice as the proposed site for the new Penitentiary
The present plans of the Department of Street Cleaning for improving and develop-
ing Riker's Island - - -
The plans of Commissioner Wallis for developing Riker's Island and preparing it
as a site for the new Penitentiary and the industries of the Department of
Correction
Hart's Island, the second choice as the proposed site for the new Penitentiary
A summary of the findings of the Special Committee relating to the unsuitability
of the buildings of the Penitentiary and Correction Hospital and of their loca-
tion on Welfare Island
Recommendations
CONCLUSION .
APPENDIX A–The immediate plans of the Commissioner of Correction for beginning the
construction of a new Penitentiary and providing occupation for hundreds of
idle prisoners
APPENDIX B–Section 696 of the City Charter relating to transfer of inmates to Riker's
Island and Hart's Island
APPENDIX C–Letter from the Commissioner of Welfare relating to the removal of prisons
from Welfare. Island
APPENDIX D–Physical description of the Penitentiary
APPENDIX E—Physical description of Correction Hospital
... 10
. 18
. 20
. 22
. 26
. 28
. 32
. 34
36
42
. 36
. 39
. 41
. 42
. 43
. 45
APPENDIx F-An example of the use of prison labor in the erection of new buildings in
the Department of Correction, which is a useful precedent and should be
followed in the construction of the new Penitentiary
PAGES
to 5
to 8
to 18
to 20
to 42
to 26
to 28
to 30
30
to 34
to 36
and
to 43
to 38
to 41
to 42
42
to 43
to 44
44
45
to 46
2
List of Illustrations
// V
‘743/
, //5 |
PAGES
Airplane view of Welfare, Riker’s and Hart's Islands
“The crime cost twelve times the price of peace” 6
Map showing the three islands of the Greater City, on which prisons of the Department of
Correction are located . 9
Airplane view of Riker’s and Hart’s Islands 11
A plan of Welfare Island, formerly called Blackwell's Island, on which are located two prisons—
the Penitentiary for Males and Correction Hospital for Females 13
Front view of the two prisons on Welfare Island . - - 15
The proposed new Penitentiary on Riker's Island as a substitute for the old Penitentiary on Wel-
fare Island . 17
A typical cell in the Penitentiary 19
A cell-corridor of the Penitentiary 19
Specimens of the toilet buckets which are used and kept in the cells from 10 to 12 hours daily 21
One section of the daily toilet bucket brigade, which is composed of an average of 1,000 men daily 21
The exercise field of the Penitentiary with about 1,200 prisoners taking advantage of an hour's
fresh air . 23
A dormitory in the old industrial building of the Penitentiary 25
The corridor of the North Wing or prison section of Correction Hospital for Females . 27
General ground plan of the proposed new Penitentiary on Riker's Island 29
An old plan of Riker's Island showing bulkhead lines fixed by the Secretary of War and the loca-
tion of the buildings of Municipal Farm, now used for drug addicts; the proposed extent
of the fill which is being made with ashes and refuse from the Boroughs of Manhattan and
the Bronx . 31
The temporary frame buildings of the Municipal Farm for drug addicts situated on the virgin soil
at the north end of Riker’s Island 33
One of the unloading plants on Riker's Island recently taken over by the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment from the Manhattan Ash Removal Corporation - - . 33
Two illustrations of scows with ashes and refuse tied up at piers of the unloading plants on Riker's
Island, ready for unloading - 35
Hart’s Island, the second choice as a proposed location for the new Penitentiary . 37
Prefatory Note
Crime, Its Prevention and the Separate Functions of the Police, the Courts,
the Prisons, etc.
Activities conceived' and projected for the pre-
vention of crime are as many and varied as are
the contributing causes. Some of the latter are
the early environment and training of the child in
the home; his later scholastic, religious and moral
training; the companions and the development of
the adolescent child of both the illiterate and edu-
cated, frivolous and indulgent and of Step and
mismated parents both poor and rich, especially
when the child is left in charge of an ignorant
nurse; the environment of the boarding-School,
protectorate, orphan asylum and children's home.
There are many and effective movements and Or-
ganizations which are providing guidance for boys
and girls and young men and women to meet the
above needs, such as: The Boy Scouts, Camp Fire
Girls, girls’ and boys’ clubs, church and community
centers, the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., the K of C.,
the Big Sisters, Big Brothers, etc.
Crime is with us and is as universal as poverty
in the community, but both can be to a large de-
gree reduced. Crime is determined by what so-
ciety considers is contrary to its best interests,
and varies in different communities. It is possible
to change a large percentage of law violators and
even Some lawless persons into law-abiding citi-
zens, if the proper measures are applied to the
individual early in his career. It should be under-
stood, however, that the remedy commonly called
punishment, which consists of imprisonment for
a variable length of time and practically always
accompanied by idleness and invariably by close
association with other criminals, instead of bring-
ing about improvement in the individual, too often
is responsible for turning him loose more resent-
ful against the government and established cus-
toms of Society, thus increasing his tendency
readily and repeatedly to disregard the law when
the occasion arises. Therefore, it is not un-
usual for the same person to be repeatedly
arrested, convicted and imprisoned, whereby the
police, district attorneys, judges, juries, probation
officers, prison officials, and parole officers are in-
creasing in numbers and swelling the taxes of the
community.
The opinion of the majority of citizens is sym-
pathetic with the police viewpoint, which has been
summarized in the introduction of the Annual
Reports of the Police Department of Greater
New York for the last few years, extracts of
which are as follows:
“Stop sobbing for the criminal—sob for
his victim.”
“Crime must be punished. Disobedience
to law is individual anarchy.” -
“Why does the criminal hate the police P
Before the establishment of the police, a car-
nival of crime existed ; no one’s life was
worth an instant's purchase; the profession
of theft had a multitude of practitioners.”
The New York City Police Department, an
efficient organization which is composed of as
fine a body of stalwart and brave men as can be
found anywhere, is greatly handicapped in carry-
ing out its duties as defined, for the detection and
suppression of crime, as it is only one of a group
of departments and agencies which administer
criminal justice in the Greater City. It must be
understood, however, that the functions of the
police, difficult of performance as they are, do
not include the fixing of punishment, which is
a function of the court, and the application of
corrective or punitive measures, which is the duty
of probation officers, prison officials and parole
officers, who are overburdened with work and
their efficiency thereby impaired. When there
is an especially flagrant crime, the public senti-
ment is reflected in the press by the statement
that “there is too much coddling of the criminal
and that we should revert to the good old days
of the dungeon cell, the ball and chain and the
rock pile.”
The criminal has generally been considered by
the public to be a vicious character to be put out
of reach, and the sooner the better, and it knows
little and cares less, where he is put and how he
is treated subsequently. As long as he is at least
temporarily out of sight, he is out of mind. The
opinion of the general public is satisfied if it is
assured that criminals are severely punished. Pun-
ishment in the mind of the public means an in-
definite something that they visualize in much the
same way as the producers of the melodrama pic-
ture it in the “movies,” viz.: a haggard man in a
striped suit, gripping the bars of his cell and peer-
ing out into the corridors of his dungeon at visi-
tors who are righteous and humane citizens gaz-
ing at him with the same curiosity and emotion
as would be aroused by a caged wild animal.
The apathy of the public towards learning and
understanding what really constitutes punishment
and just what are the functions of prisons for
its own interests is due largely to the inertia of
custom which became crystallized and has re-
mained practically static since the middle ages
when the criminal lost his identity as a human
being, much as a horse has lost its identity as an
animal, and is treated as a machine, to be made
to go by force, irrespective of inhuman treatment
inflicted upon him.
A criminal is, however, a human being, and
therefore his character, habits, tastes, physical,
moral and mental weaknesses, adaptability to a
particular environment and variety of work, the
inherent proportion of honesty and dishonesty he
possesses, and his moral and religious instincts
and training vary widely. Therefore, what is se-
vere punishment for one has practically no influ-
ence upon, or is totally unsuited to, another.
Whereas, the only principle of punishment to be
followed in prisons should be to apply to each
criminal Such measures as are indicated by a
Study of his social and criminal record based on
the information obtained from him personally,
from his associates, the investigations made by
the police, the district attorney, the probation offi-
cer and other court officials, in regard not only
to the offense for which he is convicted and sen-
tenced, but to all other crimes previously com-
mitted. The economic value of education must
be borne in upon the public, so that it will realize
that when a person does not possess such funda-
mental knowledge of correct principles of life,
so that he thinks wrongly and gets into trouble
and then into prison, every effort should be
made to correct his mental view of life so that
he may readjust his methods to conform to the
economic and social requirements of the commu-
nity. The public should come to understand that
the education of the prisoner in the principles
of right living would be a paying invesment.
The education and training of those who are
to pass upon the characteristics of the criminal
are of even greater importance than those of the
criminal himself. This is a vast and growing
problem which will require the consideration of
the ablest minds in the future development of
civilization. It will be a long process to change
these conditions, and results will be slow in
materializing, but each of us may do his bit in his
circumscribed community to hasten the day by
Seizing his opportunities as they are presented to
him. This we have attempted in the effort we
have here essayed.
(Signed) H. F. J. Port ER, Secretary,
Grand Jury, August Term.
Introductory
Our Biggest Tax—The Cost of Crime”
RIME, it is startling to learn, piles up such
a staggering loss to the country every
year that it costs more than our Army
and Navy, more than our police systems, more in
fact, than any other item in our national ledger.
It is the biggest drain that business is forced to
meet. We have frequently discussed crime from
the religious standpoint, and it is not without in-
terest, and certainly not without concern to us all,
to view it as a bookkeeper would look at it at the
end of the
told, is that so few men, even of those most alive
to great issues, ever take much account of crime
as an economic problem or have any adequate
idea of its menace to business. But, goes on the
writer,
“There is surely no well-informed merchant in
the country, operating in those lines that robbers
commonly attack, who doesn’t know that he must
compete constantly with the underworld. Bur-
glars, bandits, fraudulent bankrupts, credit trim-
m e r S , conn–
fiscal year —
from the
standpoint of º
profits a n d tº sº.
loss. Most Nº cost of CRIME
people think N Ú
of crime cost
as a slight and *- } ºf
incidental bur- \{ \'v
den on the "N | ſ=
State and na-
tion a 1 rev-
enues. But it --
is a drain on
every man's
purse, as cer-
tain and un-
avoidable, un-
der the cir-
Cumstances, as
the income tax
or the cost of
m on thieves,
d is h on e s t
e m p 1 o y ees,
corrupt truck-
men, package-
a n d bundle-
Snatchers, rail-
NATIONAL CUSTOM'S AND road thieves,
BUDGET |NT E RNAL harbor pirates,
REVENUE a n d m a ny
Gº other criminal
§§ families take
\}. not less than
COST OF five or six
ARMY AND hundred mil-
i NAVY lion dollars'
tº j) w O r th of
'º goods every
THE CRIME COST TWELVE TIMES THE PRICE OF PEACE
year and turn
this huge bulk
Over to fences
a n d profes-
bre a d and sional d is -
shoes. The As the diagram shows, the country's crime cost, about $10,000,000,000 annu- posers, who
total annual ally, is two and a half times the total ordinary receipts for 1923, three times then vend the
1 e v y which the national budget for the same year, more than three times the customs stolen me r -
-: l and internal revenue receipts, and at least twelve times the annual cost of handi
crime places the Army and Navy. chandise to
on the country dishonest or
is probably ignorant re-
not less than tailers in all
$10,000,000,000, writes Edward H. Smith in
Business, a magazine described in its name, pub-
lished in Detroit. This sum, he tells us, is
about three times the amount of the national
budget for 1923, two and one-half times the
total ordinary receipts of the nation
the same period, more than three times the cus-
toms and internal revenue receipts, and at least
twelve times the annual cost of the Army and
Navy. “If, as has been repeatedly estimated, the
total income of the country is from sixty to sev-
enty billions a year,” says the writer, “it is clear
that a sixth or seventh of our total earnings is
wasted, directly or indirectly, on crime.” The
strangest feature of these staggering facts, we are
for
parts of the country. In certain lines, like dry-
goods, Silk underwear and women's apparel, silk
Shirts, linens, woolens, shoes, gloves and other
leathers, furs, laces, men's clothing, haberdashery,
and even in some grocery lines, this competition
of Subterranean with legitimate commerce has
grown to be a national evil.”
A well-known Philadelphia manufacturer of
Silk Stockings, we are told, could not understand
for more than two years the complaints that came
to him that he was being undersold in his own
goods. It developed, after long investigation, that
a jobbing firm located near his own factory, was
the ringleader and disposer for a gang of fake
bankrupts and credit manipulators who sent out
*An article published July 5, 1924, by and reprinted with the permission of the Literary Digest.


