The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-03
VISIT AMONG THE JAIL'S 400
ETERYTHENG IN GOOD SHdrE READY FOR THE NEW TEAR.

1 MAnN AiHNe tb SltSp sh NhS
 Hospltai-New Addition Being Built ! seven Hundred Pounds oy Meat Used at q
 Meal-Many Interesting Facts About the | COunty's Whalley Avenue Boarding
 House.
 Few persons in New Haven realize l what a large criminal community is i gathered together within the walls of the county jail on Whalley avenue and 1 the great responsibility thrown upon the jail officials to take care of the persons under their charge and to see ! that everything is in smooth running order, At present there are about $50 men prisoners and 2S women, a num- Der somewhat less than the number in carcerated at the same time last year. At the head of the force of officials overseeing the actions of this motley crowd of criminals is Sheriff Spiegel, but the main part of the duty really deVolves upon Turnkey Hart, as the
 
 nected with his office that he has to turn the greater part of the duties of jailor over to MT. Hart who is at the jail at all times of day and night.
 The day watchman or inside man is Joseph Schappa, while the night watch man is Stiles Stephens. These officers are stationed in the large cell hall and it is their duty to see that order is kept and no undue levity or liberty is indulged in. The clerk is A. Rowe, who is just now very busy making out board bills and fixing up the January re- ports for the year.
 The front part of the jail building is divided up into commodious apart ments for the use of the sheriff's fam fly and Turnkey J. J. Hart, The rooms are all large and are as well appointed as those of most of the resident houses of the city. Clerk Rowe also has a room in this part. MT. Hart has rooms and in his own private room he has several objects made by artistic work men who have been prisoners. One of these is fine crayon picture of the turkeys farm house on his country place. Another is q finely wrought cabinet. In the wall at the back part of Mr. Hart's rooms is a grated win dow connecting with the large mems cell room. This is so that he may keep watch of what goes on among the pris- oners during the night The turnkey rises at o'clock in the morning and is kept busy until about 3 at night, while he is frequently aroused during niohi fn q oh # brought in from Hamden and other nearby towns. The sheriff's residence has been entirely newly fitted since MT. Spiegel took the office and bath room has been built in on each of the second and third floors.
 One is a once struck by the con- trast on going from the sheriffs apart ments the pleasantness of which is greatly enhanced by the charming daughters of MT Spiegel and MT Hart, to the plain austere quarters assigned to the prisoners A new private dining room is being ltted up just back of the front hall and back at the left of this is the kitchen and laundry. In the large kitchen where the prisoners food is cooked are huge iron kettles and that they must be huge is shown by the fact that for one dinner 700 pounds of corned beef is cooked for supper ; on certain days 150 pounds of corn meal into mush, bushels of potatoes while 300 loaves of bread are used daily. In this kitchen there is also a large hash chopper, which chops about l0C pounds at time. In the Kitchen are also piled up great heaps of clean tin , dishes, in which the food is served to , the prisoners through small openings in the wall, between the cell room and the kitchen. As each prisoner receives his rations, he must go to his cell tC eat. Just back of the kitchen are the women's cells and when the Courier : man called yesterday some Christian ladies were talking and advising with 3 the prisoners. The inmates seemed to delight in arguing with the visitors and trying to impress upon them their inno- cence.
 One of the most attentive of the pris- oners to the talk of the visiting ladies was Mrs. Donovano, the young woman
 held for bigamy and living with a col 1 ored man.
 In the women's department is nice library, containing some good reading, . furnished by charitable ladies.
 } In the mems cell room there are three tiers of cells, one above the other. Each = cell contains a very comfortable cot-bed and a pair of chairs, as two men are
 generally put in a cell together, al : though no conversation is allowed be tween prisoners except al certains hours , that is. between 5:30 and o'clock At the back part of the mems cell room a large iron trough extends the width of the room and has running along over it a water pipe from which the
 trough is filled. Here is where the ab- lutions of the men are performed before : shoemaker's bench and kit, and here the shoes of the prisoners are mended
 by another prisoner. The present occu- Y pant of the bench is an old, white-ha ed man. fully sixty years of age. At \ the back and right side of the mems cell room a passageway opens out lead , ing to the chair factory, operated by | the Eastern Chair company, and where the men prisoners work out their sen tences.
 Along one side of this corridor is 8 l row of dungeons, or unusually strong tight cells, where unruly prisoners arc put. There is at present no one con , fined in these quarters although tht