DANNEMORA — On Oct. 1, 1869, Clinton Prison Warden William C. Rhodes assured the ‘honorable inspectors of State Prisons’ that despite only being in charge for five months, he had all in order.
He reported that unfit bedding and clothing were replaced, repairs were made to the mills and kilns, one of the “best plank roads ever” between Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain was nearly finished, iron ore production was at an all time high and no longer would incorrect information be given on the financial state of the prison.
And he concluded with assurances that “there is not a penal institution in the whole country where there exists more contentment and order.”
This report to the inspectors by the warden was required by law and included every penny spent by the prison and listed the name, crime, term of sentence, and county-where-convicted for every prisoner. At the physical year’s end of September 1869, there were 443 prisoners. Twenty were from Clinton County.
Over the year an average of 503 prisoners had been handled with 229 discharged and 160 new prisoners received. Included in the number of ‘discharges’ were 14 who were pardoned, 14 who escaped, 6 who died and 6 who went to the Auburn Lunatic Asylum.
The responsibility Warden Rhodes took on in May of 1869 included cleaning up a prison yard full of refuse, and area roads which were a mess. He asked the inspectors to discount last year’s report as it included too many incorrect assumptions. The prison’s responsibility was to produce iron ore and nails and he focused on these goals.
Later, the figures in previous warden reports would be used as arguments against Rhodes and future Democratic appointees who would report greater financial losses in running the prison than the Republicans had. The appointment of a warden was a political one. Rhodes was a Democrat.
Rev. Levi Smith, a Baptist minister, started his role as Prison Chaplain March 1, 1869, and would provide a three-page report for the New York State Inspectors of Prisons. He was also employed as Commissioner of Common Schools. In July of 1869, the Plattsburgh Sentinel published a strong criticism of Smith taking on two jobs.
The accusation was that he could not do both and proof was that he had had to eliminate the prison Sunday school. Under the ‘policy of law’ prisoners were supposed to not only work during their incarceration but were also to get “moral and religious instruction that they will be good and law-abiding citizens when discharged.”
It was reported too that Warden Rhodes allowed this because he had no faith in this type of instruction. The additional argument was that as Commissioner of Common Schools Rev. Smith had to visit 200 schools over the year and this could not possibly be done at the same time as he was committed to prison responsibilities.
The Plattsburgh Sentinel called for Smith’s removal as Prison Chaplain in August 1869. This did not happen.
The Oct. 1, 1869, report by Rev. Smith to the Board of Inspectors reflected the work of a committed Prison Chaplain who would “discharge my duties with firmness, yet in a kind and tender spirit.” He discussed the rules around letter writing which was reserved for “those whose conduct is good.”
Any letters going in or coming out of the prison “dabbling in political matters, or containing criminal news, indelicate slang . . . or tending to create discontent” were not allowed. This meant reviewing the content of approximately 55 incoming letters and 75 outgoing letters a week.
It appeared too from Rev. Smith’s report that the Sunday school had returned and was reported to be held every Sunday morning for an hour with “non-intercourse and strict order preserved.” Approximately 40 inmates attended. Sunday services were attended by all who were not sick or working and Rev. Smith would visit the sick and the cells on Sunday afternoon to “speak a few friendly words . . and give counsel and instruction to those who seek it.”
Rev. Smith’s job was also to maintain the prison library which was in the Chaplain’s office. He reported that his office was too small to hold the 3,000-plus books and to easily facilitate “book-drawing”, and hoped this would be remedied by reporting time next year.
There were not enough books on science and history, especially the history of the country, and more bibles were needed in foreign languages. He did feel the library was necessary and “relieves the loneliness of the cell, controls and informs the mind, and induces quietude and contentment.”
There were two statistical tables attached to the Chaplain’s report. One confirming that there were 418 white and 25 colored convicts and the other reporting that 280 convicts were born in the United States, 200 of which in New York state.
The teacher’s report by Harmond Reynolds and Jerone Gay indicated that they too had only been employed at the prison for part of the year and could document only 152 students “under instruction during the year.” They indicated their ‘limited time’ could handle only a small number of students each day.
Dr. Arthur S. Wolff’s Oct. 1, 1869, report, as the Medical Officer in charge, was written again with the caveat that he had only been in charge for nine months. He found 261 of the 443 prisoners “comparatively sound.” Of the rest, 30 had scrofula (swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck),17 had some form of ‘veneral’ disease and 25 had various other identifiable afflictions.
The prisoner diet had been totally revised which had lessened the need for medical treatment. In total he had treated 3,902 afflictions and reported that six had died, one the consequence of a knife wound. He recommended that “a more limited use of the knife by convicts would reduce the casualties considerably.”
He also sent six to the insane asylum as “wholly unfit for prison discipline.”
Dr. Wolff was ‘indebted to’ Rhodes for replacing the bedding and cleaning the cells and confirmed the hospital and the laboratory had been renovated and now equipped with the needed medications. The balance of his report dealt with convict punishments.
The list was introduced in the Rhodes report comparing those given before the new management and after. Three punishments, being yoked, bucked and showered, were eliminated. Pulleys were still used, as were dark cells, shackles and chains. Dr. Wolff was against the ‘dark cell’ treatment which allowed no air and light into the cell with the convict sleeping on the floor.
He reported on the serious lack of clean clothing, and the desperate need for bathing facilities “because the labor our inmates are engaged in is necessarily accompanied with a large amount of transpiration and the particles of dirt . . .accumulates for want of proper means to remove.”
Not improving this situation was dangerous to convict health.
Dr. Wolff also remarked about his office which was a shed attached to the back of the Chaplain’s office. He apparently shared the space with the tailor and the prison laundry, such as the floor was always wet. “The building is in every particular objectionable . . .” His report concludes with compliments to the Warden for “mild but impartial discipline.”
Two years later the Warden could report only two escapes and the Chaplain had a library in much better condition. Dr. Wolff still objected to the ‘dark cell’ punishment but was pleased there were only five deaths. The teachers reported 191 students. Costs to maintain the prison were rising and the Democrat administrators would be blamed.
In 1872, Rhodes was replaced by John Parkhurst.
— Appreciation given to Marguerite Stark and Brent Favro for sharing their copies of the Annual Report of the Inspectors of State Prisons.