6
men to various parts of the country and got them
to open dry-goods stores and run up credits with
manufacturers, always including the Philadelphia
manufacturer. After they had built up their
credits, these fake retailers obtained big orders,
and then disappeared or went bankrupt. In either
event all their valuable stock found its way, by
circuitous routing, to the Philadelphia jobber. He
was finally caught, and he and his gang were sent
to prison. But the vast bulk of stolen goods of
this kind, says the writer, is still being disposed
of by enormous fencing and disposing Organiza-
tions in New York and other great distributing
points. Says Mr. Smith :
“These fences, who are men of means and in-
fluence, secretly buy vast quantities of stolen mer-
chandise from all manner of property criminals.
They pay, almost without exception, 25 per cent
of the wholesale value of the stolen goods. The
thieves get this proportion in cash. The fence
takes all subsequent risks. He sends out under-
world salesmen to merchants whom he knows to
be prone to the arguments of prices well under
the market. Such salesmen are a regularly con-
stituted order. There are scores of them in New
York, who never in all their lives have sold a
dollar’s worth of honest stuff. They deal in stolen
values only, and penetrate to all parts, disposing
of what cannot be offered in one city by putting
it on the market in another.”
The figures showing the vast losses from crime
have been gathered by Mr. Smith over a period
of several years from authoritative sources. He
names as these sources Seymour L. Cromwell,
president of the New York Stock Exchange;
William B. Joyce, chairman of the board of di-
rectors of the National Surety Company; Henry
H. Reed, of the marine agency of the Insurance
Company of North America; Hugh Smith, secre-
tary of the National Vigilance Committee of the
Associated Advertising Clubs of the World; C.
W. West, chief investigator for the National As-
sociation of Credit Men; H. J. Kenner, manager
of the New York Better Business Bureau ; the
police departments of New York, Chicago, Phil-
adelphia, San Francisco and other cities; and the
Association of Railway Executives. Of this in-
formation Mr. Smith writes:
“Bucket-shops, board-of-trade swindles, land
Swindles and other confidence games having to do
with stocks, bonds and futures cause the largest
loss. Mr. Cromwell estimates the annual total at
$1,000,000,000. Mr. Smith, of the Associated
Advertising Clubs, had figures to show a total of
$3,000,000,000. It seems certain that the annual
loss may be placed at $2,000,000,000.
“Mr. Joyce, after consultation with the heads
of the thirty-one surety companies in the country,
forgery.
estimated the annual embezzlement loss at $125,-
000,000 and the burglary loss at $525,000,000.
“In the big-scale class, also, one must include
The total annual loss from all forms
of forgery and check raising is not less than
$100,000,000.
“The National Association of Credit Men
places the total loss through fraudulent bank-
ruptcies and all forms of creditor trimming
schemes at $400,000,000.
“Bad debts to wholesale and retail merchants
pile up another $150,000,000.
“Worthless checks cashed by merchants rise to
the annual total of $100,000,000. Many authori-
ties say that this figure is too conservative.
“Political graft, looting of the public domain,
thefts from the Government and from the States
are listed by the best authorities at $200,000,000
yearly—which figure also has been attacked as
being far too low.
“To indicate how some of these estimates were
computed—the Harvard Business School, in
1921, examined 119 department stores, which sold
a gross of $318,000,000 worth of goods. These
Stores were found to charge off two-tenths of 1
per cent of sales volume for uncollectable debts.
The school examined the books of 727 retail
stores and found bad-debt losses of $815,235.
“The Retail Credit Men's Association of St.
Louis became interested in the problem of bad
checks some time ago and conducted an inquiry
among its membership and among credit associa-
tions in other cities. From its findings the St.
Louis association estimated that the annual bad-
check loss of the average retailer is about $150.
To arrive at an estimate of the national total,
you can multiply that $150 by 600,000.
“Thus, be as skeptical as we like, we are faced
with an annual loss to criminals—by direct steal-
ing—that totals in the neighborhood of $3,500,-
000,000.”
However, this direct property loss through
criminal operation, says the writer, is only the
beginning of the story. The indirect mulct is
much greater. To begin with, the cost of preven-
tion, detection, prosecution and punishment of
crime, and the cost of the police systems, their
wages and expenses, have been estimated by pen-
ologists and social investigators at $1,000,000,000
annually. To this add the cost of courts, of pris-
ons, penitentiaries, jails, reformatories, and asy-
lums, of the feeding and pay of their inmates,
and the cost of guards, jailers, wardens, matrons,
etc. Ex-Governor Frank Lowden of Illinois, we
are told, said in a recent speech that the expendi-
ture for housing, feeding and attending the crim-
inal and charitable charges of the various States
now amounts to between one-third and one-fourth
of the States’ total incomes. Nor, says the writer,
does the matter end here :
“Penologists and criminologists estimate that
in one sense or another from 1 to 1% per cent
of the population is criminal. At all times about
200,000 persons in the United States are under
lock and key. But these 200,000 represent less
than one-fifth of the active criminal population
—men, women and children who are definitely
anti-social and certain to be charges of the State
for some part of their lives. Not only does this
great army of offenders steal $3,500,000,000 annu-
ally, not only does it require about as much more
of public money for policing, imprisonment, feed-
ing and attention; but it is an unproductive force,
a great economic waste. If the annual produc-
tiveness of the individual be estimated at the con-
servative sum of $1,500, it will be seen that
$1,500,000,000 must be set down on the crime bill
as industrial wastage.
“Still other items remain to bring the total up
to the estimated ten billions. These include the
operations of criminals not of the stealing classi-
fication, such as slayers, fire-setters, Smugglers,
bootleggers, counterfeiters, coiners and many
others, the sums spent on investigations and
prosecutions, the net loss through commercial
bribery and many other stray headings.
“What's the answer P Do you ask for a mir-
acle—an overnight transformation of human
nature ? There is no single answer, unless it be
education—education of the victim of crime to
the end that he may protect himself more effi-
ciently and more economically, and education of
the criminal and prospective criminal to the end
that he may know that, not even for him, does
dishonesty pay.”

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T r
THE LOCATION OF THE THREE ISLANDS ON WHICH ARE SITUATED BUILDINGS OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION
The one nearest the center of Manhattan is Welfare Island, on which are located two buildings, viz.: The
Penitentiary for Males and Correction Hospital for Females.
The Island opposite the lower end of the Bronx is called Riker's Island, at the north end of which is now
situated the Municipal Farm for drug addicts, on which it is proposed to build the new Penitentiary.
Hart's Island is to be seen on the map just east of City Island. It is on this Island that the Reformatory
Prison and industries of the Department are located.
























































9
Presentment of the August Grand Jury of New York County to Judge Allen,
Relating to the Penitentiary for Males and Correction Hospital for Females
on Welfare Island.
New York, October 15, 1924.
HON, WILLIAM ALLEN,
CourT OF GENERAL SESSIONS,
Franklin and Center Sts.,
New York City, N. Y.
SIR :
The Regular Grand Jury, when starting to
serve its term in August, 1924, was furnished
by the District Attorney with printed instruc-
tions for its guidance. Appended to these
were printed for reference Sections 252 to 267
inclusive, of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
For present purposes we quote Section 260,
which reads as follows:
“The Grand Jury must inquire:
1. Into the case of every person impris-
oned in the jail of the county, On a
criminal charge, and not indicted.
2. Into the condition and management of
the public prisons of the county: and
3. Into the wilful and corrupt misconduct
of public officers of every description
in the county.”
Recognizing the mandatory wording of the
law just quoted we endeavored within the ex-º
tent of our ability and the time at our dis-
posal, to live up to not only the letter but
the spirit of the law.
The daily routine imposed upon us to meet
the first mandate required us to sit daily from
11 A. M. to 1 P. M. to hear the cases pre-
sented to us by the District Attorney of per-
SO11S “imprisoned in the jail of the county and
not indicted.” We carefully investigated and
conscientiously disposed of all the cases SO
presented to us, in number 127.
In order to fulfil the second mandate we
began early in the term to consider how we
should “inquire into the condition and man-
agement of the public prisons of the county.”
We found it necessary to devote time to this
consideration entirely outside of the hours
stipulated by the Court.
To begin, we had learned from history, as
taught in our school days, that there were some
very old penal institutions belonging to the
City, and as we have grown older we have
read in the daily press and weekly and monthly
magazines and annual, decennial, quarterly
and semi-centennial reports, and intermittent
recurrent accounts, of efforts on the part of
various City departments to keep these old
institutions in habitable repair, to modernize
them against fire hazard and insanitation, and
to adapt them to the increasing demands of
the City, due to its growth and improvements
in methods of the custodial treatment of pris–
oners for their moral welfare and social, intel-
lectual and industrial improvement.
Our Secretary was deputed to secure the
latest reports from the Department of Correc-
tion, having jurisdiction over the City Prisons,
and from the Fire Department and the Depart-
ment of Buildings, which have supervision over
certain phases of the physical safety conditions
of these buildings, and these reports were fur-
nished in sufficient numbers to enable all our
members to take them home and study them.
It then became evident that we could very
easily become involved in an investigation
which, if attempting to include “the condition
and management of ‘all the prisons of the
county,” would have to be extended indefi-
nitely, accompanied by the assistance of ex-
perts in many fields, all of which would mani-
festly be impracticable as our panel was con-
stituted. It was decided, therefore, to adopt
a selective program limiting our inquiry and
concentrating it upon the conditions affecting
some specific situation which in the time at
our disposal we could study and, if the condi-
tions we should find would warrant our criti-
10
ſ
AN AIR PLAN E VIEW OF RIKER'S AND HART'S ISLANDS.
- -
Reproduced by PERMission of THE CoMMITTEE on a Regional PLAN For New York AND ITs Environs, own ERs of THIS PLATE.
1–MUNICIPAL FARM, AN INSTITUTION of THE DEPART-
MENT of CoRRECTION, FoR MALE DRUG ADDICTs. It
Is SITUATED on THE VIRGIN Soni AT THE North
END of THE ISLAND.
2—UNLoADING PLANTs for Ashes AND REFUse Col-
LECTED AND TRANspoRTED FROM THE Boroughs of
MAN HATTAN AND BRoNx.
3–Flush ING Bay.
4–GREAT NEck, LoNg Island.
5–Fort Schuyler.
6–City Island.
7–PELHAM BAY PARK.
8–Astoria LIGHT, HEAT AND Power PLANT.
9–Fort Totte N.

cisms, we might, perhaps, offer Some recom-
mendations for betterment of a constructive
nature.
In order to make that selection intelligently,
we invited the Commissioner of Correction,
Hon. Frederick A. Wallis, who has charge of
the City prisons and other penal institutions
Of the county, to a conference on the subject.
This invitation he cordially accepted, and he
not only answered our inquiries fully and sat-
isfactorily, but laid before us the principles
to which his administration is committed and
the problems which he has met and overcome
and those which still confront him.
We soon agreed that with the time and facili-
ties at our command we would have to be
limited in our inquiry into the “conditions
and management of certain specific’ public
prisons of the county,” and we asked him if
he would point out to us those having the
most urgent needs and suggest to us how we
could be of the most assistance to him in meet-
ing them. -
3.
He then stated that in the early part of the
last century there were several prisons which
were originally established in the villages
which were becoming merged into the growing
city, and it was decided to erect one prison in
a favorable location and remove to it the in-
mates of all the others. It was in accordance
with this decision that about 1832 what became
known later as the Penitentiary was built on
Blackwell's Island and was placed under the
Department of Charities and Correction. In
1852 the Workhouse, for the incarceration of
those guilty of misdemeanors, was built there
also.
Views of these two old buildings are shown
in illustrations on page 15. Later the City Hos-
pital and the City Home, or Almshouse, were
added, and an insane asylum built about 1824
on the north end of the Island, which more re-
cently became the Metropolitan Hospital. As
the City continued to grow many other eleemosyn-
ary and penal institutions were built and added
to the Department.
In the course of years the citizens began to
realize that the conditions in the old buildings
constituting the Penitentiary and Workhouse
were getting to be neither safe as regards the
fire hazard, nor sanitary, and efforts were made
to have them overhauled and modernized, and
in 1893 a bill was passed by the Legislature
at Albany authorizing their reconstruction, but
no actual work was started.
In 1895 the Department of Charities and Cor-
rection were split in two, and there were
formed from it the Department of Public Wel-
fare, having jurisdiction over the hospitals.
almshouses, etc., of the City, and the Depart-
ment of Correction, having jurisdiction Over
the penal institutions. The latter Department
now includes three City Prisons, one being in
each of the Boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn
and Queens; eight District Prisons, in the Bor-
oughs of Manhattan and the Bronx; the Traffic
Detention Room in the Borough of Manhat-
tan; the New York County Penitentiary and
Workhouse for Males, commonly designated the
“Penitentiary”; the Correction Hospital for
Females, formerly designated the “Work-
house,” the two latter being on what was
Blackwell’s Island and is now called Welfare
Island ; the Municipal Farms on Riker's
Island ; the Reformatory Prison on Hart's
Island; the New York City Reformatory at
New Hampton Farms, with a subsidiary insti-
tution at Warwick Farms, which are about
65 miles from the City, and the Women’s Farm
Colony at Greycourt, in Orange County, which
is about 55 miles from the City.
Although nothing was done immediately in
the direction of carrying out the intent of
the bill passed by the State Legislature in 1893,
to reconstruct the old Penitentiary and Work-
house, nevertheless, the matter was not al-
lowed to drop. In the drafting of the Charter
of The Greater New York in 1898, Section 696
provided for the removal of the inmates of
these two buildings from Blackwell's Island
altogether and transferring the buildings and
the land appertaining thereto to the Depart-
ment of Public Charities. (See Appendia B
on page 43.)
12
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PE N at tº Nºr Aw Y
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WELFARE ISLAND, FORMERLY BLACKWELL’S ISLAND
Note the Penitentiary for Males, adjoining the City Hospital, at the south end, and the old workhouse, now
called Correction Hospital, adjoining the Metropolitan Hpspital, at the north end of the Island.



















