300 per cent, while the number of prisoners has increased only about 50 per cent. In Auburn the increase has been, in the same time, from $22,159.75 a year to $64,195.65, or about 200 per cent, while the increase of prisoners was about twenty per cent. Time indeed is it, that this state of things should be ended and some new plan adopted. And more especially is proper action necessary now, when step have already been taken under legislative sanction for the erection of another prison; for in that building provision may be made for a classification of the convicts. All experience in this country and abroad has shown the value of classification as a "reformatory agency." Both the prison systems which have prevailed among us have been founded on the idea of saving, by this means, the novice in crime from the inevitable contamination of intercourse with the habitual and confirmed offender, and encouraging the penitent in their efforts at reformation.* Hitherto we have been unable to even make a commencement towards such a classification. Now, however, it can be done, and it would be indeed lamentable to forego the opportunity. The establishment of such a board as has been suggested, with its - broad powers and supervision over our whole penitentiary system, would be necessary, in order to embrace the idea of classification, and cause it to move in harmony with all the other parts of the system. But how can such a board be established? Only, perhaps, by an amendment to the Constitution, which now provides, not only for the appointment, by the inspectors, of all the officers of our prisons, but commits to them the "charge and superintendence" of them. The Prison Association have long lamented the evils which they saw must inevitably flow, and have actually flowed, from the government thus prescribed by the Constitution, and they have looked forward anxiously to the time when an alteration might be made. They, therefore, hailed with pleasure the assembling of the late Constitutional Convention. They availed themselves of that oppor *The increase of crime among us seems to be greater than the increase of popula lion. In 1847, with a population of about 2,700,000, the number of our State prisoners was 1,421. Now, with a population of about 4,000,000, we have 2,881 prisoners. So that, in that period, the number of convicts has increased more than 100 per cent, while the population has increased about 67 per cent. Be that, however, as it may, even if population only keeps pace with crime, it is most evident that it is time to make preparation for an inevitable increase, which may, in the next twenty years, as it has in the past twenty, double the number of our State prisoners, and that by a steady increase. tunity, and rejoiced to see a plan adopted by it which would remedy most, if not all, the evils complained of. But, unhappily, that measure has failed of final adoption by the people, with other parts of the proposed new Constitution; and the Association see no remedy-no hope for future reforms-no prospect of relief from the existing and growing evils, other than in the adoption of that measure. They, therefore, earnestly petition the Legislature to take such measures as will again submit to the people-but, this time, distinctly and by itself-the proposed amendment to the fundamental law of the State. All which is respectfully submitted, by order of the New York Prison Association. NEW YORK, December, 1869. J. W. EDMONDS, J. H. ANTHON, RENSSELAER N. HAVENS, D. B. ST. JOHN ROOSA, Of the Prison Discipline Committee. PROPOSED AMENDMENT. I. There shall be a Board of Managers of Prisons, to be composed of five persons appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall hold office for ten years. II. That board shall have the charge and superintendence of the State prisons, and have such power and perform such duties in respect to other prisons in the State as the Legislature may prescribe. III. They shall appoint a secretary, who shall be removable at their pleasure, perform such duties as the Legislature or the board may direct, and receive a salary to be determined by law. IV. The members of the board shall receive no compensation other than reasonable traveling and official expenses. V. The board shall appoint the warden, clerk, physician and chaplain of each State prison, and shall have power to remove them for cause, only after an opportunity to be heard, on written charges. VI. All other officers of each prison shall be appointed by the warden thereof, and be removable at his pleasure. VII. The Governor may remove any of the managers for misconduct or neglect of duty, after opportunity to be heard on written charges. VIII. The five managers first appointed shall, as the Legislature may direct, be so classified that the term of one shall expire at the end of each two years, during the first ten years. IX. This amendment shall go into effect on the first Monday of January next after its adoption by the people; from and after which date, section four of article five of the Constitution shall be null and void. V. PROPOSED STATE REFORMATORY FOR THE YOUNGER CLASS OF CONVICTS. BY THE COMMISSIONERS, [In the legislative session of 1868, a bill was introduced by Senator Chapman into the Senate of New York, providing for the appointment of a Commission to select a site for a new State prison. At the suggestion of the Prison Association, the bill was amended so as to designate the new institution a reformatory instead of a prison, and also adding to the duties of the Commissioners that of reporting some general plan of organization; and in that form it became a law. The results of the inquiries and study of the Commissioners is presented in their report to the Legislature. This paper is a document of great significance; and, if its principles and recommendations shall be embodied in legislation, it will, we are persuaded, mark an era in the history of penitentiary science, and especially of its practical applications. We offer no apology for incorporating it entire into the permanent records of the Association.] To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York: GENTLEMEN-The Commissioners appointed by His Excellency the Governor of the State of New York, under chapter 408 of the laws of 1869, authorizing the selection of Commissioners to recommend a suitable location for a State penitentiary or industrial reformatory, respectfully report: The act under which they are appointed provides that they shall select a suitable site in the sixth judicial district (comprising the counties of Otsego, Delaware, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler, Tompkins and Cortland), upon which to erect a State penitentiary or industrial reformatory; and also requires that they shall report a plan for the organization and management of the proposed institution, subject to the approval of the Legislature. I. THE PLAN OF ORGANIZATION. The subject of prison discipline has received increased attention within the last few years, and many new ideas and reforms have been introduced into penal institutions abroad, as well as suggested by the results of experience at home. It is expedient that these should be embodied, as far as practicable, in the plan of the institution which is submitted for the sanction of the Legislature. It is not our purpose, in this report, to give in detail the reasons which have led experts in prison discipline to their conclusions; but rather to state the results of our own reflections and of such study as we have been able to devote to the opinions and practice of others. We desire to sum up in as few sentences as possible what, in our judgment, can be accomplished by a properly organized reformatory, and to give an outline of its organization. It is apparent that the law under which we act does not contemplate simply another State prison. In referring to a reformatory, we assume that the design of the Legislature was that there should be a selection, from the mass of convicted criminals, of such persons as are most likely to yield to reformatory influences. There is a large class of persons who are fit subjects of such an institution. The present law provides that criminals sentenced to the existing houses of refuge at New York and Rochester shall be under the age of sixteen. There are many young criminals, owing to this arbitrary rule, who are sent to the State prison to associate with mature and hardened convicts. Again, it is said that courts in some instances wink at a violation of the law, and send criminals over sixteen and under twenty-one to the house of refuge, where they cannot properly be cared for, and where their presence produces an injurious effect upon the younger inmates. This state of things should no longer continue, but provision should be made for an intermediate class too advanced in years for a house of refuge, and yet not so mature as to be hopelessly beyond the reach of ordinary reformatory influences. After much reflection, we recommend that no persons be sentenced to the proposed reformatory whose age is less than sixteen or more than thirty years, or who shall be known to have been previously convicted of any felonious offence. Assuming that the reformatory is designed for male criminals between the ages of sixteen and thirty, we think that the following general principles should be recognized as applicable: 1. The main design of the institution should be reformatory, as distinguished from penal. By this proposition, we by no means exclude punishment, which may be used as one of the leading instrumentalities in reformation. The criminal should be made to feel that the commission of crime is invariably attended with penalties, privation and suffering. In the outset he should be subjected to solitary confinement, from which he may learn this salutary lesson. He should then be made acquainted with the rules and regulations of the institution; be shown their propriety and necessity, and be informed that the authorities will insist on their full and exact |