Seattle’s 'Black Hole of Calcutta' Condemned
A scathing health department report labels the city jail a public danger, citing extreme overcrowding and poor ventilation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The board of health met last evening and received and approved the monthly report of Health Officer Sparling. In his report, Sparling described the city jail as being in a 'very deplorable condition.' He noted that the jail contains five rooms for the confinement of prisoners, each measuring 15x21x12 feet. He reported, 'I have seen as many as twenty-eight men confined in this cell, which allows 14 cubic feet of air space for each prisoner.' The inspector also noted that school water closets were in a very bad condition and that the third story of the Central School used as a high school was unfit due to poor lighting and ventilation.
“I have seen as many as twenty-eight men confined in this cell, which allows 14 cubic feet of air space for each prisoner.”
Public health inspectors in the 1890s faced constant battles over sanitation in crowded municipal buildings, a struggle for basic human conditions that persists in contemporary debates over the capacity and quality of modern correctional facilities.
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