º
In May, 1907, during the administration of
Mayor George B. McClellan, Hon. John V.
Coggey, then Commissioner of Correction, in-
vited five of the most representative firms of
architects in the City to a competition on plans
for a new Penitentiary, offering $500 to each
for preliminary drawings. The five firms in-
vited and which competed were: Heins &
LaFarge, Warren & Wetmore, Trowbridge &
Livingston, Hoppin & Koen, and Henry Rut-
gers Marshall.
The jury appointed by Commissioner Cog-
gey to pass upon the competition were: Mr.
William R. Mead, of McKim, Mead & White
of this City, and Messrs. Walter Cook, of Babb,
Cook & Willard, and Robert S. Peabody, of
Peabody & Stearns, both of Boston, Mass. The
successful competitor was the firm of Trow-
bridge & Livingston. -
As under the new Charter authority to act
on such matters was transferred from the State
to the City, the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionment, on October 2, 1908, authorized “an
issue of $200,000 corporate stock of the City
for the purpose of providing means for the
payments of architects’ fees in the preparation
of plans and specifications and for the super-
vision of the work of construction of a new
Penitentiary, to be located on Riker's Island.”
The first contract with the architects was made
December 5th, 1907. This was followed on
December 18th by the approval of “an issue
of corporate Stock of the City to an amount not
exceeding $2,250,000, to provide means for the
erection of” certain of the buildings included
in the plans.
Many changes were then advocated in the
plans which had to be redrafted several times
before they were acceptable to the Department,
and on October 29, 1909, the Commissioner,
after Securing the approval of the plans by
the State Commission of Prisons, the Art Com-
mission and the Department of Buildings,
asked for authority to proceed with the execu-
tion of a contract to carry out the accepted
design. On November 3rd the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment approved the revised
plans and specifications. Then there was a
change of administration from Mayor McClel-
lan to Hon. William J. Gaynor, with Hon.
John J. Barry, Commissioner of Correction,
and the resolution which was adopted, author-
izing a new Penitentiary, was rescinded on
June 3rd, 1910, and nothing further has been
done in the matter from that day to this except
to spend money on the upkeep of the old Peni-
tentiary buildings. The architects were paid
the sum of $76,500 for their work on the plans,
and the latter are now the property of the
Department of Correction. Commissioner
Wallis showed us these plans. They are in
excellent condition and we were assured that
with slight alteration they would be accept-
able for present use. It would seem to be most
desirable to utilize these plans, which were
the result of so eminent a competition and sub-
sequent study and revision by competent ex-
perts for several years and are now, after, the
expenditure of a large sum of money on them,
the property of the City. We show photo-
graphs of these plans. (See illustrations on
pages 17 and 29.)
In 1921 the name of the Department of
Public Charities was changed to the Depart-
ment of Public Welfare, and Blackwell’s Island
became Welfare Island. Blackwell's Island
had always been known as a prison island,
which cast a stigma upon the hospitals located
there, and this can be entirely overcome only
by removing the prisons from it, but the change
of title has been helpful.
In 1919 a fire partially destroyed the old
Workhouse, causing a damage of $139,808,
after which $145,000 was appropriated for its
reconstruction and the entire south wing was
remodeled and converted into a hospital. It
is now called the “Correction Hospital for
Females” and serves as a combined workhouse,
penitentiary and hospital for women prisoners.
The Commissioner stated we could not be
expected to make a survey of all his institu-
tions, but that if we would confine our “inquiry
into the conditions and management of" these
two “prisons” on Welfare Island, of which
there has been so much and very just criticism
14
ºn
The North wise The West Wing THE CENTRAL Portion AND C THE South Wing
E. in 1 Erected in 1858 Extrance onstructed about 1832 .
rected in 1897 rected in Erected about 1832 (Just to the south of this wing
is City Hospital)
THE PENITENTIARY FOR MALES ON WELFARE ISLAND
As seen from Manhattan looking eastward–now serves as the receiving and classification center, Workhouse,
Penitentiary and Hospital for men and boys sentenced to the Department of Correction.
NoTE: The East River in front and the main thoroughfare situated along the eastern border of the Island
which leads up to the Penitentiary entrance, and also connects with the Bridge elevators and the hospitals.
- - -
| I
THE North WING The Administration building THE South Wing
which serves as a prison for women (Erected in 1857) Erected in 1857, but reconstructed and
under Workhouse and Penitentiary converted into a hospital in 1919.
sentences–erected in 1857
(Just to the north of this wing is the
Metropolitan Hospital)
THE CORRECTION HOSPITAL FOR FEMALES ON WELFARE ISLAND
(The old Workhouse formerly used for men and women.) The building as seen from Manhattan looking eastward.
Note: This institution now serves as the receiving and classification center, the Penitentiary, Workhouse and
Hospital for women sentenced to the Department.





15
for the past half century, and consider his
plans for removing their inmates and relin-
quishing their possession of the buildings and
turning them over to the Department of Public
Welfare for hospital or other use, in accord-
ance with the specifications of the City Charter,
we would be doing all that could be expected
of us, and if we should find ourselves able to
endorse his plans to carry out what he consid-
ered to have long been the mandate of the
public, or could offer suggestions to better his
plans and help him to attain the end he had in
view our time would be well expended. He
invited us to visit these two old penal institu-
tions on Welfare Island and the sites on Riker's
Island and Hart's Island, both of which had
been, by general agreement, selected by Suc-
cessive administrations and referred to in the
City Charter as suitable ones for the new Peni-
tentiary. We append a photograph of the
architects’ drawing, showing a bird’s-eye view
of the new building as it would appear on the
proposed site on Riker's Island. (See illustra-
tion on page I7).
By a happy coincidence, Mr. Charles M.
Baldwin, President of the Grand Jurors' As-
sociation, happened to be serving on the
August Term of the Additional Grand Jury,
and hearing of our plans for co-operation with
the Commissioner of Correction in regard to
a new Penitentiary has arranged to have the
Commissioner address his Association in the
fall and to have as many civic organizations
as possible present at the meeting. All the
members of both Grand Juries who were not
members of the Association agreed to join it.
To assure ourselves, in advance of any action
on our part, that we would be working in har-
mony with the Department of Public Welfare,
which shares the occupancy of Welfare Island
with the Department of Correction, in a desire
to obtain possession of the two prison build-
ings under discussion, our Secretary inter-
viewed and obtained from Hon. Bird S. Coler
a letter which favored the plan and settled our
determination to accept Commissioner Wallis’
invitation. This letter is appended. (See Ap-
pendia C, on page 44).
Finding it impracticable, as well as unneces-
sary, for all the members of the Grand Jury
to make in person the proposed inquiry, it was
decided by unanimous vote that the foreman
should appoint a Committee of three members
to make the inquiry as thorough as possible
and submit a report upon their findings. The
foreman then appointed as the Committee
Messrs. Thomas J. Bannon, William P. Meyer
and H. F. J. Porter, our Secretary.
This Committee devoted one whole day to
a visit to the New York County Penitentiary
and Workhouse for Males (the old Peniten-
tiary) and the Correction Hospital for Females
(the old Workhouse) on Welfare Island, and
the site on Riker’s Island, which is one of
those where it is proposed that the new Peni-
tentiary shall be located. They did not have
time to visit the other site on Hart's Island.
Commissioner Wallis was appointed to office
January 1, 1923, succeeding Hon. James A.
Hamilton, who had been made Secretary of
the State of New York. Promptly on assum-
ing office he laid out a comprehensive plan of
reorganizing the administration of his Depart-
ment, proposing a rearrangement of the
handling of prisoners in the old buildings and
the building of new ones, and on September
21st of that year submitted his recommenda-
tions to the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment. He then requested Hon. George W.
Wickersham, who had long been interested in
prison affairs and is Chairman of the Execu-
tive Committee of the Prison Association of
New York, to study them. Mr. Wickersham
appointed a Joint Committee to consider the plans
of the Commissioner of Correction to determine
what constructive changes, relative to fire hazards
and unsuitable conditions of the prison buildings,
might be favorably received and acted upon by
the City administration. At a meeting held De-
cember 28th in Mr. Wickersham's Office it was de-
cided to make a complete survey of the prisons and
asked an expert in penology to make a study
of the suitability of the location and structure
of the buildings now being used as prisons.
The report has not been completed, but we
16
- - - -
- * * *
--- - -
- -
tº
- º
- --
----- -
º
-
-
º . º
º - º - - -
R.IKEurºſ Iſ LAND Pºttentiary
cººk -
A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE NEW PENITENTIARY, ACCORDING TO THE COMPETITIVE PLANS
OF TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, COMPLETED IN 1909, THE LOCATION OF WHICH WAS
TO HAVE BEEN ON THE VIRGIN SOIL AT THE NORTH END OF RIKER'S ISLAND.
The proposed new penitentiary would actually serve as a receiving and classification center, so that it would
be possible to discriminate between the amateur and professional criminal and all the other types, whether the
persons are essentially dishonest, immoral, illiterate, mentally defective, or have simply committed a crime due to
a sense of bravado and a wrong set of standards.
-

º
have had the privilege of learning in a general
way from the Commissioner what they have
considered so far.
Our Committee has completed its report,
which is attached hereto. After carefully con-
sidering it in the light that has been thrown
upon it by the various sources of information
above mentioned, our members have given it
their approval and wish me to offer it to you
as part of this presentment. It is apparent that
the conditions in these old buildings have been
a disgrace to the City and a by-word all Over
the country for half a century and more, and
that administration after administration has
tried to eliminate them but for one reason or
another has failed. It would be a further dis-
grace to let these buildings round out their
century, which will occur in about five years,
and with proper diligence they may be elim-
inated and new substitutes finished within that
time.
quoted in the first paragraph of this letter.
-s
Property, and any other body which you think
would be interested, for their consideration.
Before closing I should touch upon the third
mandate which the law imposes upon us as
In
this connection I should state here that we
have had no “wilful and corrupt misconduct
of public officers” brought to our attention.
Our personal contact has been close with one
officer, however, the Commissioner of Correc-
tion, Hon. Frederick A. Wallis, and we should
be remiss in our duty if we did not express
our feeling that he is serving the City intelli-
gently, efficiently and earnestly as an official.
He is devoting his time and energies to the
interest of both the public, of which he con-
siders himself the servant, and the involuntary
helpless and unfortunate wards of the City
who are placed in his custody by the Justices
..of the Criminal Courts of the Greater City, of
which honorable body you, sir, have recently
The time seems to be propitious for this
administration to make a name for itself for
accomplishment with its various interested
departments favoring and working together for
betterment and economy, by taking the matter
under serious advisement not whether to do it
or not, but the quickest way to do it and for
the most benefit to the City and its criminal
wards.
With these thoughts in mind we present our
complete report to you in the hope that you
will place it before the Mayor, the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment and the Mayor's
Committee for the Conservation of Life and
become a member. You, therefore, should be
personally interested in his endeavors and we
hope you will co-operate with us in the manner
above suggested to make them effective. We
appreciate the courtesies which he has ex-
tended to us, without which we would have
been helpless to perform one of our duties, but
with them and your help we hope we may be
able to offer some constructive suggestions to
the City Administration for their consideration.
All of which is respectfully submitted by
Yours very truly,
(Signed) HARRY H. GOOD,
Foreman Grand Jury August Term.
Letter from the Members of the August Panel of the New York County Grand Jurors
Authorizing the appointment of Messrs. Thos. J. Bannon, Wm. F. Meyer and H. F. J.
Porter, the Secretary, to Function as a Special Committee and Approving Their Report.
October 15, 1924.
MR. HARRY H. GOOD,
Foreman, Grand Jury August Term.
*
We, the undersigned members of the Regular
Grand Jury August Panel, having authorized in
executive session you, Our Foreman, to appoint
a committee of three of our members to study the
conditions existing in the two prison buildings on
Welfare Island and report their findings and rec-
Ommendations to you, and having approved your
appointment of Messrs. Thomas J. Bannon, Wil-
liam F. Meyer and H. F. J. Porter, our Secretary,
18
The dimensions of the cell are 7 feet deep, 3 feet, 6 inches wide, 6 feet,
10% inches high, with a door opening 1 foot, 7 inches wide. Note
the bucket in the lower left-hand corner and the small hole in the back
wall at the upper right-hand corner, supposed to be for ventilation, but
actually used as a cubby hole for storing articles belonging to the prisoner.
|
|
-
-
TYPICAL CELL IN THE OLD PENITENTIARY
t
Illn,
ONE OF THE CELL_CORRIDORS IN THE OLD PENITENTIARY
Note the distance of the cells from the outside walls and windows and the
consequent limitations of light and ventilation, especially needed on account
of the absence of toilets in the cells.
When the men are not locked in their cells they are allowed in the corri-
dors or sent out in large gangs where the work sufficient for one man is per-
formed by many prisoners.


