Clark reported that the prisoners had sufficient food, clothing, and water, but noted the camp's structures were dilapidated and poorly maintained. He also suggested the camp suffered from bad drainage, lax discipline, and poor policing of its grounds. Stevens helped improve the camp by providing blankets, better food, and medical care, but the winter of 1863–1864 was bitterly cold, with temperatures falling below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Ninety-one prisoners died in November 1863, and 104 more in December. Conditions at the camp hospital improved over the winter, when the facility was expanded to care for ailing prisoners. Two new, but incomplete, hospital wards were opened in December 1863, increasing the hospital's capacity to 160 patients. More could be accommodated in an emergency. Prisoner deaths numbered 263 that winter. Confederate prisoners from the area around Chattanooga, Tennessee, arrived at the overcrowded camp at the end of 1863. Blankets and clothing were issued to those in urgent need. Camp rations, while deemed sufficient, lacked fresh vegetables. Prisoners cooked for themselves and were allowed to make small purchases of food from the camp to supplement their diet. Toward the end of 1863, a new military prison was constructed on the grounds with a capacity of sixty prisoners. In January 1864 thirty men were imprisoned there. Despite the threat of confinement in the new prison, camp's inmates continued to attempt escapes. Punishments included a reduction of rations. In July 1864 the Confederate prisoner count at Camp Morton reached 4,999. Overcrowded barracks and the July heat caused more illnesses, including cases of malaria. Drinking water obtained from Fall Creek contained limestone, which caused diarrhea among the men. New wards were added to the camp's hospital, but only modest repairs were made to the camp's dilapidated barracks. During the final months of the war, in February and March 1865, two thousand of Camp Morton's prisoners left as part of a prisoner exchange. Another six hundred prisoners were soon released. Only 1,408 prisoners remained at the camp in April. Following Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, many of Camp Morton's prisoners were discharged. Only 308 prisoners were left at the camp on June 1, 1865. The camp's last Confederate prisoners were released on June 12, 1865. In addition to the Confederate prisoners, seven Union deserters who remained in custody at Camp Morton were freed. Forty members of the Veteran Reserve Corps, who were serving time in the prison's guardhouse, were given dishonorable discharges and released without pay.