easy of access from the old Prison, the present new Prison, and the proposed new wing; and all this without going out doors, on the Sabbath or in the night. This is a great convenience, besides the greater security against escape, and the less expense in guarding such movements. It is difficult to think of any arrangement or distribution of the buildings which would secure as great convenience.

Security. The guard-room, being in the centre, and having in open view the interior of all the Prisons, north, west, and south, and also the external yards and spaces on the sides of the several Prisons, if any prisoner is out of his cell when he ought not to be, or out of his place without a permit, he is immediately seen and called to an account. The great security of this arrangement is illustrated, in contrast with the present new Prison, which is far removed from the guard-room, so that the guard, in the guard-room, knows nothing of what is going on, by night or by day, in the new Prison, unless an alarm bell is rung; and then several doors, with heavy fastenings, are to be opened and shut, and a distance of ten rods, or more, passed over, before the guard on duty, in the guard-room, can come to the relief of the sentinel in the new Prison. By the proposed new arrangement of the guard-room, the guard on duty, in the guard-room, is in sight and hearing of all the cells, galleries, fastenings, windows, and areas, not only in the new Prison, but in the new extension, and in the halls of the old Prison. One man, therefore, on duty in the guard-room, with the proposed new arrangement, has such facilities of supervision, inspection, and easy access, that he can do as much with one assistant, for the security of all the Prisons, as one man with three assistants can do with the present arrangement. Besides, the eye of the guard on duty, in the guard-room, being placed in a central position of supervision and power, and this being known by all the convicts, that the moment any one of them is out of place and does not keep time, he will be seen from the guard-room, the impression becomes universal, that it will be very difficult to escape detection, in any attempt to escape. The security is thus greatly increased by the proposed construction. Even a greater number of prisoners can be safely kept in greater security, with fewer sentinels on duty, than in the Prison as now arranged. An open iron fence is to separate the passage of the convicts from the kitchen to the Prison staircases.

Supervision. The supervision from the guard-room is easy to the kitchen; it extends through the octagon windows to the great entrance of the Prison grounds; to the west side of the new wing, in the proposed extension; to the superintendent's house and its entrance; to the south side and entrance of the old Prison, present guard-room, and deputy keeper's house, and entrance to the present garden; to the present yard north of the old Prison, east of the stone sheds, south of the blacksmith's shop, and west of the present chapel and kitchen; to each of the areas unobstructed, in the present new Prison, with all its staircases, galleries, doors, windows, and fastenings; to the east outside of the present new Prison and the proposed extension; to each of the areas, and all the staircases, galleries, doors, fastenings, and windows, in the new wing in the proposed extension, and to all the three upper halls in the east wing of the old Prison. Such extensive supervision, inside and out

side, from one room, is favorable to convenience, security, economy, and labor. The supervision is as great on this plan as can easily be designed. Classification. If classification according to crime, according to behavior in prison, according to the number of times committed, or according to age and length of sentence, or any other classification, to the number of four classes, should hereafter be deemed wise, the construction, according to the plan proposed in this extension, would admit of four classes, one on each side of each of the north and south wings. This is greater provision for classification than has heretofore existed, and as great as is likely to be considered wise or necessary, for a long time to come.

Light. The proposed extension will secure large light to the guardroom, the new chapel, and hospital, and to the areas around the new wing proposed, by numerous large windows. The areas around the cells in the wing, being lighted by ten large windows, will be almost as light as an open court; and the cells being lighted by the orifices in an open grated door of round iron, from top to bottom, two feet wide by six and a half high, the cells will be as light as an ordinary room in a dwelling-house, or as an ordinary workshop. The cell doors being constructed as here mentioned, the same quantity of light as is now used in the areas of the present new Prison would give much more light to the cells in the new wing according to the proposed extension. Special care has been taken to provide good and sufficient natural light, during the day, for all the parts of the extension here mentioned, also for an economical and satisfactory use of artificial light in the evening, for the prisoners to read in their cells, and, in the night, for the nightwatch to guard against escape from the inside, and mischievous approach from the outside. The sunlight, also, has had provision made for receiving it early in the morning, at noonday, and in the afternoon, for purposes of early rising, health, and economy. The light, according to the proposed plan, is as well as in any plan which has been suggested.

