Virtual Visit to
Silver Jubilee
Exposition: Part 2

Booths Nos. 9 to 14, show methods of receiving and discharging prisoners twenty-five years ago.

Booth No. 9. Receiving station for prisoners, displaying two manikins, one representing a Keeper, in uniform, the other an inmate in civilian clothes. The personal history of the prisoner is being taken by the Keeper for institutional purposes.

[Women's Workhouse exhibit]

Articles displayed included those made by inmates at the Women's Workhouse.

Booth No. 10. Bathroom and Barbershop, displaying one manikin representing an inmate as having been shaved and hair close-cropped, wearing the striped uniform. At this period privacy while bathing was given very little thought.

Booth No. 11. Antiquated and unsanitary dining-room, displaying one old, wooden table and a bench, showing tin eating utensils.

Booth No. 12. Old-fashioned Cell, displaying one manikin, representing an inmate in prison clothing. Cells at this period were not equipped with sanitary accommodations and buckets were used. This cell also is equipped with the old-type canvas cot.

Booth No. 13. The torture chamber, or dungeon. This cell is equipped with a board raised two inches from the floor which was used by the inmate for resting purposes. It is provided with two doors, the outer one representing a sheet metal door, and the inner one of the ice-box type, for sound proof purposes. Here an inmate was kept for days and was fed on bread and water, without seeing daylight.

Booth No. 14. Inmate being discharged, displaying one manikin being released, wearing the same clothing that he wore at the time of his arrival at the institution. No funds, clothing or employment have been provided for him.

[Welfare Island facilities]

Models of DOC facilities on Welfare Island, now known as Roosevelt Island.

Booth No. 15. Miniature institutional models, displaying twenty-one institutions. These institutional models, with the landscape effects, are the work of the inmates. This is part of our vocational training.

Models

A. Correction Hospital for Women, and the Penitentiary for Men (Reception and Classification), Welfare Island.

B. Reformatory Prison, Hart's Island. At this institution we have the Manufacturing Industry, the Tuberculosis Hospital and the quarters for the aged and infirm criminals. Potters Field is located on this island and the pauper dead are buried here by the inmates. Up to April 30, 1923, [a total of] 237,810 bodies had been buried.

C. Municipal Farm (Drug Hospital, male), Riker's Island. This is the largest drug hospital of its kind in the world. All male prisoners who are drug addicts are transferred to this institution for treatment.

[Orange County facilities]

Model of DOC reformatory facilities in Orange County, New York. In background, left, a blackboard displaying relevant departmental statistics.

D. New York City Reformatory, New Hampton, Orange County, New York. All inmates of the reformatory type, between the ages of 16 and 30 years, are transferred to this institution, The principal activity here is farm work. The approximate value of the crops raised annually is between $50,000 and $75,000.

E. Warwick Dairy Farm, Warwick, and the New York City Women's Farm Colony, Greycourt, Orange County, New York. Warwick is an Honor Camp, and only such inmates are transferred to this place from the New York City Reformatory at New Hampton as have earned this opportunity by good work and conduct. Here we have no prison bars, cells nor locks. The Women's Farm Colony is used at present as an Honor Camp for inmates from the New York City Reformatory, of a type similar to those transferred to the Warwick Dairy Farm. They are employed chiefly in farm work and other manual labor in connection with the completion of this institution. It is proposed, when this institution is finally completed, that women prisoners will be transferred here from the Correction Hospital on Welfare Island.

F. City Prison, Manhattan (Tombs). This institution has the care and custody of all violators of the law who have been held in default of bail, awaiting trial in the various courts in the County of New York, Borough of Manhattan. It also holds in custody, awaiting transfer to their respective institutions, persons convicted and sentenced to State prisons, the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, the New York State reformatory for Women at Bedford, and the Federal prisons.

[Tombs model]

DOC facility models including, in background, the Tombs.

PAROLE COMMISSION

Bertram De N. Cruger, Chairman

Edmond A. Cornans, Employment and Relief Officer.

Exposition Director for Department.

Fourth Floor-Booth 405

  • 1. Placard, showing the benefits of the parole system.
  • 2. Posters, showing young man leaving prison without parole supervision. 1898.
  • 3. Met by his old companions and returning to his old habits.
  • 4. Under arrest again and being led back to prison.
  • 5. Leaving prison under parole supervision. 1923
  • 6. Met upon release by his parole officer, who fully instructs him regarding the requirements of parole, but acts as his friend and adviser.
  • 7. At work in a factory or elsewhere.
  • 8. Home influences, co-operating with parole supervision, restoring him to useful citizenship.
  • 9. Showing statistics of the Commission.
  • 10. General Budget Dollar Chart, showing the amount of money allowed in the Budget for 1923, how it is to be expended and the proportion of the City Dollar that it costs to maintain the Parole Commission of the Greater City of New York.

G. City Prison, Brooklyn. This institution has the care and custody of all violators of the law who have been held in default of bail, awaiting trial in the various courts in the County of Kings, Borough of Brooklyn. It also holds in custody, awaiting transfer to their respective institutions, persons convicted and sentenced to State prisons, the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, and the Federal prisons.

H. City Prison, Queens. This institution has the care and custody of all violators of the law who have been held in default of bail, awaiting trial in the various courts in the County of Queens, Borough of Queens. It also holds in custody, awaiting transfer to their respective institutions, persons convicted and sentenced to State prisons, the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, and the Federal prisons.

I. District Prisons and House of Detention, male. At the District Prisons, persons are detained in default of bail, awaiting trial in their respective district Magistrates' Courts. At the House of Detention, male, material witnesses are detained in default of bail.

Booth No. 16. Central Office, representing the administrative bureaus of the department, located in the Municipal Building. Displayed here are numerous charts showing the organization and functions of the department. Displayed here are numerous methods used by persons attempting to smuggle drugs into the prisons. The prevention of smuggling drugs into the prisons is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult problems of the department.

Booth No. 17. Farm and floral display, featuring a panoramic view of the New York City Reformatory, New Hampton, Orange County, New York, soil extending from picture to railing. This panoramic view was painted by an inmate. Hills in picture are extended in soil to railing, containing products and method of production.

APPRECIATON:

We thank the Municipal Reference and Research Center and NYPD for making available the materials used in putting together this retrospective on the Silver Jubilee.

--- Thomas McCarthy, Director of Editorial and Communication Services, Department of Correction.

infopub@nycdoc.org

Two manikins are displayed in the act of working on the farm. Other types of produce grown on the farm are also displayed. The railing installed on outer aisle is typical of a farm fence. It was constructed by inmates at the New York City Reformatory. At the rear of panoramic view, displaying the New York City Reformatory, is exhibited numerous transparencies, featuring sixty institutional views of the department. There is also displayed in this booth some of the work accomplished by the women inmates at the Correction Hospital.

Booth No. 18. Manufacturing Industry. The manufactured articles exhibited here prove conclusively our good judgment in developing trade schools and furnishing employment to all inmates. There is nothing that so uplifts and creates ambition as the just pride a man takes in the contemplation of the fruits of his labor.

General Budget-Dollar Chart showing the amount of money allowed in the Budget for 1923, how it is to be expended and the proportion of the City Dollar that it costs to maintain the Department of Correction of the Greater City of New York.
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