2.
as such committee and said committee having made
the proposed study and submitted their report
thereon to you, now state that they have read
the report and approve the recommendations ac-
companying it and hereby request you to make
a presentment of the same to Hon. William Allen,
Judge of the Criminal Court, under whom we
(Signed)
DAVID ROSENTHAL, 860 Broadway.
FRANK RAY HOWE, 50 East 42nd Street.
ISAAC STERN, 36 East 31st Street.
DAVID O. HAYNES, 3 Park Place.
THOS. W. SLOCUMI, 11 Thomas Street.
SIG. BLEYER, Metropolitan & Flushing Aves.,
Brooklyn.
served, with the request that he transmit it, to-
gether with our endorsement herewith given, to
his Honor the Mayor, The Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, The Mayor's Committee for
the Conservation of Life and Property and any
other body he thinks would be interested, for their
consideration.
OSCAR RIESS, 114 East 23rd Street.
JULIUS GROSSMAN, 70 Leonard Street.
EDWARD G. DANN, 52 Broadway.
ALFRED SPIEGEL, 307 Sixth Avenue
JOSEPH L. GITTERMAN, 215 E. 22nd Street.
EDWARD I. BLUM, 505 Fifth Avenue.
BERNARD GERSTMAN, 346 Broadway.
Not E.-The names of the jurymen who are missing from this list are those who were ill or
absent from the City.
Report of the Special Committee Appointed by the August Panel of the Grand Jurors of
New York County to Inquire into the Condition and Management Existing in the Penal
Institutions on Welfare Island, known as the Penitentiary and Workhouse for Males
and Correction Hospital for Females, and the Proposed Sites for the New Penitentiary
on Riker's Island or Hart's Island.
October 15, 1924.
MR. HARRY H. GOOD,
Foreman Regular Grand Jury
August Term 1924.
DEAR SIR :
Your Committee appointed by unanimous vote
of the Panel have been guided by the information
secured in advance by the latter, including the
following:
2. That the Commissioner of Correction, Hon.
Frederick A. Wallis, desires to bring about the
1. That the Charter of the City Of New York
(Section 696) has authorized since 1898 the De-
partment of Correction to remove from Welfare
Island the inmates of its prisons for men and
women, known respectively as the New York
County Penitentiary and Workhouse for Males
(the old Penitentiary) and the Correction Hos-
pital for Females (the old Workhouse).
(See
Appendia B on pages 43 to 44).
removal of the inmates of these prisons from
Welfare Island at the earliest possible moment
because the administration of these prisons is
continuously hampered by their location and the
site and character of the prison buildings, which
make it impossible to care for and properly safe-
guard their inmates, to provide sufficient work to
keep them occupied and to prevent drug smug-
gling and many other evils which now exist.
3. That the Charter of the City of New York
(Section 696) has authorized since 1898 the De-
partment of Charities, now called the Department
of Public Welfare, to take over the above-men-
tioned buildings on Welfare Island now used by
the Department of Correction. (See Appendia B
on pages 43 to 44).
20
BUCKETS USED AS CHAMBER-POTS IN THE OLD PENITENTIARY
Two toilet-buckets, just emptied in the sewer trough, which are a part of the so-called “bucket system.”
A SECTION OF THE BUCKET BRIGADE IN THE OLD PENITENTIARY
About one thousand men and boys must stand in line daily awaiting their turns to empty their chamber-pots after
using them in their cells during a period of ten or twelve hours.


21
4. That the Commissioner of Public Welfare,
Hon. Bird S. Coler, is as desirous of facilitating
the removal of the inmates of the prisons from
Welfare Island as the Commissioner of Correc-
tion, so that the Island can be devoted, efficiently
and satisfactorily in many other ways, to the care
of the sick, needy and aged wards of the City,
which the proximity of the prisons with the daily
influx of their objectionable visitors prevents.
(See Appendia C on page 44.) *
5. That the Charter of the City of New York
(Section 696) has specified both Riker's Island
and Hart's Island as suitable sites for new prisons
and authorized the Department of Correction to
remove the inmates of the old prisons above men-
tioned to new ones to be erected on Riker's Island,
then available, and Hart's Island, when available,
and since then the latter has become available and
some of the former inmates of the old prisons
have for some years been domiciled on both these
islands, mostly in temporary accommodations
awaiting the erection there of more permanent,
habitable and safe structures.
Fortified by the above information and in ac-
cordance with instructions received in open Ses-
sion of the Panel, we arranged with the Com-
missioner of Correction to visit the prisons on
Welfare Island and “inquire into their condition
and management,” and also to visit the proposed
site for the new Penitentiary on Riker's Island
for the same purpose, and report our findings to
you. The time at our disposal was not sufficient
to extend our visit to Hart's Island. The infor-
mation obtained during these visits is respectfully
submitted herewith :
On Friday, August 29th, we met the Commis-
sioner of Correction, Hon. Frederick A. Wallis,
and two members of his staff, Mr. Charles C.
Hughes, one of the trustees of the Prison Com-
missary Fund, and Major S. W. Brewster, one
of the Deputy Wardens of the Department, and,
accompanied by Acting Warden Joseph A. Mc-
Cann, we inspected the New York County Peni-
tentiary, of which the latter official has charge. A
detailed physical description of this building is
attached. (See Appendia. D on page 45 and illus-
trations on pages 15, 19, 2I, 23 and 25.)
The main building, with the exception of a west
and a north wing added respectively in 1858 and
1897, was built nearly 100 years ago, the exact
date seems to be lost in the darkness of the past.
It was modeled after Sing Sing Prison, which was
built some years earlier and which has long been
condemned as antiquated, unfit for human habita-
tion, and is now being replaced by modern struc-
tureS.
Our Nation's forefathers had the prevision that
this country would grow and when they framed
our Constitution provided for amendments to that
document to meet future requirements, but Our
City Fathers, whose prevision of the growth of
their domain did not extend to the back of the
City Hall, framed the Penitentiary to meet the
needs of the then young City of New York of
only 200,000 people, and made it So rigid that it
could never be altered to meet future advances
in civilization. Somehow their calculations have
gone awry and this building in 1923 had to accom-
modate the modern needs of a City with a popu-
lation of 5,927,617 people.
The Penitentiary, Welfare Island
Among the many changes that have taken place
affecting the disposition of criminals in the
Greater City has been the consolidation of prisons
and the expansion of their functions. In this
way the population of the Penitentiary has greatly
increased in recent years, due, for example, to
the transfer of prisoners to it from the old Kings
County Penitentiary when it was abolished in
1908.* And again in 1919 the men under Work-
house sentences were transferred to the Peni-
tentiary from the old Workhouse, at the time
when it was converted into the Correction Hos-
pital. Then, a most important function was added
to the already crowded Penitentiary in 1917 when
the State Legislature designated the former In-
dustrial Building as a classification center for the
Department of Correction. Whereas, the purposes
of this law were excellent, yet it has never really
become operative because this Industrial Build-
ing, on account of the crowded condition of the
Penitentiary, has had to be used to make room
for the overflow from the latter of Workhouse
prisoners.
* The Kings County Penitentiary was erected during the period 1846 to 1848 and was abolished during the years
I907 and 1908.
22
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k . º º
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The casual observer will note in the above at least two striking evils that now exist in the Penitentiary, due to its poor location, inadequate size and
its limitations of structure, as follows:
THE OUTDOOR EXERCISE FIELD PROVIDED FOR PRISONERS IN THE PENITENTIARY ON WELFARE ISLAND
The Penitentiary enclosure is situated on the west side of the north wing. The Queensborough Bridge can be seen in the background.
The illustration shows about 1200 men and boys, who have been convicted of every kind of crime, getting an hour's fresh air.
1–75% of these able-bodied men and boys spend most of their time in idleness.
2–Commingling of prisoners, which means that there is close daily association of men and boys, drug addicts, pickpockets, traffic violators, thieves,
embezzlers, forgers, vagrants, highwaymen, etc.
It is obvious that these two evils are responsible for the development of amateur into professional criminals, and for broadening the criminal knowl-
edge of prisoners, who thus become more resourceful and learn how to effectively baffle the police and avoid future convictions when arraigned in Court.


3
Let us consider what was the object of this
classification center and how it was supposed to
function. To begin with, when the growth of
the City increased, the number of prisoners to
be cared for in the old Penitentiary became greater
and the latter was found to be inadequate to
accommodate them, and two wings, one in 1858
and the other in 1897, were added. Then the
indiscriminate herding of the healthy with those
affected by contagious diseases, the young first
offender with the hardened criminal, the mental
defective and the degenerate, etc., were found to
be developing a veritable school of crime, and it
was decided to establish a system of preliminary
study of each criminal and place him where he
would be benefited rather than contaminated. This
was instituted as well as possible with existing
facilities, but it is far from satisfactory. At the
present time, all convicted male persons who are
sentenced in the Greater City to the Penitentiary,
New York City Reformatory, and the majority
of those sentenced to the Workhouse for a period
longer than five days, are transferred from the
three City and the eight District Prisons and two
County Jails to the Penitentiary. Here it was
intended that each prisoner should be classified
On the basis of a doctor's examination, personal
interviews by prison officials and Parole Commis-
Sioners and a study of their recent and past crim-
inal records and personal histories, in order to
find, if possible, the probable causes for his crim-
inal acts, whether they be bad associates, vicious
habits, illiteracy, defective mentality, etc. It was
then intended to determine to which one of about
ten institutions the prisoner should be transferred,
what work or instruction might be of benefit
toward changing the prisoner into a law-abiding
citizen after his release from prison, etc. On
account of inadequate facilities the designation of
the Penitentiary as a clearing house for the De-
partment of Correction has brought about condi-
tions which are just the reverse of what was
intended. The very fact that the great majority
of men and boys sentenced to the Department of
Correction pass through the Penitentiary is re-
Sponsible, under existing conditions, for making
professionals of amateur criminals, and for the
perversion of the morals of dishonest men and
boys, and the teaching of criminal acts of a dis-
honest character to men who have previously been
guilty of immorality only. It would hardly be
practical to attempt to thoroughly classify pris-
oners, under present conditions, and there is SO
little work available and so few facilities for in-
struction that the majority of the prisoners must
spend their time in idleness. Opportunities are
thus offered for retailing to each other the details
of their exploits, enlarging upon their experiences,
which glorify some as heroes in the eyes of others
and tend to form associations which are main-
tained after release. There can be little doubt
that many of the hold-ups and robberies now con-
stituting a veritable crime carnival in this City
were planned in the laboratories of this institution.
The indirect cost of the latter to the citizens of
this community must run up into millions of dol-
lars annually, and it is increasing. (See Our
Biggest Tar—The Cost of Crime, on pages 6 to 8.)
The turnover of prisoners in the Penitentiary
is undoubtedly much larger than in any peniten-
tiary, workhouse or State prison in the United
States, because it serves as the combined Male
Penitentiary and Workhouse for the five Bor.
oughs of the Greater City, and as the male clear-
ing-house for the Department of Correction.
According to a recent report of the Prison
Association the turnover of prisoners in the Peni-
tentiary in 1922 was:
7929 prisoners committed under workhouse
and penitentiary sentences.
5422 prisoners transferred from the Peni-
tentiary to other institutions of the De-
partment.
4577 prisoners returned to the Penitentiary
from other institutions, for reclassification
Or discharge.
Attention is called to the attached physical de-
scription of the old Penitentiary building (Appen-
div D). It should be noted that all the walls
are of stone 2% feet thick, the cell walls are 1%
feet thick and the floors are 6 inches thick, which
has made it impossible to remodel the building
to any appreciable extent to adapt it to existing
needs. The art of plumbing did not exist when
it was built and the plumber has been unknown
24
ONE OF THE DORMITORIES IN THE OLD THREE-STORY INDUSTRIAL BUILDING OF THE
PENITENTIARY WHICH WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1857 AND IS SITUATED TO THE EAST
OF THE NORTH WING THIS BUILDING WAS DESIGNATED BY LAW AS THE CLASSI-
FICATION CENTER OF THE DEPARTMENT IN 1917, BUT SINCE 1919, WHEN THE OLD
WORKHOUSE WAS CONVERTED INTO CORRECTION HOSPITAL, THE BUILDING HAS
BEEN USED FOR DORMITORIES TO HOUSE THE OVERFLOW OF WORKHOUSE PRIS-
ONERS IN THE PENITENTIARY.
1–Note the wooden floors and rafters and the wooden window sashes.
2–The low partition in the far right-hand corner is in front of the three toilets and two urinals which open
directly into the dormitory.
The wash sink can be seen at the end of the center aisle.
Take note of the fact that from 80 to 100 beds are in one dormitory and that the beds are very close
together.
In each of these dormitories there is a large group of men personally acquainted with every kind of crime
who are kept in physical idleness, but this does not mean that the master minds are not devising ways and
means of exploiting the public, after their release, and enlisting the aid of fellow prisoners as confederates,
during their imprisonment in these dormitories. It is certainly a short-sighted policy not to provide an ade-
quate number of cells and to utilize the available man-power as a future safeguard to the public and a benefit to
the individual prisoners.
Not only are the sanitary arrangements most inadequate, but there is a decided fire hazard in this three-
story building now used for dormitories. The windows and exits are barred and there is only one narrow,
wooden staircase leading from the two upper floors, which would ordinarily have to be used by about 200 men
in case of fire.

