The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-08
NEWS OF THE CITY
WILL ADD TO PRISON
OR BUILD new ONE.
Need of More Room at Penlten.
tiary to Be Impressed on
Legislature

The next legislature. will be called
upon to make large appropriation Tor
the enlarging of the saltwater peniten-
tiary or for the erection of new build
ings at another point in the state for
second states prison.
The state board of control is expect
ed to make a recommendation in its
forthcoming biennial report to the leg
large the present prison quarters at
Saltwater or to make an appropriation
for new penitentiary.
The problem is one that presents diff
ficulty in it's solution. The present
buildings at Saltwater are wholly in
adequate, but from the location OF the
group of prison buildings and the to-
biography of the country where the
prison is situated, there does not seem
to be opportunity for the enlargement
Of the buildings. The group of prison
buildings are on comparatlYel mar
row shelf between the st. Croix river
and a high stone bluff, and nearly all
the available land is now covered by
the buildings already crowded to their
capacity. Two new cell wings, with
capacity for ninety inmates, have been
erected during the year, but with the
sentencing of men at the terms of court
now being held in many counties
throughout the state these will be fully
occupied, and there will be need of
more room before the opening of the
new year.
Will Soon House 700 inmates
The prison census now shows COS
men, but the population will go to 700
within a few weeks in the ordinary
sentence of men at the fall terms of
court.
Ten were sent to saltwater from
Hennepin last week, and courts all
over the state are now in session, with
the result that there are daily arrivals
at the saltwater institution.
Warden Henry Wolfer recently made
a statement indicating the need of some
provision to care for the prison popuIa-
what to do with the criminals SEN
fenced to the penitentiary is giving the
state board of control considerable anx-
iety.
1T is a serious problem said S. w.
Leavett, of the board of control, in
speaking of the best way of solving the
question. ''The state has lot of mon-
ely tied up in it's saltwater penitentiary
buildings. In the stone wall alone, In
CLOSING .
invested large sum. The state cam.
not we'll afford to abandon these build
ings and probably never will, but there
is very little opportunity, from the PEI
culiar natural conditions at Saltwater,
to enlarge the prisons facilities for
housing and caring for many more
men, 1t is true that a majority of the
present buildings are not modern, but
l do not think that they are so unsan-
itary as to endanger the health or
lives of the inmates.
Mistake In Site
"The mistake was made in locating the
, prison on this narrow strip of land along
the river, but it was done and the state
has gone on from year to year appropriate
ing money for new buildings and for the
repair of the old ones until we have
large sum Of money invested in this plant.
1t is, of course. possible to build second
states prison at some other point in the
state, but the Saltwater institution has
not grown to such proportions that its
size would warrant a division of its in
| mates. Six or seven hundred men are but
a fraction Of the number confined in some
of the Eastern penal institutions, and not
on this account will it be recommended,
| if such a recommendation be made, that
a second state prison be provided for by
the legislature
| It is admitted that the state board of
! control will submit the facts of the I'M
fortunate crowded condition at Saltwater
to the next legislature and will ask the
| legislature to care for the surplus either
| by voting an appropriation to enlarge and
! improve the present buildings or to make
! an appropriation on which to make, a
start on buildings for second state pris-
| on, located at some other point than Still
/ water.