Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-11-24
NEW ILLINOIS
PENITENTIARY
MODEL PRISON
Latest Methods of COnstruc
ton and Sanitation Used in
Immense Institution.

JOLIET, ILL.,, NOV. I'll ne new III
nOis State Pententiary, a walled city
of concrete and brick is on the final LAP
of construction. and those in charge nov
figure that wdthin five years the penal
institution will be entirely completed.
The new prison is located at States
vile, near Joliet. and has been viewed.
by officials of seven European nations
as well as Governors and wardens from
practically every State in the Union.
The prison wall incloses sixty -four
acres. The walls, an innovation in &C.
ment construction, loom up thirty three
and a half feet in height and extend
into the ground from ten to twenty
feet. They cannot be scaled it is fig
ured as there are no lodges at the top
where hooks or ropes can be fastened.
The smooth, gently -sloping sides afford
no chances for fOotholds.
When completed there will be eight
cellhouses circular in construction. Two
cellhOuses will be for the less criminal
and four for those who are under regular
prison discipline.
USE BRICK
AND CONCRETE.
Henry NJ Tomlinson, superintendent
of construction, was confronted with 8
unique problem when he started this
building of the second dollhouse. This
specifications called for brick walls, with
white brick facing. Cost of materials
and labor has advanced so far beyond
the State allotment for the work that
after considerable experimentation it was
decided to pour concrete between two
walls of brick. This saved 100000 brickk
and altogether, cost onehalf the amounts
figured for solid brick construction. All
of the other cellhouses are being built
along the concrete brick plans
The prison building proper is in the
centere of the prison yard and is laid
out in a circular fashion, with the dining
room in the center and the cellhouses
circling around it. The eight cellhouses
will be connected to the central dining
room by means of story corridors,
with Easements. making the plans re-
semble a petaled flower, with the dining
hall as its center.
The cells surpass in appointments
the rooms of many hotels, each having
a lavatory, with hot and coid running
water, a toilet, an outside window, i
steel bed, with ample clean bedding,
table and enameled walls.
LOOKOUT TOWER
IN CENTER.
III the centre OF the PRISON ydrQ IS
tower with an underground entrance,
From the platform in the tower the guard
can look into every cell. He can open
Il single cell-door or all of them from
his station and can switch on one light
or all lights from the same switchboard.
If the inmate is suspected of amy IT.
regularity his cell can be Illuminated
instantly from the central tower, and
if some of the prisoners get in pos
session of fire arms and open fire on
the guard a steel shutter can be in
stantly dropped.
The prison has its own water sys-
TEN. supplied by two artesian wells.
Workshops and a hospital at present are
under construction. Before plans were
| finally drawn w. Carlus Zimmerman,
former State architect, made an
extensive tour of Europe, visiting ancient
and modern prisons.
The Solitary" known in the Old
prison as 1.-THE black hole is entirely
different in design and object of past
endeavors. Silence is the punishment
meted out for infractions of rules. at
temptS TO escape and other deviations
from rules which draw sentences for
the conyicts. In the new solitary
there is ventilation, but the walls in
side and cut are absolutely sound
proof. Not sound can be heard with
in that little building. There is a cork
linoleum floor. cork walls and an in
genious window shutter which keeps out
noise