Blackwell's Island Penitentiary, New York: (left) prisoners are walking in a long file leaving spoons in a bowl as they go past; (right) prisoners stand in line to receive a loaf of bread. Wood engraving by W.J. Palmer, 1876, after F. Régamay.

"American prison life. Two more illustrations, from Mr. Felix Regamey's sketches, of the interior arrangements of the New York City Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, are given this week, but the scenes which they represent do not appear to want any explanation. It is dinner-time in that penal establishment, and the inmates, who are here treated with compulsory hospitality, must take their mid-day meal upon the conditions prescribed by its ordinary rules. They have to pick up their loaves of bread from a heap protected by the railing shown in Mr. Regamey's sketch, so as to avoid the greedy scramble which might be expected in a company whose manners are likely to be as bad as their morals. This is the order of proceeding before dinner, and there is another regulation to be observed after the dismiissal of the guests from that monotonous repast, namely, the punctual deposit of every man's spoon (an iron spoon, we believe, certainly not one of silver) in the receptacle set beside their path as they march out. There must be a certain degree of strictness in the domestic habits of this large household on Blackwell's Island, which is perhaps not quite agreeable to some of its visitors. But it is by their own fault that they find themselves lodgers and boarders there."--Illustrated London news, loc. cit.