REPORT 
 
 I S 
 
 T 
 
 OBERT T. DEVLIN 
 
 President of the State Board of Prison Directors of California, 
 
 OX VARIOUS 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 STATE OFFICE, 
 
 8ACRAMENTO: 
 
 : : : : J. D. YOUNG, SUPT. STATE PRINTING. 
 
 1890.
 
 EEPORT 
 
 ROBERT T. DEVLIN, 
 
 President of the State Board of Prison Directors of California, 
 
 ON VARIOUS 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 SACRAMENTO: 
 
 STATE OFFICE, : : : : j. D. YOUNG, SUPT. STATE PRINTING. 
 
 1890.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 REFORM OR INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 General view - 4 
 
 Different plans of management 3 
 
 Cottage or family plan T 5 
 
 Boys' Industrial School of Ohio 6 
 
 Connecticut State Reform School 8 
 
 Industrial School, Kearney, Nebraska 21 
 
 Illinois State Reform School . 25 
 
 Indiana Reform School for Boys 28 
 
 Cincinnati House of Refuge 29 
 
 eo Pennsylvania Reform School 31 
 
 en House of Refuge, Philadelphia 33 
 
 Lyman School for Boys 36 
 
 as. Reform School of the District of Columbia 37 
 
 as Minnesota State Reform School 40 
 
 ~ Buildings ..- 41 
 
 JEZ Superintendent 42 
 
 PART II. 
 
 REFORMATORIES OR INTERMEDIATE PRISONS. 
 
 Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory 43 
 
 New York State Reformatory at Elmira 45 
 
 Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls 55 
 
 PART III. 
 
 STATE PRISONS. 
 
 Ohio Penitentiary , 57 
 
 Illinois State Penitentiary 66 
 
 Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania 97 
 
 State Penitentiary for Eastern District of Pennsylvania 99 
 
 Massachusetts State Prison 153
 
 REPORT. 
 
 To the State Board of Prison Directors of California: 
 
 Having been authorized by you, far the purpose of maturing the 
 system of government, instruction, and discipline of the Preston School 
 of Industry, to be located at or near lone, Amador County, to visit aimi- 
 lar institutions in practical operation and of the best repute, and by 
 personal inspection and investigation to acquire an insight into the 
 principles and workings thereof for the information and benefit of the 
 Board, I now submit the following report. 
 
 I visited and carefully examined the management of the following 
 named industrial, reformatory, and penal institutions: Connecticut 
 State Reform School, at Meriden; Boys' Industrial School of Ohio, at 
 Lancaster; Illinois State Reform School, at Pontiac; State Industrial 
 School for Juvenile Offenders of Nebraska, at Kearney; House of 
 Refuge, at Philadelphia; House of Correction, at Chicago; Pennsylvania 
 Reform School, at Morganza; Lyman School for Boys, at Westborough, 
 Massachusetts; Reform School of the District of Columbia, at Wash- 
 ington; Indiana Reform School for Boys, at Plainfield; Pennsylvania 
 Industrial Reformatory, at Huntingdon; Cincinnati House of Refuge; Illi- 
 nois State Penitentiary, at Joliet; Massachusetts State Prison, at Charles- 
 town; Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, at Allegheny City; Ohio 
 Penitentiary, at Columbus; New York State Reformatory, at Elmira; State 
 Penitentiary for Eastern District of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia; In- 
 diana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls, at Indianapolis; 
 Minnesota State Reform School, at St. Paul; besides the City Prison of 
 New York, known as the "Tombs;" the prison at Blackwell's Island, 
 New York, and some other public institutions for the care of the insane. 
 
 I also conferred with such persons as I was able to meet who had given 
 particular attention to reformatory institutions. 
 
 For the purpose of securing an orderly arrangement, I shall divide 
 this report into three main heads, the first devoted to the consideration 
 of industrial or reform schools; the second to the subject of reformato- 
 ries; and the third to State Prisons.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 PART I. 
 Reform or Industrial Schools. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW. 
 
 The Act creating the Preston School of Industry provides that "the 
 Board shall cause to be organized and maintained a department of 
 instruction for the inmates of said school, with a course of study cor- 
 responding as far as practicable with the course of study in the public 
 schools of this State, but the course shall not be higher than the course 
 prescribed in grammar schools. They shall adopt a system of govern- 
 ment, embracing such laws and regulations as are necessary for the 
 guidance of the officers and employes, for the regulation of the hours of 
 study and labor, for the preservation of order, for the enforcement of 
 discipline, for the preservation of health, and for the industrial training 
 of the inmates. The ultimate purpose of all such instruction, discipline, 
 and industries shall be to qualify the inmates for honorable and profit- 
 able employment, rather than to make the institution self-sustaining." 
 
