A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 49

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 49

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was regarded as a model of security, and prison- ers from other counties were brought here for safe-keeping. Nevertheless there were those who managed to escape even from this strong- hold; notably, it is said, two prisoners who cut their way through the lower floor-through two- inch oak plank spiked to halved oak logs and let themselves down under the building, where they knocked a hole through the brick underpinning, and so regained their liberty.

The first jail stood about where the lumber sheds of the LaPorte Carriage Company now are, and near a small pond which used to be there. According to the best information the writer has been able to obtain, this jail was suc- ceeded by another, a frame building which stood on the site of the present one, and which in the fifties was bought by the city of LaPorte, moved to the site of the present city hall, and used by the city for a jail. At any rate, the building which stood where the city hall now stands was used as the city jail, as is stated by the city records and also by many who remember it.

The present county jail was built in 1857. It was completed in September of that year, and much complaint was made at the cost. It is a simple structure of brick, with sheriff's house in front, and sell house at the rear consisting of two corridors, each with a row of cells. Of these, the east corridor is considered far the safer. But the whole structure is antiquated and unworthy of a county like this.

The Michigan City jail and police station are together, in a two-story brick building owned by the city. There is no jailer, but a sergeant of police is always in charge. On the first floor of the jail there are six cells; two steel ones in the front room, which are used for desperate char- acters, and four common wooden cells in the back room. On the second floor are the superintend- ent's office, and a parlor cell which is used for women and more high-toned violators of the law. Michigan City in former years had a work house in connection with the prison.

Though a state institution, the northern prison has a relation to LaPorte county, and to the city in which it is situated. Both county and city are made different by its presence. In 1857 the northern prison was located in Mich- igan City, and an appropriation of $50,000 was

made by the legislature to establish it. Chauncey B. Blair sold the state ninety acres of land, though only about eight acres are enclosed by the outer wall of the prison. The land outside is used for cultivation, and is worked by the convicts ; and even extra land is hired for that purpose. About one hundred convicts are em- ployed in this way. By this means fresh vege- tables in the summer, the usual edible roots, etc., for the winter, and many other useful produc- tions are provided for the prison and for other state institutions. The contract for construct- ing the cell house and some of the other build- ings and the outside wall, was let to D. J. Silver, and a part of the labor of construction was per- formed by convicts from the Southern peniten- tiary, which was built before. During the period of construction prison discipline was at loose ends. This was to a great degree necessarily the case, for there can be no prisoners in the proper sense unless there is a prison.

In December, 1861, a visitor relates that he was not prepared to see so much done on the premises. The outer wall surrounding the premises was very nearly completed, and one of the upright buildings was quite finished. There were between two hundred and fifty and two hundred and seventy-five prisoners there, many of whom were entirely idle. Between twenty and thirty were engaged at stone cutting in an outside temporary building, among whom was a prisoner named Lawrence who had been con- victed at the last term of the county court for stealing Charles Teeple's horses and wagon in LaPorte. A large number of prisoners were soon to be sent to the woods and set at chopping. They had made during the year three millions of brick, and used all but about eight hundred thousand. It was hoped that enough money would be furnished the following season so that everything would be ready for commencing operations early in the spring and rushing them through to the completion of the buildings. There was need of new appropriations by the legislature, as the pittance appropriated at the last session was very nearly exhausted.

This visitor complained that the discipline of the prison at that time was very loose and worth- less. Prisoners were allowed by the warden to do about as they pleased. They were seen about

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town perambulating from early morn till late of June, and the other two buildings by the 15th at night, apparently without any restraint. The of August next. citizens of Michigan City had signed a petition During the building of the prison the con- victs who took part in the work were confined in a temporary prison of brick, which was built on Trail creek, near the mouth of the inner har- bor. It was situated just south of the light house, and north of the sharp bend of Trail creek. After the large prison was completed, the temporary building was used by the Blairs as a packing house, then by the Michigan City Sash and Door Company, and latterly torn down. and presented it to Warden Iddings to have a stop put to all this, but thus far no attention had been paid to it. This visitor was informed that the guards had smuggled guns from the armory belonging to the prison, and that they spent days in hunting with the convicts, and that one convict even took off his stripes and went out into Jasper county buying fat cattle for the prison.

