around our excellent teachers, Mr. Tarbell and Miss Hall. And it is now to be recorded with profoundest pleasure that between forty and fifty per cent of the persons enjoying the benefits of the school profess to have renounced a life of vice for a life of christian virtue, while only about six per cent of those in non-attendance claim for themselves any such spiritual reformation. From these remarkable statistics it may be demanded, why are not the advantages of the school extended to all? First, because there are not facilities for all. Second, because experience has demonstated that no such happy results can be realized for those "sent up" for the brief period of thirty, sixty or ninety days. Such look upon themselves rather as "boarders," unpleasantly situated for a short period, soon to seek better quarters, while those sent here for a year or more soon come to feel at home. The latter learn to adjust themselves to their new condition, and seek to make the most of it. Hence the school, the teacher, the library, the chaplain and the chapel are cherished as invaluable aids for the promotion of not only their pleasure, but their highest good as well. But to the former class such results are a simple impossibility. ures. We close with a single extract from the report of the inspectors: The discipline is maintained without corporal punishment or other severe measFull control is had, a spirit of subordination is surely prevalent, and much of self-respect is felt among the prisoners. Full record is kept of all reproofs, deprivations and penalties for violation of the rules of the establishment, and shows conclusively the care and patience exercised by the officers to avoid conflict with and punishment of the prisoners, and much ingenuity is observable in contriving simple means to make the intractable properly sensitive to the rules that should govern them. The statement, often too true, that prisoners generally leave prison worse than before entering, cannot be truly said of the House of Correction. The thorough effort for their education, and the real interest manifested for their reformation, are productive of good results without doubt. It cannot be that the impulse toward reformation given to so many here is a hallucination. While doubt may justly be felt for the permanency of passing emotions, however passionately expressed, real effort to purify the body, to educate the mind and cultivate the noble sentiments by noble practices does not admit of question as to its right drift and salutary tendency. Examples are frequently found in society to attest this truth; reformed men are living happily and usefully who date their right start from their imprisonment here. We affirm, however, that reformatory results, achieved by prison establishments organized under existing laws, must be the exception and rot the rule. We hope therefore to see such changes speedily made as shall clearly put forward reformation as the first object of imprisonment and secure uniform results in this direction. MISSISSIPPI. The following letter from the Superintendent of the Mississippi State penitentiary contains all the information received concerning the penal affairs of that State: SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE, MISS. STATE PENITENTIARY, REV. E. C. WINES, D. D., LL. D., Corresponding Secretary N. Y. Prison Association: DEAR SIR: Owing to the unsettled state of our government, I am sorry to be unable to comply with your request for my report for 1868. In January of that year the finances of the State were in such a low condition that the executive department was unable to furnish food for the convicts, and the military authorities took it under their control. The prison is at present leased to Mr. E. Richardson for a term of three years, by the military commander, and a considerable number of the colored convicts are employed by him on his plantations in the neighborhood. About one hundred, principally whites, are employed at the prison in carriage, furniture and shoe-making. We have at present 327 prisoners. Whites-men, ninety-six; women, one; blacks— men, 226; women, five. Of these one white man and twelve black are for life. The influx of prisoners since January has been very small, only twenty having been received against ninety-eight in the corresponding period of 1868. I fear this is not all owing to a decrease of crime, but is in a great measure attributable to the unset tled state of our courts. The ministers of the various denominations hold services every Sunday in turn, the services being held in the hall of the prison on which all the cells open. The doors are all unlocked during divine service, so that all can attend if they wish, which is pretty generally the case; and great attention seems to be paid by them to the services. Lately the Roman Catholic priest has volunteered to hold a service once a month in a room of the prison, for such of the convicts as are of his persuasion. The attendance is voluntary, each convict wishing to attend giving his number at morning roll-call. In the absence of any report, I have sent you the above few particulars, thinking they might be of interest. I am yours most respectfully, Z. A. PHILIPS, Superintendent Miss. State Penitentiary. MISSOURI. In our review of