A complete prison ought to have several distinct departments: one for men, one for women, one for boys, one for vagrants and common drunkards, and probably a department for those who are for the first time held for trial. Few of the prisons of the State are so constructed as to admit of such segregation. It seems pitiful that hardened criminals should have such opportunity to corrupt the minds of the young or of those who have committed their first offense under peculiar circumstances of temptation. Those prisons which are constructed with the cells back to back, with door opening into a corridor toward the outside wall of the building, admit more readily of the separation of the various classes of criminals. This plan affords better facilities for light and cheerfulness, and commands some view of the courtyard. It does not give the individual prisoner the opportunity to get air directly from the outside. When such prisons are built, with an additional narrow corridor between the cells at the rear, this objection is in part obviated. At York a prison has recently been built on this general plan. Being three stories in height, it contains several separate subdivisions. The addition to the prison at Allentown, now in process of construction, will have accommodations for about one hundred prisoners, and the commissioners have adopted some of the distinctive features of the York prison. Your Secretary made some inquiries as to the daily rations, and discovered quite a variety of bills of fare. In more than one half of these prisons there is a _per diem_ allowance for the maintenance of the prisoners. This allowance varies in the prisons visited from fourteen cents to fifty cents. In the smaller prisons this allowance should of necessity be proportionately larger than in the prisons of the more populous counties; but there is a constant tendency, where this allowance is made, to take profit on the transaction, and it appears to be the understanding in some counties that the sheriff is to receive some of his compensation from this source. In one large prison, where there are about one hundred and thirty occupants, the daily ration consists of bread and coffee, the bread being served three times and the coffee twice. Soup is given three times during the week. The allowance for provisions at this prison is thirty cents a day. Those prisoners who have means are allowed to purchase additional supplies from tradesmen, and they can make arrangements to have meat, oysters, etc., especially cooked and served, if they will meet the additional expense. The privilege of purchasing little comforts and additional provisions is almost universal. It is a surprising fact that in one or two prisons it is possible for prisoners to procure, either by purchase or from their friends, a supply of intoxicating drinks. Generally the supply of food is ample and the quality fair. In two or three jails the food is sent from the sheriff’s table.