The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-03
CONVICT CAMPS
 WELL CONDUCTED Visit to Flat Top With State
 Medical Inspector
  MODEL PENAL INSTITUTION County and State Prisoners Humanely Cared for-Advanced Methods of Sanitation in Use-Tasks Are
 Fixed by State Inspector.
MODEL PENAL INSTITUTION

Fixed by State Inspector.
 Under the rules established by the state convict board of Alabama. all eonvicts at the various penal camps throughout the state are examined once each month by the medical Inspector of the board.
 One of the largest and best equipped of these camps is located at the Flat Top coal mines of the sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron company. The camp is on the War rior river about three miles south of Littleton. station on the Southern Rail- way twenty miles northwest of Birming- ham. When Dr. Shirley Bragg. the medi- cal inspector of the state convict board. made a visit of inspection this week. he was accompanied by an Age-Herald re- porter.
 Soss-sheffield Camps.
 The sloss- Sheffield camp was laid out largely in accordance with the advice of Dr. Bragg, and many of his ideas are carried out in the construction of the buildings. It Is arranged so that both state and county convicts can be con fined in one camp and still be kept apart except when they are i'll. and confined in the hospital, which is joint institu- tion. The main prison building is built in the form of a T. the front of the building being represented by the top or cross line. This front building is raised from the ground about six feet, and is two stories high. It has frontage of 396 feet and is 90 feet deep. In the center is a hallway 30 feet square, having stair way which leads to the upper story. On either side the dormitories for the pris- oners open out from this hallway. They are each 1s3 feet long by 30 feet wide. and have windows at the front and back as well as at the ends. This affords an abundance of fresh air and light.
 he Beds.
 The beds are made with Iron frame works swung from the ceiling by pieces of gas pipe at each end. The ceilings are twelve feet high and there are two rows of beds in each dormitory. There is space of twelve feet wide between rows of bees, and the heads of the beds are six feet from the walls. They are two and one-half feet apart. The dormitc, .es at enc end of the building are used for state convicts, while those at the other end are used for county convicts. As more than 90 per cent of the convicts are negroes, all of this dormtory space is given over to them.
 The other wing of the building, which corresponds to the upright or stem of the T is three stories in Height and is 200 feet long and thirty feet wide. 1t is built on a brick and stone foundation. There are windows on both sides and at the end on each floor.
 Bath Room.
 The lower floor or basement Is divided into store rooms, dressing rooms and bath room. As the convicts come from the mines they are marched in squads of thirty into the bath room, where they re- move their clothing and get under the showers, where they are obliged to re- main until they are thoroughly bathed. They then carry their mining garments to certain place in the dressing rooms, where each man has separate hooks on which to keep his mining clothes and prison clothes. After his bath he puts on the dry clothes and leaves his mining suit, which is washed and dried and put back ready for him to resume the next day before going into the mine. The floor of the bath room Is convex and the water runs off into the sewer through traps A passage way and stair lead from the bath room to the square hallway at the front of the main building. From this hallway doors lead on the main floor into the dining rooms. There are two of these, each fifteen feet wide and 200 feet long, divided by a grated partition which al- lows free circulation of the air.
 State and County Separate.
 One room is set aside for the state pris- oners, while the other is used for the county convicts The state convicts and county convicts take their meals at diff ferent times the county men being about a half hour earlier than the state men This difference In time is carried out throughout the whole prison routine so that the men under the different jurisdic- tions practically never come in contact Above the dining room, leading from the upper hallway, are dormitorles for the white prisoners.
 The Kitchens.
 Sixty feet from the dining rooms on either side of the building are the kitch- ems, one for state use and one for the county men. They are connected with the dining rooms by covered passageways. About 400 feet from the main building and somewhat in the rear is the woman's prison. This is divided into dormitory and dining room, the meals being served from the kitchen attached to the county convicts quarters Between meal times the dining room is used as a sewing room where the convicts clothes are mended by the women convicts
 The Hospital.
 On the other side of the prison and about five hundred feet away is the hos pital It is a one and one-half story