25
there since, except when incarcerated. The lack
of plumbing in the 1120 cells, which are occupied
by prisoners 10 hours a day and on Sundays and
holidays for longer periods, is responsible for a
bucket system of excrement disposal and other
conditions affecting the health, moral Standards
and habits of the prisoners, and the morale of
the keepers. In fact, the cells are daily Saturated
with odors and the flues in the walls and crevices
of the cells and dormitories are infested with
vermin, which constant vigilance cannot eradicate.
(See Illustrations on pages 19 and 21.)
The size and structure of the Penitentiary limits
the Warden in effectively separating prisoners, as
there are only four wings, each composed of four
double tiers of cells, by which to classify and
segregate prisoners. All this means that the Peni-
tentiary, with its large criminal population and
crowded conditions, starting as a School of crime,
has become a university. The City, instead of
developing a method of prevention, is fostering
a system of cure and furnishing raw material for
the rapidly growing legal profession to thrive on.
The lack of segregation in the Penitentiary is
appalling. The only segregation that can be en-
forced throughout, and this with the greatest dif-
ficulty, is with sexual perverts who not only are
kept in a separate section of the South wing, but
are also exclusively assigned to work in the laun-
dry and are given their meals in a separate part
of the dining room and their out-of-door exer-
cise in a separate yard fenced in around the laun-
dry. On the other hand, although the boys are
kept in separate tiers of the south wing, it is
necessary to make use of the adjacent tiers for
adults, and the boys necessarily commingle with
the men at meal time and during their recreation
in the field, which is enclosed with a wire fence
to the west of the north wing. (See illustration,
page 23.)
Furthermore, the poor arrangement of the cell-
blocks, the bad location of the dining room, the
limited amount and character of the work causing
idleness, result in the commingling of boys and
men, drug addicts, moral degenerates, pickpockets,
traffic violators, thieves, embezzlers, forgers, va-
grants, highwaymen, etc., together with prisoners
infected with tuberculosis, venereal and other con-
tagious diseases.
The classification in the Penitentiary, therefore,
is practically limited to the assignment to cells,
as commingling in working gangs, at meal time,
and during recreation, is bound to occur under
existing building conditions. The classification
that is attempted, but which cannot be enforced,
except in the first instance, is:
1. Those prisoners known to be perverted sex-
ually.
2. Those infected with syphilis and gonor-
rhea.
3. Those having scabies.
4. Prisoners held for mental or other observa-
tion.
Those needing specially strict discipline.
6. Those sentenced to the Penitentiary.
7. Those sentenced to the Workhouse.
The Inadequate Number of Cells
On the day of our visit there were 1132 men
in the old cellblocks and 235 in the dormitory
building, making a total of 1367. The average
daily census of the Penitentiary, during the year
1924 to date, was 1250, and the highest census on
any one day was 1431. For this reason it has
been necessary at times to place two men in one
cell in the north wing, even when the old indus-
trial building is used for dormitory purposes for
which, as stated, it is in no way suited. (See
illustration on page 25.) {
The dormitory building, three stories high, was
constructed in 1857, with stone exterior walls and
an interior composed of rough boards and rafters,
and a single narrow wooden staircase. There is
an extreme fire hazard in this building as the
interior might readily take fire and the flames
make Such rapid progress that the large numbers
of men in it would have no chance to escape by
the single narrow wooden staircase leading to the
Single exit, which is barred and locked, and it
must be remembered that, of course, the windows
are all barred. Since the Triangle Waist Com-
26
THE INTERIOR OF THE NORTH WING, OR PRISON SECTION, OF CORRECTION HOSPITAL
FOR FEMALES ON WELFARE ISLAND
The absence of toilets in the cells, the free commingling of prisoners and other handicaps exist, similar to
those in the Penitentiary for males, due to the limitations of size, location and structure of this prison building.

pany fire in 1911, when similar conditions caused
the loss of 147 lives and many injuries, laws were
passed strictly enforcing fire prevention measures
in all factory and business buildings in the State,
and now when these laws are not obeyed those
responsible for their violation are arrested and
punished by fines and imprisonment. Yet when
the City officials are guilty of ignoring this law
no action is taken. Each day is one day nearer
the inevitable holocaust which, when it comes,
like the one in the Ward's Island building, will
drive the administration responsible for it to defi-
nite action by the demands of an outraged public.
The Sanitary arrangements in the building are
abominable. On the three floors there are 11
water closets, or one for about 27 men, and 9
urinals, which are separated from the dormitories
only by wooden partitions about 4 feet high.
Men convicted of all kinds of offenses are
housed in these dormitories during their imprison-
ment, but, it must not be forgotten, that in a few
weeks or months they are given their liberty and
the public are bound to suffer by the kind of
treatment and education they have received, as
they become more demoralized and less likely to
become law-abiding citizens. It usually is not
long before the police and the criminal courts have
to deal with them again, and a vicious circle
formed, which, to say the least, is a very expen-
sive routine for a supposedly enlightened commu-
nity to maintain. The public press is replete with
accounts of banditry of all kinds and not only are
Our citizens not safe in the streets, but their homes
are invaded and they are robbed and murdered.
|Paymasters of industrial concerns when transfer-
ring their payroll money from a bank to the work
shops do so in armored cars. Banks moving from
one building to another select a Sunday or holiday
when the streets are comparatively empty and line
them with guards armed with machine guns to
further protect the procession of armored cars.
It is not our prerogative to analyze the causes
for these conditions. Undoubtedly they are many
and varied. They extend back to the previous en-
vironment of the individual in the City and this
the various departments of the City administra-
tion, assisted by many civic organizations and pri-
vate individuals, are constantly striving to im-
prove. Also to the methods of the City Courts,
which they themselves, with the Bar Association
and other organizations interested in the causes
and prevention of crime and the study of the men-
tality of the criminal, are endeavoring to improve.
We have conceived it to be our duty simply to
seize the opportunity presented to us, in the month
when we were called upon to serve the City, to
study one phase of the complicated problem, and
endeavor in what must be a feeble effort, to render
aid, by such constructive suggestions as we may
offer, toward its solution.
Some of the Bad Consequences of the Poor
Location of the Present Buildings
of the Penitentiary
The combined Penitentiary and Workhouse for
Males is located on Welfare Island just below
the Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge. Its
proximity to the City Hospital and the Home for
the Aged and Infirm, without any intervening
walls, presents a constant opportunity for drug
smuggling and escape of prisoners, as there can
be no absolute control of persons visiting and
leaving the Island.
There is little space on the Island for indus-
trial shops and none for farm work, so that most
of the employment available for the average popu-
lation of 1250 male prisoners is the cleaning and
maintenance work of the Penitentiary and of the
Correction Hospital for Females, some repair
work on the roads of the Island and carting of
coal, supplies, etc., for the hospitals, all of which
must be done by gangs of prisoners under the
close supervision of keepers. There is, therefore,
a great waste of man power which could be util-
ized by the City, and much enforced idleness
which is demoralizing to the prisoners. (See illus-
tration, page 25.)
In addition to the above objections the location
is also responsible for a tremendous financial loss
to the City, as the 1914 report of the Depart-
ment of Correction states that the land and build-
ings represent an investment of $7,800,000 from
which the City is deriving few benefits, although
annually spending increasing sums of money on
28
-
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-
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37
36 -
COMPETITION FOR PENITENTIARY, RIKERS ISLAND, NEW YORK
GENERAL Ground PLAN
Scale 1/64. In to 1 Ft.
1. Warden’s House. 13. Stable. 26. Women's Central Guard House.
2. Administration Building. 14. Men's Work Shops. 27. Women's Cell Houses.
3. Men's Central Guard House. 15. Store-House. 28. Women's Dark and Padded Cells.
4. Men's Cell Houses. 16. Shipping Department. 29. Women's Bath-Room.
5. Men's Chapel. 17. Bakery. 30. Women's Mess Hall and Chapel.
6. Men's Mess Hall. 18. Flour-Storage. 31. Women's Cook-House, etc.
7. Men's Cook House. 19. Laundry. 32. Women's Hospital.
8. Men's Provision Storage. 20. Ice-House. 33. Women's Isolating Ward.
9. Men's Butcher Shop, etc. 21. Engine Room and Pumping Station. 34. Women's Work Shops.
10. Men's Bath House and Dark and 22. Electric Plant. 35. Women's Laundry.
Padded Cells. 23. Boiler House. 36. New Dock.
11. Men's Hospital. 24. Coal Yard. 37. Supply Dock.
12. Men's Isolating Ward. 25. Crematory. 38. Service Court.
Note: Some of the features of the above plans, which were completed in 1909, are cell houses which are
joined at the center and projected outwards in four directions. The purposes of this arrangement are to provide
the maximum of light and ventilation without sacrificing compactness, economy and efficiency in keeping guard
over the prisoners. The supervision of the latter may be kept by guards in the central guard house. The supple-
mentary institutional buildings are placed between and grouped around the radiating wings.
The original plans include a separate section for female prisoners, shown at the right of the above plans,
which would have to be eliminated or re-adapted for the use of male prisoners.



29
upkeep and for which many past City administra-
tions have been severely criticized. On the other
hand, if the Penitentiary buildings were torn down
some of the materials could be utilized in the
construction of a new Penitentiary, on Riker's or
Hart's Island, but preferably on Riker’s Island,
and the present site could be prepared for future
park purposes, so urgently needed.
Correction Hospital for Females on
Welfare Island
Nor is Welfare Island confined to the site for
a seat of learning for the higher courses in vice
and crime for males only. A visit to Correction
Hospital for Females, formerly called the Work-
house, a building erected nearly three-quarters of
a century ago, disclosed practically the same con-
ditions as exist in the Penitentiary. Fortunately,
the existence of separate buildings for these insti-
tutions, one at each end of the Island, prevents
co-education.
However, the same conditions exist in this in-
stitution as in the Penitentiary. Its location at
the north end of the Island, adjacent to the Metro-
politan Hospital, and the road traversing the
Island, which is used by all the visitors and em-
ployees on the Island, is responsible for keeping
the women indoors. The women prisoners are
even more strictly confined in Correction Hospital
than the men in the Penitentiary, because women
prisoners naturally attract more attention than
men and are more apt to be subjected to the
tormenting gaze of inquisitive people. The limi-
ſtations of the structure of the building do not at
all meet the needs of this institution, which Serves
as the Workhouse, the Penitentiary, the Classifica-
tion Center and Hospital for women sentenced to
the Department of Correction. The hospital Oc-
cupies the entire south wing and is of major
importance because, it is said, that about 80% of
the women received require hospital attention—
mostly for venereal diseases and drug addiction.
The commingling of women in this institution
is as bad as in the Penitentiary, but the results
are even worse, in some ways, as the moral degra-
dation of women previously guilty of dishonesty
only becomes a most serious menace to the public.
A woman once committed to Correction Hospital
under Sentence too frequently returns under suc-
ceeding sentences. In a recently published report
of the Prison Association it is shown that about
63% of the women sentenced to this institution
in 1923 had been there before, and one-third of
the total number sentenced during the first five
months of 1923 had been committed to Correc-
tion Hospital from 5 to 51 times.
We will not attempt to describe, in the same
detail as with the Penitentiary, the conditions of
and the different factors affecting Correction Hos-
pital. The removal of this institution from Wel-
fare Island depends, however, upon certain other
developments, most important of which are:
1. The development of the plans for the
Women's House of Detention, for which
purpose the City has already appropriated
$700,000, and how far this proposed insti-
tution can be utilized for the housing of
short-term prisoners who cannot profitably
be transferred to the distant Women’s Farm
Colony at Greycourt.
2. The future hospital policy of the Depart-
ment of Correction, whether the present
system of medical examination and treat-
ment of women prisoners held in the City
and District Prisons awaiting trial, by the
doctors of the Board of Health and the
City Hospitals, will be extended so that
sentenced women will be treated in prison
wards of regular City hospitals, similar to
the prison ward of Bellevue Hospital, or
whether the Department of Correction is
to maintain and further develop its hospital
system, which is now one of the four sep-
arate hospital systems operated by the City.
3. The future development of the Women's
Farm Colony at Greycourt, which was
opened only this year. The present capacity
of this institution is about 200, but to date
only a small number of women have been
transferred to it as it is still in the experi-
1mental Stage.
For a physical description of Correction Hos-
pital see Appendia, E and illustrations, pages 45,
I5 and 27.
30
7. *A*
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- - - - º a - - º --- º, - - º
- - - º º º º t º º º \ . wº-nº ----- -
R 2 E R S | S L A N D Nº. 7 º' ºr
- º - - - - - ******** -
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-
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------
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- - a -º-º-º/ º Zºº
ºz-ºr-º- -
AN OLD PLAN OF RIKER'S ISLAND
(The bulkhead lines are fixed by the Secretary of War)
Showing:
1–The original Island at the bottom of the illustration, the narrow elongated portion with the prison buildings
plotted on it.
2–The two unloading plants now being operated, marked with asterisks, on the northeast and southern borders
of the Island.
3–The piers and two artificial basins and the projected extent of the fill or addition to the area of the
Island.
4–It is said that the fill to the right of the illustration, the eastern section, has been practically completed.
5–This illustration suggests the need which exists for building substantial sustaining walls to prevent leakage
of the fills into the channel.

































