602

HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.

Book I.

This prison lias three distinct arrangements, which are called stations. The first, in thenorth wing, has three yards with sleeping and day rooms attached : the first yard androoms are occupied by adult convicts ; the second by boys who have a school-room ; andthe third is an infirmary.

The principal wards and rooms in the stations are 38 feet by 15, and 24 feet by 15.The two connected with the press-yard, for males under sentence of death, are 31 feet by18. There are three tiers of condemned cells, five in each tier, strongly arched, 9 feet by 7.In each cell is a barrack bedstead. The chapel will contain 350 persons.

Other prisons have since been erected about the metropolis, as well as in several ofthe counties in England; there are also numerous bridewells and penitentiaries, uponwhich enormous sums of money have been expended, but that most deserving of noticeis the Model Prison lately erected at Pentonville, in which all Howard’s ideas are carriedout. It was reserved for the present day to execute the plans suggested by this philan-thropist, upon the site he had selected. The first stone was laid on the 10th of April,1840, and the whole was completed in the autumn of 1842. It is adapted for the recep-tion of 520 prisoners upon the separate system, each having a cell 13 feet by 7, and 9 feetin height.

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Fig. 559.

PLAN OP THE MODEL PRISON

The plan exhibits a central hall, open from the floor to the roof, from which branchfive blocks of building, each having on the ground floor a corridor, which extends thewhole length, with galleries above, in which are the entrances to the cells, arranged oneach side against the outer walls. From the central hall the doors of all the cells may beseen, as the galleries are formed of open iron-work. 'Die Eastern Penitentiary at Phi-ladelphia , designed by Mr Ilaviland, seems to have been the prototype for this arrange-ment. As there are no female prisoners there is but one class of cells.

The boundary wall is upwards of 20 feet in height, and solidly constructed, and on theoutside is an open space of considerable width. The basement is not sunk into the earth,except in one portion, where it has an open area; over the whole surface of the walls acourse of slate in cement was laid 6 inches above the ground line, and the walls stand on a