"Truly," exclaims this visitor, "this is a strange way to punish condemned criminals. We build a prison house at an expense of. $300,000, pay $15,000 a year for guards, $12,000 to $15,- 000 for food, in order to punish the thieves, forgers, murderers, etc., and they come up to Michigan City and have a general good time, are kept well, have all the liberty they want, and this is punishment ! Only the day we were in Mich- igan City one striped fellow was taken from town to the prison, drunk. We talked with the commissioners [The prison commissioners hap- pened to be in session at the time] plainly about this matter, and are glad to know that they will attend to it, and that they condemn the trans- action very severely. They should do it by all means."

This visit and these statements made by a careful observer and citizen of the county, show something of the former laxity of prison discip- line, and that the Northern prison has an im- portant relation to the county, especially in the line of morals, and that our people should be deeply interested in having the best possible ad- ministration of prison discipline.

In March, 1862, the board of control adver- tised for sealed proposals offering to build one workshop a hundred and fifty feet long, forty feet wide, and two stories high ; also a workshop one hundred and thirty-two feet long, forty feet wide, and two stories high; also buildings for offices, the contracting parties to employ all con- victs not otherwise engaged at 70 cents per day, and to receive in part payment the mill engine, mill fixtures and material on hand in the prison yard, at a price to be fixed by the board of con- trol; the first shop to be completed by the 15th

The first warden was Colonel Seelye, then Mr. Iddings, of Fort Wayne, next Thomas Wood, who was succeeded by Hon. W. W. Hig- gins, of Michigan City, under whose admin- istration the prison first became self-support- ing ; it has remained so ever since. He was suc- ceeded by Charles. Mayne, and then came Mr. Murdock.

Hayward & DeWolfe were the first who en- tered into a contract for prison labor. They were engaged in the business of cooperage. Soon after this, Elisha Murray took a contract for prison labor for the manufacture of wagons and carriages. He was succeeded by Finch & Bar- ker. In the year 1867 Hon. J. H. Winterbotham bought into a contract in company with Jones & Chapin, and in 1869 bought them out. The firm became J. H. Winterbotham & Sons. They worked one hundred and fifty convicts and engaged in cooperage and the manufacture of carriage and buggy bodies and sleighs. Their sales amounted to $150,000 annually. Ford & Johnson, who commenced business in 1870, were also contractors and worked a hundred and fifty convicts. They manufactured chairs and their sales amounted to $125,000 annually. Some of these firms, notably J. H. Winterbotham & Sons and Ford, Johnson & Company, continued the business, and others have since become con- tractors.

Improvements have been made until the prison has model manufacturing plants. The chair and cooper shops are indeed busy places. In the three chair shops there are one hundred men employed, and here are manufactured rock- ers, dining and kitchen chairs. The designs of the rockers especially are handsome, and indeed the

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other lines of chairs are up-to date in style, and substantially made. The usual grades of bar- rels are made in the cooper shop, where one hun- dred men are employed, and from 450 to 500 barrels or packages turned out per day. In the woolen mills department there are four large shops and one hundred men employed. The mills are equipped with modern machinery, and here are manufactured cloths, blankets and flannels of good, substantial grades. The shirt factory contains two shops where one hundred men are working. The garments are cut by an electric cutter which cuts one hundred and twenty-five thicknesses of the cloth at a time. There are also clothing and other departments.

The prisoner is given a task to accomplish each day, and when finished he has the privilege of working overtime, for which he is given credit, and when his time expires the amount earned is given to him. The goods manufactured at this prison have been shipped to different parts of the world. The system of bookkeeping is complete, the books in the main office must balance to a cent, showing what the expenses of of the whole institution are.

