Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-06
MANY IMPROVEMENTS MADE
THIS YEAR AT OCCOOUAN
Material Advancement Secured in Plan to
Make Government Institution
Wholly Self-Sustaining.

With the third year of its history closed
and the fourth years work we'll under
way, the District workhouse at Occoquan
is rapidly becoming the model penal In
stitutIon of the country. While the de-
velopment for the first two years was
such as to cause students of criminology
from various sections of the country to
visit the place and comment favorably on
the outdoor plan Of Furnishing petty Of
tenders, the third year witnessed more
extensive development than either Of the
other two and 1t Is believed that within a
few more years the institution will have
become the self-sustaiping, healthful in
dustrial organization that is the object
Of those who are most interested in II.
The congressional appropriation for de-
veloping Occoquan for the fiscal year
ending June 30 was only $37, 600. But
the new buildings and mechanical plants
that have been installed during the year
could not have been placed there for
$4,000 except by convict labor.
Great Enhancement in Values.
The expenditure OF $4,000 therefore
mas increased the value Of buildings
alone by at least $4,000. not to men
ton the enhanced value of the farming
land made possible by constant but mex
pensive fertilization.
The most important single develop
ment of the year at OccoQuan is the
enlargement of the brick kiln. This
is the chief industry OF the institution
and it's present capacity is about TO-
100000 bricks, as against some $780,
900 before the addition was completed.
If the brick kiln had been built by
contract 1T would have cost probably
100000. But as the convicts made the
bricks in an old kiln that went into
its construction, and as they also laid
the bricks, the structure cost the Dis
trict only $4,000.
The kiln will now furnish all the
bricks used by the District; Indeed.
it has furnished nearly all Of them for
the past year. The Colored Normal
School near Howard College, the Home
for the Aged and Infirm. the new en-
CINE house on South Carolina avenue
ing the Jail. the addition to the kiln
itself and thousands of bricks used
in other improvements at Occoquan
are some of the places where the con-
vict-made product has peen used our
ing the past year.
Farming Idea Not Abandoned.
While the LILO acres composing the
tract in Fairfax county, Va, was pur-
chased with the idea of allowing the
prisoners as much out-of-door life as pos
sible. il has not been found possible to
make farming the chief industry and the
brick kiln has been enlarged with the
idea of working most of the convicts
there.
The farming idea by no means is to be
abandoned. More land is being cleared
all the time and Is being fertilized by
street sWeepings from Washington-an
excellent fertilizer as we'll as a good dis
position of refuse which would otherwise
be a nuisance to the District omciais.
But there are a number of reasons why
farming cannot be made the chief indus
try at Occoquan. One Is the necessity OF
too many guards where the prisoners are
distributed over so great an area as they
would be at farming. Another Is the i'm
possibility Of working during rainy
weather and in non-farming seasons Stiii
another is the fact thai with the land In
its present condition. the profits Obtained
from farming prisoner are not so large
as are obtained from brickmaking
prisoner.
William H. Whitaker, who went to oc-
coquan little over three years ago with
twenty-seven prisoners and began the al
most impossible task of turning barren
wilderness into self-sustaihing nome
for convicts. believes that the most prac-
prisoners will be truck farming and
chicken raising. While the progress
along this line has not been as great
during the year as alOnB OlHeI iluco, IL -
expected that considerable advancement
will be made during the present year.
Addition to Office Building.
Next to the brick kiln the most i'm
portant addition to the plant that has
been made during the fiscal year is
the addition to the administration
building, which includes the Offices of
the superintendent, the assistant su-
perintendent and other administrative
offices and twelve fireproof punish
ment cells.
The construction OF these brick and
concrete cells Is the first and only de-
parture from the policy of housing
the convicts In airy, one-story wooden
shacks. They are to be used only for
extreme punishment, and no prisoner
whose department is nearly satisfac-
tory will be confined in them.
The administration building and the
cells cost about $4,000. Had they been