Evening journal., 1897-03-20
FOR HUMANITY'S SAKE
The Proposed State Work
house a Great Institution.
WILL EMPLOY AND REFORM MEN
AND WILL SAVE THE THREE
COUNTIES THOUSANDS OF DOL
LARS AND NOT COST THE STATE
ONE CENT, AS PLANNED.

4IODdDll lut luOSl lul liant AhStto-
ure to come before the present General
Assembly, and one that directly con-
Germs the purse of every taxpayer in
Delaware, and appeals to the humanity
and conception OF morality Of every in
habitant, is the State WorkhCuse, or
Penltentiary bill, to be formally urged
next Wednesday by a mass meeting OF
citizens at the capital.
Chief Justice Lore. Judge Ball. eX-
Sheriff Simmons and the other active
thinkers and workers in the Delaware
Society for Public Good, have been
asked to appear on the floor of the
House of Representatives at Dover, to
/ explain the proposed charter and the
plans and specifications which they
have had prepared
GREAT INSTITUTION PROPOSED.
Complete plans of the proposed
workncuse have been drawn from those
of the modern Eastern Penitentiary, OF
Pennsylvania, together with various
! improvements that time and experience
have suggested.
Chief Justice Lore outlined the ideas
of the projectors and the drawings in
his possession at his residence this
porter.
Enclosing an area CT coo feet square,
representing four OF Wilmington's city
squares, is the heavy stone wall and
coping twenty-four feet high, and four
feet in thickness at the base and two
and a-half feet at the top.
Inside this enclosure, which is abso-
lutely impregnable as a means of es-
cape, are the prison buildings, includ-
ing separate residences for the super
intendent and three keepers and their
families.
From the point of entrance the build
ings extend on the same principle as
spokes of a wheel from the hub. The
long buildings are but one-story, and
contain but one tier of cells on each
side of the corridor. Upon this plan
the superintendent commands an unCb-
structed view of every cell door and
down every corridor in the place
The cells are absolutely fire-proof
and like the wall enclosure are practi-
cally impenetrable. Each cell is
is 162 feet deep, feet wide. and from
10 to 16 feet high, the ceiling slOping
, with the roof There are no windows
in the side, but a bright skyllght OF
very narrow dimensions and an inn
proved ventiiator extend along the cell
j ing and roof. Both of these are two
narrow for an ordinary man to squeeze
through could he reach the high cell
ing. There is an iron door On the out
r side and one on the inside, self-lOck
ing.
PREVENTS FILTH AND VERMIN.
A temporary floor, built over soliC
7 stone wall of a thickness Of five feet. /.
to be removed every few weeks anC
burned, while the coping is cleaned ant
new floor laid. This prevents any
= accumulation of vermin and filth, wall.
: and ceiling being kept fresh with fre.
quent whitewashings of good lime AL
this work is to be done by the prison
! ers.
ENTIRE PLANTS OF ITS OWN.
The electric lighting, improved sew
: age draining, laundry work and cook
S ing is all to to be done by separate
4 plants, operated from a boiler and en-
3 gine room in a remote section Of th'
s prison enclosure. The sewage is car
7 ried into a central intercepting sewe
: running the entire length Of each trans
y cept sCme distance under the ston
floor Each cell is supplied with hea
by a single pipe running all the wa
around the interior of the cell.
n WILL HAVE 264 CELLS.
l. The new institution will have 26
:. cells. in which the prisoners are to b
y taught habits Of industry and trades O
~ occunatiOns that shall befit them fo
le life in society upon their release. Fol
y mer Sheriff Simmons thinks that 70
y cells will be sufficient and not III
ID wieldy, but all possibility of oyel
crowding could be avoided by the 26
GREAT RELIEF TO TAXPAYERS
n At present the taxpayers OF New Ca
a. tie county (and il is worse on the bu
den hearers OF Kent and Sussex al
PAYING s163 a year for the maintenan'
Of each prisoner. keeping them in idl
o. ness that produces vicious and inhl
J. man results, and causes them TO COZ
ii taminate the outside world as soon
released. 1t costs over 40 cents ds
the year round
This continued drain upon the Ia
payers becomes more obiecuonab
when il is noted that in the Eastel
Penitentiary, where the prisoners a
industrious instead Of reeking idlenes
q the Ter diem cost of each prisoner
l. but s cents net In, the little Wor
~ | house IN West OucSleI luc pcl "a,
cost is but cents, because the pr
.e oner is made to do some kind of wol
The Maryland Penitentiary, in Bal
more, last year cost nothing and nett
a profit of $4,000.
WILL COST THE STATE NOTHlN
This is not o mere speculation, sa
the chief justice. to-day. I'VE know tn
we can do in Delaware just what }
been done in Pennsylvania and Bal
more. and what is now being done
the little neighboring town OF W.
Chester.
- Our purpose is that this institute
which will mean so much to the u
. payers, the state and humanity, sh
in cost the state nothing. 1t will cost
yht $500 900 TO build. organize and ma
Ia tain for two years the new workhou
ted but the state will not pay cent OF
vas We simply want to borrow the Sl5O,
be- necessary to build, by using the stat
d. name.
- A PEVENT1r To THE STATE.