New-York tribune., 1890-01-02
THE NEW STATE PRISON.
A SITE AND PLANS TO BE SELECTED BY
THE LEGISLATURE.
SIZE OF THE NEW PRIsoY-vARIoUs SITES con-
sIDERED-THE QUESTION OF DISTANCE
FROM THE METROPOLIS.
rRoM the REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF The IRIBUNE.


Jalbany, Jan. Lone Of the most important sub
tccts which the legislature will have u consider Is
that Of a site for new state Prison. Following the
selection OF the site will be tie consideration oi tne
type Of prison to be created whether one Of enormous
size, capable Of holding two or three thousand con
victs or Of smaller capacity, with cells Tor only
one thousand conVicts. Those interested in prison
reform 1t is said favor prison Of small size no
prison in their opinion. should contain over 1000
convcts
The Commission appointed under the Act of the
last Legislature to select site for the new prison
will submit their report TO the Legislature OF l''o
about January Is. The Commission has as Its mem
bers Charles NJ Preston, of Kingston. the new super
intendent Of the Banking Department; John v Cock
roft of Sing Sing; Frank W. Downs. Of BinSamtoh'
Albert c. Tenant of COoperstOwn; ana CharlcS T.
Kroner Of Schoharie. These commissioners ala hot
meet until November g. that they cannot be said 10
have given much time TO the consideration OF the I'M
portant question Of the site. However, the terms OF te
act under which they appointed have aided them
In appearances to complete their work much sooner
than could be expected. They were limited III that
act in looking for site TO the territory east Oh ic
With Judicial District" This provision therefore, COM
pelS them to put the new state prison IN some one
of the counties of the Hudson River Valley or boz
derng that valley. The counties which are included
in the territory at their command Kings. Queens,
Suffolk Richmond Ncw-York WeStche>ter, Rocdand,
Orange. Putnam sullivan. Ulster, Duchess Coiumpla
Greene, Albany, Schoharie and Rensselaer, 1t was
natural that there should be such limitation, since
ali of the /. 1856 convicts in sing Sing Prison come
from New-York, Brooklyn and other places In the
Ist and lid Judicial Districts, which contain inc
counties of Richmond, Suffolk, Queens Kings, West
chester, Orange, ROckland, Putnam and DutchesS'
To save expense to the State in the transportation OF
convcts it is provided by law that the convicts OF
Western and Central York shall be sent to Auburn
state Prison. those of New York and Brooklyn to Sing
Sing and those of Northern NeW-York to Dannemora.
Sing Sing is not able TO accommodate all OF the
convcts contributed to it by the counties OF the lst
and Id Judicial Districts mentioned Thus 2463
convicts out of the $3.50 cOnvicS in the three state
prisons come the Ist and I'D judicial Districts
and vet as already stated only 1856 of these convcs
can now be accommodated at sing sing. and 1927
have been transferred TO the other prisons. prison
sufficiently large New-York to accommodate all
of the 2,163 convcts Of the Ist and I'D judicial
Districts would have the effect of saving the state
a large amount Of money II now pays for the trans
portation and transfer of convicts.
singular TO relate, the Prison Commission in ex-
amning Sites have almost invariably Inspected places
at least 100 miles from New-IOrk. Thus. only one
site can apparently be found on Long Island, ana that
is in suffolk County, at the extreme eastern part OF
the Island. and 100 miles distant from New York
sullivan County has two sitcs-one in Oakland Valley
about 13O miles from New-York. and the other at
Monticello about the same distance. Then Ulster
County has two sites-one at Woodstock. about II
miles from Kingston and the other at Esopus. on the
Hudson. These are over ninety miles from New York
Then farther north the Hudson River there Is Cox
sackie which wishes the prison to be placed within
its borders. On the eastern bank of the Hudson
River there is a site offered near the city of Hudson.
ia miles from New-York But this does not com
plee the list; in Schohare County there are three
places which desire the honor, namely, schohare'
100 miles; CObeskill 155 miles. and Howes cave
1s2 miles from NewYork.
