should be of stone, and the roof-covering of slate, and states that in order to accomplish these ends and insure a. substantial fire-proof building, an additional appropriation of $100,000 will be necessary.
The supervising architect invites attention to the fact that the building, when completed, will be suitable, not only for the ordinary purposes of a jail, but, also, for those of a penitentiary; and, as the grounds surrounding it are of ample capacity, he strongly recommends that the necessary authority be obtained from Congress for its use as a penitentiary as well as a jail. He states that the additional expense would be comparatively small, as it would involve little more than the cost of the necessary work-shops, and the materials necessary for the construction of a wall to inclose the grounds, which could be entirely erected by the labor of the convicts. He is of the opinion that, if this suggestion were adopted, a large saving in the expense of the jail to the Government would be made, and that, in time, the use of convict labor would constitute a source of revenue to the District of Columbia. He also suggests the importance of providing a separate building for the detention and punishment of female prisoners, which should be under the exclusive charge of female officers. He states that experience has demonstrated that proper prison discipline is impossible when both sexes are confined in the same building, and that, if the reformation of female convicts be intended, they should be committed exclusively to the custody of their own sex. He recommends, therefore, that authority be asked of Congress for the erection of a house of correction for the punishment and reformation of female convicts.
The total expenditures on account of the construction of the jail, up tothe 30th ultimo, amounted to $95,022.60, leaving an unexpended balance of the appropriation of $204,977./40.
TERRITORIAL PENITENTIARIES.
Congress, by an act, approved February 22, 1873, appropriated the sum of $40,000, to be set apart and paid out of the net proceeds of the internal revenue in the Territory of Washington for the fiscal years severally ending on June 30, 1866, June 30, 1867, and June 30, 1868, for the purpose of erecting, under the direction of this Department, a penitentiary building in said Territory. The sum of $20,000 had been thus set apart and appropriated for the purpose by an act approved January 22, 1867, but that amount was found to be inadequate for the construction of a proper penitentiary, and an additional sum of 820,000 was asked for. The act of February 22, 1873, is amendatory of the former act, and provides the same amount for a penitentiary in Washington Territory as had been provided for such buildings in the other Territories.
A site for the building having been selected by the commissioners appointed by the legislative assembly of the Territory, and approved
