Name/Title
History, Corrections, Wisconsin State Prison, A Brief History of The Wisconsin State PrisonDescription
8"x14" paper bound booklet - A Brief History of The Wisconsin State Prison. Not sure of the date when this was composed or by whom. First date was1851, and last date was June 30, 1918.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE PRISON
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By resolution of the legislature of 1851 Messrs. John Bullen, John Taylor and A. W. Worth were appointed as a Board of State Prison Commissioners to provide for the location and erection of the State Prison. This Commission met at Madison, June 24, 1851, and after considering proposals offered in behalf of different locations proceeded to visit and examine the following places and vicinities; Madison, Portland, Genessee, Horicon, Kaukauna and Waupun, with a view to determine the best point for the location of a State Prison.
After making an examination of the above places the Committee returned to Madison, and on July 4, 1851, selected and determined upon Waupun as the best and most suitable place for such location. A minority report was submitted by Mr. Worth favoring a site near the City of Madison.
On July 5, 1851, the Commissioners proceeded to Waupun and acquired title to twenty acres of land, donated
Extended Description: 8"x14" paper bound booklet - A Brief History of The Wisconsin State Prison. Not sure of the date when this was composed or by whom. First date was1851, and last date was June 30, 1918.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE PRISON
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
By resolution of the legislature of 1851 Messrs. John Bullen, John Taylor and A. W. Worth were appointed as a Board of State Prison Commissioners to provide for the location and erection of the State Prison. This Commission met at Madison, June 24, 1851, and after considering proposals offered in behalf of different locations proceeded to visit and examine the following places and vicinities; Madison, Portland, Genessee, Horicon, Kaukauna and Waupun, with a view to determine the best point for the location of a State Prison.
After making an examination of the above places the Committee returned to Madison, and on July 4, 1851, selected and determined upon Waupun as the best and most suitable place for such location. A minority report was submitted by Mr. Worth favoring a site near the City of Madison.
On July 5, 1851, the Commissioners proceeded to Waupun and acquired title to twenty acres of land, donated by Seymour Wilcox, esquire, for a site for the prison buildings.
The reasons given for locating the prison at Waupun by the majority report of the Commissioners were as follows: "Waupun is a beautiful and healthful village, located about eighteen miles southerly from Fond du Lac, upon or near the contemplated route of the Rock Valley Railroad; which, when completed, with the contemplated Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvement, will afford convenient access from almost every portion of the State. Limestone is to be found in any abundance, of good quality for building purposes, which in many places appear at the surface, and generally from one to six feet below. Pure water may also be procured in abundance, by drilling from twenty to forty feet deep. Lumber and other materials needed for building, may be obtained at reasonable rates; and facilities for the furtherance of the interests of the State in the establishment and maintenance of a prison, are surpassed by no other place.
On July 21, 1851 P contract was entered Into for the construction of a temporary prison. The building was to be three stories high of wood above a stone basement, the dimensions of the building being twenty-six by eighty feet. In this building was placed forty cells with sufficient room for twenty more when needed. This additional space was used for a hospital, office, guard room, and sleeping quarters was partitioned off for the guards and officers. In the second story there was four bedrooms for officers and a storeroom. The third story was used for a chapel and temporary hospital. An addition was added, fourteen by thirty-six feet, one story building above basement, and this together with the basement of the main building was used for kitchens and dining rooms. It is interesting to note that the first equipment purchased for the prison was six revolvers, handcuffs, fetters, balls and chains. Five acres was enclosed with a plank fence twelve foot high with a walk on the top for the guards.
It was decided to construct the permanent prison of stone and employ the prisoners in quarrying and cutting the stone. Practical citizen stone cutters were employed to instruct the convicts, one instructor being employed to every four convicts, these instructors were paid at the rate of $1.25 per day, and the guards at that time were paid a wage of $300.00 per year.
The first Wardens of the prison were known by the title of Commissioners, and were elected for a two year period the same as the Governor and other State officers. Mr. Henry Brown was elected the first Commissioner and assumed his duties on April 1, 1852. The population of the prison on that date was fifteen, and on December 31, 1852 the number was twenty-seven, of which two were females.
The legislature of 1852 directed the commissioner to proceed with the erection of one wing of the permanent prison, the plan to be chosen by the Commissioner and approved by the Governor.