Mr.. Preston said yesterday ave have not examined
any site in westchester County, because no one In
that county seemed to desire the prison. Nor have
we examined any site in Putnam, ROckand, Albany
Dutchess, or Rensselaer, Counties some special rca
sons are given why we should take certain sites
Thus there are Quarries in the oakland Valley IN
Sullivan County at Woodstock, in lister County, and
at Howe Cave, at which the convicts could be en-
ployed. Individually, ! consider this a matter OF
small Importance for the state has abandoned lis lime
quarres which it once worked at Sing sing. and its
iron bed which il once worked at Dannemora There
are mechanical industries now al which the conNcts
had better be employed one of the chief things IN
my opinion to be considered in the selection Of site
is ease Of access to it By rail steamboat and that
the Site should be a commanding The new state
Prison is to be grand public building. Why should 1t
not have fine site; one commanding view Of the
landscape for many miles, and an Ornmcnt 10 the
nelghborhood.'
"Wn you recommend the reconstruction Of Sing
Sing Prison, or its extension" ?" asked The Tribune
correspondent.
No for as We read the legislative act under which
we were appointed, that settles the matter Of the
removal OF sing sing Prison. Our duty Is 10 hnd
a site for a new prison and suggest a plan Of con
structicn Of a new We have substantially fin
ished our examination Of sites and a sub-cOm
mttee will 90 10 work 10 discover the best plan for
a nrison This subcommittee will shortly visit the
Flmira ReformatOrv and the Western Pententiary of
pennsylvania at PtsDurg. The latter prison is ono
# the most recently constructed prisons in the country
and think shall find good model III IT.
May you suggest two prisons in view OF the large
number of cOnvicts to be impn~oned ~
NO only one; that is all We are authorized 10 40
and should doubt if the taxpayers would be willing
now 10 erect two new prisons
There is some criticism already Of the proposal 10
put the prison at such great distance from New
York As 100 miles, as IS the case WIN aboui an ue
sites thus far examined. such choice VIII largely
increase the states tran sportaton expenses III convey
ing convlcts from New YORK ana brpphNn 10 ue new
prison. Moreover II will remove Tie conVctS lar
away from their relatives in New-fork ana blooklyn
see them Sing sing is only thrty-three and onethird
miles from NewYork and therefore easily and cheaply
accessible to poor people Bul II lhe prison Is 'ShgG
harle 100 miles from New York, IT is rarely that the
conviets will be cheered by seeing 1rlehuy & &Idoe
The life of a convict miserable enough without max
ao ing 1t mn moe fo0rr i0 riyrncye a1rage in speaking
about this subject in his report for loo7: A..
There has been transferred to Auburn ana Cnhtoh
prisons during the past fiscal year 4O2 men, can
not do better than to repeat the language used IN
my report Of last year a follows:
Tie expense Of this transfer had 10 be borne en-
tirey by this prison and is quite large item But
this is Of small consequence compared 10 the fIe"V
evil Of transferring prisoners from this TO other
prisons a long distance from their homes.
Many Of the friends Of the prisoners here are poor
and cannot afford 10 spend the money necessary to
visit them when they transferred either 10 Auburn
or Clinton. This only forces needless expense
upon the friends Of the prisoners but in most cases
81 consider this takes away one OF the greatest
means Of reformation that We have.
"If a prisoner is transferred where his friends
can not visit him. he becomes sulcn, dlsprltcd, ana
IS i'm no condition TO be reformed 49,
81 think 1t is clear that every prison IN thls
b.tra pgQfiV n nc(om
be sent from the districts in which the prison u
situated. II seems not only lnhunan, but barbaronS
to transfer prisoners where home influence cannot
reach them and trust that You Will urge upon the
next Legislature the necessity Of cNendng the buildings
here 10 a sufficient capacity 10 accommodate all.
"Thesc huildncs can be put up with but very small
eynense with prison labor the only cost being tho