The site embraces eleven acres of ground, and is intended to afford ample room, (at some future time,) for a new Refuge for white children. The lot lies in the form of a parallelogram, 400 feet by 210, and is enclosed by a wall varying in height from 20½ to 30 feet.
“The arrangement of the buildings within the enclosure, which are all of brick, with slate roofs, is made with reference to a total separation of the boys and girls, and to the existence of three separate classes of both male and female inmates: the first (or best) and second classes each to have a play-ground and work-room, and the members of one class not to be allowed to converse with those of the other, on any occasion; the third class, consisting of the most depraved inmates, to be kept, until in a condition to warrant promotion to a higher class, in separate confinement, with a suitable allowance of out of door exercise for the preservation of health, said exercise to be taken in an enclosure specially designed for this purpose, where no conversation between the inmates shall be permitted.
“The numbers of these three classes which can be accommodated when the buildings marked on the plan shall be erected, as ultimately designed, are—
Boys. Girls. 1st Class 40 27 2d Class 56 45 3d Class 30 22 Total 126 94 “Dormitories for the first and second classes are at present provided for—
Boys. Girls. 1st Class 30 14 2d Class 42 22 Total 72 36 “The erection of all of the other buildings specified in the plan, was authorized, with reference to the accommodation of 250 inmates. They consist of—
“1. A main building, three stories in height, containing offices and chambers for the officers, school-rooms and infirmaries for the male and female inmates, a dining and sitting-room for the girls, &c.
“2. Two buildings projecting from the rear of the main building; the one in the male department, two stories in height, and containing the chapel and the boys’ dining-room; the other in the female department, three stories in height, and appropriated for the kitchen, the wash-room, store-rooms, &c.
“3. Two wings, each three stories in height; the one, in the female department, containing the dormitories and bathing-rooms for the girls; the other, in the male department, containing the boys’ dormitories.
“4. A building, two stories in height, near the southern wall of the male department, the first and second stories of which are designed for work-rooms, and the basement for a washing and bathing-room for the boys.
“A corridor, 12 feet in width, extends the whole length of the main building and wings, a distance of 243 feet.
“Many important points, in addition to the classification of the inmates, claimed the attention of the Board, in the preparation of the plan—e. g. security against the escape of the inmates, and their constant supervision by an officer at all times of the day; the proper ventilation and warming of all the apartments; provision for out of door exercise for the inmates in all states of the weather, &c. These, it is believed, have all been kept in view and provided for, in the plan adopted.
“The wall of enclosure, excepting the gate-way and a portion of the pointing, is completed; the work-shop is finished; and of all the other buildings the walls are up, the roofs on, and a small part of the flooring laid.”
| Boys. | Girls. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Class | 40 | 27 |
| 2d Class | 56 | 45 |
| 3d Class | 30 | 22 |
| Total | 126 | 94 |
| Boys. | Girls. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Class | 30 | 14 |
| 2d Class | 42 | 22 |
| Total | 72 | 36 |
Extracting flues, connecting with shafts leading to the external air, have been inserted in all the dormitories and other rooms, to ensure a good ventilation at all times; and suitable arrangements have also been made for heating the different apartments. We trust the Managers have succeeded in securing these two most important requisites to the health (physical and moral) of their new institution. A full supply of good water, fresh air and wholesome warmth, is what every institution of the kind wants; and yet in one or more of them almost all are deficient.
The second document, at the head of the present article, shows a prosperous state of the institution of which it treats. The whole number of children and youth who have found refuge within its walls is 4,397. Of these, 568 were under its care, at different periods, during the year 1848. The number remaining January 1, 1849, was 355; and 213 were disposed of during the year. The chief branches of labor are, making and seating chair frames and manufacturing razor strops. Among the improvements of the year is the introduction of a small steam engine, to relieve the severity of some parts of the labor, which is not unfrequently prejudicial to the immature strength of the inmates.
The disbursements of the year amounted to $22,896 10, and the receipts $24,122 32. Of the latter sum, $7,198 77 is from the labor of the inmates, $7,323 83 from the State, $4,600 from the city of New York, and $4,026 50 from theatre and circus licenses. The chief items of expense were food and provisions, $9,106 41; salaries, $4,875 89; clothing, $2,297 90.
The importance of more perfect classification and separation, especially among the female inmates, is urged. “Contact with the older and more depraved of their sex, is, for obvious reasons, far more destructive to young and comparatively innocent females than to males.”[2]
In confirmation of the views we have presented in a former part of this article, we cite the following passage from the report now before us.
“This is the proper place to allude to a practice of which we have already complained more than once—that of sending to the Refuge, from mistaken ideas of humanity, subjects so far advanced in years and in crime as to give but faint hopes of their own reformation, while by example and influence they are calculated to do infinite harm to others. Those who have travelled long and far on the downward road of vice, are most unfit companions for such as have been arrested at the outset of their guilty career. It is to guide and to reclaim the latter, that houses of refuge are established; the reformation of the former must be attempted in other places and by other means. To this practice of sending to the refuge hardened offenders, whose proper place is a State prison, the managers ascribe the frequency of attempts to escape. Many sent to us as boys, are men in size and strength, impatient of restraint, reckless of consequences, hardened, daring and ingenious in all mischief. While such subjects are sent us, to corrupt, to organize, and to lead the younger and more orderly, attempts at escape will continue to be made, and in spite of all the vigilance of the officers, will occasionally be successful.
“The rapid increase of crime in our city, and the constantly augmenting numbers of vicious and vagrant youth, is a subject of serious contemplation. It would be serious enough, if it only kept pace with the astonishing increase of our population, but it even outstrips it. There is no way of getting at complete statistics in this matter, but all the details that can be obtained confirm this view. Thus there were committed to prison in the city, including those sent before trial, and after sentence, and excluding summary convictions,
in 1835, 2387 persons, in 1844, 9153 persons. During this time the population increased from 270,089 to 312,710 (in 1845) or about 35.1 per cent., while the increase in crime was 354.6 per cent. The average number of inmates in the Tombs was, in 1846, 174; in 1848, 216, an increase of 21.2 per cent. in two years, or over three times the growth of the city, which of late was about 6.90 per cent. for two years. This startling disproportion, is more or less true of all large cities. It is a law of our social state, that growing prosperity shall find its drawback in the parallel increase of misery; and that crowded communities, as they offer the most liberal rewards to good conduct and enterprise, so shall contain likewise the most seeds of evil, the strongest temptations to vice, the largest amount of misery. And besides our own neglected and depraved population, the tide of emigration, now setting in stronger and stronger every year, while it enriches our country, leaves much of its refuse in our city. Pauper families, and even felons, are not unfrequently sent over to us, as a cheap way of disposing of them, by the selfishness or mistaken humanity of those whose duty it is to provide for them at home, thus swelling the number of houseless, friendless and lawless youth, drifting loose upon society, to become utterly ship-wrecked, unless the active hand of benevolence is stretched out to save them.”