New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-04-30
drains leading to the main sewer, which 1!
tide-lOcked at high water
WARDEN REALIZES SITUATION.
cts LITTLE

Warden Addison Johnson. of Sing Sing Prison.
makes attempt to disprOving the individual
and several charges made against the sanitary
conditions existing in the dollhouse at Sing Sing.
Il realize the situation as keenIy as any One."
said the warden the other day. This old cell
house of ours is a disgrace to the State. 1t is
nearly one hundred years Old damp and an
doubted source Of disease but what can do?
Year after year in my reports I have called at
tention TO its condition, and asked that if new
one cannot be substituted a new steel cell block
be installed TO take the place of the present I'M
sanitary one.
The fame of Sing Sing prison has spread so
far that representatives of other governments
frequently come here to investigate AS they
pass through that old dollhouse l do not won
der at their disgust
Generally speaking, I favor the adoption Of
all measures that tend to the upbuilding Of the
health of the prisoners. The abolition of the
stripes and lockstep, believe, was step in
the right direction, but in this matter of i'm
proving prison conditions it is an easy thing
TO oVerdo II. IN their desire TO improve condi-
tons for prisoners people are apt 10 forget that
q man is sent 10 prison for punishment. There
is a popular tendency TO throw bouquets at a
man once he is convicted Of a crime. Now, that
is all wrong. 1t is all right to care for pris-
Oners' health, but If they are to be allowed
things that are comparatively luXuries we will
have hard work driving them away from here
when their terms are served"
OF his recommendations for steel cell
block Warden Johnson says: " A space which is
only three and a half feet vide, seven feet long
and seven feet high and poorly ventilated
only induce disease to the very heartiest con-
stitutiOn. our cells contain only Ill cubic
feet Of air, while the primary laws of simplest
hygiene demand not less than 1000 feet of well
circulated air for each person. Moreover, IL is
impossible to warm the present stone walls in
winter, and II is equally impossible to prevent
their dampness in summer. I have gone into
our dollhouse on summer evenings when the
atmosphere so dense that the walls were
covered with heavy moisture Not only are the
cells much too small and the ventilation very
bad but the hollow wall which runs the whole
length OF the building and separates the OBJ
posing tiers Of cells. and which was intended as
q means OF ventilation. is a huge nest Of YER
min that cannot be disclosed and nothing Is so
demoralzing TO men confined IN prison as filth
and the vermin which it breeds There is no
wav that this hollow wall can be reached and
cleaned OF the accumulation Of a century's dirt
which befouls the air that enters from It's re-
cesses into every cell OF the building This cell
house IS nearly 100 years old II was built ac
cording TO the most primitive architectural
plans, and II has served its purpose long and
very poorly Even the most rigorous form of
discipline may not Justly inhict upon its vic
tins the loss OF health and consider that our
cellular building does Just that / am salts
fed that the fever cases which developed here
a few years ago originated IN the dollhouse
and rheumatism in some os itB worst forms as
sails almost every prisoner confined IN that
building. When the typhoid fsver was epidemic
here "a 1909 4 called upon the State sBoREGeof