 The Act also provides that the school " shall be conducted on such 
 plan as to the Board may seem best calculated to carry out the inten- 
 tions of this Act, and its inmates shall be subject to military discipline, 
 including daily drill. They shall be clothed in military uniform of such 
 pattern and material as may be prescribed by the Board, but under no 
 circumstances shall such inmates be clothed in convict stripes while 
 undergoing commitment in said school." 
 
 Boys between the ages of eight and eighteen may be committed to the 
 school for a period not exceeding the time when they shall attain major- 
 ity, and the Board may make rules reducing for good conduct the time 
 for which a boy is committed. Whenever the Board may consider an 
 inmate sufficiently reformed to justify his reward, they may give him 
 an honorable dismissal. The Board has power to issue certificates of 
 conditional dismissal and parole to any worthy boy, on the condition 
 that it binds him by articles of indenture to some suitable person who 
 will engage to educate him and instruct him in some useful art or trade. 
 It also has power to return him to his parents or to place him under the 
 care of a reputable citizen and resident of this State, bound to the Board 
 with sufficient sureties for the proper care, education, and moral and
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 5 
 
 i 
 
 industrial training of such boy. For a violation of the parole the boy 
 may be returned to the school, or if received from a State Prison may 
 be returned to the latter. But if the parole be properly observed he 
 shall be entitled to the same immunities as if he had been discharged 
 from the institution. If a boy be found to be incorrigible he may be 
 returned to the Court by which he was committed, and the Court may 
 enter such judgment as it had power to make at the time of the com- 
 mitment. Any boy undergoing sentence for less than life, in either of 
 the State Prisons, who may be deemed a fit subject for training in the 
 school, may, upon recommendation of the Board, with the approval of 
 the Governor, be transferred to the school for the unexpired period of 
 his sentence, and when honorably discharged shall be entitled to the 
 same immunities as any other inmate may have. 
 These are the main features of the school. - 
 
 DIFFERENT PLANS OF MANAGEMENT. 
 
 The question as to best methods to be followed for the reformation of 
 juvenile offenders, has provoked much discussion and differences of opin- 
 ion. Formerly these schools were of a penal character, in which the 
 guarding and custody of the inmates were considered to be the main 
 objects desired. At an early day many of these institutions were 
 located in the heart of growing cities, and it became necessary, in order to 
 secure the inmates, that the buildings should be strongly built and sur- 
 rounded by high walls to prevent escapes. Institutions managed in 
 this way, on what we may call the congregate plan, offered some advan- 
 tages, and at the same time were open to several objections. By placing 
 a large number beneath one roof, the cost of maintenance was lessened. 
 
 But the main object of a reform school is to develop character, to train 
 for a useful life, as well as to safely guard. These schools were found 
 in some way to be defective in accomplishing all that was hoped from 
 them in the way of reforming or improving a boy. 
 
 ^ THE COTTAGE OR FAMILY PLAN. 
 
 The great defect in institutions managed on the congregate plan was 
 that they lacked the influences of family life. This led to the adoption 
 of what is known as the cottage plan. The inmates under this system 
 are divided into classes, according to size and form, forty to fifty being 
 placed in a cottage, although Mr. Chapin, Superintendent of the school at 
 Westborough, Massachusetts, advised that to attain the best results not 
 more than twenty-five should be placed in one building. Schools managed 
 on this plan may be differently managed, as different private homes are
 
 6 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 managed. But the nearer an approach to home life is made, the more 
 is perfection of management attained. In the words of a gentleman 
 who has given much thought to the subject: "The internal system of 
 the reformatory school should be, as nearly as practicable, that of the 
 family, with its refining and elevating influences; while awakening of 
 the conscience and the inculation of religious principles should be pri- 
 mary aims. Perhaps a boy enters the school feeling that the hand of 
 every man is against him, and with revenge in his heart; but let him 
 there find a corps of just but merciful guides ready to teach him and 
 help him and love him, and it is reasonable to expect that he will soon 
 be actuated by better feelings and nobler resolves. The school should 
 be thorough in all its methods, and aim to impart a plain education, 
 and also give instruction in mechanical drawing. Every boy should be 
 instructed in some useful trade or occupation, and his wishes consulted 
 in selecting it." 
 
 A better idea can be obtained, perhaps, of the plan of management 
 that should prevail in these schools by examining some of those of recog- 
 nized merit, individually, than by entering into an abstract discussion. 
 Accordingly, I shall proceed to describe in detail those that I inspected. 
 
 BOYS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OF OHIO. 
 
