Randall's Island is so called from Jonathan Randall, a former owner. It
lies about one hundred yards to the north of Ward's Island, from which it
is separated by Little Hell Gate. The Harlem Kills separate it from
Westchester county, and the Harlem River from New York. About thirty
acres of the southern portion are owned by the "Society for the
Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents." The remainder is the property of
the "Commissioners of Charities and Corrections."
[Picture: HOUSE OF REFUGE: RANDALL'S ISLAND.]
The southern portion is occupied by the "House of Refuge," which is under
the control of the "Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents."
The buildings are of brick, and are constructed in the Italian style.
They have a frontage of nearly 1000 feet, and were constructed at a cost
of about $500,000. They constitute one of the handsomest public
institutions in the city. The main buildings contain 886 dormitories,
several spacious and fully furnished school rooms, a handsome chapel,
which will seat 1000 persons, the kitchens, hospital, and officers'
quarters. The average number of inmates is about 700 boys and 150 girls.
Every child is compelled to labor from six to eight hours every day in
the week, and to attend school from four to five hours. The inmates
consist of such juvenile offenders against the law as the courts commit
to the Refuge in preference to sending them to prison. Some of them are
young people, whose parents, unable to manage them, and wishing to save
them from lives of sin and crime, have placed them in the hands of the
Society for reformation. The discipline is mainly reformatory, though
the inmates are subjected to the restraints, but not the degradation of a
prison.
"The boys' building is divided into two compartments; the first division,
in the one, is thus entirely separated from the second division in the
other compartment. The second division is composed of those whose
characters are decidedly bad, or whose offence was great. A boy may, by
good conduct, however, get promoted from the second into the first
division. As a rule, the second division is much older than the first.
Each division is divided into four grades. Every boy on entering the
Reformatory is placed in the third grade; if he behaves well, he is
placed in the second in a week, and a month after in the first grade; if
he continues in a satisfactory course for three months, he is placed in
the grade of honor, and wears a badge on his breast. Every boy in the
first division must remain six months, in the second division twelve
months in the first grade, before he can be indentured to any trade.
These two divisions are under the charge of twenty-five teachers and
twenty-five guards. At half-past six o'clock the cells are all unlocked,
every one reports himself to the overseer, and then goes to the
lavatories; at seven, after parading, they are marched to the school
rooms to join in the religious exercises for half an hour; at half-past
seven, they have breakfast, and at eight are told off to the workshops,
where they remain till twelve, when they again parade, previous to going
to dinner. For dinner they have a large plate of soup, a small portion
of meat, a small loaf of bread, and a mug of water. At one o'clock, they
return to their work. When they have completed their allotted task, they
are allowed to play till four, when they have supper. At half-past four
they go to school, where they remain till eight o'clock, the time for
going to bed. Each boy has a separate cell, which is locked and barred
at night. The cells are in long, lofty, well ventilated corridors, each
corridor containing one hundred cells. The doors of the cells are all
grated, in order that the boys may have light and air, and also be under
the direct supervision of the officers, who, though very strict,
apparently know well how to temper strictness with kindness. Before
going to bed, half an hour is again devoted to religious exercises,
singing hymns, reading the Bible, etc.
"One of the most interesting, and at the same time, one of the most
important features of the Refuge, is the workshop. On entering the shop,
the visitor is amused by finding a lot of little urchins occupied in
making ladies' hoopskirts of the latest fashionable design; nearly 100
are engaged in the crinoline department. In the same long room, about
fifty are weaving wire for sifting cotton, making wire sieves, rat-traps,
gridirons, flower baskets, cattle noses, etc. The principal work,
however, is carried on in the boot and shoe department. The labor of the
boys is let out to contractors, who supply their own foremen to teach the
boys and superintend the work, but the society have their own men to keep
order and correct the boys when necessary, the contractors' men not being
allowed to interfere with them in any way whatever. There are 590 boys
in this department. They manage on an average to turn out about 2500
pairs of boots and shoes daily, which are mostly shipped to the Southern
States. Each one has a certain amount of work allotted to him in the
morning, which he is bound to complete before four o'clock in the
afternoon. Some are quicker and more industrious than others, and will
get their work done by two o'clock; this gives two hours' play to those
in the first division, the second division have to go to school when they
have finished, till three o'clock, they only being allowed one hour for
recreation. The authorities are very anxious to make arrangements to
have a Government vessel stationed off the island, to be used as a
training-ship for the most adventurous spirits. If this design is
carried out it will be a very valuable adjunct to the working of the
institution, and will enable the Directors to take in many more boys,
without incurring the expense of extending the present buildings. The
girls are also employed in making hoopskirts, in making clothes for
themselves and the boys, in all sorts of repairing, in washing linen, and
in general housework. The girls are generally less tractable than the
boys; perhaps this is accounted for by their being older, some of them
being as much as five or six and twenty. The boys average about thirteen
or fourteen, the girls seventeen or eighteen years of age. Nearly
two-thirds of the boys have been bootblacks, the remainder mostly 'wharf
rats.'
