The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-11-04
IonnesSee
Penitentiary
An Interesting Description of the
Same by Jennie E. Wood
worth of that State.

1t may interest you to know few
things regarding the Tennessee Peni-
tentiary. visit it every year although
am not personally acquainted wit b
it, 1t is a much visited institution,
consequently the guides and men in
charge of the reception room are re-
quired to repeat many times a day the
story Of the prison and how it is con-
Quoted. Each group of visitors wants
to know all there is to tell about it.
The courtesy and polite attention all
visitors receive are very noticeable, and
remarked on, for it must grow tiresome
to the guides, surely, to repeat for years
every day the same description.
The Penitentiary is situated seven
miles from Nashville, On level tract
of land. The entire farm contains elev-
en- hundred and twenty acres, while the
ground occupied by buildings is about
ten acres. The electric cars running
to West Nashville take one to the door
in about forty minutes.
The prison is not an imposing struc-
ture at all as one approaches it, for it
is extremely plain, with high tower
In the center of the front, and smaller
tower on either side, while wall twen-
ty two feet high incloses the buildings.
On top of this wall lies an electric wire
charged sufficiently to kill one " h 0
oS~h cd hri0 10 q o.
terial used in constructing all the build
ings. The grounds surrounding the
buildings outside the wall are beauti-
fully kept by TRUSTEES, both black and
white. These convicts who are per-
mitted to work outside require no guard,
and are permitted to converse. High
steps lead to the front entrance. We
entered moderately wide h lw a y
where man sits to give information.
We fassei on into another hall and
noticed the beautiful white floors, Il
call them white because they were SO
ma, velOusly clean.) In the center of
the halls is strip of rag carpet made
of o'd black and white prison suits
Each visitor is required to register be.
fore lie ng shown through the prison
On the bulletin board looked over the
figures, and for that day it registered
$40 men, $50 of them being white men
8 white women and negro women
The State has 1877 convicts, both BLACK
and white, in the Brushy Mountain
coal mines where they dig coal and thu
State receives so much for their serv
ices. The majority of the men-se n
to the mines are bad criminals. l wa
told that 70 percent of the cOnvicts il
this state cannot read or write. Jus
think of this statement being made II
the twentieth century. The prisol
buildings are quite old and are not o
the modern architecture one finds il
many others prisons, but all are wei
kept, and alprecautions to guard ht alt
and rules of sanitation are enforced
The entire place is scrupulously Clear
so much SO, one can "smell the clean.
All buildings have good system
0uN otO WCAA hO0cCN Az IVA
weather. A great air shaft runs throug
the center of the wings, constructed t
send fresh air into each cell all the tim
Each morning all bedding is summed an
aired so the beds are healthful. Th
prison has cell wings, one for white ne
and one for negroes. Each wing he
four hundred cells, which measure 81
feet. There are two tiers of cells
each wing.
When a prisoner first comes in, he
taken to the bath room where he
made as clean as soap and water ca
make him. Then he visits the barb'
shop where he is given shave and ha
cut. Then he visits the prison phys
clan, to determine the state of his heal'
and il necessary, put under treatmen
Next he is photographed and weighe
A prisoner is first placed in the secor