 The State of Ohio, in 1856, appointed a Commission to visit reform 
 schools, and report a plan for the management of a reform school for 
 that State. The Commission recommended the adoption of the family 
 or cottage plan, and finally the school was located on a farm of twelve 
 hundred acres, six miles south of the town of Lancaster. The ground 
 is hilly in places, with fertile valleys between the ridges. In some 
 places it breaks into high rocks. 
 
 The buildings consist of the main building, ten family buildings, 
 printing office, shoe, brush, polytechnic, paint, blacksmith, carpenter, 
 tailor, and bake shops, carriage, bath, meat, ware, engine, gas, ice, corn, 
 and green houses, water tower, hospital, mending-room, knitting-room, 
 and barns. 
 
 The family buildings are named after the State and its rivers, and 
 are known as the Ohio, Hocking, Union, Muskingum, Cuyahoga, Scioto, 
 Huron, Miami, Erie, and Maumee buildings. With the exception of a 
 double building used for the very youngest boys, and separated from the 
 other buildings by a distance of half a mile, all the buildings are 
 arranged in the form of a segment of a circle about the main building. 
 
 The main building is one hundred and sixty-one feet in length, and 
 consists of three stories and basement. The chapel has a seating
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 7 
 
 capacity of six hundred, and is ninety-one feet in length by sixty in 
 width. 
 
 The school receives boys between the ages of ten and sixteen. In 
 1885 a system of merits and demerits was introduced, which classifies 
 the inmates, according to the offense, into three grades. If a boy is 
 committed on the charge of murder, manslaughter, obstructing rail- 
 roads, highway robbery, rape, or arson, he is debited with seven thousand 
 demerits; if on the charge of assault and battery with intent, embezzle- 
 ment exceeding $35, burglary, grand larceny, forgery, or perjury, he is 
 debited with six thousand demerits; if on the charge of aiding prisoners 
 to escape, embezzlement under $35, or petit larceny, he is debited with 
 five thousand demerits. 
 
 For good deportment a boy receives ten merits a day, and if he has 
 a perfect record for three successive months he is entitled to three 
 hundred extra merits. Information given of an attempt to escape, if 
 the information proves correct, entitles the informer to a reward of 
 three hundred merits. When all the demerits have been canceled, the 
 boy is entitled to a leave of absence for four months, and if he continues 
 to conduct himself properly, he may have his "leave of absence" card 
 renewed at the expiration of every four months, until he reaches his 
 majority. If he is guilty of misbehavior while on leave of absence, he 
 is returned to the institution and charged with one thousand demerits 
 in addition to the number originally debited against him. 
 
 The discipline is that of the family, school, workshop, and farm, and 
 not of the prison. The inmates are not considered as prisoners or 
 criminals, but are watched over as pupils in a public school. The 
 rules of the school provide that the food used shall be that approved 
 by the common custom of the country, well prepared. Before each meal, 
 grace is said. No officer or assistant is allowed at any time or place to 
 make use of liquor as a beverage. All persons employed at the school 
 are required to attend all religious services on the Sabbath, unless a 
 special leave of absence is obtained from the Superintendent. 
 
 The salaries paid at this institution are as follows: 
 
 Superintendent $100 per month. 
 
 Matron $33^ per month. 
 
 Assistant Superintendent $70 per month. 
 
 Assistant Matron $25 per month. 
 
 Steward $1,150 per annum. 
 
 Elder Brother and wife. .$45 for husband, $20 for wife, or $65 per month. 
 
 Engineer $55 per month. 
 
 Gardener and florist $55 per month. 
 
 Shoemaker $50 per month.
 
 8 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 In addition to these salaries, the officers are allowed board, lodging, 
 stationery, and washing. 
 
 The Superintendent, Mr. Barrett, said, in conversation, that he aims 
 to feed the inmates well, as nothing is made by any other course. Bean 
 dinners are supplied three days in each week, and meat every day. 
 Eggs twenty-five times during the year. 
 
 The average per capita cost of maintenance is $120 per year. The 
 buildings are heated by steam and lighted by coal gas manufactured at 
 the place; but the Superintendent informed me that he considered elec- 
 tric light preferable. The boys bathe every Saturday. There is no dis- 
 tinction among the boys as to the kind of clothing worn or food eaten. 
 They are all, in these matters, on an equality. 
 
 CONNECTICUT STATE REFORM SCHOOL. 
 
 This school is situated at Meriden, Connecticut, and is under the 
 superintendence of Mr. G. E. Howe. Mr. Howe had charge of the Lan- 
 caster School before he assumed control of the school at Meriden. 
 
 I explained to him fully what we hoped to do, what money we had 
 available, and asked him to put himself in the place of the Board of 
 Directors, and from that standpoint to give me his views. 
 
