At Sing Sing prison the lock-step has been abolished for first
offenders; it ought to be given up everywhere. The men are often
identified as having been to N. Y. State Prison by the shuffling habit;
a military step has been substituted. Superintendent Collins has
noticed that the lock-step has grown on a prisoner to such an extent,
that he will fall in behind people on the street unconsciously in true
lock-step fashion.
A gang of convicts belonging to Class A, all carpenters or masons, were
sent to work on the new prison at Mapanoch, Ulster Co., N. Y., and 250
from Clinton and Auburn. The new prison will cost $700,000. It was
first intended for a reformatory, but the plan was changed to a State
prison with accommodation for 1,000 convicts.