Heat. Heat, being generated in the kitchen or guard-room, in the form of hot air, steam, or hot water, may be distributed, with great simplicity and ease, to the chapel and hospital over the guard-room, and to any and all the areas opening into it and extending from it. Whatever mode of heating is adopted, the plan admits of an easy and economical application. This will be admitted by all who have greatest experience in warming large buildings. Whatever difference of opinion there may be in regard to warm air, hot water, or steam, as the medium of conveying hea', this structure, as proposed, admits of either, as a tree extends its trunk and branches from the root.

Ventilation. To take away impure air from the kitchen, guardroom, chapel, and hospital, and from the north and south wings, a large circular chimney and flue are provided on each of the north, east, and south sides of the central building, to be acted upon by heat generated below in the kitchen and guard-room; and to take away impure air, from the areas and the cells, a ventilator is provided in every cell, eight inches square, starting on a level with the floor of each cell, in the centre wall, and extending, entirely separate from every other ventilator, to

the top of the block, where it is connected with a large ventiduct, carried on the top of the block of cells to the tall central chimneys, to be topped out with ventilators, 'which shall not freeze up, nor make a noise, nor smoke, nor work the wrong way, nor conduct the rain or snow into the building. The ventilator of each cell has two openings, one on a level with the floor, eight inches square, and one on a level with the under side of the ceilings of the cells, of the same size; each of them made with a cast-iron box and a slide, to open and shut at pleasure. Ordinarily the lower one may be shut, the night vessel being set within and shut up, the upper being open to take off the impure air of the cell, which will create a current to increase the draught from the orifice in the same ventilator, at the bottom of the cell. If the cell is to be used as a place of punishment for misdemeanor, each cell so used is provided with an orifice, eight inches square, in the wall between the cell and the area, so that, when the solid door is closed, on the outer edge of the wall, this small orifice being provided with a cast-iron box and a slide, it can be opened to give sufficient air while the cell is darkened. To supply pure air in the area, in mild and pleasant weather, large windows are provided in the external wall of the areas, kitchen, guardroom, hospital, and chapel, which are grated with round iron and glazed, admitting of being opened and shut; and, in the external wall of each area, once in twenty feet, on a level with the floor, are provided orifices, six inches on the outside, and eight inches on the inside, pitching outward and downward, to take off the carbonic acid gas from each area. With such appliances the ventilation is secured.

Cleansing Apartments. -The basement story of the east wing, in the old Prison, will furnish convenient apartments, where prisoners may be received and cleansed, having their filthy garments destroyed, if necessary, before they are received into the new Prison, when extended as proposed, provided any other place than that now used should be required for such a purpose.

Solitary Confinement at Night.-The necessity of this extension is to prevent the prisoners from being placed together at night, two, three, four, and five in a room, as at present, in the case of about one hundred convicts, and to provide a sufficient number of cells to separate them one from another. The cells are so arranged as to enable a sentinel on duty, in the area in front of the cells, in a good degree to prevent evil communication. To effect this object, one hundred and fifty additional cells are provided, which will give about fifty more cells than the present number of prisoners.

The doors of the cells are placed on the inner edge of the wall, so as to leave a recess on the outside of the cell door, and thus prevent the eye of the prisoner from looking along the galleries and areas, on the right and left, for the purpose of watching the sentinel. This recess increases the difficulty of communication from cell to cell, and enables the sentinel more easily to detect the prisoners in attempting to communicate.

In case of continued attempts, certain cells are provided with tight doors or shutters, to close over the open doors. The prisoners can not only be separated at night, but evil communication, after they are so

separated, can be more easily prevented than where they are shut up in cells so constructed and arranged, that the whole dependence is placed, for preventing evil communication, on construction, without supervision; and also more effectually than in the present new Prison, where the cells are constructed with the open grated doors, on the outer edge of the wall, and the prisoners can more easily watch the sentinel and communicate from cell to cell. The cells are also large enough to admit of solitary labor.