 In reply he said that he would recommend the erection of four cottages 
 costing about $20,000 each, and one administration building, which 
 ought to cost about $60,000. The cottages should be built so as to 
 accommodate about fifty inmates each. The administration building 
 should have a department for boys who had not earned their freedom, 
 and the part of the building devoted to this purpose should be made 
 secure. 
 
 In arrangement, the administration building should be central and 
 the others should be erected in semi-cirular form around, at distances 
 apart from the main building of not less than one hundred and fifty 
 feet. The chapel should be a separate building. The administration 
 building should contain rooms for the Board of Directors and apart- 
 ments for Superintendent and assistant, and also general bakery, general 
 laundry, tailor shop, and other shops, if necessary or convenient. 
 
 With regard to trades and labor, Mr. Howe thought that preference 
 should be given to farm labor, as such work was well adapted to effect a 
 reformation of the inmates. He does not favor the use of machinery. 
 Each cottage should have a separate workshop. The boys should be 
 kept in school during three hours of each day, and the remainder of 
 their time should be directed between labor and recreation. There
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 9 
 
 should be no distinctions in the matter of dress or food. It is a sufficient 
 reward that good conduct will shorten the term of the inmate. 
 
 Mr. Howe believes that flogging should not be altogether dispensed 
 with, but all punishment should be under the charge of the Superintend- 
 ent. He prefers, for sleeping purposes, dormitories, to separate rooms. 
 
 At Meriden, the Superintendent is the purchasing agent, only meat 
 being bought by contract. Supplies are delivered to the persons in 
 charge of the cottages every Saturday morning, and charged up to them. 
 The cost of keeping the inmates is $150 per capita per year. And this 
 sum covers also all ordinary repairs to the buildings. 
 
 The buildings of this school embrace the original main building and 
 five additional separate buildings. Each of these separate buildings or 
 cottages will conveniently house about fifty boys. Each building is a 
 miniature institution in itself. The boys in each building constitute a 
 separate family; they eat, sleep, and attend school in the same building. 
 They have a separate recreation ground, and do not mingle with the 
 boys in other families. Each family is under the supervision of three 
 persons a man and his wife who reside with the family, and a lady 
 teacher, who also resides in the same building. The buildings have only 
 the ordinary fastenings, and are surrounded by no fence or inclosure of 
 any kind. These buildings are situate upon an eminence within the 
 corporate limits of the city and within a short distance of some of its 
 most attractive residences. 
 
 Throughout the institution there prevails the neatness and order of a 
 well regulated family. A system of marks is used for the purpose of 
 maintaining discipline, and the boys are relied upon as monitors. 
 
 The boys are allowed two suits of clothes. For daily use, they wear 
 all-wool, indigo-blue jackets, lined with flannel, with heavy, all-wool 
 gray cloth for vest and pants, hickory shirts, good shoes and stockings, 
 and blue caps. On Sundays the pants worn are blue instead of gray. 
 
 Great care is exercised to have the utmost cleanliness. The inmates 
 sleep in single beds supplied always with an abundance of clean bed- 
 ding. Their food is prepared in the most approved manner, meats and 
 bread are of the first quality, and vegetables, when in season, are boun- 
 tifully supplied. Coffee is served every morning and evening; and the 
 tables, covered with white oil-cloth, with the white porcelain crockery 
 and the silver-plated knives, forks, spoons, casters, and soup tureens, 
 give the dining-rooms the appearance of a well kept restaurant. 
 
 During every Sabbath afternoon the pulpit is filled by some minister 
 from the churches of the city, and also instruction is given to a class of 
 Catholic boys by the Sisters of Mercy.
 
 10 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Mr. Howe has devoted his life to this work, and is constantly appealed 
 to for advice and information. He has kindly furnished me with the 
 plans of buildings at Meriden, and explained in detail the operation 
 and management of his school. The whole system is founded in sim- 
 plicity, but he has prepared the following explanation of the open or 
 family system, which contains in his own language his views and coun- 
 sel on such matters as will arise in the organization of a school to be 
 conducted on this system and an answer to the objections made to it: 
 
 The family system is that which has for its underlying and grand 
 idea the family as a divine institution, and that the Creator has or- 
 dained that human beings shall receive, through it, greater and more 
 lasting social and moral influence than through any sphere of life. In 
 conformity with this great and fundamental principle the inmates are 
 classified, and limited numbers are placed in modest but well built cot- 
 tages, which are free from anything like the usual prison appliances, 
 and furnished with all the necessaries and comforts of a well ordered 
 home, presided over by a Christian gentleman and lady, who, as hus- 
 band and wife, hold the relation of father and mother toward the youth 
 of the household. Each family is distinct from the other families in all 
 matters of its own particular management, but is united with all the 
 others under one central head, every family having its own school-room, 
 dining-room, dormitory, and playground; the government of each fam- 
 ily to be thoroughly parental, and physical coercion never to be used 
 until other means have failed, and when used, to be administered under 
 the humanizing spirit and genius of the family. 
 
