between the ages of sixteen and thirty, convicted of a first offence, to the State reformatory. We would much prefer that some discretion in this regard should be left to the courts, for the reason that some persons as young as thirty, or even twenty-five, though never before convicted of crime, might be very unsuitable associates for the mass of the inmates, whom, therefore, it would be every way desirable to commit to a different prison.

NORTH CAROLINA.

The new State prison has not yet been finished. The work is going on; but how near completion, we are not informed. We were favored, during the summer, with a call by three members of the newly organized Board of Public Charities for North Carolina, from whose statements we judge that much interest is felt there on the prison question, and that the State intends to pursue an enlightened policy in the matter of prison discipline.

OHIO.

Penitentiary science is making rapid progress in this State, both theoretically and practically. This fact is patent in the latest prison reports, in the recent message of Gov. Hayes to the Legislature, and from other evidences not necessary to be given in detail.

The following passage from the report of the warden will be read with interest:

In view of the fact that convict labor alone is now more than paying the expenses of the penitentiary, and with its other earnings, yielding a very considerable revenue, I would respectfully recommend that this surplus money be applied to the general improvement of the prison. The excess of cash earnings last year over current expenses, was $29,242.50. The surplus earnings this year cannot be less than $50,000, though I think it will be more. Much could be accomplished for the good of the institution if such an amount should be at the disposal of the board from year to year. The discipline, as we are now situated, is as good as could be expected, but not altogether satisfactory. Discipline simply means order, system and obedience. We want more than discipline. Some measures should be taken to improve, if possible, the tone of those whose misfortune it is to be here. There are many now who leave this place, rude as it is in reformatory discipline, wiser and better, and I am satisfied that that number can be largely increased when reformation becomes the chief aim of the institution. As the prison is arranged now, each must be subjected to the same discipline, eat the same food, dress in the same hideous garb, work in the same shops, without any regard whatever to his moral standard as a man-in fact it is a perfect jumble of all classes and kinds without regard to any thing save their ability to labor. I cannot think that such a state of things is right, nor can perfect discipline be maintained under such circumstances. We must classify before any great good can be accomplished in the way of reformation. Classification, in the sense I mean, is the complete separation of those who are well disposed and desire to be reformed from those who are vicious and depraved. Of course, I do not assume that this, or any other plan, or that prison officials can [Senate No. 21.] 21

absolutely reform men or women depraved as convicts are thought to be; but they can pave the way, offer facilities and assist those whose desire it is to be better men. Or, in other words, if there be no reformation, let the responsibility rest where it ought, and not upon the State for any neglect on its part. But to classify properly, we must have more room than the present prison inclosure affords. If the Legislature will but ratify the purchase made by you of the grounds lying north and adjoining the penitentiary, and devote the surplus earnings of the prison-nothing more to its enlargement, all can soon be accomplished without burdening the people of the State.

The Board of Directors say:

Few convicts have heretofore been reformed, but that fact is as much owing to the neglect of the State, as the intrinsic wickedness of the subjects. The religious services, the Sunday school, and the intercourse and influence of the officers have recently produced decided results. Some have been discharged wholly reclaimed, and it is evident that there is generally among the convicts more cheerfulness, more good feeling, more self-respect and more obedience to the rules than has existed heretofore. We hope and believe this state of things is the forerunner of other and more marked effects. Efforts in this behalf ought to receive the sympathy and generous support of the State, and we respectfully and earnestly request an appropriation for books, and such other means of reformation, as can be profitably used.

The fact that convicts may be reformed is a sufficient motive for legislative action, but it may not be amiss to refer to one which is lower and more selfish. The value of our prison labor has been gradually rising for several years, and every one acquainted with the subject is aware that it is owing in part to the improved moral condition of the convicts. While, therefore, we are reclaiming the lost and supplanting vice by virtue, we are at the same time putting money into the treasury, and lessening the public burdens.

The management of penitentaries is attracting more and more attention every year, and the unfortunate convicts are enlisting the sympathies and consideration of the benevolent and humane. They are no longer considered as outcasts, and beyond redemption. They are regarded as men, as responsible beings, as having souls to save or lose, and as capable of laying aside their depravity and becoming worthy citizens here, and entertaining a hope of rest hereafter. If this is not all a delusion, it is due to them and to the State, that every means of reformation should be adopted, and when they leave the penitentiary, a larger proportion should be industrious and useful citizens.