"The Directors of the House of Refuge, while having a due regard for the
well-being of its inmates, very properly take care that they are not so
comfortable or so well-fed as to lead them to remain longer in the
reformatory than necessary. As soon as the boys appear to be really
reformed, they are indentured out to farmers and different trades. In
the year 1867, no less than 633 boys and 146 girls were started in life
in this way. Any person wishing to have a child indentured to him, has
to make a formal application to the Committee to that effect, at the same
time giving references as to character, etc. Inquiries are made, and if
satisfactorily answered, the child is handed over to his custody, the
applicant engaging to feed, clothe, and educate his young apprentice.
The boy's new master has to forward a written report to the officer, as
to his health and general behaviour from time to time. If the boy does
not do well, he is sent back to the Refuge, and remains there till he is
twenty-one years of age. Most of the children, however, get on, and many
of them have made for themselves respectable positions in society. The
annals of the Society in this respect are very gratifying and
interesting. Many young men never lose sight of a Refuge which rescued
them in time from a criminal life, and to which they owe almost their
very existence. Instead of alternating between the purlieus of Water
street and Sing Sing, they are many of them in a fair way to make a
fortune. One young man who was brought up there, and is now thriving,
lately called at the office to make arrangements for placing his two
younger brothers in the House, they having got into bad company since
their father's death. A very remarkable occurrence took place at the
institution not long ago. A gentleman and his wife, apparently occupying
a good position in society, called at the Refuge and asked to be allowed
to go over it. Having inspected the various departments, just before
leaving, the gentleman said to his wife, 'Now I will tell you a great
secret. I was brought up in this place.' The lady seemed much
surprised, and astounded all by quietly observing, 'And so was I.' So
strange are the coincidences of human life."
The institutions on this island controlled by the Department of Public
Charities and Corrections, are the "Nurseries," the "Infant Hospital,"
and the "Idiot Asylum."
The Nurseries consist of six large Brick buildings, each three stories in
height, arranged without reference to any special plan, and separated
from each other by a distance of several hundred feet. Each is in charge
of an assistant matron, the whole being under the supervision of a Warden
and matron. These nurseries are devoted to the care of children over
four years old, abandoned by their parents, and found in the streets by
the police, and children whose parents are unable to care for them.
Wherever the parent is known the Commissioners afford only temporary
shelter to the children, requiring the parents to resume their care of
them at the earliest possible moment. Three months is the limit for
gratuitous shelter in such cases. Where the parent is unknown, the child
is cared for until it is of an age to be apprenticed, or until some
respectable persons take it for adoption. Only healthy children are
received into the nurseries, and none may remain in them after reaching
the age of sixteen years. The average number of inmates is about 2400
per annum.
The Infant Hospital is for the reception of children under the age of
four years, for foundlings, for children whose parents are too poor to
take care of them, and for the sick of the Nurseries proper. The
children are divided into three classes: I. The "Wet nursed:" II. The
"Bottle fed:" III. The "Walking Children." They are retained here
unless claimed by their parents until they attain the age of three or
four years, when they are transferred to the Nurseries mentioned above.
The Hospital is a large and handsome brick building, and will accommodate
several hundred children and their nurses.
The Idiot Asylum is a large brick building, with accommodations for
several hundred patients. It contains at present about 150 of these,
whose ages vary from six to thirty years. They represent nearly all the
different phases of idiocy, and are well cared for. Some of them have
been greatly improved in mind by the treatment and discipline pursued.