The prison was completed in 1868, but the number of convicts became larger than was ex- pected and additional cell room became neces- sary. In 1876 there were only three hundred and eighty single cells, while there were four hundred and eight-seven convicts. Steps were taken to secure additional cell room. Chiefly through the efforts of Senator J. H. Winter- botham an appropriaton of $40,000 was made by the legislature for that purpose, and in due time the work of enlargement was begun and completed. Since 1880, however, there has been little change in the institution, which could be said to enlarge its capacity as a prison. The cell houses are the same, and contain the same number of cells now that they did then ; namely, three hundred and eighty in each wing, seven hundred and sixty in all. These cells are seven by four feet in dimensions, each containing a cot with good straw mattress that is refilled twice each year. Each bed is provided with a fiber pil- low which is as soft as feathers and much healthier. Decided improvements have been made in the sanitary conditions of these cell houses. The walls and ceilings of the cells have

been painted during recent years where formerly they were whitewashed and they can now be washed off and kept clean and sweet. The cell houses are equipped with Sturdevant system of ventilation, which is the most perfect of the kind in existence. Hot and cold air are provided, and with this system the foul air, by the use of huge fans, is forced out and pure air drawn in through large pipes located at short distances apart through the corridors. Every cell also has a ventilator. In passing through the cell houses there is not that prison odor usually detected in like institutions. The cells are kept scrupu- lously clean and neat and much better sleeping accommodations are provided than many of the prisoners enjoyed before entering the prison.

The two cell houses, connected by a central pavilion or guardhouse, form one large building 500 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 41 feet high to the eaves. The cells are placed in two rows back to back, in the center of these rooms, and rise one above the other in five tiers, leaving an open corridor all around the stack of cells, and an open space at the top. The temperature between the top and bottom tiers varies only five degrees even in the winter.

Immediately in the rear of the cell houses, and very convenient of access are a large and convenient dining room and kitchen, store rooms. etc. The food is abundant, wholesome and well served. The bill of fare is changed every day so there is not a sameness in it. The food is cooked by steam. In the kitchen there are two copper coffee boilers, whose capacity is 150 gal- lons each and a hot water tank holding 100 gal- lons; also a potato steamer of 12 bushels ca- pacity. Another 225-gallon boiler is used for stews and a 175-gallon boiler and four smaller ones are also kept in reserve in case of emergen- cies. There are also two tanks used for cook- ing vegetables. A huge brick roast oven is used for roasting meats, toasting bread, etc. The crust trimmed off the bread when it is sliced up for the tables is toasted brown, then ground into flour and used for thickening gravies, etc. Not a particle of food is wasted. On Sundays pies or puddings are also served. The capacity of the bakery is three hundred and fifty, three-pound loaves of bread per day, and it is light, sweet and wholesome.

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The prison is situated about one hundred feet above Lake Michigan. The wall surrounding the yard is twenty-six feet high, surmounted by towers. Outside the walls are beautiful, well kept lawns, a greenhouse, etc .; on the inside, a street forty feet wide runs next to the wall en- tirely around the buildings, except where the two cell houses are united with the administration building, which renders wall escapes impossible when a reasonable number of guards are em- ployed.

The prison has been repaired, enlarged and improved, until it is a very creditable insti- tution. The building first seen on approaching is the administration building which presents, in its new and enlarged construction, a dignified front to the institution, and forms a most con- venient and logical connection between the out- side world and the prison yard within the inclosing wall. The entrance-way is emphasized by a stone porch, proportioned to the large building and the flanking prison walls, which extend three hundred feet each way from the central axis of the structure. This porch is built of Indiana oolitic limestone, in the Romanesque style of architecture. The porch entrance opens directly into a spacious, sky-lighted public hallway which in turn forms the vestibule to the several offices and depart- ments of the institution. The clerk's office is on the right, while to the left is the ladies' par- lor and toilets. From the rear of the hallway, provided with easy risers and intermediate land- ings, a broad oak stairway rises to the second floor hall, which opens directly into the warden's offices, the director's temporary lodgings, the state's dining room, and the room for the board of control. In the rear of the main hallway, on the first floor, is the steel gateway, its double gates separated by a steel-barred vestibule, with the clerk's rear office on the north side, and the guard's reading room, as well as the prisoners' library, on the south side.

