As to the renovation of San Quentin prison, the Post says:
“Within a few months the new 800-room concrete and steel cellhouse now in course of construction at San Quentin prison will be completed.
“The building is a prison within a prison, and is a class A structure, 600 feet in length and 60 feet in height. The cells are built in the center of the structure and run its full length. There are four tiers with 200 cells on a tier. Four hundred of these cells are separated by steel bars and are so arranged that twenty-five may be bolted at the same time. Eight hundred prisoners may be locked up three minutes after they reach the inside of the prison.
“The walls and the cells of the new prison are built of reinforced concrete and in every foot of concrete steel bars are laid, running parallel and perpendicular, making it impossible for a prisoner to cut through at any point of his cell.
“All the steel and iron work was turned out by the prisoners. Every part of the new building was manufactured and erected by prison labor. The roof of the structure is of copper and slate and has been pronounced by experts to be of the finest workmanship. The inside is finished with plaster and so clever is the workmanship that it resembles enamel work.
“Work is now being done on a wall sixty feet high and six feet thick by the prisoners. This will surround the cellhouse. Upon completion an electric light plant and heating apparatus will be installed.
“Warden Hoyle plans when the new cellhouse is ready for occupancy to put his new grading system into execution. The new prison will house all the first termers and they will not mingle with second and third term convicts. Each grade will have a separate yard and under the first grade the prisoners will wear a uniform.
“The second termers will be together and wear a different kind of a uniform. The third grade will consist of life termers and hardened criminals. These will wear stripes.
“The first-grade prison will be known as the reformatory, and at any time a prisoner’s deportment is bad he will be sent into the second-grade prison.”