The cell doors operate on an automatic device, with which it is
possible to open all the doors at once, or each one individually.
The author’s contribution to this device was that they could also be
locked five inches open. In this way it is possible in warm weather
to ventilate the cell into the central corridor; which in turn is
ventilated at each end by accessible windows across its entire width.
It is true that the prisoners can look out through the five-inch
opening and communicate with one another across the corridor; but if
this privilege is abused, the door can be closed separately and the
offending inmate may be disciplined without affecting the comfort
of the others. In the new cell block at the Eastern Penitentiary at
Philadelphia the cells have been equipped with two doors--one of solid
wood and the other an iron grating. In warm weather the grating only
is used, and if a prisoner becomes unruly or noisy, the wooden door is
closed. The upper portions of the doors at Westchester are glazed, as
they always should be, because it is necessary for the guard at all
times to see if the prisoner is in his cell.
Almost the whole problem of the outside cell lies of course in the
window. Our climate is such in summer that it would be almost inhuman
to put a man in a cell and shut the door without providing adequate
window area. The English cell with its small window opening would be
intolerable here. So would those in the Holland and German prisons,
where the windows are hinged at the bottom and open at the top. The
Westchester windows are steel sash of the usual casement type except
that they are pivoted top and bottom 4 inches from the jamb. This
enables the window to be readily cleaned on each side. The window opens
at right angles to the wall, and the opening is entirely adequate for
our weather conditions, the window being two feet wide and four feet
high. The adjuster is a commercial type, and will keep the window open
at 90 degrees, 45 degrees, and about 15 degrees.