[Illustration: DETENTION BUILDING SOUTH ELEVATION]
In order fully to understand the problem of prison registration,
let us follow the course taken by the convict upon his arrival at
the Sing Sing of the future: Immediately upon entering the prison
grounds, the Court Officer conducts him to the arrival room in the
basement of the Registration Building. Here he is turned over to the
prison authorities, who take and receipt for his personal property
and clothes. The civilian clothes are removed for disinfection and
storage. He is then led to the baths, situated across the hall from
the property room. After being thoroughly bathed, and subjected to a
hasty medical inspection, clean prison clothes are provided. Then,
contagion from outside sources having been removed, the prisoner is
lodged in a classification cell on the first floor, to await his turn
for examination in the rooms provided for that purpose on the second
floor. When the examiner is ready for him, he is taken upstairs to be
photographed, weighed, finger-printed and generally “Bertilloned,” and
is then sent across the hall to be given a preliminary examination for
the determination of his general physical condition. This over, he is
led to the educational examination room, where facts concerning his
birth, occupation and general history are recorded, and an examination
conducted to determine both the extent of his education and his
occupational skill. Following that comes a careful mental examination
in which the findings of those just preceding are fully utilized. As
a result of these different examinations his first classification is
made, subject of course to change from examinations to be conducted
later.