Chapter 4: Financial Part

The wall surrounding the Philadelphia prison alone cost almost 200,000 dollars (1,060,000 fr.). It is, however, of all the penitentiaries the one that has the least need of high surrounding walls, since each prisoner is isolated in his cell, which he never leaves. (See Report of the Boston Society and Report of Judge Powers, 1828, pag. 86).

In comparing the Philadelphia penitentiary to a castle from the Middle Ages, we only reproduce an image presented by the society of prisons of Philadelphia that drew attention to this resemblance with praise: “This penitentiary,” they said, “is the only building in this country, which is calculated to convey to our citizens the external appearance of those magnificent and picturesque castles of the Middle Ages, which contribute so eminently to embellish the scenery of Europe.” (See Description of the Eastern Penitentiary).

For the price of construction of other penitentiaries, see Financial Part, Appendix no. 19.

See Letter of Mr. Welles of Wethersfield, in which is shown the estimate of a prison for five hundred prisoners. This estimate is probably incomplete, because the most experienced architects always omit some things in their provisions. But even if that would double the cost of his estimation, the construction of the penitentiary would still be half the cost per cell of our prisons. See Appendix no. 12.

See Letter of Judge Welles, Appendix no. 12

See Statistics, Financial Part, section II, Appendix no. 19, at the end of the volume.

*In this paragraph, there seems to be some confusion regarding the numbers. Until this point, Tocqueville and Beaumont have placed American currency in-text, with corresponding French currency in parenthesis. Lieber, however, did not translate the French currency and here puts the number of French currency into his translation as American currency. Thus, Lieber translates: “Every prisoner in the new penitentiaries costs, on an average, for his support, food, clothing, and surveillance, fifteen cents; in Wethersfield and Baltimore, the support of the prisoner is the cheapest; at Auburn the dearest: the food costs in the various penitentiaries, on an average, five cents a day per head. At Wethersfield it costs but 4 cents, and at Sing-Sing, five cents” (Beaumont and Tocqueville 1833, p. 79).

Surveillance for each prisoner costs six cents more than food per day. See Statistics, Financial Part, Section II, Appendix no. 19.

See Report on Auburn, 1831.