31
Riker's Island, the First Choice as the Pro-
posed Site for the New Penitentiary
The plans for new buildings to house the in-
mates of the New York County Penitentiary and
Workhouse, which the Commissioner of Correc-
tion showed to the Grand Jury, were made by
the firm of Trowbridge & Livingston, Architects,
of this City, in 1908, 16 years ago. The Com-
missioner says that with certain modifications,
which are advisable, due to improvements in
prison practice since they were made, the plans
for which about $80,000 were paid and which are
in his possession will be perfectly satisfactory for
present use. It was proposed at the time these
drawings were made that the buildings should be
erected on Riker’s Island, one of the sites speci-
fied in the City Charter, which is situated just
above North Brothers Island, about opposite 143d
Street, in the East River. Surveys were made
for their location, which are still available.
We visited Riker’s Island, went around it in
the Department launch, and inspected the pro-
posed site for the new Penitentiary and the insti-
tution known as Municipal Farm, which is de-
voted to the care and treatment of persons sen-
tenced to the Department for drug addiction.
This Island, originally consisting of 62.9 acres
of virgin soil, was purchased in 1884 for $180,000.
Since then it has been added to by filling, from
City excavations, ashes and street sweepings, so
that it has now an area of about 640 acres, and
the U. S. Engineers have approved a further
addition of about 100 acres. From the nature of
the fill the made land is poor in quality and the
farm, except the part on virgin soil, can hardly be
called productive. If top soil would be added it
could in time be made more so. Such soil, the
U. S. Engineers say, could probably be pumped
up from the river bed. It is on the virgin soil at
the north end of the Island where it is proposed
to locate the prison. A photograph is appended
of the architect’s drawing of a bird’s-eye view
of the buildings on the site. (See illustration,
page I7.)
The present buildings of the institution called
Municipal Farm, which, as we have stated, are
located on the virgin soil at the north end of this
Island, are of frame structure and temporary
character, with the exception of one permanent
structure which was originally intended as a dis-
ciplinary building, but is not now being used.
There are eight wooden barracks, measuring
35 x 110 feet each, which contain open dormitories
with a total capacity for about 350 inmates. There
are smaller buildings for the warden and atten-
dants, a chapel, dining room, kitchen, Store room,
boiler house, etc. (See illustration, page 33.)
There is practically no fire protection and a fire
Once started, in connection with a good breeze,
would sweep all the buildings away, as the water
mains connected with the Island do not provide
sufficient water pressure to effectively combat fire,
as was demonstrated when the buildings of the
piggery burned a couple of years ago. We under-
Stand, however, that a pump is to be installed
soon which will lessen this danger.
The eight barracks are one and two-story frame
buildings with barred windows and doors, but the
inmates could probably escape with their lives in
case of fire if the doors were unlocked in time
by the prison keepers, who are constantly in at-
tendance within the buildings.
In 1923 there were sentenced to the Workhouse
in the Greater City 1292 persons charged with
using, possessing or Selling drugs. Of this num-
ber there were 427 persons who voluntarily com-
mitted themselves for drug “cures.” Of the total
number only those addicted to drugs were trans-
ferred to Riker’s Island. -
All persons sentenced to the Workhouse for
drug addiction have a past record of a “cure”
or some past criminal record, as it is possible for
any drug addict who has no history of a previous
“cure” and has no past criminal record to be sent
to a City hospital for treatment, by provisions of
a special arrangement between the Police Depart-
ment and the Department of Public Welfare.
However, it not infrequently happens that per-
sons are convicted of robbery and other crimes
and their drug addiction is not detected until
after they are sentenced to prison. As soon as
it is found that a male prisoner is addicted to
drugs, no matter what crime he has been convicted
of, he is transferred to Riker’s Island.
32
---------
MUNICIPAL FARM FOR DRUG ADDICTS ON RIKER'S ISLAND
Some of the buildings, mostly dormitories, on the north end of Riker's Island, which are a part of the
Municipal Farm for drug addicts.
Note the orderly condition of this section of the Island, a part of the original Island which was composed
of 62.9 acres, in contrast to the disorder of the dumping grounds and the unsettled condition of the hundreds of
acres of filled ground.
HOW THE CITY CAN SAVE MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS YEARLY WHICH SHOULD BE
DEVOTED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PEN ITENTIARY
One of the unloading sites on Riker's Island showing the extensive work which has been done by employees
of private contractors.
The illustration suggests the great amount of work which is available for hundreds of idle prisoners now
serving their sentences in the Penitentiary on Welfare Island.
The assignment of prisoners to the unskilled labor in the unloading, separation and distribution of the ashes
and refuse from the scows will result in a great economy to the City; it will substitute hard work for idleness
among the prisoners and should become a strong factor in discouraging the criminal activities of persons who
are now repeatedly sentenced to prison.


33
In 1923 there were received on Riker’s Island
1530 prisoners who were practically all drug ad-
dicts with the exception of a very few prisoners
who were transferred there as “help.”
The results of treating drug addiction are cer-
tainly most discouraging and the word “cure” is
really a misnomer, because most persons after
completing their 100-day so-called “cure” and
being released, soon return to their old environ-
ment and former companions, and it is not long
before they are returned for another “cure.” It
would seem that drug addiction is a habit which
undermines the will power and that for each suc-
cessive “cure” a person takes there is so much
less chance of his ever breaking the habit. There-
fore, it would seem advisable that more attention
be paid to the after-care of the drug addicts when
they have been taken off the drug. However, to
devote a perfectly good Island of about 640 acres
exclusively to the care and custody of drug addicts
is, to say the least, uneconomical.
The Present Plans of the Department of
Street Cleaning for Improving and
Developing Riker's Island
The development of Riker's Island is not only
one of the major projects of the Department of
Correction, but is also considered to be of the
greatest importance to the present plans of the
Commissioner of Street Cleaning, Hon. Alfred
A. Taylor.
The plans of Commissioner Taylor provide that
the Department of Street Cleaning take over the
dumping Scows and apparatus, So that refuse
which has previously been transported to Riker’s
Island under private contract, at a total expendi-
ture which, it is said, amounted to about
$1,000,000 yearly, will be handled by the Depart-
ment of Street Cleaning.
In line with this plan the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, in June, 1924, appropriated
a sum not exceeding $216,690 for the purchase of
the plant and equipment of the Manhattan Ash
Removal Corporation, and authorized the Com-
missioner of Street Cleaning to reject the bids
received in May, 1924, for unloading the Scows
on Riker's Island during the ensuing year.
Commissioner Taylor not only intends to take
over the loading and transportation of the refuse
to Riker’s Island, which amounts to an average
of ten scows daily carrying a total of about 4000
tons, which contains about 1200 tons of rubbish,
but his plans include the construction of eight
incinerators in the City during the next year and
a half with a total capacity for converting 2400
tons of garbage and refuse into ashes daily—
each plant will have a rated capacity of 300 tons
daily.
Commissioner Taylor has told the Committee
that the City has authorized the issue of corporate
stock to the amount of $4,500,000, of which about
$3,700,000 is to be used for eight incinerator
plants in the next year and a half. He assures
us that during this administration practically all
garbage and refuse in the City will be incinerated.
This year Commissioner Taylor has already estab-
lished one plant in Manhattan at 56th Street and
12th Avenue. This plant has been in operation
six months, converting 300 tons of garbage and
refuse into ashes daily. There is another plant
under construction on the Harlem River. There
is also one in operation, and another 90% com-
pleted, in Brooklyn. The only reason why more
plants have not been established is the fact that
it is very difficult to find a site that is desirable,
and, at the same time, will not be objectionable
to the surrounding property owners.
This plan of Commissioner Taylor will not only
do away with the nuisances caused by the dump-
ing of garbage and refuse at Sea, which results
in it being washed up on the beaches and pol-
luting the water, but will eliminate the serious
nuisances which exist on Riker’s Island.
In the future when all rubbish is reduced to
ashes before being transported to Riker's Island,
the fire hazards caused by dump fires and the
nuisances caused by rats, flies, and the odors of
decomposing vegetable and animal matter will be
eliminated. This will be of tremendous impor-
tance, as it will make possible the use of the large
acreage of Riker’s Island without further delay.
The ashes resulting from the complete inciner-
ation of the refuse will provide productive soil,
which might even be used by the City for ferti-
lizer purposes. The incineration of the refuse
34
ONE OF THE SCOWS LOADED WITH ASHES AND REFUSE AND AN UNLOAD-
ING PLANT ON RIKER'S ISLAND
The contents of a scow is about 400 tons and about 10 scows are unloaded on Riker's
Island daily. The unloading has been carried on by about 100 unskilled laborers and 30
skilled workmen of private contractors, at a yearly cost to the City of about $200,000. Recently
these plants and employees have been taken over by the Street Cleaning Department. However,
the unskilled labor should be performed by prisoners now kept in idleness, and the funds
saved by the City should be devoted to the construction of a new Penitentiary.
-
A scow TIED Up To THE PIER OF THE UNLOADING PLANT'S ON RIKER's
ISLAND READY FOR UNLOADING
Note the miscellaneous character of the refuse which will be largely reduced to ashes in
City incinerating plants within the next two years, but in the meantime prisoners could be
profitably employed in trimming the heaped rubbish, thereby separating wood for fuel and other
materials with profit for themselves and the City.


35
that is now dumped on Riker's Island will result
in a more rapid settling of the fills. At present,
it is said, the dumps settle from 30 to 60%, but
it is a slow process which does not take place
until the inflammable matter is burned out and
the vegetable and animal matter has decomposed.
It is also said that in some parts of the Island
where fills have been made the substance washes
into the channel, as there appears to be over 100%
Settling and repeated dumpings are necessary. Of
course, this is a serious matter and most un-
economical, both for the City and the Federal
Government, as it results in a cycle which consists
Of the collection of street sweepings and refuse
from the City, loading it onto scows, and dump-
ing it on Riker’s Island, after which it is washed
into the channel and must be removed by steam
dredges operated by the U. S. Government.
Therefore, a careful inspection of this matter by
the City and U. S. engineers is indicated.
It will undoubtedly be necessary to build sub-
stantial Sustaining walls to safeguard the channel
and to make the fills on the Island permanent.
It is work of this kind for which prison labor
can be utilized and will provide occupation for
hundreds of prisoners who are now spending their
terms of imprisonment in idleness.
The Plans of Commissioner Wallis for De-
veloping Riker's Island and Preparing It
as a Site for the New Penitentiary and the
Industries of the Department of Cor-
rection.
The Commissioner proposes to provide tem-
porary housing facilities for possibly 1000 pris-
oners, who will be assigned to the unloading of
refuse on Riker's Island and the salvaging of
material, at least until the incinerators reduce
the great majority of the refuse to ashes.
The Commissioner estimates a direct Saving to
the City of about $200,000 a year by simply
taking over the unloading of the scows, and this
saving should be considered in connection with
the plan for financing the new Penitentiary. We
append photographs of the loaded Scows, which
give an idea of the character of this work, and
the possibilities for salvaging kindling wood and
other materials, which could undoubtedly be oper-
ated at a financial profit if carried on by prison
labor. (See illustrations on pages 33 and 35.)
In this way many varieties of work could be
made available for men and boys who are now
idle during their imprisonment. Not only would
they be benefited by the work itself, but they
might be credited with a small wage which could
be used for their families or given to them at the
time of their discharge. In this connection it is
well to state that many discharged prisoners and
drug addicts, in particular, are destitute and in
rags when released from prison, which is partly
responsible for their inability to get a job and
keep out of further trouble. It is interesting to
note that this year a law was passed, Chapter 601
of the laws of 1924, which makes it possible to
pay prisoners a wage, whereas, heretofore there
have been restrictions limiting the earnings of
prisoners in this State to one and a half cents
a day. This is an illustration of how little thought
has been given by legislators in the past to the
welfare of the family while the prisoner is incar-
cerated or to giving him a new start in life on
his release.
Hart's Island, the Second Choice as the Pro-
posed Site for the New Penitentiary
IHart’s Island is long and narrow, extending
about one mile from north to south ; its width
varies from 500 feet to one-half mile. The Island
is composed of about 77 acres at high tide and
about 100 acres at low tide. The Island is situ-
ated about one-third of a mile from City Island,
about two miles from Great Neck and about 18
miles from the 23rd Street docks in the East
River.
The Island originally consisted of twin islands,
which were used for Federal troops during the
Civil War. The island to the north was joined
with the island to the south by fills made with
ashes and refuse about 35 years ago. The south-
ern portion of Hart's Island was formerly used
for housing the insane. About 15 years ago the
insane were transferred to Ward's Island, and
most of the buildings now used for prison dormi-
tories and the industries were constructed about
50 years ago for housing the insane. The admin-
36
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HART'S ISLAND
The second choice as a site for the new Penitentiary is the north end of this island, which is about 40 feet
This would be suitable for the new Penitentiary if it were not for the Potter's Field
above the rest of the island.
which has already been extended to this section of the Island.