The entire second story of the rear portion of the administration building, forms the new schoolroom for prisoners, with an entrance directly from each of the cell houses. This large and comfortable schoolroom is fitted up with electric lights, 124 new school desks, and all the paraphernalia necessary for its purposes. Prior

to 1897 there was no regular system of instruc- tion. In that year the large schoolroom and library were built, and a careful system of in- struction inaugurated, which has worked won- ders in the advancement of intelligence and im- proved character of the men. The school is in charge of the chaplain and there are three even- ing sessions per week. The instruction is graded from the primary or a b c class to the more ad- vanced studies. There are five classes with five different instructors. Many convicts who knew not their alphabet are now able to write letters to friends. The library contains about three thousand volumes, comprising standard books treating on all subjects of a general character. Music also is taught, and there has been of late a brass band in the prison, all of which has a beneficial influence upon the convicts.

On the second floor is the chapel, of suffi- cient size to accommodate all the inmates of the prison. There is a Christian Endeavor society which meets every Sunday morning for an hour, beginning at 8:30 o'clock, and many prisoners take part in it. There is a chapel service, with preaching every Sunday morning at 10:30 o'clock, which all the prisoners are required to attend unless excused by the chaplain.

The hospital is new, in the form of a Latin cross, with all modern conveniences, and has ample capacity for fifty beds. Radical changes for the betterment of patients have recently been inaugurated, especially in the insane ward. Without doubt or contradiction this improve- ment, through the humane efforts of the board of charities and the present warden, has been the greatest made in the prison for years. For- merly the insane patients were confined in cells . which had a tendency to aggravate their condi- tions ; and, as in all cases of insanity, the patients were worse during the night, making it hideous with their yells and screams, thus depriving the sane inmates who had been working during the day, of the rest they needed. Warden Reid, after careful consideration, decided to give them the freedom of larger quarters during the day, and accordingly a large, comfortable, well lighted room was provided, and the insane persons re- moved to it. It has acted like a charm. No wild ravings or oaths are now heard, and it is a most noticeable fact that their conditions have

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been benefited a hundred per cent. since this great change has been made. They are now quiet at night, and rest well.

The hospital consists of three well ventilated rooms. The sick wards are provided with good, clean beds, rocking chairs and stands. Here and there, scattered through the rooms, are bouquets of flowers. The tuberculosis patients are in a room by themselves, separated from those af- flicted with local ailments. The conditions of these patients are made better than ever before. There are on an average, about thirty patients in the hospital.

The physician's quarters contain three rooms ; an audience room, dispensary, and drug room. The operating room is equipped with an X-ray and Faradic machine, electrical appliances, up-to- date instruments, an operating and a dental chair. Decided improvements have recently been made in the care of the sick and insane, and their general conditions. This has been made possi- ble by the physican in charge, Dr. L. H. Streak- er, he having had experience before coming here, in the Southern Insane hospital. Formerly there was no way of knowing the physical and mental condition in comparison with what it was when the convict entered the prison. Now a record is kept relating to these facts, a diagnosis made, and a record of the number of days laid off from work, and the cause for the same: number of patients treated from the shop and state line, and the sick cell, also the total number of patients treated and for what ailments each day; the name of each patient returned to work and when, and the number of days laid off from work. The general health of the inmates is much better now than ever before. The diet of patients is regulated each day by the physician. .

In addition to these buildings, there are the bath houses, laundries, factories, machine shops, etc. The bath house has been greatly improved. Instead of the dilapidated bath tubs formerly used, there are now long rows of individaul shower baths, with hot and cold water in abund- ance. Every prisoner is required to take a bath once a week. The barber shop is kept in good order and the men are shaved once each week.