 Thus we claim for our system a foundation upon natural and funda- 
 mental principles, and upon that one best known and deepest felt in the 
 universal mind and heart of men: that in the family and home are 
 found the most impressive and lasting influences that shape the child 
 into the man. It would appear that there could be no cavil against the 
 self-evidence that this was the Creator's design in the founding and con- 
 servation of human society. It follows, then, that in removing a boy 
 from an inadequate or bad home, into a better and good one, we are not 
 acting in violation, but in harmony with natural law. 
 
 And the wisdom of harmonious procedure must be further apparent, 
 when we consider the nature, the instincts, and necessities of child life. 
 If, in the being of man and woman there is the implanted instinct, the 
 cry of nature for offspring, for some creation from their own loins to 
 love, there is also the corresponding implanted appeal in the child for 
 the protection and tenderness of a father and mother and the breedings 
 of a home. So that if we remove a child from parents who have vir- 
 tually orphaned him by their inadequacy, neglect, or cruel usage, and 
 from a home unnatural and hateful, and bring him into the adoption of 
 a wiser and better parentage, and into the more natural home of comfort 
 and benevolence, then, again, we are not going contrary to, but in unison 
 with, natural principles. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the fundamental idea and theory of our plan for 
 juvenile reformative government, in opposition to the genius and meth- 
 ods of the common and penal institution. 
 
 The prison principle is more or less hateful to the adult delinquent;
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 11 
 
 it is an abhorrence to the youthful offender. The prison principle in 
 reform peculiarly outrages the nature of child life. The shock pene- 
 trates to the ends of his being, and body and soul rise up against it in 
 the fiercest antagonism; for, as soon as born, the great law is upon the 
 child, that he springs toward the development of a man. To this end 
 his Creator has endowed him with the most intense activity and restless- 
 ness. The child loves and pants for freedom. His every contact with 
 nature is but his communion with a second mother. To a boy the bolted 
 door, the barred window, the walled yard, the shadowy cell, and the 
 divers contrivances of brute force, are not so much terrors as enemies, 
 that he is not afraid to fight, and with which every impulse of his nature 
 does wage implacable conflict, though, for the time being, he may be 
 rendered helpless against them. These barriers against the deep crav- 
 ings of his child nature, instead of becoming factors in his reform, 
 become like Carthaginian altars, and he, like a young Hannibal, swears 
 upon them undying hatred to them, to the builders of them; and such 
 is the desperate growth of his ferocious hate, that he fancies in every 
 man the architect of some new prison and its penalties. 
 
 Behind them and under their despotic sway, the question, we believe, 
 never enters his mind, " How shall I reform through these agencies?" 
 but " How shall I get away from them?" The darkness of these things 
 is so great to him, that never a ray of Christian and humanizing light 
 can he see in such an economy of government and instruction. All of 
 it is an unnatural home to him, no home only a horde of criminals, 
 more or less bad, and the star of hope, if it shines at all, flickers dim 
 and sickly. His officers and teachers, however kind in intention, are, 
 by the genius of such a system, never parental or fraternal, but sus- 
 picious constables and taskmasters; every movement of his life under a 
 galling surveillance. And to add to the cloudy prospect of a child un- 
 der this system, there is increase of whatever natural stigma comes to 
 him by being " sent to a reform school," and it makes such opprobrium 
 far greater and miserable. As the child enters, he knows by public 
 opinion that he is thought only fit to have a prison for a home, police- 
 men for parents, and bolts and dungeons for laws; and when he conies 
 out he finds the "jail bird" estimate engraven so deeply that no sweat 
 of any virtuous effort can rub it out, and finally, as a crowning disad- 
 vantage and demerit of the prison reformatory, we see the State, in plac- 
 ing her wayward children under such a system, committing herself to a 
 most stultifying and suicidal policy, in that while her great aim is to 
 bring such children into reformed men, she seeks to do this by training 
 them as criminals. 
 
 Whatever may be said of the penal institution for the rectification of 
 adult and matured depravity, as a system for the wayward child it is a 
 barbarism, a worthy relic of the harsh and heartless ages past, when 
 men were rated about in the percentage of cattle, and belongs not to 
 this age, so irradiated by influences that prize degraded humanity at 
 something of the value put upon it by the redeeming, loving Christ. 
 
