The hospital quarters are small, because in the prison with the
individual room a man who is sick is better off in his cell than he
would be in a general hospital ward, and the men very frequently prefer
to stay by themselves.
The prisoners brought to the institution enter the bath and reception
building at the rear, where the process of their reception is as
follows:
[Illustration: ADMINISTRATION BUILDING--ENTRANCE SIDE]
They enter to the left, where they undress and bathe. Their clothes are
tied up in a bag, temporarily placed in a metal-lined closet, which
can be fumigated, and later taken to the general county farm laundry
and sterilized. After the prisoner has had his bath he goes into the
doctor’s office, where he is given a careful physical examination, and
here also are made the finger-print and other records of identification
which are very desirable from many points of view.
He then goes to the barber if necessary and has his hair cut. It is not
now the custom to crop all prisoners’ heads unless the actual physical
condition makes such treatment necessary. After he has been given clean
underclothes and a clean prison suit he goes to the warden’s office
and is there interviewed by him. The prisoner is told what the rules
of the institution are, and his first meeting with the warden is of
consequence to both, as it gives the warden an intimate opportunity to
regard and to counsel his man, and the prisoner his first intimation
of what is expected of him and what his treatment will be. After
his interview with the warden the prisoner is placed in cell block
3 to stay during the period of observation, which is usually about
two weeks. This is not only for the purpose of finding out what his
physical condition may be, and to guard against the development of
contagious disease, but also that the prison authorities may make the
equally important diagnosis of his mentality, from which is largely
determined his future treatment.