The plans submitted provided for the buildings to face the East and to comprise a center building three stories high besides the basement; to be fifty feet in front, seventy-five feet in depth, with two wings, each one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, exclusive of the octagonal towers. In the center of each block was to be one hundred and twenty cells four tiers in height. These cells were to be seven by four feet inside measurements and seven feet high. The front portion of the center building was to be used as a residence for the Commissioner and his family and for the subordinate officers. On the first story in the rear was to be the guard and matron's rooms. In the rear of the second story was to be the male and female hospitals and in the third story was to be the chapel. The basement was to be used for the culinary departments, storerooms and etc. It might be added here that this general plan was followed out with the exception of a change of dimensions of the buildings. On December 31, 1853 Commissioner
Brown completed his term of service and the population on that date was sixty-one, of whom five were females. Work had been started on the South cell room and this was continued in 1854 under the administration of Commissioner A. W. Stark. During this year and also in some of the years following there was no money in the State Treasury, and it was difficult for the prison to secure supplies, as the Commissioner was unable to pay and fulfill his contracts, and the Commissioner remarked in his report "In the meantime, dinner hour arrives, and seventy-five or eighty prisoners are not apt fully to appreciate the financial trouble that prevents them from getting it." The administration of Mr. Stark continued for the year 1854 and during this year the South cell wing was finished and as completed was two hundred feet long by fifty feet wide and contained two hundred and eighty-eight cells of the size as originally planned and was erected at a cost of $93,865.00. The population on December 31, 1854 was seventy-one, of whom five were females. During that year thirty-two were pardoned, nineteen of whom were pardoned one day before the expiration of their term for the purpose of restoring citizenship. Of the seventy-one confined at the close of the year; Three were from nine to fifteen years old; Twelve were from fifteen to twenty years old; Sixteen were from twenty to twenty-five years old.
Commissioner Stark during the years, 1853 and 54 did, under the direction of the Prison Physician, furnish convicts with weak tea once a day, and in case of sickness oftener, and to such men as had been in the habit of using tobacco three chews a day, "believing, under all the circumstances, its moderate use would be more beneficial to the convict than otherwise." The Commissioner had also permitted convicts to go out of the prison enclosure to obtain water and do other errands, and on the fourth of July ministers and citizens of Waupun were permitted to come to the prison and the prisoners enjoyed a day of recreation. These matters were made a subject of inquiry by a special Committee by the legislature.
The report of the Committee in part is as follows: "Your Committee have also had under consideration, the charges which have been made against the Commissioner of the State Prison, and have spent a number of days in taking testimony, pro and con, upon the subject, and from the examination of a large number of witnesses, they have nearly 100 pages of testimony in manuscript, which is herewith returned and submitted. From this testimony, your committee think they can draw conclusions, at least satisfactory to themselves.
The office of Commissioner of the State Prison, is a situation calling for rare and peculiar qualifications, and it is seldom that these are found united in one individual. To great firmness and decision of character, must be added discretion, a love of justice in a great degree, and a knowledge of human nature, as deep and ramified as the recesses of the human soul.
The object of punishment is said, by jurists, casuists, and writers upon moral and political science, to be three-fold in its nature--the reformation of the transgressor--the protection of society--and the deterring of others from the commission of crime, by the example made. So important are the interests of society, and so firmly are they linked, in the proper administration of public punishment, that no wonder need be expressed that these rare characteristics are so seldom found united in one individual.
The committee to whom the trust of making these investigations have been confided, take pleasure in being able to report, that the result of their examinations has been satisfactory rather than otherwise. From the rumors which had gained a state-wide currency, they were led to fear that the interests of the Prison and the State might in some measure have suffered in the hands of the Commissioner, and with this view as well as in accordance with the instructions received from the legislature, they determined upon a full investigation of the matters committed to them, and trust that the result of their investigations will be as satisfactory to the legislature, as it is gratifying to themselves.
From personal examinations, as well as from the testimony of witnesses upon the stand, your committee learned, that the health of the prisoners during the past year, (a year of more than ordinary sickness and fatality) has been very good, that few of the convicts have suffered from sickness, and that none have been released by the messenger of death. The care which the Commissioner had exercised in enforcing rules of cleanliness, both with regard to the cells of the convicts, and the prisoners themselves, as well as seeing that those under his charge were at all times supplied with sweet and proper food, has doubtless contributed to this result, and has shown that the interest of the State, in a proper oversight and care for those committed to his charge, has not been at any time lost sight of by the Commissioner. Some of the complaints, indeed, which came before the committee, may have had their origin from the extreme carefulness which has been exercised by the Commissioner over the health of the convicts, especially in those cases where he has allowed the convicts tea and tobacco. The testimony, however, on this point, does not show that he has ever done this, except upon the written order of the physician of the prison. Where tea has been allowed, it has been allowed once a day, in quantities of three gills to each convict, who wished it, without sugar or milk. In regard to tobacco, the same thing can be said; this has been allowed, as the evidence shows, on the order of the physician, partly for the health of the convict, and partly as a reward and encouragement to good behavior. Your committee would suggest that the practice of distributing tobacco as, a rule, might be dispensed with.
