Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1899 — PEEP HOLES IN JAIL CELLS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PEEP HOLES IN JAIL CELLS.

Keeper Can Rea FrUoner. bat Cannot Himself Be Been. When the new Chicago jail was completed it was said to be the most perfect Institution of its kind in the country. But the new jail in New York, 'which is to supplant the old Tombs, will have many contrivances which are new In prisons. Here the perfection of prison arrangement has been reached. While the Tombs will have the outward appearance of being nine stories high it really consists of but three stories. The two main floors, where the cells are located, arer very tall, comprising four tiers of cells each. The prison offices will be on the ground floor. The top floor will be used as a recreation ground for the prisoners. The cells are novel features of the structure. Nothing like them has ever before been introduced In a prison. They are being constructed on plans made by Charities Commissioner Francis J. Pantry. There are 350 cells and each will cost about SI,OOO. Each will be eight feet deep by six feet and three inches wide, aud will be equipped with a steel, lattice - bottomed folding bunk, a steel folding table and shelf hinged to the wall, a wash basin and a toilet. The cell-tier structure will be of burglar-proof steel and the cells will be re-euforced with four-ply chrome tool-proof steel plate. On the top of the floor plate will be a finished floor of two-inch polished bluestone.Through the rear of eacH cell will be a peephole arangement whereby the keeper may see sll that the prisoner Is doing, while the prisoner cannot see the keeper. This Inspection hole on the outside Is only about an inch and a half wide, but it widens gradually Inward, until at its end it is eight Inches in diameter, flaring like the bell of a trumpet. By this arrangement whereby the keeper may a view of the entire cell interior, except two corners alwaysinvlewof the watchman In front of cell. Running along each tier is a utility corridor, used prl-

marlly for the piping, ventilation and electric wiring. Along this Corridor also the keepers pace to watch the prisoners through the peepholes. The steel floor is covered with rubber matting, to deaden the sound of their approach. Each cell is equipped with an electric light turned on from the outside. The cell-locking arrangement is new'. Each bolt is operated by a lever at the end of the tier. Every door in the tier may be locked or unlocked simultaneously or any number of locks may be operated at once. If when the prisoners are be taken out for exercise there are some who cannot be let out the lock on their cell doors is secured by a key, so that it will not unlock at the turn of the lever. All locks are on the outside of the cell doors, where they cannot be tampered with by the prisoners. Special attention has been paid to heating and ventilation. Heretofore the trouble with prisons having several tiers of cells has been that often the top cells would be hot while- the lower ones would be cold. The top cells would also catch the greatest pare of the foul air. These difficulties have been overcome in the new Tombs by an elaborate system of powerful beating and ventilating blasts.

WATCHING THE PRISONER THROUGH A PEEP HOLE.