The prisoners confined in the Tombs are provided with the means of
hearing divine service every Sunday. The Roman Catholic clergy have the
exclusive privilege of ministering to the spiritual wants of the women
and children, and for this purpose have quite a nice little chapel
fitted up in the female department of the prison. The Sisters of
Charity preside over this part of the prison at all times, and no one
is permitted to interfere with them.

The Protestant clergy are permitted to preach to the male prisoners in
the main corridor of the prison. The preacher stands on the platform at
the upper end of the passage, and the prisoners in their cells can hear
him without seeing him. They pay little or no attention to him, but
receive their friends in their cells, or employ themselves according to
their own fancies during the preaching. The bummers are grouped in the
corridor just below the preacher, and are called out from time to time
by the keepers, as they are wanted in the court room. The minister is
frequently annoyed and embarrassed by the shouts; jeers, and imitations
of the prisoners in their cells.




CHAPTER VII.


REFORMATORY ESTABLISHMENTS.

The principal reformatory establishments of New York city are the
Penitentiary, on Blackwell's Island, and the House of Refuge, devoted
to juvenile criminals, on Randall's Island.