State reformatory institutions for women are rapidly being developed
in the United States. The first two institutions of this class,
the Indiana State Reformatory for Women at Indianapolis and the
Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Framingham, were prison
structures, less rigid and formal than typical prisons for men, but
still following prison models.
In the meantime the cottage system for younger girls grew up, and it
was soon found that delinquent girls could be safely kept in ordinary
cottages without any surrounding wall and without prison construction.
When the New York State Reformatory for Women was built at Bedford,
cottages were erected instead of a large congregate building, and the
gates of the institution stood open day and night. While occasionally
escapes took place, the number was not large, and the fugitives were
usually speedily recaptured.
All the new institutions for delinquent women are on the cottage plan,
and in most cases the cottages are of simple construction, without
window gratings, strong bars, walls, or even fences. In some cottages
an iron grill protects the lower sash; sometimes this grill is masked
by window plants.
The Connecticut State Farm for Women receives women committed for
misdemeanors from all parts of Connecticut. There are only eight women
convicted of felonies in the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield,
but a considerable number of women are still committed to the county
jails throughout the State. All the women at Niantic are committed for
criminal offenses.
Three old farmhouses have been refitted to serve as cottages, and one
new Reception Building has been erected to accommodate 27 incoming
women. This is a wooden building, similar in construction to a
well-built farmhouse. On the first floor are a kitchen, a dining-room,
a living-room, and a reception department for incoming prisoners, with
hospital wards, isolation wards, and accommodations for officers.
[Illustration: RECEPTION BUILDING--FIRST FLOOR PLAN]
The dining-room and living-room are practically one room, so that the
dining-room with its tables is available as an evening sitting-room and
living-room.
On the second floor are single rooms for inmates, with accommodations
for the matron and her assistant. The rooms are about 7 by 10 feet.
They are simply but neatly furnished. Notwithstanding the fact that
this cottage is designed for the incoming prisoners who are most likely
to run away, the doors of this house are unlocked throughout the day.
The farm contains about 500 acres. Three old farmhouses, having been
repaired and supplied with plumbing, furnish houseroom for three groups
of women, each under charge of a matron. No one of these buildings
is in any sense “secure”; but escapes are infrequent, and escaping
prisoners are usually recaptured.
[Illustration: RECEPTION BUILDING--SECOND FLOOR PLAN]
The only secure place on the farm consists of three small “thinking
rooms” located in the basement of the receiving cottage. These rooms
have strong doors and barred windows. Their construction is not
satisfactory, but they will be replaced by more suitable detention
rooms when additional buildings are erected.
The present buildings are inconvenient and ill adapted to the care and
supervision of the women. When permanent buildings are erected, the
work of the officers will be greatly simplified; but the probability is
that the new buildings will be of simple construction, similar to that
of the buildings that have already been erected.
[Illustration: RECEPTION BUILDING--BASEMENT PLAN]
The small number of escapes from the Connecticut State Farm for Women
and Clinton Farms in New Jersey appears to be due to the establishment
of a certain morale among the women. This morale rests partly on the
fine spirit of the superintendents and their staffs, partly upon the
certainty of recapture, and partly upon the spirit of the inmates.
Running away is contrary to the practice of the place. “It isn’t done.”
Newcomers have to be carefully watched for the first few days until
they overcome homesickness and become won to the place. After that they
are less likely to attempt to abscond.
The Caroline Bayard Wittpenn Cottage at the New Jersey State
Reformatory for Women, Clinton, New Jersey
We present herewith the plan of the maternity cottage of the New
Jersey State Reformatory for Women. This cottage is designed for
the reception, care, and treatment of young mothers and babies. The
building is 102 feet long and 40 feet wide, with a rear extension 24 by
28, containing the kitchen on the first floor and bedrooms for inmates
on the second floor. The whole aspect of the house is cheerful and
there is no appearance of a prison about the place.
The building contains 20 sleeping rooms for inmates, with a sleeping
porch having room for ten additional inmates, and having a separate
dressing-room for each person. There is a nursery for 12 or 14 infants,
with a large sleeping porch.
The building is so arranged on both floors as to minimize the amount
of waste space. There is a corridor on each floor which is only 60
feet long and 6 feet wide. This corridor terminates at each end in a
large room so as to avoid unnecessary corridor space. The rooms for the
inmates are about 6½ by 10 feet. Each room has a good outside window.
In this cottage kitchen space adequate for preparing of mothers’ and
infants’ food is provided. A diet kitchen adjoining the larger kitchen
assists in the preparation of the infants’ food. A dumbwaiter shaft
extends from this diet kitchen to the second floor, where a small diet
kitchen for food service and storage of milk formulas is provided. In
this diet kitchen is a refrigerator especially adapted to the needs.
This refrigerator is six feet high and six feet wide, porcelain lined,
with shelving specially planned to hold wire baskets containing the
regular eight ounce nursing bottle. No other foods except the milk
formulas are kept in this refrigerator.
Room is provided in the basement for milk pasteurizer with 144 bottle
capacity. This is connected with high pressure steam.
Adjoining the nursery is a specially equipped infants’ bath-room. A
small bath-tub and two bath-slabs provide ample bathing facilities for
both small infants and those of larger size. Tiled floors and hard
finished walls make this a most sanitary arrangement.
[Illustration: CAROLINE BAYARD WITTPENN MATERNITY COTTAGE, STATE
REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN, CLINTON, NEW JERSEY--SOUTH ELEVATION