 In contrast with the destructive nature and methods, and the abort- 
 ive results of the congregate or prison policy, we urge with every instinct 
 of our soul, and on literal knowledge of the actual, tangible, and glo- 
 rious successes, the claims of the open or family system. 
 
 The man or the woman, through the wear and grind of life outside 
 the prison, may, even for the scant hospitalities inside of it, sink into a
 
 12 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 degree of contentment; but the child and youth deprived of this degree 
 of liberty, with life a perpetual shackle, is put into an unconquerable 
 antagonism to all reformatory influences; for, again, see the operations 
 of natural law! The growing child and youth is under the press of the 
 animal nature, environed by the conditions of animalism, has the motive 
 power of animal spirits within as the adult has not. In youth we see 
 the warm and eruptive. In the adult they have greatly spent their 
 force. Now, the prison and its methods are those barriers to the neces- 
 sary, proper vent and outflow of the basilar forces. But the open, the 
 freer, the home system, with its wide facilities for labor, for play, for 
 wide communion with nature outside, and the social and moral facili- 
 ties within the home, are the natural, healthful means, the aqueducts 
 through which these inflammable and critical propensities may expend 
 themselves safely. . . 
 
 The family plan gives time and most 4 convenient opportunities tor 
 close contact and confiding interview with each child; for he is a child 
 in a home and not one of a promiscuous and repellant gang. In the 
 heads of the family he has a father and a mother; in his teachers he 
 has elder brothers and sisters. His life passes day by day in review 
 before them; but this parental and fraternal watchfulness never excites 
 his hostility, but in natural, healthful way tempers and disciplines his 
 tendencies to waywardness. And here the way opens to the most ample 
 opportunities for woman's transcendent influence. The universal heart 
 of men will acknowledge the strange potency of the mother upon the 
 growing character of a child, and especially in lasting influence upon 
 a boy. Here, then, in this system we give the boy to be mothered, 
 by giving him a home, such as the necessities of the penal plan know 
 nothing about; and especially does this consideration rise into moment- 
 ous importance as we know that many of the commitments are of chil- 
 dren of tender age. Then if we can have a reformatory system that 
 will give us woman's ear to listen to little ailments; woman's hand to 
 soften the rigors of the young orphaned life, and the scepter of woman's 
 soft and winning love to rule in that strange kingdom, the heart of a 
 child, then it is immeasurable gain! 
 
 But while we have full confidence in the soundness of these mere 
 fundamental considerations, we hasten on to others, which, of course, 
 will have greater general acceptance, the proofs wrought out by actual 
 experience. 
 
 And here, in referring as briefly as possible to the history and results 
 of the Ohio Reform School for Boys, over which we had the honor of 
 presiding for so many years, we can only mention that the institutions 
 in Germany and France, the authors of the Ohio school principle, were 
 noble successes, the hope of philanthropists there, and gave the most 
 promising warrant for the adoption of the experiment in Ohio. 
 
 The first reformatory institution organized upon the open or family 
 plan in this country was at Lancaster, Ohio, in the year 1858, founded 
 essentially on the principle, and adopting the methods of the "Rauhe 
 Haus" at Horn, Germany, founded by Dr. Wichern, and the military 
 school at Mettray, France, organized by DeMetz. The first ten boys 
 were received from the Cincinnati House of Refuge, January thirtieth 
 of the first year. Two of the four original buildings for family purposes 
 were of brick, and two of logs, and very plain. These soon made way 
 for better ones, until the school became one of surprising and splendid
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 13 
 
 proportions. In the establishment of this school, of course, there were 
 no precedents that were at all well defined and practicable, by which 
 its economy could be guided. All was new, and to so great extent novel 
 that the people at large were utterly skeptical and scoffing toward the 
 pretenses of a system that proposed to govern bad and criminal boys 
 without the usual apparatus of the prison; and appropriations came 
 sparingly and grudgingly, so that the whole pioneer history of this 
 institution is largely the unwritten one of arduous and painful toil. 
 And the tide of disbelief and opposition only began to flow back when 
 there went out from the institution into different parts of the State, by 
 twos and threes, the first companies of reformed boys. These gave such 
 universal and marked credit to the place and Avork that had saved them, 
 that immediately we began to receive the grateful interest and support 
 which the fuller success of the institution so imperatively demanded; 
 and, thanks to an all wise helping Providence, it was demonstrated, to 
 us convincingly, overwhelmingly, in our nineteen years of superintend- 
 ence of that institution, that this was a better way to bring into a true 
 captivity the wayward body and spirit, than by their incarceration 
 between frowning walls, and its all-hateful and abortive array of brutal 
 power. We have seen, again and again, most signally vindicated that 
 heavenly reminder to men, that there is still left in the nature of their 
 most fallen fellows a craving for mercy and kindness, and the instinct 
 to respond to any such benign exhibition. Such far penetrating and 
 marvelous transformations of character have we seen, as the harvest of 
 this policy, that we have said, "Indeed, it does run current with the 
 charities of God," " It is the plan of God himself," " It is the true one, 
 and there is no other." 
 