As far as the occasional practice, during the past summer, of allowing particular convicts to go out of the prison yard out of sight of the prison is concerned, your committee cannot justify, although attended with no bad results. Yet your committee are convinced, that although the commissioner committed an error in so doing, that it was done under such circumstances and with such motives as might be pardoned; and if corrected, might be, without evil consequences, overlooked. And your committee are free to say, and the evidence will bear them out in so saying, that this practice has been entirely discontinued for over four months, and is not permitted at the present time.
In some instances of this kind an officer attended the convict; in others the convict was in sight, and within reach of the guns of the guard on the wall. Before they had water in the prison yard, some one or two of the convicts were in the habit of going some fifteen rods to a neighbor's well for water, for cooking, and etc., and in all these cases, with but one exception, the prisoners were those Whose term of service had nearly expired, or for whom a pardon was daily expected.
Whether imprudence, necessity or fortuitous circumstances, induced the commissioner to permit these convicts to go out of the yard, the fact, which is in evidence, that not an escape or an attempt at an escape, had been made during the year, shows that the commissioner has, at all events, been cautious whom he permitted to go outside the walls.
With regard to the charge against the Commissioner of allowing the meetings of males and females about the prison, your committee are well satisfied that the matter complained of has been unjustly exaggerated, and that they have arisen from the fact, that husbands Who are convicts have been allowed to see their wives about an hour on the afternoons of Sundays, and in every instance in the presence of an officer of the prison. Your committee have no heart to condemn a practice so generous and humane; since it is not only dictated by sound policy, and Justified by the practice of all such institutions in every State of the Union, but are fully convinced of its salutary influence upon the mind and character of the convict. They are satisfied that if the devotion of a wife and mother will lead her to take up her residence near the gloomy walls which shut her husband from her sight, for the purpose of seeing him an hour in a week, that no harm can result from the effects of such an interview.
A great deal had also been said about the celebration of the Fourth of July, by the convicts. The committee learned from the testimony, that the conclusions of the Commissioner to allow the prisoners this holiday, was determined upon after a full consultation with all his officers. He thought best to grant this favor, not only as a sort of an oasis in the desert-life of the outcast convict, but also as a means of advancing his highest good.
This celebration, we are informed, was attended by the pastors of the churches and many of the best citizens of both sexes in the village of Waupun; and the words of warning and instructions, as they fell from the lips of the speaker, mingled with the joyous exultation of the occasion and the day, softened many a heart--if the falling tear is any evidence of human contrition, or sorrowing grief, -- yet, your committee cannot say that this is a prudent or proper pastime for convicts, under all, and perhaps not under any, circumstances.
The order and discipline in which your committee found the prison, agreeing :pith the concurrent evidence upon this point, satisfied them-- all the circumstances taken into account--the different kinds of work carried on--the constant contact of convicts with citizen laborers, occasioned by the prosecution of the work of building the new prison--that the success of the commissioner upon this point was worthy of no small commendation. It is probable that in some instances greater severity of punishment might have been called for, yet under no circumstances could they have hoped to have found the discipline better administered, and the convicts better behaved.
The expression of our just sentiments compel us to say thus much with regard to the course of the Commissioner, and to recommend his administration of affairs at the State Prison, at the present time, and to admit that if he had erred (and who has not) it has been such an error as the good and the humane among men can forgive without sacrifice, and forget without a tear. The committee, entirely convinced of the honesty and devotion of the Commissioner to his work, can only regret that circumstances of this kind have arisen, to mar the feelings and disturb the quietude of any one, and with no feelings of our own, but the love of truth and honest dealing to gratify, we must bear unanimous testimony to the Commissioner's integrity, justice and humanity."
Commissioner Stark's administration continued through until the year 1855 and the population of that year was seventy-two, of whom four were females. During the year forty were pardoned by the Governor, twenty-six of whom were pardoned one day before the expiration of their term. During this year contracts were entered into for the employment of convict labor as follows: Men employed in the tin shop at the rate of forty-eight cents per day; shoe shop sixty cents per day for the masters of the trade and twenty-five cents per day for apprentices to work at that rate for a period of six months; for the men employed in the carpenter shop fifty-five cents per day. No further mention was made of these contracts in the following reports, so it would appear that they were discontinued at the end of one year or sooner. During the year the excavation was started and some stone out for the erection of the main or center building. The amount expended on this work during the year was 36,493.00, of which Q3,675.00 represented the amount charged for convict labor.
