The detention cell house is two tiers high and contains 60 single man
cells, each 6 by 10 feet, and 8½ feet high. These cells are otherwise
similar to the single man cells in the main cell house. As may be
inferred from the designation, the detention cell house will be used
as a clearing-house for all new State convicts. All new convicts will
be sent here for a quarantine period of ten days to two weeks. During
this period the new convict will be given a careful mental, moral, and
physical examination, and his past history will also be investigated.
Obviously, the purpose will be to protect the prison body from the
infectious diseases brought in by new convicts, to correct physical
defects in the new prisoner, to make the necessary identification
records, and to study the mental and physical characteristics of the
prisoner, in addition to his past history, in order that he may be
properly classified. By this means the mental and physical degenerates,
confirmed criminals, and diseased criminals may be isolated from their
fellows by placing them in the single man cells. It will also be
possible, by proper classification, to segregate convicts of the same
social and moral strata into the same multiple man cells.
At the outer end of the detention cell building is the punitive cell
building, containing 24 concrete cells supplied with mechanical
ventilation. Twelve of these cells will face the windows and will
thus be solitary light cells, while the remaining 12 cells will face
the dark corridor and will thus be solitary dark cells. In future,
confinement and other methods of punishment will supersede corporal
punishment in Alabama prisons.
On the opposite wing from the detention cell house is a utility
building which is a brick and steel building containing clothing
storage rooms, laundry, shower-bath, clothing and shoe repair room, and
locker room for the clothes.