istration building and the hospital are practically
the only buildings which have been added since
the insane were transferred. Warden Breen
states that these were constructed about 15 years
ago.
The Island, with the exception of about four
acres at the Southern end, has been owned by the
City since it was purchased from the John Hunter
Estate in 1868. The four acres at the southern
end were sold by the Hunter Estate to the so-
called Spectacle Realty Company in 1923, after
it had been offered to the City a number of times
in previous years.
The middle part and the portion to the south
of the middle of the Island, which is mostly filled
ground, have the lowest elevation, being only a
few feet above the high-tide level. There is a
rise of about ten feet toward the extreme southern
end of the Island, which is owned by the civilian
Company, an elevation toward the northern end is
about 45 feet above the level of high tide, and this
high portion constitutes about one-fifth of the
area of the Island. The wash of the waves has
been wearing away this and other sections of the
Island, but bulkheads have been built by prison
labor protecting parts of the Island.
The Reformatory Prison of the Department
of Correction is located on Hart's Island and
Serves as a branch Workhouse and Penitentiary,
as the center of the manufacturing industries of
the Department and as a hospital for male
prisoners afflicted with tuberculosis.
The buildings constituting the Reformatory
Prison are mostly on the lower portion of the
Island, that is, on the southern part of the City-
owned property. The institutional buildings in-
clude the administration offices, nine dormitories,
general and tuberculosis hospitals, shops, disci-
plinary building, the old men's home, chapel,
power house, store house, green house, and resi-
dences.
The dormitory buildings of this institution have
a capacity for about 800. Of this number the
barracks on the hill have room for about 100
crippled prisoners and old men, who are Com-
mitted mostly for vagrancy. The tuberculosis
pavilion has a capacity for about 60 patients, but
the average number of tuberculosis inmates is
about half this. The shop buildings are of frame
construction and are about 50 years old, and house
the shoe, clothing, printing and brush industries.
In the industries it is said that about 300 inmates
are employed, but they are undoubtedly over-
manned with this number assigned. The inmates
are housed in dormitories containing beds approx-
imately 12 to 14 inches apart. The general hos-
pital and dormitories 1, 2, 3 and 4 are fireproof.
Dormitories 5 and 6 are of wood construction,
and the buildings known as dormitory 8 and mess
The tuber-
culosis hospital has a concrete floor and wooden
hall have wooden floors and roofs.
rafters. The barracks used for old vagrants and
crippled prisoners are of wood construction. It
is said that the largest census of the Reformatory
Prison on any one day in 1924 to date was 860,
and the average census last year, 1923, was 836
inmates. . . . . . . . > -
The City-owned portion of the Island is being
utilized partly for prison purposes and partly as
a burial ground for the deceased dead of the City
poor, known as the Potter's Field. This now
occupies almost 20 acres of the central and north-
ern portions of Hart's Island. This cemetery
was begun at the time of the Civil War when
Union soldiers were buried there. It is estimated
that almost 5500 bodies are buried there yearly,
which means that about one additional acre yearly
is being devoted for this purpose. In 1923 the
records show that 240,173 bodies had been in-
terred on this Island. The bodies are transported
in boxes by boats of the Department of Plants
and Structures and are delivered to the prison
authorities at the Island docks. Inmates dig
trenches and bury about 150 bodies of adults in
each trench. Some of these boxes, which are not
much longer than cigar boxes, contain bodies of
babies, and some of the trenches contain hundreds
of these boxes in addition to the larger boxes used
for adults.
38
A Summary of the Findings of the Special
Committee Relating to the Unsuitability of
the Buildings of the Penitentiary and Cor-
rection Hospital and of their location on
Welfare Island.
We find :
1. That the location, size, structure and ar-
rangement of the Penitentiary buildings are ut-
terly unsuited and unsuitable to the needs of a
combined Workhouse and Penitentiary serving
the five counties of the Greater City, and as a
Male Clearing House and Hospital for convicted
persons committed to the Department of Cor-
rection.
That, as a result of the above, there are abom-
inable sanitary conditions, comparatively little
work available, and free intermingling of men
committed for all kinds of crime, and that the
important functions of classification of prisoners
cannot be put into effect. That, for these reasons,
the Penitentiary serves as a place which breeds
professional criminals and is only too apt to in-
still in men and boys an utter disrespect for law
and order and therefore, instead of being a power-
ful agent in the reduction of crime, it serves to
increase lawlessness.
That the cost of making these buildings sani-
tary by the introduction of plumbing, and safe
from fire hazard, in accordance with the orders
of the Fire Department, would be prohibitive.
Therefore, this institution should be reconstructed
elsewhere.
2. That the Correction Hospital for Females,
which serves as a combined Workhouse, Peniten-
tiary, clearing house and hospital for women sen-
tenced to the Department of Correction, should
be removed from Welfare Island because the
existing conditions, which are practically the same
as in the Penitentiary, are not consistent with its
interests,
For instance:
The building is adjacent to Metropolitan Hos-
pital, without an intervening wall, and there is no
Separation between the grounds surrounding it
and the thoroughfare traversing the full length of
the Island, which is used by all the visitors and
employees of the different institutions on the
Island. The result is that women prisoners must
be kept indoors practically all the time.
No outdoor work is possible for women in-
mates, the majority of whom badly need this
because of the ravages of venereal diseases and
drug addiction.
The structure of the building strictly limits the
possibilities for establishing workshops and for
the separation of different types of inmates, such
as girls and women, repeaters and first-timers, the
immoral and the dishonest. This is largely re-
sponsible for the very high percentage of recidi-
V1S111.
~)
3. That the Penitentiary buildings, which ad-
join the City Hospital at the south end of the
Island, and the buildings of Correction Hospital,
which are adjacent to the Metropolitan Hospital
at the north end, although unsuitable as prisons,
may be adaptable to the hospital program of Hon.
Bird S. Coler, Commissioner of Public Welfare.
The hospital which has been developed in the
south wing of Correction Hospital could be used
without much alteration by the Department of
Public Welfare. The cellblocks in the north wing
of the Correction Hospital for Females, and in
the various wings of the Penitentiary, could be
torn out and some of the material used in the
construction of a new Penitentiary for the De-
partment along the same lines followed recently
by the Superintendent of State Prisons when
Wingdale Prison was turned over to the State
Hospital Commission. The walls of the build-
ings of both these institutions are in excellent
condition, so that by installing the necessary inter-
ior equipment the buildings could possibly be
converted to hospital service, if needed.
It is a question, however, if, instead of trying
to adapt old prison buildings to modern hospital
use, it would not be less expensive to raze the
buildings altogether and apply all the materials
to the erection of the new Penitentiary, which
would save a good deal of expense in constructing
the latter, and then if the Department of Welfare
should need more buildings for their use to build
new ones suitable for their purposes. There has,
39
however, long been the feeling that Welfare
Island should in time be relieved of all its buildings
and become a park, and if these two prison build-
ings were torn down as not needed their space
could be prepared for future park purposes and
greatly improve the present hospital Surroundings.
4. That Riker's Island is the most suitable site
for the new Penitentiary because:
(a) It was chosen for this purpose in 1908, at
which time a survey of the virgin soil, at the
north end, was made and plans were completed
for a new Penitentiary, after a competition of
some of the best architects had been held, for
which the City paid $80,000. These plans are
still available and can be used at the present time
after being duly modified.
(b) The improvement and development of
Riker's Island has become a major project of
both the Departments of Correction and Street
Cleaning. The plans of the Commissioner of
Correction propose to utilize the man-power of
hundreds of inmates, who are now idle, to take
over the work now being performed by the em-
ployees of private contractors in dumping fill on
the Island, which is said to have been costing the
City about $200,000 yearly. He also intends to
employ prisoners in building retaining walls to
prevent the leakage of refuse from the dumps
into the channel, in separating the inflammable
material and the wood and metals, which might
be Salvaged profitably by inmate labor, and in
preparing the filled ground for future uses—new
buildings and agriculture.
(c) The Commissioner of Street Cleaning has
already been authorized by the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment to take over the scows
and equipment of private contractors for the
transportation of ashes and refuse from the main-
land to the Island. The authority has also been
given for the issuance of corporate stock amount-
ing to $4,500,000, most of which is to be used
for the construction of eight incinerator plants
to be operated by the Department of Street Clean-
ing for the reduction of all the garbage and refuse
in the City into ashes—the total daily capacity of
these incinerator plants will be the reduction of
2400 tons of garbage and refuse into ashes.
A number of incinerator plants have been and
are being installed this year and within three
years, according to Commissioner Taylor, all the
rubbish will be separated and reduced to ashes
before it is transported to Riker's Island. There-
fore, the flies, rats and other pests, and the Odors,
will be eliminated from Riker’s Island and it will
thereby become habitable, which should be con-
sidered in relation to the objections now made
against the immediate use of this Island for the
construction of the new Penitentiary.
5. That there are serious obstacles to the im-
mediate use of Hart's Island as a site for the new
Penitentiary.
There have been a great many old, aban-
doned burial grounds in the City which have been
utterly forgotten since they have been utilized for
other purposes. For example, Washington and
Union Squares and Bryant Park were formerly
Potter's Fields. However, it takes years for the
public to realize the necessity of abandoning a
cemetery and to use the property for other pur-
poses. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find
vacant land which might be used for a Potter's
Field and it is now a practical necessity to con-
sider the establishment of a City crematory in the
near future. Whereas, the solution of this prob-
lem on Hart's Island will undoubtedly take years
to definitely settle, the need for a new Peniten-
tiary is of the utmost importance as an immediate
necessity for the reduction of crime.
Another obstacle to the use of Hart's Island
is a very serious one, but this it is possible
for the Board of Aldermen to immediately
remedy. The four acres of civil-owned property
at the south end of the Island is being developed
by the so-called Spectacle Realty Company into
an amusement place for the negro residents of
Harlem. A number of shacks have been con-
structed and a large frame building, supposedly
a dancing pavilion, is under construction. The
Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the
Department of Finance have strongly recom-
mended that this property be acquired by the City.
As the matter now stands the City has no con-
trol over this civil-owned property, in spite of the
fact that the prison adjoins it without any inter-
vening wall. A number of escapes have occurred
40
thru this property during the last year and two
prisoners escaped very recently by taking one of
the boats drawn up on this property. The present
owners make no provision whatsoever to assist
the prison authorities in preventing the escape of
prisoners.
Recommendations
1. That His Honor, Mayor John F. Hylan,
give serious consideration to the long-standing
needs for the new Penitentiary, bearing in mind
that there is now possible an economical method
of financing which will, if adopted, be a permanent
credit to his administration and of immediate
benefit to the taxpayers.
2. That the Mayor and the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment accept Riker's Island as the
only readily available and practical site for the
new Penitentiary, and because it was the virgin
soil at the north end of this Island that was care-
fully chosen in 1908 for this purpose. It must be
borne in mind that in 1908 a competition was held
of some of the best architects in the City, and
that the plans which were finally accepted and
paid for by the City were the best available at
that time. In the last 25 years, to the best of our
knowledge, the important changes in prison archi-
tecture which have been adopted, the worth of
which has been proven beyond the experi-
mental stage are : less monumental and more
economical construction; the sanitary features, in-
cluding toilets and wash bowls in the individual
cells, the outside cell construction which provides
better light and ventilation, and the abolishment
Of the dark or punishment cells.
3. That it will be possible to make Riker's
Island Sanitary and habitable in the near future
as within three years, according to Commissioner
A. A. Taylor, of the Street Cleaning Department,
all the rubbish will be converted into ashes by
incineration before it is transported to Riker’s
Island. Furthermore, that the employment of a
large number of prisoners on the dumps as a
Substitute for the small number of employees of
private contractors will make it possible to im-
mediately reduce the nuisances now existing on
Riker's Island.
4. That prisoners be assigned to the work of
unloading Scows, separating and leveling the ma-
terial on Riker’s Island, which would not only
save the City an amount roughly estimated at
$200,000, but will make it possible to keep the
dumps in an Orderly fashion and to make the
rest of the Island more habitable.
5. That serious attention be given to the sal-
vaging of boxes and other materials that might
be utilized if collected by prison labor. It is
our opinion that this salvage work could be done
profitably by prison labor, whereas it would not
be practical with paid labor. In the collection
of Salvageable materials it would be possible to
separate much of the inflammable debris and, now
that municipal incinerators are being established
in the City, incinerate it before it is transported
to the Island at great cost, only to be partially
burned and allowed to rot. This would also do
away with the deep-seated fires which are burn-
ing continuously and would eliminate the odors
and pests on these dumps. A considerable amount
of the wood now transported at considerable
expense and buried could be disposed of to the
woodyard of the Society for Improving the Con-
dition of the Poor, or at a profit as kindling wood
elsewhere. (See photographs, pages 33 and 35.)
6. That consideration be given to the alterna-
tive available site for the new Penitentiary on
Hart's Island.
7. That prison labor be employed in the dig-
ging of foundations and in the construction of the
new Penitentiary, whether the location is to be
Riker's or Hart's Island, to a large extent in order
to reduce the cost of construction and give em-
ployment to many prisoners who are now idle
and to instruct them in the building trades. Of
course, it was intended to use prisoners in the
construction of prisons when the laws relating
to the State-use system of prison labor were
enacted, with the hearty endorsement of the
Unions. (See Appendia F, page 46.)
8. We were informed by the Commissioner
that he had conferred with the Sheriff in regard
to taking over the housing and custody of the
latter's prisoners and the release to the City for
other purposes of Ludlow Street Jail. We did
not have time to look into this matter, but if
41
such an arrangement could be effected it would
seem desirable that the Mayor and the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment put into effect
the abolishment of the Ludlow Street Jail, and
that they instruct the Commissioner of Correc-
tion to remodel the two upper tiers of the vacant
annex of the Tombs as a substitute for housing
the civil prisoners of the Sheriff. In this way
it will be possible to dispose of the Ludlow Street
Jail property, which is assessed at $200,000, and to
save about $40,000 a year by the more economical
procedure of assigning the vacant annex of the
Tombs Prison, Manhattan, to the Sheriff instead
of requiring him to operate a separate jail, which
is about four times larger than is necessary and
