The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-08-11
MODEL STATE PRISON


Given Liberties, Prisoners Buit Their own
Rraon-sohooi Privileges Accorded 20
d Inmates hnd Musical Instructor,
furnished
The Montana state p-enitentlarv In
ita care for and nageme az IT'S
prisoners, is a UNIQUE institution ana
might well be taken as a model bv
many institutions Of like character IN
older states. Not only Is every enor.
maue 70 benefit the unfortunate In.
mates and fit them for honest lives AFT.
en- they SHAH have left the prison walls.
put much Is done to render their pres.
ent condition cheerful. Wardens Con.
ley and McTague, who have had
charge Of the prison for many years.
act upon the theory that, with all posi-.
Ole a~lleviations, penitentiary life Is a
severe punishment and that a large
percentage Of the men win quickly
show their appreciation of Kindness
by being far more tractable than If
they were not accorded any privileges.
The penitentiary might almost be
classed as an educational institution
In the prison school, organized -four
years since, are taught all the English
branches Of the ordinary grammar
schools, In addition to penmanship
bookkeeping, typewriting, t~elegraphy
n photography. A Geographic appa.
ratus has been set up in the peniten.
uary for the 8 Of the pupils. Teach.
ers as well as students are taken from
among the ranks Of the inmates.
But the prison school is not the only
remarkable feature Of this institution.
IN the work performed by the convicts
within the past few years the Montana
p~enitentiary has made a record which
is to the credit Of It's Until
within the last five Or six years the
state Prison consisted of a few log
buildings Of various sizes and one
small stone structure, all surrounded
by a high board fence. The present
prison building ranks among the finest
IN the United States. Few will excel
IT IN sOlidtty or beauty, for while sym.
metrical in outline it is far less severe
IN appearance than the usual BUILDING
or that class, being more elaborate M
uetall, more modern In design and sur.
passing in point of architectural beauty
most institutions of similar character
Inc building is of brick, riveted with
rugged, native granite; 1888 feet IN
length, 30 feet In widtn and nearly az
feet in height, with four towers RISING
to a height Of 60 feet, the whole con.
tanning a floor space Of over 1880
square feet. In addition to this Is what
IS known as the Assembly hall" n
building two st0ries high, ITO bv Cd
reet, composed entirely Of brick with
trimmings of granite blocks. Surround.
ing both buildings is a wall Of native
rock, evenly cut and perfectly match.
ed, extending nine feet into the ground
twenty feet in height, finished with a
coping three feet wide, with massive
entrances, and with four towers FORTY
feet in height. These new BUILDINGS
ana improvements. which ordinarily
would have involved In their construc.
ton an expenditure of nearly a quarter
OF a million, have been built by the IN.
mates Of the prison, all within the
space of four years and at a cost to the
state of less than $4,000.
This work was at FIRST undertaken rs
an experiment, with many doubts and
misgivings, but in a short time the wis.
dom OF the plan was demonstrated so
that when 1t was decided to erect the
main building-the most recently com.
pleted portion Of the work-althongb
IL involved considerable responsibility,
yet the ,GonoE %lSsioneTs and managerfl
'aqd tVL tue SilSnfuat neslruuOu m civ
mg work to the prisoners. There were
no quarrels among the men, no insub
ordination and no attempted escapes
while the work was in progress. with.
out chains or letters and with but few
guards the men quarried the rock. cut
and dressed the granite blocks. nodded
and burned the bricks, dug the sand
burned the lime, cut the logs and
sawed the lumber.