The entire institution is well heated by steam, and lighted by electricity, and a house has re- cently been completed, 84x123 feet, at a cost of

$22,800, with a full complement of engines, boilers tool room, etc.

The State prison has its own independent system of water works. The pumping station is located one mile north of the prison grounds, a few feet from the shore of Lake Michigan. A Io-inch main extends several feet below the sur- face of the sand, out into the lake 2,800 feet, reaching a depth of thirty feet where the intake is anchored, thus securing to the institution an inexhaustible supply of water. There are two powerful pumps, either of which will furnish all the water necessary for drinking or cooking pur- poses or fire protection. Within the prison inclosure is located the standpipe, 120 feet high. The water is remarkably pure. The prison also has its own system of sewerage, which is a great work.

The parole system became a law in 1897, and provides that a prisoner at the expiration of his minimum sentence may appear before the board of prison parole, and if a suitable subject, he is released on parole if some reliable person will agree to give him employment for one year. He is required to report by letter to the prison au- thorities once each month, and at the end of that time, if he has proved himself honest, upright and industrious and shuns bad company, he is released from parole.

The warden carefully studies each case and then reports to the board the prisoner's conduct in the institution, his physical condition and his intentions in regard to leading an honest, up- right life, the company he will mingle with when he is released, etc., and from these suggestions the board acts.

On the release of the prisoner the warden . has a talk with him in his private office, pointing out to him the error of his ways, the temptations thrown before him, and advises and directs him to lead a better life, showing him that he is his brother and friend and is interested in his wel- fare. This has a tendency to elevate the man to a higher purpose and to lead a better life in the future.

The chaplain is the state agent, using his best endeavors to look after the interests of the paroled man, etc., and as it is impossible for him to give personal attention to all the paroled pris- oners, he is assisted in this work by two regularly

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appointed agents-the Rev. George Link, and R. B. Oglesbee, Esq., both of LaPorte, who travel abroad in this work. By careful supervision of the paroled the amount of money saved the state, to say nothing of the good done to society, amounts to a large sum yearly. By throwing good influences around them, treating them with kindness and convincing them that an interest is being taken in their welfare, great improve- ment is noticeable in the prisoner. We give the following table of paroles, kindly prepared by the chaplain :

RECAPITULATION FOR THE YEAR 1903. -

Number paroled during the year. .219

Number paroles revoked during the year. 7 Number returned for violating paroles. 38 Number discharged by the board of parole 155 Number of sentences expired during the year 13

Number that have died during the year. 6 *Parole violations-56. Per cent. of violations 16.8. Earned by men on parole during the year. . . $63,740.96 Expenses of men on parole during the year. .. 40,900.10

Net earnings for the year $21,840.86

Respectfully submitted,

H. L. HENDERSON, Chaplain and State Agent.

*19 of the 56 violations are placed against men paroled prior to November 1, 1902. -

ATTENDANCE AND COST OF MAINTENANCE.

Average attendance, 1891 to 1895. 828

Average attendance, 1895 to 1902. 831

Average cost maintenance (per capita,) 1891 to 1895 $124.35

Average cost maintenance (per capita,) 1895 to

1902

$125,08

The average population of the prison is 850, and among this class are some of the most noted criminals in the land, yet by actual observation and statistics from other state prisons there is a less number of incorrigibles and trouble- breeding prisoners, in proportion to the popula- tion of the same, in the Indiana State prison than in any other penal institution in the United States. This state of affairs has been brought about by the improved discipline, kind, fair, just treatment of prisoners, and in a large measure showing the influences of good reading, teach-

ing, music and other humane interests taken to elevate the character of the prisoner. They are taught by words and acts of officers and keepers that they are men with feelings and their better natures are appealed to and aroused, which make them take courage and resolve to lead better lives when they leave the prison doors behind them. There are only three prison- ers at the present time in the third grade wear- ing the stripes. This is indeed a fine showing and reflects credit not only on the inmates them- selves but also on the officers of the institution. Whipping has been abolished and the only pun- ishment now used is confinement in a cell.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 49

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273