requires a greater number of employees than
there are prisoners. Furthermore, that an amount
equal to the proceeds of the sale of this property
and the amount saved in the future operation of
the Sheriff’s jail should be devoted to the construc-
tion of the new Penitentiary.
9. That the studies, which we understand have
already been made by the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment and the Commissioner of AC-
counts, of the industries operated by the Depart-
ment of Correction should be continued and
special attention should be given to the expansion
of the existing industries and the development
of other industries, all to be carried out under
the direction and supervision of a competent en-
gineer, as has recently been done by the State in
its prisons, in order to provide the City with
many products which are now purchased on the
open market. In this connection the City Pur-
chasing Agent and the Director of the City Budget
could offer many suggestions, but by far the most
important factor in this matter is the realization
by the City authorities that any expenditure made
in the prison industries should be considered as a
wise and profitable investment, which will not
only bring material benefits to the City and coun-
try at large, but it will aid in giving work to
idle men and train prisoners to make their liveli-
hood after they are discharged, thereby ulti-
mately tending to reduce crime.
Conclusion
In this report we have endeavored to keep
within the restrictions which were given to us
by the Grand Jury. It was manifestly impossible
within the allotted time and with the facilities
at our disposal to make a study of the fields of
criminology and penology sufficiently to equip our-
Selves to be experts and offer suggestions such
as can be made by persons who have had long
experience in these directions. We have, there-
fore, been compelled to depend upon information
Supplied from the best Sources available, real-
izing that our statements will be subjected to the
Scrutiny and Searching investigation of experts
and officials with the necessary data in their pos-
Session to confirm or refute our assertions. To
Commissioner Coler and Commissioner Taylor
we owe our thanks for this information.
We desire to express our sincere appreciation
of the help extended to us by the Commissioner
of Correction, Mr. Wallis, and his staff, and the
staff of the Prison Association of New York,
without which it would have been impossible for
us to have complied with the instructions of the
Grand Jury.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) THOS. J. BANNON,
WM. F. MEYER,
H. F. J. PORTER,
Secretary.
APPENDIX A
Letter from the Commissioner of Correction
The Innmediate Plans of the Commissioner
of Correction for Beginning the Construc-
tion of a New Penitentiary and Providing
Occupation for Hundreds of Idle Prisoners.
October 3rd, 1924.
MR. H. F. J. PORTER,
New York City.
DEAR MR. SECRETARY :
Supplementing my statement before the Grand
Jury, I would respectfully state that in the event
of a new Penitentiary and Industrial Buildings
42
being authorized to be built at Riker's Island by
the City, that the work could be started with a
relatively small appropriation, probably not ex-
ceeding $250,000.
This appropriation would be used something
like the following:
a. To revise the plans of Trowbridge &
Livingston. This cost to be a nominal one.
b. For the employment of a civil engineer,
draftsmen and skilled mechanics, to supervise
and direct the work. The entire work to be
done by inmates confined on the Island.
c. The employed mechanics will include:
carpenters, cement foremen, foremen iron
workers, foremen plumbers and brick layers,
etC.
d. Materials: cement, lumber, pipe, steel,
etC.
c. Tools: shovels, carpenters' tools, con-
Crete mixers, tracks and cars, such teams and
dump wagons as may be necessary.
After the initial appropriation is made, no other
appropriations will be probably required, except,
to complete the buildings, for necessary materials,
which would cover a period of three years.
The new Penitentiary and other buildings will
be in this way constructed at a tremendous Saving
to the City.
Upon the completion of a modern Penitentiary
and Industrial Buildings, the Correction Depart-
ment of the City of New York would be enabled
to give eight-hour labor to the four or five thou-
sand inmates of Our institutions, thus not only
employing their time and their talent and strength
and incidentally teaching many of them trades,
but would manufacture such articles as are gen-
erally required by the City in its various institu-
tions throughout the Welfare, Medical, Correc-
tional, Street Cleaning, Police, Fire and other
departments of the City administration.
In other words the Department of Correction,
through the employment of idle inmates, could
manufacture office and certain school furniture,
beds, brooms, shovels, ash cans, manhole covers,
park benches and park and street signs and ped-
dlers’ licenses, and many other articles of this
11ature.
Furthermore, its prison industries could manu-
facture for the City all blankets, sheets, under-
wear, Socks, towels, pillow cases, bed tickings,
shoes and clothing, and the other necessary per-
Sonal, physical outfits.
The manufacture of the above articles would
run yearly into millions of dollars and would
place the Department of Correction eventually
on a basis that may be altogether self-supporting.
Apart from all the physical benefits that would
accrue to the City through this policy, the moral
and educational and economical values would far
transcend the material.
Respectfully yours,
(Signed) FREDERICK A. WALLIS,
Commissioner of Correction.
APPENDIX B
Excerpt from the Charter of the City of
New York
Chapter XIV.-Department of Correction
SEC. 696.—Transfer of inmates to Riker's
Island and Hart's Island.
The Commissioner, whenever, in his judgment,
it is expedient and practicable to do so, may cause
to be removed to Riker's Island, and in case
Hart's Island shall have been placed under the
charge and control of the Department of Cor-
rection, as in Section Six Hundred and Ninety-
five of this act provided, then also to Hart's
Island, the inmates of the Workhouse and of the
Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island ; and he may
direct such removals to be made, from time to
time, as accommodation for the said inmates may
be provided upon Riker's Island and Hart's
Island or elsewhere within the City of New York.
And whenever in consequence of such removals
or otherwise any of the buildings theretofore oc-
cupied or used for said Workhouse or Peniten-
tiary shall have become vacant, such building or
43
buildings, with the grounds thereto appertaining,
shall be transferred to the Department of Public
Charities. And whenever any of the said build-
ings or grounds shall have been so transferred,
the Commissioner of Correction shall have no
further rights, duties or obligations in respect to
such building or buildings or grounds, it or they
shall thereafter be included in and appertain to
the Department of Public Charities of the City
of New York, and shall be under the jurisdiction
of the Commissioner of Charities. Each portion
of the additions to Riker's Island formed by the
deposit of rubbish, Street Sweepings, waste mat-
ters, ashes and other fill, shall be placed under
the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Correction
whenever the Commissioner of Street Cleaning
accepts on behalf of the City of New York each
Such portion as completed work under the terms
of the contract with the private contractor or
contractors. Portions heretofore accepted by the
City as completed work are hereby placed under
the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Correc-
tion, provided, however, that when such additions
shall have been placed under the jurisdiction of
the Department of Correction, the Board of Com-
missioners of the Sinking Fund shall have the
same power with respect thereto as said Board
now has over other property of the City of New
York. The correctional institution upon such
island shall be known as the Municipal Farms
of the City of New York, whose short title shall
be The Municipal Farm.
Note: On Hart's Island at this time was located a State
Insane Asylum which was about to be evacuated.
APPENDIX C
Letter from the Commissioner of Welfare
CITY OF NEW YORK .
Department of Public Welfare
Municipal Building, Tenth Floor
August 26, 1924.
MR. H. F. J. PORTER, Secretary,
Grand Jury, New York County,
Criminal Court Building, -
Center Street, N. Y. C.
DEAR SIR :
The Grand Jury of New York County, I under-
Stand, feel that it would be more advisable to
remove the City Prison from Welfare Island,
rather than make expensive changes to the build-
ings in order to take away the fire hazards from
Same. Such a recommendation by the Grand
Jury would have considerable weight and be a
step forward.
I have always been very strongly in favor of
the making of Welfare Island a real center and
home for the sick poor and aged destitute of
the City of New York. The fact that the Island
is so accessible to Manhattan, Brooklyn and
Queens and is capable of being made an attrac-
tive garden home for the sick poor, with fresher
and purer air than would be found in the City
proper, is so obvious that every effort should be
made to accomplish this at an early date.
The removal of the Workhouse and the City
Prison from Welfare Island would bring this
about, as Section 696 of the New York City
Charter reads as follows:
“And whenever in consequence of such re-
movals or otherwise any of the buildings there-
tofore Occupied or used for said workhouse or
penitentiary shall have become vacant, such build-
ing or buildings, with the ground thereto apper-
taining, shall be transferred to the department
of public charities. And whenever any of the
Said buildings or grounds shall have been so
transferred, the commissioner of correction shall
have no further rights, duties or obligations in
respect to such building or buildings or grounds,
but it or they shall thereafter be included in and
appertain to the department of public charities
of The City of New York, and shall be under
the jurisdiction of the commissioner of charities.”
* As the Commissioner of Public Charities is
now known as the Commissioner of Public Wel-
fare and all the powers of the Commissioner of
Public Charities transferred to the Commissioner
of Public Welfare, the vacating of these build-
ings by the Department of Correction will im-
mediately place them under my department and
make the creation of this hospital center an accom-
plished fact.
Hoping that the Grand Jury will lend its aid
in making this possible, I remain
- Very truly yours,
(Signed) BIRD S. Col.BR,
Commissioner.
44
APPENDIX D
Physical Description of the Penitentiary
(Extract from an Annual Report of the Prison
Association of New York)
The Penitentiary proper consists of the cell-
house and administration building. The cell-
house consists of two original wings, built Some
fourscore years ago, and two cellblocks added
later. These wings are on either side of the
administration building. The two other cellblocks,
built as later additions, extend to the north and
to the west respectively of the older cellblocks;
three of these cellblocks run north and south,
and one east and west. The two original gell-
blocks contain 240 and 256 cells respectively.
The west extension contains also 240 cells. The
northernmost, or the latest, addition contains 368
cells. The cells in the original blocks are 7 feet
long, 3 feet 6 inches wide, and 6 feet 10 inches
high. The cells in the North Wing, or latest addi-
tion, are 8 feet long, 4 feet 8 inches wide, and
7 feet high. The cells in this block, therefore,
would be preferable to the other cells, were it not
for the fact that the population always exceeds the
capacity of the Penitentiary, so that doubling-up
is necessitated. - e
In the Administration Building are situated the
offices-on the first floor; the hospital, schoolrooms
and chapel and some employees quarters on the
floors above. All the other buildings of the Peni-
tentiary are situated to the east of the cellhouse
so that they are not visible when crossing from
Manhattan to the Penitentiary.
The buildings containing the mess-hall and
kitchen adjoin the cellhouse immediately west
of the Administration building. Two buildings
contain storerooms, storage department, the mess-
hall and kitchen for helpers. Another building
close by contains the boiler room, engines and
dynamos. A little north of this group is the bath-
house containing the shower compartments. The
coal bin, a number of sheds used for various pur-
poses and the place for emptying the cell-buckets
are grouped to the north of this set of buildings.
The northernmost building formerly contained the
industrial shops, but now the three floors are used
as dormitories for workhouse prisoners.
APPENDIX E
Physical Description of Correction Hospital
(An Extract from a Report of the State Commis-
sion of Prisons)
The Women's Correction Hospital and Work-
house is the old New York City Workhouse,
erected in 1857 and formerly used for men and
women. It is a huge stone building having a
central structure for administration and utility
purposes and two large wings containing outside
cells or rooms.
The north wing continues, as formerly, to be
used for the confinement of women. The south
wing, formerly the men's cell hall, forms the
main part of the Women's Correction Hospital.
The north and South wings are similarly con-
structed. A skylight is over a large central court
in each wing. Galleries four tiers high run
around the court and the cells or rooms open
On the galleries and courts in the workhouse
Section.
While many repairs and improvements have
been made, the building retains essentially the
original construction. The north wing, or work-
house section, contains 104 outside cells or rooms.
Each room is about 13 x 10 x 8 feet with a large
outside window. None of the
toilets or lavatories.
is still in use.
rooms contain
The old unsanitary bucket
More than one woman are at times confined in
a cell. This commingling tends to make the
inmates more depraved. An attempt is made at
classification, but it is not very successful when
the inmates mingle in the central court, on the
galleries, or are doubled up in the rooms.
Large toilet and wash rooms furnish sanitary
toilet and washing facilities during the daytime,
but are of no avail at night when the inmates
are locked in their rooms. The beds fold against
the wall in this section; they should be removed
and one single iron cot substituted.
THE HOSPITAL SECTION
The entire South wing and a part of the central
structure is used for hospital purposes. Wards
are provided for various kinds of diseases and
45
classes of prisoners; drug addicts, venereal dis-
eases, tubercular cases and surgical cases have
different wards; young offenders and recidivists
are treated in Separate rooms.
The first floor is used for examination, clinical
and diagnostic work and for temporary confine-
ment of inmates; the second for venereal wards;
the third for drug addicts, surgical cases and
feeble old women; and the fourth for psychopathic
and overflow cases.
FoRMER DETENTION QUARTERS
A portion of the south wing was fitted up for
the detention of women pending trial, but it is
no longer used for this purpose.
APPENDIX F
An Example of the Use of Prison Labor in
the Erection of New Buildings in the
Department of Correction, Which is a Use-
ful Precedent and Should be Followed in
the Construction of the New Penitentiary.
REFORMATORY IN MATES, NEW HAM PTON FARMS
(Extract from the 1916 Annual Report of the
Department of Correction)
As stated in our 1915 report, the plan adopted
for the building of a new reformatory at New
Hampton was to utilize the labor of inmates as
far as possible and to utilize the construction
work for educational purposes. To this end in-
structors of industry were appointed in place of
guards. These instructors were efficient in the
various fields, such as digging, carpentry, concrete
work, electrical work, painting, plumbing and
Steamfitting, road building, tailoring and the like.
The instructor in carpentry taught the boys how
to build frame buildings, including wainScoting,
lathing, shingling, the making of forms for foun-
dation walls and the general branches of car-
pentry work. Several squads have been instructed
in the proper mixing of concrete, and have become
sufficiently efficient to have no difficulty in secur-
ing employment in this line on the outside. The
electrical instructors have taught the inmates how
to install wires, use of generator, changing of
current, how to maintain telephone and electric
light lines, and the simple branches of electrical
repair and the like. The instructors in machine
work have taught the inmates how to operate the
deep well, river and farm pumps, the engines
utilized in connection therewith, how to operate
the stone crusher, the concrete mixer and the out-
fitting machine for the shops. The installation of
the Sewage and water systems and of the plumb-
ing necessary for the installation of sanitaries,
wash basins, and shower baths has afforded ample
opportunity for the instructors in plumbing and
steamfitting to give practical demonstration in
this class of work. The building of roads has
given the instructors the opportunity to show the
inmates how properly to grade, drain and con-
struct the various roads to be built upon the
premises.

46
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