Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-02-20

"" ~ y" f'%St on crD"'
j., THURSDAY,
thus made no small contribution to the success 0
the undertaking.
Major Thomas B. Lee was now employed as tn
architect and engineer, and in accordance with tn
instructions of the commissioners, visited the va
rious penitentiaries of Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsyl
vania, Maryland and Virginia, to obtain informa
ton concerning the most approved style and ar
angement for penal institution. "
On his return, another meeting Of the commits
sioners was held in Columbia, and it was then de-
termined to make such commencement as would
allow an extension of the plans from time to time
until FIVE hundred male and female convicts could
be accommodated %
Before the 2lst of November, Major Lee had
commenced work, broken ground, excavated the
foundations, and prepared to carry out his plans
A store-house, backsmiths' shop, carpenters shop
stone cutters shed, and FIVE derricks were con-
stucted, and q fence, twelve feet high, thrown a
round the premises. An inclined railway, at ar
angle of about thirty-eight or forty degrees was
constructed from the penitentiary lot to the mar.
gin of the canal, and 50 provided with machinery
that the cars, loaded with stone at the quaries
two miles away, and brought thither in boats could
by the touch of lever, be discharged directly un
der the derricks designed to lift the immense
masses to their final bed The cost of stone thus
obtained and transported is only about fifteen cent?
per ton Wagon transportation would have in
creased the expense to $1.50 per ton. The labol
of quarying and dressing this material is perform
ed almost wholly by the convicts. :.
PLAN OF THE PENITKNTIARY.
The plans of the architect contemplate build
ing five hundred feet long, ffty.eight and hal
feet wide, and forty6ve and half feet high, with
a central building projecting from the main build
ing sixty feet square, the whole to be built of gran
ite and iron.
There are to be 548 cells, the kitchen, laundry
store-room, chapel, hospital, guard rooms, recep'
ton room, Office, dispensary, and living rooms, be-
ing under the same roof
The prison is divided by blank wall into two
grand divisions, for maleand female convicts The
prison for the latter is comparatively small but itE
proportions are based upon the statistics OF Other
prisons. This space, however, may be readily en-
larged without interfering with the general plan.
The prison for male convicts is divided into a
north and south wing, separated by the central
building referred to. The south wing is now in
course Of erection. Each wing will have five tiers
of cells, with fifty cells in each tier, and the whole
when completed, will be surmounted by a huge
cistern containing water, forced to that point by
a turbine wheel on the river front. By this means
every cell in the prison can be purified in five min
utes. ..
These cells open outward into hall or corridor,
fourteen feet wide, the hall being lighted and ven.
tilated from two tiers Of windows and q circular
ventilator. ..
The central building is separated from each wing
by stone wall to the second story, and an iron
grating from thence extends to the roof This
wing is divided into three stories, and subdividee
as follows: On the first floor is grand archway
through which railway cars may pass 1t is alse
errurInce 10 the plsoii 1t's
right and left of this entrance are flights OF stairs
leading to the second floor; a kitchen, an apart
ment for steam boilers which will furnish steam fol
heating the building, washing, and culinary pur'
poses; laundry, wash-room and store-room tol
supplies
On the second floor is large hall to be used as
chapel and general hall; an Office and reception
room for visitors, and two guard rooms. The lat,
ter opens into the halls around the cell blocks, and
are the only entrance thereto. g..
On the third floor is the hospital, dispensary,
and physicians Office, and suite of apartments oi
five rooms for the superintendent and his assocl'
ates.
!, THE FEMALE PRISON.
This department consists of three stories, divi.
ded as follows: ~: 49,.
First Floor-An archway, hall, fight Of steps,
laundry and wash-room, kitchen with steam boiler
and heating apparatus, store-room, and suite OF
four rooms for the matron and her assistants.
Second Floor-Two tiers of cells, thirty-six in q
block, with hall fourteen feet wide passing around
the sides and one end.
Third F00-A tier of twelve cells, with hall
fourteen feet wide on two sides, and room on one
end twenty-eight feet wide and fifty feet long.
This room and the hall will be u ed as work
room for female convicts. l
THE WALL
The wall around the penitentiary will be twenty
feet high, built of granite, four feet thick at the
base and two and onc-third feet thick at the top.
1t will have no other entrance than that which has
been specified. This wall is now being rapidly
built to take the place of the present wooden fence
Within this enclosure are located the workshops,
adjacent to the canal power from which will event
ualy be used in driving the machinery; also sub
enclosure for female convicts.
CELLS.
The cells for the male convicts will number five
hundred. There are now finished and occupied,
one hundred and four. They are five feet wide,
eight feet long, and seven feet high. The outer
wall is granite, two and one-haf feet thick the
partition eighteen inches thick, Of brick. The top
of the cells is Of iron, covered one foot with gran
ite. An iron bedstead will be so arranged in each
cell that it can be hooked up when notin use, thus
saving space. Water pipes from the cisten on the
roof, connect with each cell, and the sewerage will
extend to the river The cells and building will be
heated by steam pipes.
Cells for female convicts, forty-eight in number,
are six and half feet wide, eight feet long, and
seven feet high, and are built in the same manner
as those for male convicts. No females have yet
been incarcerated.
The roof of the whole building will be composed