The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-26
THE OLD PBNITHNTIARY
WashingtOn's Historic Prison on
the Potomac Banks.
A Home for FelOns During Thirty
four Hears-COnvicts Made shoes
for Soldiers and SniJors-OHcinIs
Chosen on Political Account-Lin-
coins AssaSSins Executed There.

The District of Columbia had Pc niten
tiary house of its own from 1929 to 1863
At all other times 1t has boarded out it!
convicted felons in some one or other o
the State penitentiaries. Punishment by
confinement. with or without work. was. a
the beginning of this century, compare.
lively new idea. The deterrents from
crime were whipping, branding, cropping
ears, or death. the latter of which was
inflicted for thefts. forgery, and other Of
fences against property. Not infrequently
the stocks, the pillory, or exile were made
use of as punishment. Changes in these
methods had begun in England when John
Smith sailed up the Potomac, but it was
not until 1S00-1S12 that practical and skill
full use began to be made of the theories
that the punishment of criminal should
contain in it the seeds of his reformation,
and in 1872 the British Parliament au-
thorized the establishment OF the Peniten-
tiary House for London and Middlesex at
Milbank on the Thames from designs by
jeremy Bentham. In the same year, Con-
gress authorized the erection of peni-
Tertiary at Washington on the Potomac,
enacting that the Board of Commission
ers or Levy Court for the county of Wash
ington, in the District of Columbia, be,
and are hereby, empowered to erect and
maintain a penitentiary to be erected at
such place as the Mayor, Aldermen. and
Common Council OF the city of Washington
shall designate"
This was good enough as far as It went,
but 1t did not go far enough. 1t made no
appropriation and the corporation of
citizens to build a penitentiary.
There was no little complaint, for TWEEN
ty or more years. that Congress did moth
ing toward the prisons Of the District.
On the Maryland side of the river several
temporary prisons were used. On the Vir-
ginia side the use o. the Old Colonial Jail,
built in 1855 at he market square, con-
tinued until. in 1918. the grand jury OF
Alexandria county presented the Jail as
nuisance. and then the United States
hired an old ware house at the river
side. foot of Wolfe Street, and fitted up
a prison there.
Agitation for a suitable penitentiary
was kept up. and in 1896 Congress en-
acted that the President of the United
States be. and he hereby is, authorized
and required to appoint three commits
sioners whose duty it shall be to select
a proper site In the District OF Columbia
on which to erect a suitable penitentiary
for said District" Congress at the same
time. by an act approved May 20, 1896.
$4,000 to defray the expense
of erecting the building. The commits
sionsrs appointed for the purpose selected
the peninsula between James Creek and
Potomac River and began the building
of the penitentiary house at a location
where Delaware Avenue extended met
Four-and- a-half Street. This made two
straight roads to the penitentiary. one
from the Capitol and the other from the
City Hall.
While the building was in progress and
nearly completed the following report in
the proceedings of a Prison Reform Asso-
citation at New York summarized the sit
uation:
This institution owes its origin to the
exertions of the Hon. Alexander Thomp-
son. member OF Congress from Pennsyl-
yania. With the zeal and humane spirit OF
a Howard he visited the abodes OF wretch
edness in the prisons of the District and
mitIed exertions to effect a reform in the
county prisons and to establish peniten-
-iary. Mr.. Thompson's views were met by
Congress with great liberality in the ses-
sion of 1925. and with uncommon unanim-
ty an appropriation was made for building
4 penitentiary prison of $50 cells of the
size of three and a half feet wide, seve7
Ieet long, and seven feet high. site fer
is location was selected by the Commits
iioners appointed under the requirements
If the act. and the Architect of the Capitol
vas sent by the President of the United
states to examine the best prisons then I'M
Ter occupation. A report was made of his
proceedings and plan prepared-the re-
ult OF actual inspection and of the best
to be obtained from Elan
1ynds, esq. generally considered the fcih-
II of the Auburn system. The principal
building has been erected in the most
borough manner under the immediate in
pectiOn OF r. Leckie esq. II contains
early one hundred and sixty cells, a few |
n the upper story having been enlarged |
o accommodate such prisoners as might |
10 sentenced to continued solitary confine- |
nent. Two buildings are also finished as
wings one intended for the keepers house /,
nd the other for the kitchen Of the es- |
ablishment and the hospital rooms.
"A warden ard board of inspectors have !
cen appointed, upon whom 1t will devolve |
o make the necessary subdivisions of the /
ard. and TO build workshops suited to the (
pecies OF the work. intended to be carried
n. The whole country mas an interest in
making this establishment as perfect as
ossible: it may be expected to serve as a
model for others which may be built in
uture at the South and West. II is. there
ore, respectfully suggested that before any
ar oil bo
arden and some of the inspectors should
isit the prisons at New York. and espe-
tally that at Wethersield. IN Connecticut.
Or the purpose OF becoming better ac-
TAINTED with their discipline and of as
the best construction OF work.
hops and of the apparatus of a kitchen.
'hich is repres snted to be at Sing Sing, the
lost perfect plan ever yet execut ed.
The rules enacted by Congress for the
overnment of the penitentiary provided
lat it should be exclusively appropriated
} the combining Of such persons as may
e convicted of offences punishable with
Imprisonment and labor under the laws of
he United States or of the District of CO.
Imbia." The salary of the warden was
Xed at 81. 200 per annum. and he was d.
acted to see that the labor OF the conyicts
Bould pay the expenses of psnitentiary, or
lore. The cOnvicts were allowed to be
ird to labor, but on one occasion only
id Congress direct how that labor should
2 employed. In 1862 an act of Congress
rected that the warden shall. as far as
employ the cCnvic In the man
facture of shoes for the army and navy,
rders to be made as the War and Navy
apartment ssould direct"
The penitentiary was for more than thir-
years. the most prominent object on the
yer front of the city of Washington. The
ng. wide, high. slate-roofed building,
hose iron-barred windows left the be-
older in no doubt Of its character over
oked a somewhat restricted yard which
as surrounded by a high wall with small