During the year 1856 the affairs of the prison were administered, by Commissioner Edward McGarry. It appears from his reports that the State Treasurer was unable to make payments on the appropriations made for the use of the prison. The Commissioner, therefore, negotiated the appropriation, paying interest to various bank for loans made. The York on the main building was continued, but the plans were changed extending the width from fifty-two feet to seventy-two feet and the the length from eighty feet to eighty-five feet. It was claimed some of the work already done on this building was defective and that it was necessary to tear down some of the walls and rebuild. The firm of architects which were originally employed were discharged and some new architects engaged to continue the work. Affidavits were presented to the Governor that the Commissioner was wasting and misusing the State's funds, and the Commissioner was cited to appear before the Governor on a charge of malfeasance of office. Counsel was employed by the Commissioner and it appears the the Governor did not make any decision in the matter. There was expended during the period on this building the sum of )8,795.00. The number of prisoners confined at the close of the year was one hundred and eight.
The administration of Edward McGarry was continued for the year 1857. Work on the main building was continued and the total charges against this building for the year was $31,921.00, of which $20,407.00 represented convict and other labor. It appears from the report of Commissioner that the governor did not make any decision during the year on the charges which had been referred to mal-administration. The Commissioner states that he waited on the Governor several times but could get no decision. His attorneys also called upon the Governor, but to no purpose. A resolution was, therefore, introduced in the assembly and passed calling upon te Governor to decide and publish his decision, together with the testimony in the case. This the Governor did not do. The Commissioner credited himself on the prison books with $850.00 which he had expended for counsel. He also claimed as due him as a result of the expense he had been put to the sum of $1,850.00. This was covered in the bill introduced in the legislature which they refused to allow until the Governor would make a report. The number of inmates in prison at the close of the period was one hundred and sixty.
During the year 1857 the administration of the prison was in charge of Commissioner Edward M. McGraw. The work on the main building was continued and the labor for the year was estimated at $11,582.00, of which $10,805.00 represented convict labor. The number in prison on December 31, 1858 was two hundred and two.
In 1859 the administration of Mr. McGraw was continued. Work on the main building was continued and the amount of labor estimated for carpenter work, quarrying and cutting stone was 25,300.00. The erection of the permanent prison wall was started during the year, eight hundred and sixty-four feet being completed. The wall was twenty-two feet high on the inside and is built down to the stone to a depth averaging six feet. The wall was built five feet wide at the foundation, four feet thick at the surface and two feet at the top. The top is covered with a cut stone coping three feet wide and four inches thick.
In 1859 the laws were changed so that the Commissioner was required to submit his report as of September 30th. During this period Mr. Hans C. Heg was the Commissioner. During his administration the convict workshops were started. Foundations were dug for a building three hundred and seventy-five feet in length, forty feet wide, divided into four workshops each
eighty feet by forty feet with a place reserved in the center of the building thirty-five feet by forty feet to be used for a boiler and engine room, the entire building was to be two stories high and, therefore, providing eight workshops in all. The work on the wall was continued. The Commissioner made mention in his report that the female convicts were confined in the upper part of the old prison building in the middle of the prison yard. He stated that the male convicts were constantly employed in the yard and recommended that a suitable building be constructed for a female prison. The population on October 1, 1860 was one hundred and eighty-two, of whom twelve were females. During 1861 Mr. Heg continued as Commissioner. A sewer was excavated from the prison yard to the Rock river, a distance of two thousand eight hundred feet and a tile tube ten inches in diameter laid. The front wall was started and a distance of five hundred and seventy-five feet completed. This wall is a series of stone pillars and arches filled in with iron net work, and the description given of it in 1861 is true in 1920, when it was said, "This is a monument of praise to the genius and taste of its designer." The population on October 1, 1861 was one hundred and thirty-seven, of whom twelve were females.
Mr. A. P. Hodges was elected Commissioner in 1861 and assumed office January 1, 1862. During the year work on the construction of the female prison and Deputy Warden's residence was started. The main building of the female prison was to be fifty-four feet by thirty-two feet and thirty-five feet high above the basement. The cell room for the women prisoners was to be seventy-five feet by thirty-four feet, twenty-four feet high above the basement containing two blocks of cells sixty feet by ten feet. The entire building was constructed of cut stone. A wall was built around the female prison grounds thirty-six rods long. There was also completed during the year three hundred and two feet of the front wall. The second story of the building designed for workshops was found to be imperfectly designed and defectively constructed. The roof was so built that it was necessary to remove the entire upper story of the shops and carrying the walls up some fifteen feet higher. The roof on the second story was flat and so low that during the summer months the heat was so intense that it could not be occupied. The roof also leaked so that after storms it could not be used and rendered it unfit for manufacturing purposes. The sewer which had partially been constructed was also found to be defective and it was recommended that it be replaced. The amounts expended for completing the front wall and the work on the female prison was $18,434.00, of which $14,381.00 was for convict labor. During the year a number of men had been employed in the cabinet shop and some were employed at making shoes. The population on December 30, 1862 was one hundred and twenty, of whom four were females.