In their report for 1869, the directors take this advanced position, which fully sustains the doctrine of indefinite or reformation sentences, in place of definite or time sentences:

It may seem to be in advance of the present day, but it is, as we believe, but anticipating an event not far distant, to suggest that sentences for crime, instead of being for a definite period, especially in cases of repeated convictions, will, under proper restrictions, be made to depend on the reformation and established good character of the convict.

This we believe to be the fundamental principle of an effective reformatory prison discipline; but it is obvious to remark that it can never be practically applied with any chance of success, till our prisons are taken out of the domain of politics, and their administration is made permanent in the hands of competent officers.

The following extracts from the report of the chaplain, Rev. A. G. Byers, relate scenes and incidents as full of suggestive instruction as they are of interest:

Twice during the year work has been suspended in the prison for the purpose of holding public religious services with the prisoners.

The first time was on the occasion of the Baptist State Sabbath School Convention, held in Columbus last May; and the other was on the 4th day of July, held in commemoration of our national independence.

On the former occasion, the complete surprise to the prisoners, the large company of visitors, the nature of the exercises-manifesting a lively Christian sympathy with the prisoners-the direct personal appeals to their better natures as men, and the earnest assurances of their common interest, as sinners, in the redeeming mercy of Him who came to proclaim liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound, all conspired to render the occasion deeply impressive, and the sighing of the prisoners, the tears of contrition, and the uplifting of a thousand hands for prayer, presented a scene not easily described, but never to be forgotten.

The influence of that meeting lingers yet, not merely as a pleasant memory, but as a wholesome incentive in many hearts, prompting them to patience, obedience and hope.

On the fourth of July (the celebration of the day by appropriate religious and patriotic services having been determined upon) it was deemed proper, in the judg ment of your honorable board, with the concurrence and hearty co-operation of the warden, and the approval of his excellency Governor Hayes, to select a certain number of prisoners whose good conduct as prisoners would justify such consideration, and whose characters as men gave assurance (as far as human conduct may assure the judgment of men) that society would have no cause to complain at their liberation; and on that day, in presence of their fellow prisoners, restore them again to civil liberty.

Three prisoners (two under sentence for life, one having served faithfully for eighteen, and the other for thirteen years, and neither having ever violated a prison rule; and one under sentence for seven years, having served more than half his term, and giving evidence of thorough reformation), were selected, and, in presence of over a thousand prisoners. and many deeply interested citizens, were presented with their pardons.

The pardons were presented on behalf of the governor, by Rev. I. Crook, in words well chosen and deeply impressive. Short and appropriate addresses were also made by Hon. C. N. Olds, Judge J. L. Bates, president, and Judge M. G. Mitchell, member of the board of directors. These addresses, together with the devotional exercises and patriotic songs, rendered the services in the chapel highly interesting throughout, and when, subsequently, the prisoners sat down to an excellent dinner, during which the rule restricting them to silence was removed, and the enjoyment of the repast heightened beyond expression by free but not unconstrained sociality, the occasion was made as replete with happiness as it was possible for men, as prisoners, to feel. The only constraint experienced was that of the fulness of the heart. All were free to speak, but many a heart was too full for utterance. It was no easy thing for men who for years had sat beside each other at their meals in solemn silence, to realize so much and at once. It was an expression of confidence so new, so unexpected; such a recognition of their manhood, such an appeal to the heart, the judgment, the conscience, that only those situated as these men were could realize its almost overwhelming power. It was kindness asserting its law over the hitherto lawless, and there were but few hearts so obdurate and

perverse as to resist its charm. That there were a few, is only in proof of the perverting power and the hardening influence of crime; that there were only a few (constituting the exceptions), is in confirmation of a general rule that will, ere long, I humbly trust, establish kindness as a law, regulating the treatment of the erring, the guilty and the depraved.

Your honorable board will, I feel assured, pardon this extended notice of events which transpired under your own eyes, and of the influence of which the several members of the board, from personal observation, are fully competent to judge. I have, however, felt it due to the chief executive of the State, in whom is vested, by solemn sanction of law, authority over the liberty and even life of the felon; due to the warden, as chief executive of the prison, in whose hands is lodged the care and comfort of the prisoners; due to your honorable board, charged with the administration of laws whose inexorable behests, as applied to crime, leave so little discretion as to the criminal; due to my own office, whose sacred functions are designed to reform and elevate character, that these events should be thus presented, not in vindication of what has been done, but as suggestive of what may hereafter become a rule whereby a fair test of character can be applied, intelligent discrimination exercised, a humane system of discipline established, and the line more distinctly drawn between the incorrigbly vile and those in whom some latent desire for rectitude and honor might be touched, and life and character rescued from dishonor and ruin.

