THE PENITENTIARY.

The large pile of buildings which forms such a prominent object on
Blackwell's Island, known as the Penitentiary, is familiar to most of
the residents of New York City, though the every day life of its
inmates is practically known only to that class to which they
immediately belong.

The Penitentiary, which is under the wardenship of Mr. Fitch, is
capable of accommodating about seven hundred and fifty prisoners, but
at present their numbers are slightly under five hundred--about three
hundred men, and ninety women. The prisoners are divided into classes,
the particular dress of each indicating the nature and gravity of their
offences, and though amenable to the same laws as to labor and
discipline, they work in separate gangs and mess by themselves. They
are under the control of twenty-four keepers, each keeper, who is
heavily armed, having fifteen men in his charge, whose roll he calls,
and for whose absence he is responsible. At six o'clock the prisoners
are all paraded to call the roll, at half-past six they have breakfast,
consisting of dry bread and a bowl of coffee, and at seven, those who
are skilled workmen are told off to the blacksmiths', carpenters',
tailors', and weavers' shops, where all necessary repairs to the
building and its fittings are done, and the clothing for the prisoners
is made; others to labor in the gardens and fields, while the remainder
are marched off in two divisions, one to work in the stone quarries at
home, the others to be conveyed by the Commissioners' steam vessel
Bellevue to the quarries on Ward's Island. The female prisoners are
principally occupied in the sewing-room, in the brush-manufactory, in