A large greenhouse is located in the western end of the prison yard, just opposite the prison hospital, presided over by a life prisoner who has been there over eighteen years. By the boys of the institution he is known as “Sindbad the Sailor,” having spent many years on the high seas before the mast in the merchant marine, on board of whalers and in the old navy.

The greenhouse supplies flowers for decorating the lawns and park, cut flowers for the hospital inmates, the officers' and guards' mess rooms and the room used by the members of the State Board of Control on their monthly visits to the prison. When Sindbad becomes lonely for the wash of the sea waves his assistant throws a few buckets of water against the side of the greenhouse and he exercises his imagination for the rest.