Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1906-10-05
NEW JAIL is
NEARING COMPLETION
Exterior Work to Be Completed in
November-Comparison of Two
Structures.

By November it is expected that the
exterior work Of the new county Jail
building will be completed, and it will
only take few more weeks to put on
the finishing touches to the interior
Workmen are now engaged in mailing
down the ornamental tin shingles on
the roof of the sheriff's dwelling and
dumping the concrete mixture into
the steel apertures forming the roof
of the Jail proper.
When the structure now In course
of construction is ready for occu.
pancy Santa Fe will have one of the
most modern calabooses anywhere in
the country instead of one of the most
dilapilated. There Is a striking con-
trast between the two buildings. The
new building is being erected in the
old Jail yard and it towers away above
the low rambling adobe affair that
has long since outlived its usefulness.
A New Mexican reporter made an
inspection tour of the two buildings
this morning, noting the progress that
had been made in the construction of
the new one. and observing the CON
dition of the old one soon to be
razed.
When the building now fast going
to decay is torn down one of the land
marks of the city will have been de-
stroyed. How many years the old
building has been standing is mat
ter of conjecture, but 1t is known that
1t has been in existence for several
centuries, and is supposed to date
back to the time of the Spanish con-
quistadores The adobe walls are
collapsing now and if allowed TO re-
main it would tumble down
within few more years. The
walls and ceilings of the cells are
whitewashed but in spite of this they
present an unclean appearance and
when built very little attention was
given to ventilation.
Standing along sile the old jail is
the new building constructed Of rein
forced concrete and pressed brick.
The contrast is certainly very pro-
nounced. The Jail proper which is
built of the reinforced concrete will
be fitted out with steel cells of the
most approved pattern. The roof OF
the Jail will be of curved steel sheet
ing over which will be thick layer
of concrete. The floor will also be
of concrete, making the Jail not only
unbreakable. but practically fire
proof.
The portion of the building that will
be occupied by the sheriff and his
family is of brick with stone trim
mings. This part has two floors, and
the only entrance to the jail is
through it. The architect who de-
signed It had In view the saiety OF
the prisoners as well as the comforts
of the occupants. In the event that
there is a woman prisoner she VIII
be kept separate from the others in
room on the second floor OF the
sheriff's dwelling
There are only five prisoners In the
Jail at the present time. Two OF
them were brough in yesterday
from Cienega anl one of the Others is
prisoner from Torrance County. OF
the quintet but two are city prison
ers. 1t is very seldom that there are
more than five prisoners in the jail
at one time, and 1t is not uncommon
to have no charges there at all.
Catarino Lobato and Luis Gonzales
are the two city prisoners in the jail.
The former is the crazy man who was
arrested week ago and will be sent
to the insane asylum at Las Vegas.
The latter is serving a two months
sentence for wife beating. Antonio
Rivera and Sequil Leyba are the pris-
oners who came from Cienega. They
were arrested on a charge of horse
stealing on complaint of Thomas W.
Hanna. The other prisoner is w. j.
Adair, who was sent down from Es-
tancia, there being no jail in Torrance
County. He is incarcerated to await
the action of the next grand jury OF
Torrance County for alleged wife
beating.