Above: In 1937, the editors of The Albuquerque Tribune wrote of their city's jail: "Now this immediate emergency confronts us: dispassionate observers declare the jail is worse than the Black Hole of Calcutta. They say it spreads disease, is inhuman, filthy, intolerable. After an inspection we agree. The jail is terrible" ("The Jail Problem," February 25, 1937, p. 8). Not long after the editorial was written a much more humane facility was built with funding from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), as shown above. This newspaper excerpt is part of a longer story about the jail, appearing in The Albuquerque Tribune, August 26, 1939 edition. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: Newspaper archives are full of stories about New Deal improvements to jails and prisons that made confinement more humane. This excerpt is from The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah), November 21, 1940 edition, p. 8. The report later explains that "The present [pre-New Deal] 36-year old building is too small, lacks facilities for segregating first offenders from hardened criminals, presents a problem in maintaining sanitary conditions and has no special quarters for women or juveniles." The new jail was completed by the WPA a year and half later ("Work Finished On Box Elder Jail Building," The Ogden Standard-Examiner, March 26, 1942, p. 11-A). Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: A new prison for West Virginia, in Huttonsville (Randolph County), funded by the PWA, 1938-1940. It was explained at the time that the new facility "not only provides relief from the overcrowding at Moundsville [West Virginia's main prison complex at the time] and in county jails, but also marks a distinct departure from the more or less indifferent attitude of the state toward the care of its prisoners... Prisoners who are deemed most likely to be reestablished to an acceptable place in society are being sent to Huttonsville from the penitentiary and county jails... There are no prison walls at Huttonsville. The honor system has been used from the very beginning and is a complete success" (Charles Lively, Clerk of the West Virginia Senate (ed.), West Virginia Blue Book, Charleston, WV: Jarrett Printing Company, 1940, pp. 691-692). Also see the Living New Deal's project page, "Huttonsville Correctional Center - Huttonsville WV." Photo from the cited Blue Book.
Above: The description for these two photographs--taken in Carroll County, Georgia, between 1933 and 1942--reads, "A modern jail supersedes the old cages on wheels as convict barracks in Carroll County, Georgia. PWA made this improvement possible." The PWA noted: "Many of the jails replaced by new structures have been 'disgraceful,' according to the applications. In Atlanta the city jail was both inadequate and overcrowded. Before the new structure was erected, prisoners slept on the floors of the multiple cells or 'tanks'... One application gave a grim picture of conditions in the old Barton Co., Mo., jail. 'Jail erected shortly after the Civil War, of pine boards laid flat and spiked together. Jail always wet and moldy... Inmates bathe in a washtub and no hot water... Vermin, mice, and rats abound, and rats had to be killed with a target rifle... Jail bars easily cut in two with corset steel handmade files..." (Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, pp. 199-200). Photos from the National Archives.
Above: A new prison for Tattnall County, Georgia, courtesy of the PWA, 1936-1937. Photo from: C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939.
Above: A close-up of the main entrance to the PWA-funded prison in Tattnall County, Georgia, showing a cupola-like structure at the top, as well as artwork, columns, and engraved stone, "1936." Photo from Short and Stanley-Brown, see previous caption.
Above: A closer look at the sculpture on the Tattnall County prison, depicting scenes of work and recreation.
Above: A CWA project to repair and renovate the Talbot County Jail in Easton, Maryland, 1933-1934. The job, which had to be completed by a private contractor after the CWA program ended, was mildly criticized for making the jail too nice: "Altogether the appearance of the jail is excellent. There is plenty of light and air in the upper tier at least, and the lower tier is not bad. The place is clean and sanitary. It is far too comfortable for some prisoners, who no doubt will find it more comfortable this winter than their own home" ("Remodeling Of Talbot County Jail Completed," The Easton Star-Democrat, August 31, 1934, p. 1). Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.
Above: A new WPA-built jail for Jasper, Texas, 1937. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph--taken between 1933 and 1942--reads: "Awnings add a homelike touch to this modern jail in Cleveland, Tennessee. This building was constructed by PWA." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: A new PWA-funded building for the State Reformatory for Women in Dwight, Illinois, ca. 1936. Photo from the National Archives.
A New Deal for Confinement
At the conclusion of its 1934-1935 program, the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) noted that "Jails even more than courthouses were in need of repair. The North Carolina report is typical: 'The Surry County jail has been converted from a firetrap into a fireproof modern jail.' There were 96 jails and prisons constructed by the Work Division, and 486 improved and repaired."
After FERA, the WPA built 181 new penal institutions, and carried out 581 other projects to expand, reconstruct, or improve existing facilities.
The PWA, meanwhile, provided funding for 201 jails and prisons, plus another 95 jails that were part of PWA-funded city halls and courthouses.
From these statistics, we can see that the New Deal had at least 1,640 projects to build or improve jails, prisons, and reformatories. These projects provided more living space; better healthcare; improved sanitation; expanded recreation, work, and job training opportunities; and more.
Of course, not everyone was happy with the New Deal's efforts. For example, an opinion writer in Canada criticized a new jail in Pickens County, Georgia (a jail that had received both PWA and WPA assistance) as "babying" the inmates with air conditioning and a "plentiful supply of bathrooms" ("This Georgia Jail Not Likely To Scare Anyone: Has White Marble Walls, Shower Baths and Electric Razors," The Sault Star (Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada), November 17, 1938, p. 4).
Apparently, for some, a prison is not a prison unless there is a shortage of toilets. And sadly--but not altogether unexpectedly--prisoners in the United States still die from excessive heat in jails and prisons (see, e.g., "Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029," The Texas Tribune, September 22, 2026).
"To be sure, we do not wish for the prisoner to be pampered, but decent living conditions cannot be construed as pampering... The old idea was that a prison should be a place of dolor [mental anguish], gloom, dankness and utter deprivation. Society wanted the prisoner, however minor the departure from rectitude's path, to suffer day and night... There was something sadistic about that viewpoint, and prison reform, thank heaven, eventually got around to supplant it... No jail can be luxurious on the evidence that it is well-lighted and sanitary, and has modern plumbing. It will still be a jail to its inmates - but perhaps some of them will think better, because it is a decent jail, of the society that put them there to meditate."
--The editors of The Oregonian newspaper, commenting on a new jail that was started with New Deal funding ("Luxury in Jail?" November 3, 1943, p. 8).