J. M. Mills and J. L. Price, Report

KYR-0001-030-0003.xml

Metadata
Citation
Download

Accession Number

KYR-0001-030-0003

Document Genre

Report

Repository

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Collection

Office of the Governor, James F. Robinson: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Special Studies and Reports to the Governor, 1862-1863

Item Location

R1-20 to R1-22

Place of Creation

Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

n.d.

J. M. Mills and J. L. Price, Report, n.d., Office of the Governor, James F. Robinson: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Special Studies and Reports to the Governor, 1862-1863, R1-20 to R1-22, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-030-0003, (accessed November 4, 2025).

Download XML

Hon. Jas. F. Robinson
Governor of Ky
Sir

The undersigned appointed by your Excellency to inspect the sanitary condition of the Penitentiary, would respectfully submit the following report.

We examined the yard, workshops, cells, hospital, privy, kitchen, wash house and dining hall.

The Yard,

Was in a most indecent and filthy condition. At various points piles of rubbish were seen, consisting of dirt, leather, old worn out shoes, rags, manure, ashes and bones, and from their extent and depth it was evident they had been accumulating for some length of time. The bones of slaughtered animals were scattered in almost every part of the yard showing that this was the only disposition ever made of them.

Within twenty steps of the hospital stands a stable around which all manner or filth is collected. It is even unfit for the brutes it was designed to shelter, and should at once be removed.

In front of the hospital door is a shallow trench leading to the main sewer. Into this trench the dirt and water from the hospital is thrown, and being uncovered and never clean, stagnation and stench are the necessary result.

In rear of the blacksmith shops, near the south-Western corner of the enclosure, a large hole had been excavated by the hogs which seemed as a wallowing place for them.

One of the most disgusting features that met us during the
inspection was the number of pig pens in the yard. There was one at the Eastern end of the hospital, one near the door of the same, used as a slaughtering place while the ground was strewed with the hoofs and hair of the animals killed, one adjoining the stable already alluded to, and two near the kitchen. All five of them were filthy in the extreme. A number of pigs and hogs were also rambling about in every direction.

Around the kitchen was ~~an abundant supply~~ ^a collection of^ of slops emitting a most disagreeable odour, and this was constantly permitted although it was but a few feet to a sewer into which they could easily have been emptied.

Just at this point we would call attention to the diversion of a very important purpose for which the sewer was intended. It commences at the pool in the centre of the yard, runs to the new building used for the manufacture of rope and bagging and thence to the privy. By taking this course a double object was in view -- that of assisting to supply a well for the benefit of the engine, and to wash out the privy. The water however is permitted to flow through it only as far as the well, while the remaining extent of it is deprived of accomplishing the latter object. The only means therefore left for cleaning the privy is the supply of water that enters the head of the main sewer in the valley outside of the Eastern wall. In very rainy seasons like the present, this would partially suffice, but only partially as was evidenced by the offensive smell in the privy. As cleanliness here is particularly essential on account of its proximity to the hospital, the sewer should be allowed to answer the purpose for which it was constructed.

The Wash House.

In this was found the full complement of dirt so apparent elsewhere. There are three kettles used here for the making of soap, while the washing is done in a room just opposite. This room is cut off in an end of ^one of^ the old deserted buildings and was provided with a floor of a few irregularly laid and scattered planks, and filled with old greasy barrels. The water was emptied from these barrels through the floor on to the ground beneath, where it ~~stood~~ remained and formed a swamp.

The Carpenter and Chair Shop.

The roof of this building is exceedingly imperfect, sunken and leaks from one end to the other, and throughout the whole extent water was collected on both the upper and lower floors. Whenever it rains the mechanics must carry on their work standing in the pools on the floors, and manufactured articles stored in the upper story are often injured for excessive dampness. Health and comfort both demand that this should no longer be tolerated.

The Kitchen and Dining Hall.

These had received a little more care than the departments mentioned above, yet did not present that air of neatness that should prevail. However plain and substantial may be the fare, clean cooking and clean tables and strict attention to culinary arrangements should be no means be neglected.

The Hospital.

This department which of all others should be supervised and conducted in the most unexceptionable manner, was greatly below this standard. The bedding was deficient in
both quality and quantity. Old, worn and dirty, it was wholly unsuited to the unfortunate invalids, and owing to the increase in sickness within the last few weeks, patients on entering, were compelled to have their beds transfered from the cells. The medicine case was poorly supplied, and there was an absence of remedies used in the treatment of diseases of the most ordinary character. A small room is partitioned off in one corner as a kitchen, but the arrangements for cooking were defective and need of cleanliness and order was observable.

The hospital was not nor had been for sometime, supplied with the necessary articles of diet for the sick. No tea, coffee, sugar or light bread and the only resort, was hard corn bread and fat meat.

We visited the eating apartment whilst the prisoners were at dinner, found the plates filled with the last mentioned kind of food, and were informed by the guard in attendance that no fresh meat or vegetables had been furnished for the past four months. In consequence of the continued use of salted meat a number of cases of scurvy had occurred. Light bread is furnished only in the summer season, about twice per week.

The Cells.

These were the characteristic ~~macks~~ marks of neglect and dirt. The beds were very indifferent and poorly supplied with straw or shucks, nor was any provision made for having them refilled.

The bedsteads were so constructed, that when a prisoner rises in the morning and makes up his bed, the whole
affair is to be raised and thus give him an opportunity of sweeping his cell. Though this is one of the rules of the prison, it was scarcely if ever enforced. The ticking should be occasionally washed and it as well as the blankets should be often exposed to the air, yet this wholesome measure was never practiced except when it suited the fancy of the inmates, and of course lice and vermin were generated.

From the above report which embodies a correct statement of matters just as we found them, it will be seen that there exists ~~great~~ a necessity of great vigilance on the part of the officers and a rigid, faithful adherence to judicious sanitary regulations. Unless this course is pursued, there will even be a liability to malignant and contagious diseases. The commissioners should deem it a duty, based on the principle of common humanity, to make frequent visits, minutely and carefully inspect all the departments, and with a cheerful prompt cooperation with the keeper of the institution, take such steps from time to time as to ensure its being kept in a clean healthy condition.

Very Respectfully
J. M. Mills,
J. L. Price

Docts. Mills & Price

Report of the Sanitary condition of the Kenty Penitentiary

Early Access is a work in progress. Help us improve our edition by suggesting a correction for this document.

Suggest a correction