Mr. ANDRETTA. It is bound to, because as the Department of Justice grows in size, of course, this being the executive office of the whole Department, its work is bound to increase. Then, of course, he is burdened with legislative duties, and as the work of the Congress increases, it reflects on the work of this office, too.

RESTORATION FOR PARDON ATTORNEY

We request $1,500 be restored for the pardon attorney. This is a small amount. For years this small office had nine persons in it, and here again we have had to absorb within-grade raises and terminal leave and other costs that have never been appropriated for, and that means that we have run a slight deficit in this office every year, and I think that we ought to get the thing whole as far as we can. We need $1,500 to take care of that.

Senator KILGORE. Those men go into the field and visit penitentiaries; is that right?

Mr. ANDRETTA. That is the Board of Parole. This is the pardon attorney I am talking about.

Senator KILGORE. They work in Washington?

Mr. ANDRETTA. The pardon attorney is in Washington, and he is an adjunct of the Attorney General's Office. He is the one that handles Presidential pardons.

Senator KILGORE. Where does he get his information from?

Mr. ANDRETTA. He get it from the Bureau of Prisons files and also from the United States attorneys and the judges. He gets material from them.

Senator KILGORE. How about the Board of Parole?

Mr. ANDRETTA. He gets it from them, too.

Senator KILGORE. They are the ones sent around to the penitentiaries?

Mr. ANDRETTA. That is right. We have them here, and they will be the next item that comes up.

Senator KILGORE. What does that $1,500 cut do?

Mr. ANDRETTA. What it does is we just have to continue the deficit we run in that office all the time, because we must carry the nine people, and we do not have sufficient turnover there to make up any kind of savings. The result is, to meet these other required increases, like automatic raises and terminal leave, you run short of money.

Senator KILGORE. You actually now have one vacancy there? Mr. ANDRETTA. We do; yes. The pardon attorney himself, Dan Lyons, retired and we have not filled that position yet.

BOARD OF PAROLE

The next item is the "Board of Parole," where we ask that $19,300 be restored and one position.

Senator KILGORE. You have the full personnel of the Commissioners on the Parole Board now? At one time you were short. That was why we could not get the matter operating faster.

Mr. ANDRETTA. We are still two short on the Board.
Senator KILGORE. Two Commissioners of the Board?
Mr. ANDRETTA. Two members of the Board.

Senator KILGORE. How many does that give you?

Mr. ANDRETTA. Six. There are eight allowed.

Senator KILGORE. That size of the Board was increased when we put the new Correction Act in. It increased the number of members on the Board in that act.

Mr. ANDRETTA. Mr. Richardson, Chairman of the Board, is here, Senator, if you would like to hear from him.

Senator KILGORE. Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Senator KILGORE. Let us go back on the record.

BOARD OF PAROLE

STATEMENTS OF SCOVEL RICHARDSON, CHAIRMAN; GEORGE J. REED, MEMBER, BOARD OF PAROLE; AND S. A. ANDRETTA, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

DELAY OF DECISIONS

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. RICHARDSON. We were talking about the fact that we were slowing up somewhat in getting the decisions back to the institutions. One of the factors is that we do not have the staff that we are requesting. Another is, with 6 Board members, and dockets increasing

Senator KILGORE. And there should be eight?

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right.

Senator KILGORE. Because a Board member has to go out on every one of these meetings and there are too many places for six to handle. Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right; and the loads are going up. For instance, at Atlanta about a year or a year and a half ago there were about 160 cases on the dockets. They are running up to 200, 230, and 260 now. It takes about a week or a week and a half of the Board member's time away from the office.

FREQUENCY OF VISITS TO INSTITUTIONS

Senator KILGORE. How often does a member visit each institution? Mr. RICHARDSON. Each member visits each institution about once every 12 or 15 months. We rotate the circuits and we estimate we spend about 90 days during the year conducting hearings in institutions away from the office.

Senator KILGORE. About a fourth of your time is spent in the field on hearings?

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. If you consider actual working days it runs closer to one-third.

Senator KILGORE. Then you have to go back and analyze the results of the hearings?

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. These staff people we are asking for would help us tremendously. We have already filled 2 of the positions, but they were recently filled-1 in September 1954 and 1 in February of 1955. Though the estimated increase looks like $25,300, actually it is only about $8,235. The other positions have been previously allotted to us, and Mr. Andretta has explained some of the problems we have had in filling the positions.

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TOTAL POSITIONS

Senator KILGORE. How many positions do you now have? 27?
Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir.

Senator KILGORE. The House allowed 32 and the estimate was 33?
Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right.

Senator KILGORE. You feel it would be very detrimental to your service unless that position was restored?

Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right.

Senator KILGORE. That cost would amount to $19,300 to be restored? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right.

Senator KILGORE. That does not include getting your two extra Board members; does it?

Mr. RICHARDSON. No. The Board members' salary was included last year.

Senator KILGORE. They are already included?

Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. That is the lapse money that we were using to fill these two positions.

Senator KILGORE. Thank you.

YOUTH DIVISION

Mr. RICHARDSON. Would you want to hear from Mr. Reed on the Youth Division? I know you were the author of the act. He is chairman of that Division.

Senator KILGORE. Yes.

Mr. REED. Senator, it certainly is a privilege to be here before the author of the Youth Act who carried so much responsibility in the Senate in passing the bill.