Employment. -The west area in the new wing, in the proposed extension, is 14 feet wide, and has 5 large windows. It is 70 feet long, and under perfect supervision from the guard-room; so that it can, at any time, be made a good workshop for a large number of prisoners. It is particularly adapted to shoemakers and tailors, who may be arranged on seats, in two rows, with their faces towards the south, and their backs towards the guard-room, so that the master mechanic, with his seat and bench next the guard-room, may oversee them, without being overseen by them.

Instruction. Instruction may be communicated, at the cell doors, by the teachers. It may be obtained from books, at the cell doors, which are better constructed for light than the cell doors of the present new Prison; and the windows opposite the doors are much larger, and give more light, in proportion to the number of cells. It may be communicated also in the chapel, in the Sabbath school, which can be continued all the year, as it cannot be in the present chapel during the heat of summer, on account of the burning heat of the present low and crowded chapel. The proposed new chapel is also so situated, that it may be used for an evening school, for a portion of the younger class of more ignorant convicts, without endangering the security of the Prison. If the laws should provide, as the late law of New York does, and the present law of England, for the school teacher or teachers in Prison, the structure here proposed will greatly favor the operation of such a law. The new chapel is more commodious than the old chapel, is better lighted, better aired and ventilated, and less heated with the oppressive heat of the summer's sun. Good provision is made, in the proposed extension, for instruction.

Humanity. Humanity is regarded in the larger provision of hospital accommodations; in the more elevated place of the hospital; in its convenient access from all the cells; in its better light and ventilation. This is particularly important in the heat of summer, when diseases most commonly prevail at the Prison, and when the present hospital accommodations have been found inadequate. It is true, that the general health of this Prison has been remarkably good, and the deaths very few, and contagious and epidemic diseases few; but still, there have been times when the proposed new hospital would have been a great good in allaying apprehension, and in administering to the comfort and health of the sick.

Discipline. Besides the indispensable necessity of the proposed extension, for the solitary confinement, at night, of all the prisoners, without which there can be no discipline that deserves the name, the provision of shutters, or tight outer doors, to close over the inner doors

of the cells, to correct misdemeanor, is a provision, in a Prison structure, which should be extended to as many cells as any probable number of disorderly prisoners. The fact that the doors are there, and may so easily be shut, is a great means of preventing the occurrence of disorderly acts. They are very important, among the appliances necessary to enforce good discipline, and will, in many cases, answer all the purposes for correction of misdemeanor, without the necessity of resorting

to severer means.

Order. The parts are simple, uniform, and easily overlooked; with few hiding-places, easy supervision, great security, convenient grouping and distribution, quick access and notification; all favorable to the prevention of what ought not to be, and the attainment of what ought to be. It is a building favorable to order.

Security against Fire. If the covering of the areas are iron, the Prison is nearly a fire-proof building; nothing about the Prison part, but the frame of the roof, and the boards beneath the slate, being combustible.

Extension. - Extension, hereafter, to meet any future probable wants of the commonwealth, is secured without disturbing the general arrangements of the kitchen, guard-room, chapel, and hospital, by erecting a block of cells within the external walls of the old Prison building, which would open to a perfect supervision and convenient access from the centre building, and also by adding another story to the present new dormitory building. Besides, such an addition would improve the light and aspect of said building, and would not be attended with great expense. In this way, with a moderate outlay, an extension may be made to accommodate a large additional number of prisoners, should the wants of the commonwealth demand it.

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Conclusion. Thus, as proposed, a plan is submitted, in which the following important points have been duly considered, viz.: Convenience, security, supervision, classification, light, heat, ventilation, cleansing, solitary confinement at night, employment, instruction, humanity, discipline, order, and extension."

STATE PRISON IN RHODE ISLAND.

This is united, in its buildings and government, with the County Prison of Providence. These Prisons together contained, during the last year, an average number of 84 and a fraction; of whom 26 and a fraction were in the State Prison department. The number of prisoners, at the close of the year, in the State Prison, was 28 an increase of 8 from the commencement of the year.

Pardons. The number of pardons was 4number discharged by expiration of sentence. Deaths. The number of deaths was 2. Escapes.- Escapes, none.

as many as the

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