The per capita cost per diem for feeding inmates during the year
1909 was twelve cents; the cost per diem including all expenditures
was forty-six cents. The cost as stated above is somewhat increased
because of the fact that we maintain as one of the departments of the
institution what is known as the John Worthy School. This is not a
school in name only, but has all the facilities for giving the class
of boys that are sent to us from the Juvenile Court the education and
training they need; and their needs are greater than those ordinarily
sent to the public schools, for most of them have not had the chance
in life to develop physically or morally as boys have who come from
well regulated homes where proper influence prevails, and where they
are encouraged to profit by the educational advantages furnished by
our public schools. You will find there not only the ordinary class
rooms with a competent teacher in charge of each, but manual training
facilities and a well-equipped trade school, an indoor gymnasium, as
well as outdoor play grounds and a swimming pool. We also teach them to
do gardening and in a limited way give them an opportunity to develop
any inclinations they may have to follow an agricultural life.
I desire to call particular attention to a cell house recently built
here for men, in which there are 334 cells, each having an outside
window which can be operated by the occupant of the cell. Each cell
is also equipped with high class plumbing, including wash basin; in
fact, sanitary conditions are as perfect as it seemed possible to make
them. You will find no dark corners in the building or places where
the ventilation is not perfect. The valuation has been conservatively
fixed at $225,000. The actual cost is less than $65,000.00. The
difference between these amounts represents the value of the inmates’
labor and the product of the institution used in its construction. No
mechanical superintendents were employed, our officers acting in the
dual capacity of guards and instructors, the inmates performing all
the labor, even the plumbing, electrical work, and, in fact, all of
the labor required to finish the well-constructed up-to-date building.
The center corridor is 260 feet long by 30 feet in width, which we
converted into a dining hall. All the prisoners occupying cells in
the building have their meals served in this space and the tables and
benches used for this purpose are also used for carrying on religious
and educational work among the inmates during the evening or on
Sundays. This is an entirely new innovation in prison management, but
is being carried on with success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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