Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 12, Number 2, Fall, 2000 Page: 45
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Legacies: a History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Dallas Historical Society.
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The entrance to the Seagoville detention center in i942
cream Texas limestone trim, in an architectural
style described as "contemporary Southern colonial."
The Public Works Administration was
completing the grounds of the college campuslike
setting.5
The official dedication ceremony took place
Friday in the flower decorated prison auditorium
before an audience of reformatory inmates and
invited guests. Speakers included Bureau of
Prisons Director Bennett, Federal Judge William
H. Atwell, Associate Prisons Commissioner
Conner, and Ugo Carusi, special assistant to the
U. S. attorney general. Congressman Sumners was
unable to attend, as Congress was still in session.
Bennett spoke positively about the possibilities of
success of the new prison concept and its experiment
in rehabilitation. "Only in a democracy
could a women's prison be operated around the
idea that each human life is sacred and that those
who have sinned against the social order are entitled to fair treatment." He described the Seagoville
project as "a modem concept toward the
treatment of women offenders-that is as near
home life as possible. The women will live in dormitories
and cottages and establish self-governing
groups on the student government principle. Each
dormitory or cottage will plan and cook its own
meals and each will have a homelike living room."
Judge Atwell, Carusi, and Conner echoed Bennett's
belief in the new prison concept. Carusi
emphasized that "prison officials have failed if a
prisoner is not better both mentally and physically
when released than when admitted," and Conner
described the important role of prison industries
in the rehabilitation program.6
Warden Hironimus estimated that from
8,ooo to 45,000 visitors were expected to view the
new facility during the three days of the open
house. The tour included six inmates' quarters
buildings, with capacities varying from 40 to 6345
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Dallas Historical Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 12, Number 2, Fall, 2000, periodical, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35101/m1/47/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.