We have been underway now a little over a year and, as I reported to you here earlier this year, we have been able to get off to a reasonably good start in processing the improved techniques which are inherent with the Youth Corrections Act. As I think you know, it is certified east of the Mississippi only at the present time. We have been receiving commitments since January 19, 1954. We have set up the Diagnostic Center east of the Mississippi at the Federal Correctional Institution at Ashland, Ky. Our commitments thus far under the Youth Act have included 424 committed youth offenders under the provisions of the law. This is about a third of the cases in the judicial districts now certified where the judges have used the

act.

The current increase that the judges are making as to the commitments, accelerating as the act has been underway, would indicate that this year about half of the youths under 22 would actually be committed under the special provisions of Public Law 865, which is encouraging in that it is a much faster acceleration than under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act when it was first certified.

AGE LIMIT

Senator KILGORE. I did not get what I wanted. I wanted 23 instead of 22.

Mr. REED. Yes; I remember that. The age was dropped 1 year for several reasons there at the time the bill was before you.

Senator KILGORE. They insisted on dropping it.

Mr. REED. Yes.

Senator KILGORE. My theory was borne out recently when I went into the disciplinary barracks at Leavenworth and found the average age of inmates was 22.

EXPANSION OF FACILITIES WEST OF MISSISSIPPI

Senator MUNDT. What plan have you for expanding west of the Mississippi?

Mr. KEED. Senator, the budget before this committee today, if provided, from the Youth Division's point of view would provide for that. Mr. Bennett, in the Bureau of Prisons, is planning an expanded budget for facilities, for a diagnostic center west of the Mississippi, and both Mr. Bennett and this Division are very hopeful that the Congress will provide the adequate funds so that certification west of the Mississippi can occur in the new fiscal year.

Senator MUNDT. Starting July 1?

Mr. REED. Yes, sir.

Senator MUNDT. Do you have enough history or do the results indicate whether or not the effect on the youth is as encouraging as everybody interested in the bill hoped at the time of its passage?

COMMITMENTS UNDER YOUTH ACT

Mr. REED. Senator, of course with 15 months' experience, it is a bit previous yet to draw any conclusions, and it will take 3 to 5 years before we will have any statistics that would be too valid. However, I think the committee might be interested to know that of the 424 cases committed, about 10 percent of them after the diagnostic study at the Ashland Center, have been in a very short period of time released on early parole and that during this 15 months' period-of course, some of them are out in a shorter period of time-only two have violated their parole during that period of time, which I think is very encouraging.

Senator MUNDT. Two out of how many?

Mr. REED. Ten percent out of 424, or a total of 42, have been paroled. Only two have actually violated during that period of time. This, of course, is a very encouraging percentage. If, over a period of time, anywhere near this percentage was retained, this would be a rather phenomenal improvement in the field.

Senator KILGORE. You do not have the facilities you need yet?
Mr. REED. No, we do not.

NEED FOR CAMPS

Senator KILGORE. You really need some camps where you could take them for a period of time before you parole them, is not that right?

Mr. REED. That is right.

Senator KILGORE. California has been very successful, has it not? Mr. REED. Yes. Senator, I was with the California Youth Authority for about 7 years at its beginning, with Mr. Holton, the direc

tor, before going to Minnesota in the youth authority in that State, and in both States we had the camp program operating very completely as a part of this whole youth program.

ASHLAND INSTITUTION

Senator KILGORE. Is not Ashland a minimum custody place? Mr. Reed. It would be considered medium. For the study period we feel it important that we have at least medium security because many of these young fellows are flighty and might run away if we did not have some place to hold them during that study period, but we also are maintaining it as a treatment program with our psychiatrists and our clinical staff available over a short period of time to work with these emotionally disturbed young people who are coming in under the act, and there are some of those.

Senator KILGORE. What success, if any, have you had on vocational training?

Mr. REED. There is the vocational training program at Ashland, and of course, there are six institutions that the Bureau has designated as youth institutions. In all of these six youth institutions there is a vocational training program developed. The program at Ashland is being set up on about a 14- to 16-month period in the treatment program, not the diagnostic study center, when the men are being kept at Ashland, about 12 to 14 or possibly 16 months, and there have been some very fine developments.

Some of the very best staff of the entire Bureau has been pulled in there to concentrate on making this vocational training program at Ashland one of the best that I know of in the entire country, Senator. Senator MUNDT. You used the the phrase, "When the men are being kept at Ashland." Does this work for both sexes?

Mr. REED. Ashland is being used as the diagnostic screening center, Senator, and after the study has been completed in about 60 days, then the youth comes before our Board. We, then, in cooperation with the Bureau determine to which of the six youth institutions the youth should go, Chillicothe for a more aggressive individual, or a reformatory custody program is possible, or, as Senator Kilgore has indicated, the camp, or early release on parole, or an intensive therapy or vocational training program right in Ashland.

PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE PRISONERS COMMITTED UNDER YOUTH ACT

Senator MUNDT. How is this 424 divided between the sexes?

Mr. REED. There are only six I believe committed under the Youth Act. Of course, the percentage of women against male prisoners throughout the country is a very, very small percentage of the total prison population, but only 6 girls have been committed under the act as compared to 418 boys.

Senator MUNDT. Do you have a special institution to which they are sent?

Mr. REED. We are, of course, with that small number of young women, not able to do that. There is a separate cottage at the Federal Women's Institution out in Alderson, W. Va. A separate cottage has been set aside and there is a phychologist from the Public Health