 Of the large number that passed out of the institution to care for 
 themselves, a mass of wonderful and most gratifying statistics could be 
 gathered. Among the number may be found eminent lawyers, doctors, 
 and members of other honorable professions; some passed through col- 
 lege with high honors; some have become editors and proprietors of 
 influential journals; others, skilled mechanics and tradesmen, while 
 scores have become industrious farmers and horticulturists, acquiring 
 their taste and knowledge of these noble industries at the school. Most 
 affecting reminiscences of soldierly fidelity could be given of those who 
 enlisted in the war of the rebellion. We do not believe that the same 
 number of youths taken from the ordinary walks of life would furnish 
 a better average record, and yet the majority of these boys who have 
 made these good records were from the lower walks of society. But it 
 may be possible that it will occur to some minds that such successes 
 were isolated and phenomenal; then let us add to this testimony the 
 wide and significant fact that the Ohio school has become the pioneer 
 and pattern of similar institutions in several of the States, and that no 
 State, since the successes of that school, has erected a reformatory on 
 the prison plan; while, on the other hand, some, while not seeing their 
 way clear to make radical changes, have modified their penal systems. 
 
 The following States have adopted the open, or family, institution, 
 either fully or with slight modifications: New Jersey, Wisconsin, Indiana, 
 Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Western Pennsylvania, and the District of 
 Columbia. The States of Ohio, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have 
 each a school on the open plan for girls and for boys: Massachusetts 
 has her institution at Westborough as a " mixed " one. In addition to
 
 14 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the " big " house, or prison portion, there are " trust " houses outside the 
 walls. Connecticut is adopting essentially this modification, beginning 
 to build outside of the walls this year, it being the best she can do for 
 the present, We are confident that other States would wholly or parti- 
 ally adopt the family system, if it were not that large expenditures 
 having been made, new outlays would come only by great effort, and 
 with natural reluctance. 
 
 Objections have been advanced against the open or family system, 
 that it is natural to suppose will, from time to time, be revived. It will 
 be our attempt to reply to these; and first, in a more general way, by 
 discussing the requisites favorable to the success of a reformatory on 
 the family system, which it is hoped will meet at least the more trivial 
 misgivings; and second, by a particular consideration of the more spe- 
 cific objections. 
 
 The primary requisite is a farm of thoroughly good land, and large 
 enough to furnish all the necessaries and some of the luxuries, that the 
 needs of the institution may be met, and to spare. Large and fertile, 
 that it may never lack support for a sufficient herd of cows, and for the 
 necessary equipment of the farm. All the fruit trees which will flourish 
 in the region should be lavishly planted and assiduously cultivated. 
 The greatest number of acres possible should be reserved for tillage, 
 because these acres are to be such real factors in the boy's reformation. 
 We have remarked, as a prime consideration, that the land should be 
 thoroughly good. We wish to emphasize this so essential necessity, 
 not only that the institution may have the highest opportunities to pay 
 its way, but also in the moral effect upon the minds of the officers who 
 superintend, and the boys who work it. That they shall not have to 
 toil and sweat, and reap not, but to expect bloom and wealth, and get 
 them. Indeed, all agricultural and horticultural matters are to have 
 such generous attention paid them, that it shall be felt throughout the 
 institution that the noble farming industry is the chief and central one. 
 Another prime prerequisite is the location of the school near an abund- 
 ance of sweet, pure water; and we hardly need add that the site of the 
 reformatory should be first and foremost an healthful one. It should also 
 be situated in an intelligent and moral community. The surroundings 
 of such an institution are of great importance. There are many such 
 institutions that are suffering through the inimical feeling of its neigh- 
 bors; springing largely from ignorance, and the narrowness bred of it. 
 We are reminded by these considerations of the hinderances with w r hich 
 the r Ohio school had to contend, and w r hich still, in great measure, ham- 
 per it. Its farm land is wretchedly poor, necessitating a vast amount 
 of labor and discouraging hope; and at its inception, at least, the stand- 
 ard of intelligence in the surrounding inhabitants, and their prejudices, 
 were anything but desirable. 
 