The administration of Mr. Hodges was continued in 1863. During the year the guard house at the front gate was constructed and the female prison completed. The front prison grounds were graded and a grate wall at the front of the female prison constructed. The second story of the workshop was removed and a second story twelve feet high built of cut stone substituted. Work was also started on the construction of a blacksmith shop forty feet by eighty feet. The convicts not employed on construction work were employed in what was known as the cabinet Shop and shoe shop. The profits from the cabinet shop for the year was $1,850.00, for the shoe shop $548.00. The population on September 30, 1863 was one hundred and thirty-one, of whom eight were females.
On January 1, 1864 Henry Cordier assumed the office of Commissioner. During the year a sewer was constructed from the prison yard to Rock River a distance of two thousand eight hundred feet. The sewer was three and one-half feet high and two and one-half feet wide covered by a semicircular arch. The appropriation for the sewer was $2,500.00 but this was not used, $1,682.00 being taken from the amount appropriated for current expenses. The estimated cost of the sewer including convict labor was $6,019.00. The female convicts were removed from the old building in the prison yard to the new female prison in the spring of 1864. Work was also started on the construction of a building forty feet by twenty-five feet which was to be used for a wash house and soap house. The Commissioner reported from the cabinet shop a profit of $2,677.00, from the blacksmith shop $920.00 and from the shoe shop $612.00. The population on September 30, 1864 was one hundred and twenty, of whom fourteen were females.
Commissioner Cordier continued in 1865. The work on the sewer was continued but was not entirely completed. The wash and soap house was completed and a new blacksmith shop was constructed. There was also constructed a barn and stable in the prison yard, both constructed of out stone. The estimated cost of the wash and soap house including convict labor was $4,217.00, of the blacksmith shop $7,366.00, barn and stable $4,667.00. While at work on the new prison sewer one of the convicts made a desperate attack with a spade on the guard in charge. The officer drew his carbine and fired, the ball passing through the convicts head causing his death the next day. The guard was exonerated by the legal authorities, it being shown that he acted in self-defense. The total population at the close of the year was ninety-seven, of whom six were females.
Henry Cordier was re-elected Commissioner and was in charge of the prison in 1866. During the year the sewer was completed and the total cost was estimated at $13,644.00. The old prison was removed from the prison enclosure and the construction of the North Cell Wing started. This building was to be two hundred feet long by fifty-three feet wide and thirty-two feet high. It was intended to contain two hundred and forty cells and a hospital in the north end, size fifty-five feet by fifty-three feet. The estimated amount of labor on the North Cell Wing to date was $28,124.00, of which $19,067.00 represented convict labor. The profits of the cabinet shop was shown to be $5,277.00; of the blacksmith shop $3,059.00; of the shoe shop $1,585.00. During the year contracts .sere made for supplying steam power for the prison. The population materially increased during the year, and on September 30, 1866 reached one hundred and sixty-nine, of whom eleven were females.
In 1867 the administration of Commissioner Cordier was continued. During the year the work on the North Cell ding das continued. The amount expended on the cell wing including convict labor amounted to $45,427.00. A flag stone walk was laid in front of the prison eight feet wide and nine hundred and forty-three feet long at a cost of $3,019. 00. Previous reports have mentioned that school work had been done during winter months. During the year 1867 a regular school was organized and placed under the direction of the prison Chaplain. The profits from the cabinet shop were shown to be $4,098.00; from the blacksmith shop $2,873.00, and from the shoe shop $1,422.00. The population on September 30, 1867 was two hundred and six, of whom fifteen were females.
Henry Cordier was re-elected as Commissioner and conducted the affairs of the prison in 1868. Work on the North Cell Wing was continued. The amount expended during the year for this purpose being $2,983.00. The prison buildings have now been completed in accordance
with the original plans, and it was now found necessary to establish some other industries for the employment of the convicts. It was decided to install a chair and furniture factory in connectio... [truncated due to length]Acquisition
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2015.0006Source or Donor
Heiser, Thomas and SusanAcquisition Method
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