Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-07-10

sight to see a convict driving through
town on Sundays or to see one lettering l
around the depot. Nevertheless, the
prison discipline is good, and it is sell
dom necessary to resort to solitary con-
finement as punishment for the infrac-
ton of penitentiary rules. The major |
ity of the convicts are reconciled to |
their fate, and rather enjoy life, but
very seldom are anxious to return to the
penitentiary.
A peep into the p~enitentiary kitchen
is interesting. All cooking is done by
steam. Several convicts with white
caps are constantly employed in the
kitchen. The meals are prepared in huge
cauldrons similar to those employed on
| the large transatlantic steamers.
The steam for heating and cooking
purposes, as we'll as driving the ma
chimes at the penitentiary, is furnished
by a huge boiler, which drives a 124
horsepower engine.
On the penitentiary premises are a tin
and plumbing establishment, a tail
oring and shoemaker shop, a laundry,
where seven convicts are employed ev-
cry day; a bakery, where three con-
| victs, professional bakers, are kept busy
from morning till evening daily, turn
ing 400 pounds of flour into bread.
The bath room accommodates ten
prisoners at a time. All are given a
shower bath every Saturday, and CLAD
in clean clothes. 1t takes three hours
to give the 200 convicts at the prison {
bath and shave.
The new ice house is filled with 37t
tons of ice, and in it are kept the per-
ishable supplies. 1t was completed by
prison labor and cost the territory not
a red copper.
flee, too, but unfortunately no funds are
on hand to provide it with the machin-
cry for the manufacture of pottery, as
had beer intended. On the first floor is
the machine shop with two drill presses.
In it was manufactured all the iron
work necessary for the new addition to
the main building of the penitentiary.
There are also stored all the slate and
lumber necessary for the additional
wing to the main building. Work on
that addition has been retarded, owing
to the fact that all the convicts skilled
in stone-cutting are employed at the
capitol building. Nevertheless, a great
part of the stone wall of the 10S-foot
l avtnnctnn hoe hoan raor rod onH all tho
iron work, including cells and locks, all
the wood work and everything else for
the speedy completion of the BUILDING is
ready and in shape to be used immedi-
ately. Many Of the convicts employed at
that work have developed into skillful
mechanics.
The electric light plant has one large
dynamo that supplies the penitentiary
with four arc lights and $50 ten to fifty
candle-pOwer incandescent lights. One
ten candle-power electric light is in
zach cell. When the capitol is finished
another dynamo will be placed in the
electric light plant and another boiler
and smokestack be built. Several Of the
convicts have become skilled engineers
and electricians.
Just outside of the boiler house Is a
cistern 20 feet deep that was dug last
fall. 1t has proved of great service, as
several times during the year the wa
ter supply from the city has been made
quate for the use Of the penitentiary.
Inside of the p~enitentiary walls five
acres of ground is under irrigation and
planted with tomatoes, cabbage, cauli-
flower, peas, beans, carrots, %parsnips,
turnips, squashes, pumpkins and other
vegetables, sufficient to supply the PEN
itentiary all the year round. Outside Of
the ~penitentiary walls ten acres is un-
der cultivation and five acres planted
with fruit trees. Early vegetables are
raised in hot beds. The interior garden
is irrigated by a large pond, which also
serves as a lake for geese and ducks.
Chickens, turkeys and pigeons are kept
in neat poultry houses. In winter their
feed is warmed, and in consequence
they lay eggs in January as we'll as in
July. Fifty head of hogs are kept, and
supply the p~enitentiary with fresh pork.
In the stables are eleven head of horses,
including nine splendid draught horses.
Two mules keep the horses company.
A. dollhouse on the premises is the
pride of the convicts. A lifetime prison.
err has charge of it, and certainly has
great success at flower raising. Sweet
peas and other flowers are %blossoming
at the dollhouse at present.
Brick making is the chief industry at
the p~enitentiary. Last year about L.
500, 900 bricks were made. All the brick
for the capitol and for certain other ter
ritorial institutions were made there.
Recently, 440,O 900 bricks in the new kiln
were bought by Bond Bros, Of Espa-
nola, for their new store buildings. Two
lime kilns are burning lime continually.
The lime rock is found about a mile and
a half north of Santa Fe. The material
for the bricks is found Immediately out
side Of the prison walls.
A 119-foot well has been dug in the
brick yard, but the windmill above it
cannot raise the water. With ample
power the whole penitentiary could be
supplied with water from the we'll,
which has a 10-foot depth of water with
a 6-inch flow.
A carpenter shop and a paint shop are
maintained at the penitentiary, and in
both can be found specimens Of the skill
of several convicts at those trades. A
blacksmith shop furnishes employment
to a number of ~cnnvicts In the stone