prison work in the United States last year, we quoted largely and approvingly from the report of the penitentiary of this State, and spoke of the prison itself as being now, as heretofore, under the administration of Mr. P. T. Miller, "an object of special interest to the students of penitentiary science." The administration has been changed since then, and the present warden is the Rev. D. A. Wilson, formerly a missionary to Africa, gentleman of high character and ability (personally known to the writer), in whose statements entire confidence may be placed. We make these remarks as prefatory to the following letter from Mr. Wilson: OFFICE OF THE WARDEN, MISSOURI STATE PENITENTIARY. Į THE REV. E. C. WINES, D. D., Corresponding Secretary N. Y. P. A. : The excess of expenditures is in part owing to the fact that a large number of prisoners are employed on the erection of a new cell building, partly to the fact that during the winter many are unemployed, and partly to the fact that being in debt, purchases have to be made on credit, and interest paid. The figures I have given cannot be relied upon as exact, for reports have been made out for some time with a view to a good showing. The estimated value of real estate does not include the new cell building, which already has cost more than half of what I have put down. We have now a resident chaplain, although no proper provision has as yet been made for his support. There is a Sunday school for the women, a prayer meeting for men, desirous of attending. Soon we hope to have Bible classes, and classes for secular instruction. There are many things needed to bring this prison up to the standard which you have assigned it in your review of prisons. "The mantle of Miller fell upon his successor," only so far as reports are concerned, and these were prepared, I am told, chiefly by others. I make these observations, because, while strangers rely upon the statements of your report, all persons here, conversant with the condition and management of the prison, know that they do not correspond to the facts. Very respectfully yours, D. A. WILSON, Warden. In consequence of the discredit thus thrown upon the recent reports of this institution, we forbear all citation from that last issued, and content ourselves with stating the fact that, like those of the wardens of the State prisons of Massachusetts and Michigan, it makes the important recommendation that convicts, in reward for good conduct, be allowed a portion of their earnings as an aid to discipline and reformation, as they are now granted a diminution of sentence on that ground. NEBRASKA. There is no State prison in Nebraska. NEVADA. The reports of the State prison here are made biennially. The one before us is for the years 1867 and 1868. The warden, ex-officio, is Lieutenant-Governor James S. Slingerland; and a lively and enjoyable writer his report proves him to be. Here is his word-picture of the prison on his accession to the wardenship in January, 1867: The "old kitchen," which stood as a landmark, to which, it is presumable, the main buildings composing the prison were afterwards built, was nothing but a tinder box, built of rock, with here and there a patch of mortar, full of seams and openings, through which the wind had full sweep; covered with an old, weatherworn shingle roof, through which the rain poured in winter; lined inside with canvas, that hung in tatters on the walls; and connected with the main building by an opening in which no door had ever been built. The dining-room was lined in the same manner, and also the two front rooms adjoining, with the addition of here and there a patch of wall-paper, making it still more inflammable. Office and guard-room were in the same condition; wood-work old and decayed, and with all the rest sadly in need of new material. The roof of the main building-forty by one hundred feet-was shingled, rivaling in antiquity the roof of the kitchen; open and leaky in winter, and in summer ventilating the whole building with a hurricane of wind and sand, and throughout the whole of this one hundred feet, but three flues, to which the stovepipes led from the different parts of the building, some of which reached for a distance of thirty feet, smoking and leaking with every storm of wind and rain: putting all of which together you have a fair picture of the condition of the buildings as I found them on the 7th day of January, 1867, and for which, with the rock pile adjoining, the territory paid $80,000. Fortunately a fire occurred, the work of some kind-hearted incendiary, early in May following, which consumed nearly the whole concern, leaving little but the prisoners. Gov. Slingerland proved equal to the emergency. He immediately entered upon the work of rebuilding, and now reports a good substantial prison, nearly fireproof throughout, at a cost of $25,000, with accommodations for 112 prisoners. The warden provides a generous diet for his men, as the following bill of prison fare will show: Breakfast-Beefsteak, potatoes and bread, hot or cold. Dinner-Roast beef or stew daily; baked beans on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays; mush and molasses or pudding on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; soup on Tuesdays, and bread and potatoes every