The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-12-20
OAHU PRISON
MODERN|ZED
The New Buildin 6
Is Now Ready
For Use.

ton to oahu Prison has been com
pleted. One ward of the Jail, in fact,
is now occupied by women prisoners,
and the balance of the building is
ready for occupancy.
1T is fine building for the pur-
pose" said High Sheriff Henry, going
over the place yesterday modern and
up-to-date in every particular"
And, in fact, it is a fine building for
the purpose for which it was design
ed. There can be not the least ques-
ton about that. The new building, a
three-story structure, stands in yard
by itself on the Eva side of the main
Jail building. 1t is surrounded by a
concrete wall. twenty feet in height,
built by the labor of prisoners in the
two acres in extent. This new Jail
yard is reached by a massive gateway
leading from the yard of the old Jail,
and in the middle of the new yard Ger
rit Wilder has planted a kamani tree
that the new yard may be shaded, in
the time to come as the old yard is
now. That tree in the old yard, is
perhaps the greatest solace that pris-
oners in the Jail have. The new tree,
1t is hoped, will prove as great a bless
ing to the unfortunate in the future.
Passing out of the old Jail yard
through the new gate, the new Jail
building stands up clean and white
across the whole length of the en-
closure. 1t is of brick, covered with
concrete. and is most massively built.
An iron door leads into the lower cor
ridor, and here just opposite the door
is a large closet room in which are
the electric light switches for the en-
tire building, and various other con-
Veniences for the use of the guards.
Opening right and left from the en-
try, are two long wards or corridors
each cut off from the entry by graf
ed door. The corridor or ward on what
Is known as the mauka side is the
smaller OF the two, containing ten
cells, each seven feet, and each capa.
Bile of holding two, or at a pinch, three
prisoners, with comfort. The cells ar,
fitted with hammocks in lieu of cots
a reform in the interest of health and
cleanliness both physical and moral
and the cells are so arranged that from
the door of one it is impossible to look
INTO the cell directly across the hall
At the end Of the ward farthest from
rhe main door, and this is true of the
all the wards, is a clean, white closet
with open plumbing, and a sink equal
ly clean and white for the emptying
of Stops. These things are arranged
with perfect drainage and according
to the best sanitary rules, the appara-
tus being of the kind in use in the
best modern jails.
Opposite the entry, on the makai
side Of the prison, is a larger ward OF
corridor, containing twenty-five cells
and in this larger ward the arrange
ments are in all respects similar to
II
entry, also, a broad stairway, we'll
lighted and with broad landings, leads
up to the second floor, where the wards
and cells are exactly as on the floor
below, with the difference that in the
space occupied by the entry below
there has been placed on this floor a
room for guards.
The third floor is arranged precisely
as the second with the exception that
there are concrete partitions in the
hallway so that the two wards are
more private than on the floor below.
The small ward on the second floor, IT
should be noted in passing, is the one
now in use for women prisoners in
the Jail. 1t is the intention, of course,
TO keep the women apart from the
men, letting them out to their bath
in the new prison yard after the men
hsve gone to their work on the streets
ara parks.
The bath, by the way, is one of the
best features of the new prison. The
bath house is cement fioored and with
a cement wall rising up high enough to
hide the body of the bather. at which
point lattice work commences. The
BATH house contains six showers and
a number of hydrants. The floor
slopes down to a grating in the center
which carries off the flow of water,
and the drainage scheme here, also, is
perfect.
The new prison building contains,
all told, ninety six cells and accommo-
dations for twice as may prisoners as
that--or, on pinch, for three times as
many. The building is 12x32 feet over
all. 1t stands on the Eva side of the
main prison, as has been said, and is
plain structure but not the less inn
pressive in its effect for that. 1t is
rooted with gravel, with large ven
tilators on the roof and is well light
ed. There Is a window in every cell
SO that the prisoners are not cut off
altogether from the sunlight of out of
doors, and the prison is cool in the
hottest days.
1t should meet the needs of the Ter
Titory, in the way of a central prison,
for number of years to come. The
old prison has accommodations for 800
prisoners, and with the roomy new
building, with its clean and airy cells,
there should he No trOuhle in nrovid