History
In 1895, the New Jersey Legislature voted to establish the state’s first reformatory. A year later, construction began at Rahway on state property known as Edgar Farm. The prison opened in 1901 and originally housed male offenders between the ages of 16 and 30 who were first-time offenders.
The first superintendent, J. E. Heg, served only a year. He was succeeded by Joseph W. Martin who led the institution until his death in 1909. Martin was succeeded by Dr. Frank Moore, until he retired in 1929.
The administration building, cell houses, schoolrooms, chapel, shops, and other buildings were surrounded by a large wall encompassing 21 acres (85,000 m2). The entire prison was surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland that the inmates worked. By 1908, there were two four-tiered cell houses. One cell house contained 256 cells measuring 9’ x 5’ x 8.6’, while the other had 384 cells that were only 7.1’ x 5’ x 8’. A 1928 inspection reported that the cells were equipped “with a fair quality of toilet and lavatory.”
Read more about this topic: East Jersey State Prison
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the history of this period is written, [William Jennings] Bryan will stand out as one of the most remarkable men of his generation and one of the biggest political men of our country.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“It gives me the greatest pleasure to say, as I do from the bottom of my heart, that never in the history of the country, in any crisis and under any conditions, have our Jewish fellow citizens failed to live up to the highest standards of citizenship and patriotism.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)