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A Bill for an act to relocate the State Penitentiary
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the Inspectors of the Penitentiary are hereby authorized and directed to remove and relocate the present Penitentiary of the State in the manner hereinafter provided to some eligible situation within
three miles of its present location, and out of the incorporated limits of the town
of Alton.
Sec. 2. When the said location shall be made, the said Inspectors shall report the same
to the Governor who shall thereupon appoint three persons to examine the said location
and report, and should said report be in favor of said location the same shall be
surveyed and a plat thereof returned to and filed in the office of the Secretary of
State2
Sec. 3. As soon as the said Inspectors shall have chosen a site for said penitentiary which shall be approved as aforesaid, they shall procure a proper deed to this State
with general warrantee to be examined and approved by the Attorney General for a quantity
of land not less than ten acres in the form of a square or parallelogram, and shall
contract with some suitable person or persons for erecting thereof a penitentiary on the plan at present adopted, or on the plan of the Pennsylvania Penitentiary at
Philadelphia, or any other improved plan the said Inspectors may choose to adopt; taking from
said person or persons a bond with sufficient security in a penalty of 3thousand dollar that the work shall be completed according to contract in4 years thereafter.
Sec. 4. To enable the said Inspectors to carry into effect the aforesaid contract, they
are hereby authorized to lay off into lots the ground remaining unsold which has been
granted to the state for penitentiary purposes on which the Penitentiary now stands, and to make such streets as they may deem necessary to add to the value
of said lots, and to sell the said lots at public vendue after giving three months
notice in at least three newspapers of this State, and one in Kentucky and Missouri, to the highest bidder, on a credit of six, twelve and eighteen months, the purchaser
giving bond with approved
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security, and a lien on the lots for the purchase money. Provided5 that until a sufficient number of cells of the new Penitentiary shall be completed, the present one with the lot whereon it may stand shall be reserved
from sale and be used for the confinement of convicts therein under the direction
and control of the Warden thereof; and also the wall in whole or in part, and the
work shops and lots belonging to them to be applied to the use of convicts or to be
leased for the benefit of the State, and as the new work progresses so much of the
materials of the old as may be reserved may be used as the Warden under the direction
of the Inspectors may authorize in the new construction which shall be composed of
a wall enclosing four acres of land of the same height strength and dimensions as
the present with suitable gates and openings, a wardens house equal to the present
one, and convenient and suitable workshops equal in value to those now erected, and
at such points within the wall as the said Inspectors may direct. The cells intended
for solitary confinement to be lined with strong oak plank properly secured, for the
purpose of preserving the health of those who may be confined therein.
Sec. 5. The proceeds of the sales of said lots shall be applied under the direction of
the Inspectors to the buildings mentioned in the foregoing section, and the Inspectors
shall not exceed in their contract the amount arising from the sales as aforesaid.
Sec. 6. When the new Penitentiary shall be placed in a condition to receive convicts and as capable of accomodating them as the present one and such fact is certified to the Warden of the Penitentiary by the Inspectors thereof, then it shall be the duty of said Warden to remove to
said new penitentiary all convicts and the said new penitentiary shall thenceforth
be the Penitentiary of this State, and the said Inspectors may thereafter proceed to sell the lots and buildings remaining
unsold on the same credit and the same security as on the former sale
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No 10
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Laid on table & to be printed
1Cyrus Edwards introduced SB 5 in the Senate on December 15, 1836. On December 23, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee
on the Judiciary, which reported back the bill without amendment on January 7, 1837.
On January 19, the Senate amended the bill by striking out the second section and
inserting another section in lieu thereof. They also amended the bill by adding text
in the fourth section. On January 21, the Senate further amended the bill by filling
in the blanks in the third section with “fifty” and “five,” respectively. The Senate
then passed the bill by a vote of 26 ayes to 10 nays. On January 25, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on the Penitentiary, of which Abraham Lincoln was a member. On February 2, the Committee on the Penitentiary reported back the
bill without amendment, and the House then referred the bill to the Committee of the
Whole. On February 15, the Committee of the Whole reported back the bill with amendments.
The House voted against tabling the bill by a vote of 29 yeas to 46 nays, Lincoln
voting nay. The House then referred the bill and proposed amendments to the Committee
on the Judiciary, which reported back the bill with an amendment on February 24. The
House then tabled the bill and proposed amendment.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 361, 382-83, 447, 486, 592, 601-02, 692; Illinois Senate
Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 64, 67, 86, 96, 170-71, 257, 269, 516.
2 On January 19, the Senate amended the bill by striking out the second section and
inserting another section in lieu thereof.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 257.
3On January 21, the Senate amended the bill by filling in this blank with “fifty.”
Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 269.
Handwritten Document, 4 page(s), Folder 268, SB 5, GA Session:10-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL)