The Court-Martial of Charlie Newell by Gerard Shirar

Author:Gerard Shirar [Shirar, Gerard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780595888177
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2008-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-two

It won’t take long for them to settle with you, too.

Fort Jay had been originally designed and built as a fort. The prison at Fort Leavenworth, right from its conception in 1874, was intended as a prison and was built as such. 3

By the time Newell arrived, the prison complex consisted of eleven buildings grouped around a central courtyard or quadrangle. A plot of grass ran down the center of the quadrangle. A wide walkway on either side facilitated movement about the complex and permitted access to the various buildings. The entire complex was surrounded by gray stone and formed cement block walls that varied in height between twenty and forty feet.

The inmate confinement building was located at the northern end of the quadrangle. It was built one wing at a time, and now consisted of seven eight-story wings that radiated out like the points of a star from a domed rotunda. Behind the inmate building were the prison exercise yard and a large, red brick building that housed the prison’s heating and electrical plant.

The cells in the inmate confinement building varied in size. The single cells measured nine feet by five feet. The two-man cells were one foot wider. The six-man dormitory cells were nine feet by twenty feet. One-foot thick concrete walls separated one cell from another. Cell doors were made of steel bars, allowing the guards a clear view of the cell’s interior but affording little privacy to the men confined there. Each of the cells was equipped with a toilet and washbasin. Communal showers were located in the basement of each wing. Inmates were allowed one shower a week.

The solitary confinement cells were in the subbasement of wing three. The mess hall was on the first floor of the wing four. The gallows used for executions was in the basement of wing five. The prison infirmary was on the first floor of wing five. The prison laundry was in the basement of wing six. The small prison library was on the first floor of wing seven near the chapel, which doubled as the prison auditorium.

The various inmate shops, including the furniture factory, broom shop, tailor shop, harness shop, shoe shop, and printing shop, were in buildings arranged around the quadrangle so their long sides and entrances faced toward the center of the quadrangle

The prison commandant’s office and the various prison administrative departments were housed in a large building that formed part of the prison’s southern perimeter wall. It was off-limits to all inmates except a few trustees who cleaned the offices.

The prison sewer system emptied into the Missouri River. A central pumping station that drew water from four deep wells provided water for the complex.

The single MP guards and NCOs were all housed in barracks outside the prison walls. Married guards, NCOs, and officers lived in married quarters on the Fort Leavenworth Post.

The prison farm colony was located approximately two miles northwest of the main prison and produced vegetables, milk, eggs, and meat for the prison mess.

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