CORNELIUS V. COLLINS,
Superintendent of State Prisons.
CHAPTER XXXIII
AFTER SENTENCE, WHAT?
After a person has been convicted of a felony in New York County, either in the Criminal Branch of the Supreme Court, or in the Court of General Sessions, if the sentence is a year in prison, or less, he is sent to the New York Penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island. But if he is sent away for more than a year, he is taken to Sing Sing, or Bear Mountain, the new prison on the west bank of the Hudson, where if he is a first offender, he is detained till he has finished his time.
As soon as he leaves Court, he is taken in charge by the Sheriff, or one of his deputies, who hurries him off soon after to the prison destined for the fulfillment of the sentence.
In the case of those who have been sentenced to the electric chair, they are taken the same day to the place where the sentence is to be carried out. The reason for this is obvious. While in the Tombs or Raymond Street jail, Brooklyn, he is visited by his friends, who might aid in his escape or death by suicide. As the Sheriff knows from experience that it is best to take no chances, he hurries him to prison at once. After he reaches the death house, he is never again allowed to shake hands with any of his friends, lest they might communicate to him poison or a knife.
After reaching prison, the prisoner is practically dead to the world, except that his friends may visit him monthly. Some will return to citizenship again as honest men; others will never pass through the gate till they are carried out to a bed of lime in the little cemetery on the hill-side.
During the transition from court to prison, kaleidoscopic scenes pass through the brain of the prisoner, and are continued indefinitely in his little 3×7 cell, where he spends his first sleepless night.
In England all persons sentenced to penal servitude for a period of two years and over, are sent to what is called the Central Prison for six months for the purpose of observation. This is done that the authorities may be able to put the prisoner to some work best suited to his nature. The Central Prison is the Experimental Station of the English system. The inmate’s physical, mental and moral nature are carefully inquired into, and observations made. This reform was begun about a third of a century ago, and has met with success.
After the newly arrived prisoner enters the Sing Sing or Bear Mountain Prison reception room, he is interviewed by an official, who forthwith takes his pedigree. If the prisoner happens to have any money or valuables, he is relieved of the same, and a receipt given him. They are returned when he leaves the prison.