day. Supper-Cold meat, hash, potatoes and bread, stewed peaches or apples every other day; to which may be added vegetables, when in market. "Prison discipline" does not appear to have made great progress in Nevada. The lieutenant-governor's theory would not have been unsuited to the times prior to John Howard. It is stated in terms curt, pointed, and quite clear from ambiguity. He says: "In the system adopted I have not proposed to consume precious time in trying to make an unmitigated rascal an honest man. I have no trusties'; they all stand on an equal footing one with another." He gives this pleasing testimony of his staff: "The force around me are worthy and vigilant officers; I employ none but worthy, trusty and sober men." Here he is in advance of the times anterior to and contemporaneous with Howard; for in those days there were fearful stealings on the part of officers (the practice is not yet wholly abated), and it was no uncommon thing for officers and prisoners to take a good "drunk" together. Indeed, we are inclined to think that Gov. Slingerland has done injustice to himself, in one of his sentences quoted above; and we base our conviction on the following passage from a subsequent part of his report, which shows that he makes greater use of moral than of physical force in his discipline, and that his great kindness of heart does not expend itself in words, but is translated into action: It is a fact worthy of notice that, during the past two years, there have been but two occasions for punishment, those being for insubordination. Prisoners have been orderly and well behaved, and, with a few exceptions, have all been credited with the five days' commutation allowed by law for good behavior, thus materially shortening their terms of imprisonment. A "Conduct Roll" is kept, and posted at the end of each month, in which the five days is credited if deserved, and, if not, in lieu thereof, a black mark is set opposite the name of the prisoner incurring, by misconduct, the forfeiture. It seems to be the general desire of all to gain this commutation, and, as the record shows, but few have failed to gain it for each month of the two years. Heretofore, when a prisoner went out by expiration of sentence or pardon, the board of State prison commissioners have allowed me to purchase for such prisoner a suit of clothes. This is an item of considerable amount in my expenses, as, since the fire, when a prisoner was discharged he had to be supplied with a new suit, the old ones being burned on May 1, 1867. I have also supplied them with money, from five to ten dollars each, out of my own pocket. I would suggest that a fund be created, called the "State Prison Contingent Fund," say $250, to meet such expenses as above stated, said fund to be under control of and at the order of the warden of the State prison. NEW HAMPSHIRE. The document issued by the authorities of the New Hampshire State prison, which brings the history of that institution down to May 1869, consists of the following papers: 1. Warden's report; 2. Report of the committee of council [inspectors]; 3. Report of the chaplain; 4. Report of the physician; 5. Report of the agent for discharged prisoners. It is no undue praise to say that these several papers are, without exception, model compositions of their kind. One feels in their perusal that he is moving in an atmosphere pure, bracing, healthful; the pulses of the soul beat with a higher vitality; and faith in humanity, even fallen and criminal humanity, gathers strength for its conflict with evil. Were we to follow the dictate of feeling, we should print these reports unabridged; but we must content ourselves with such brief extracts as will serve to indicate merely the general tone of the institution, and the general character of the work done there. Mr. Mayo, the warden, discusses at length, and with rare good sense, the subject of the reformation of convicts during their incarceration. In the course of his remarks, he says: During my connection with this prison it has been my constant aim, in all my treatment of those under my charge, to make them feel that there was yet hope for them, a chance for them to become virtuous and respected members of society. My efforts in this direction have been specially directed to the younger and least hardened of our numbers. On the question of discipline, he remarks: Good order is of course the first requisite in a place like this; yet strict rules need not have an unfavorable influence on those who feel their force. We do not break or crush men, but exercise that restraint that is necessary to comfort and safety. It would be an exaggeration to say that our rules had at all times been carried out to the letter, yet we think that personal inspection will convince any one that we have approximated as near to this as is practicable or even desirable. The old punishment of the dark cell, with bread and water, has been continued for extreme cases; and in two cases of obstinate refractoriness it has been found necessary to use the ball and chain for a time. On Thanksgiving day, the institution gave an extra dinner to the convicts. On the thirty-first of January, Mr. Dorsey feasted them on roast turkey and mince pie. On the fourth of July, the con[Senate No. 21.] 19 |