The following gratifying passage, extracted from the message of Gov. Hayes, will close our review of the prison question in Ohio:

A large proportion of the convicts, when admitted, are quite young. The age of about one-third does not exceed twenty-one years. More than two-thirds of the inmates of the prison are now under thirty years of age. It will occur to any one who considers these facts, that, under our system of prison discipline, too little effort has heretofore been made to reform these young men. A high authority has said, "No human being is so debased and wicked that he cannot be reclaimed." It is believed, that, under a wise system, the young, at least, can be reformed and prepared for useful and worthy citizenship. The present system has two capital defects—the mingling in intimate association of the young with the hardened criminals, and the failure to educate the convicts in habits of thrift and self-control. The defects are in the system. The convict, when he leaves the penitentiary, is exposed to greater temptations than ever before, and the result of his prison life is that he has less power to resist evil influences, and, too often, less disposition to resist them. I do not enlarge upon the objections to the present system; it is not claimed to be reformatory. In a recent report, the directors said: "The great mass of convicts still leave the penitentiary apparently as hardened and as dangerous to the State as they were when they were sentenced." The vital question is, how to remove this reproach on our penal legislation. In considering it, I commend to you the remarks of the board of State charities on the Irish convict system. The distinguishing merit of that system is that "it enlists the co-operation of the prisoner in his own amendment, without withholding from him the punishment due to his crime." If the adoption of that system, with such modifications as our condition requires, is deemed an experiment which it is inexpedient for the State to try until its advantages are better understood, I submit that the least that ought now to be attempted is to provide for a classification of convicts, so as to separate beginners in crime from hardened offenders. Whether this can best be done by alterations and an extension of the present penitentiary or by the erection of a new one, is for your wisdom to determine.

In several other States voluntary associations have been formed to provide for, encourage, and furnish employment to discharged convicts, and their efforts have been of incalculable benefit to this unfortunate class. If a similar association should be formed by the benevolent citizens of Ohio, they will reasonably expect to receive proper assistance from the general assembly, and in that expectation I trust they will not be disappointed.

OREGON.

The Rev. Dr. Atkinson, formerly a member of the prison board of this State, who has had large opportunity of visiting prisons in the United States, and has been a diligent as well as an enlightened student of penitentiary science, has favored us with a memorandum, under date of December 27, 1869, on the prisons of the Pacific coast, which we insert at this point, as it contains interesting information relating to the State penitentiary of Oregon. He says:

It is nearly a year since I promised to write you a few facts concerning our homes for criminals on this coast. I call them homes for criminals, as perhaps the best expression of modern thought on this subject. My inquiries in different prisons, east and west, in 1865, and my reading of reports, especially one or two from your society, together with a little insight of our temporary structures, have led me to think that discipline is the key to this whole question. Work and classification, as much or more than walls or watchmen, contain the idea. Our prisons in Oregon and California are, for the most part, temporary structures. That at San Quentin, Cal., was built at large cost, and its additions have been made necessary by the crowds sent thither, but its idea is not a home so much as it is a corral. Armed men keep it. Officers feel compelled to be severe in order to be safe. Effort is made to employ all the prisoners, yet with limited success. Classification is not possible with their present structure and position. The contract system prevails. The State has been generous. Good officers have often been put in charge, but the prime idea was defective, and the working must be. There is no unity in the building. Some cells contain a dozen, some only one prisoner, and open to the yard. The effort to have a school or Sabbath services has been partially successful, by the constant effort of the chaplain; care of discharged prisoners is a prime work with him, but it is hard work amid present competitions and against strong prejudices. The commutation system prevails, or did in 1865.

The San Francisco city prison is well built and was well kept, a Christian matron, with her husband, being in charge in 1865; but party changes make changes constantly in both city and State prisons. No line of action can long be continued in either. Probably the county jails have the same history.

Our Oregon State penitentiary was built by the United States army, while we were a territory, at Portland. It was a good, airy, dry and comfortable stone, brick and iron structure, somewhat like one of the wings of that at Albany or at Charlestown. A few prisoners worked within as shoemakers and saddletree makers, etc., but most of them worked on the streets, under guards. For four years they have been at Salem, the capital. A wooden house, with wooden cells, and iron gratings, with large windows, is their abode. A high plank fence incloses several acres, and also a passage way to a large inclosed brick yard, where during the last year the seventyfive or eighty, with a horse power and other machines, have made more than a million of brick.

Óthers have raised vegetables and grain on the adjacent field and garden, which belongs to them. Upon the feet of the rebellious the "Gardner shackle" is put,