 The location of a reformatory should be made with wise reference to 
 markets and transportation, and yet, to be too near a city or large village 
 is detrimental; but, on the other hand, extreme isolation is to be avoided. 
 All life and animation which indicate the honorable progress of the age 
 are profitable as incitements to body and mind. 
 
 The buildings should be plain, but substantial and comfortable; the 
 executive buildings to be the central ones, and the family cottages con- 
 veniently and pleasantly surrounding. The cottages to be appropriately 
 named, and surrounded with the beauty of lawn, shrub, and flower.
 
 EEFOEMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 15 
 
 Each to have its own family garden for the common interest of the 
 household, and, if possible, each child to have a part in it as his own. 
 This latter feature was at one time pursued with most gratifying results 
 in the Ohio school. 
 
 The homes should be ones to which every boy can aspire by industry 
 and prudence, and he should be so taught. Everything in and outside 
 the homes should be made educative and pleasant. They should be 
 provided with an abundance of wholesome food. If it is true that the 
 " way to a man's heart is through his stomach," how much more is this 
 the road of promise in the growing, vigorous child. No specified dietary 
 should be allowed children should never know beforehand such times 
 as " bean day," " fish day," etc. All distinguishments in dress should 
 be avoided. Let the boys dress as other boys do. Let all such arbitrary 
 distinctions be put as far away as possible, that the child may live a 
 simple, natural life, and going back into general society, the transition 
 shall be an easy and natural one. 
 
 And now, if, in the ideas thus set forth, it is thought there is created 
 too much of the mere pleasure home, with danger of engendered idle 
 disposition, and character lacking thrift and sturdiness, we say, no! 
 While it should be the sacred aim that the comforts and pleasures of a 
 true home are to accompany all efforts, yet the aim equally sacred and 
 sought is to make the reform institution a nursery of honorable indus- 
 try, and the formation of energetic, sturdy habits of thrift, to train in 
 manly and Christian purpose and action. In trades and occupations, 
 to teach the boys perfectly what they essay to learn, whatever it is; that 
 for their own sake, when they go forth, and for the sake of the State, 
 they shall be found skilled and expert laborers. The great aim of this 
 education should be to make the boy self-sustaining, himself to become a 
 a wise and worthy head of a family. 
 
 As a second consideration in the prerequisites for a thorough and 
 efficient reformatory on the family plan, we remark upon the required 
 character of its officers and teachers. 
 
 It will be readily acknowledged that this matter is of first moment in 
 endeavors to get what little good is possible from the prison plan of 
 reform; but regarding it in its relation to our family system, it is the core, 
 the marrow of our system. It is to it life, paralysis, or death. The 
 genius of our system is the home the family. In the heads of it the 
 father and mother; in the subordinate, officer and teacher the elder 
 brother. In methods, its fundamental aim is kindness, gentleness, for- 
 bearance, self-sacrifice, humanizing and Christian influences. Now, to 
 have a weak king or magistrate is damaging; but to have fathers and 
 mothers and brethren of the family inadequate and weak, is destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The Superintendent to be sought for is to be one who has had actual 
 practical experience in reformatory, or at least in some philanthropic 
 labor of course, the more the better ; a man who believes his work to 
 be the noblest on earth, who has enthusiasm for his profession; a man 
 believing with all his soul in the fundamental idea of the family system, 
 and expecting results from it with an assurance like that which looks 
 for the sun's light and shining on to-morrow; a man of intelligence, 
 good common sense, tact, and conciliatory spirit. 
 
 These same general requisites of character are to be sought for in all 
 the subordinate officers and teachers; love and enthusiasm for the work
 
 16 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 are ever the great requirements to be insisted upon in the choice of those 
 to be in authority and parentage over these children and youth, and 
 anything like the hireling spirit in the candidate for these places is to 
 be abhorred, and the mere seekers of place and salary to be rejected as 
 unworthy. 
 
 In the government of the reformatory we hardly dare say that any 
 one person may be less fitted for his place than another; but if any such 
 thing <can be allowed, then again we wish to emphasize the prerequisites 
 of character in the heads of the cottage homes the husbands and 
 wives, the fathers and mothers. Yes; we will even say that there may 
 be some lack permitted in the chief and head of the institution; pro- 
 vided such want is offset by thorough and sterling worth in the heads 
 of the different homes. For here are the fountains of influence, here 
 are the hearts, the throbbing life centers of the institution. These 
 homes are the suns from which are to irradiate the real light of the 
 reformatory, and if they suffer any eclipse the shadows are deeper than 
 from any other cause. These are as rudders to the ship, while all else 
 is but the crew; and even if the Captain fails somewhat as a navigator, 
 still great safety may be hoped for, if those at the helm are good and 
 true. 
 
 Then the men and women to be sought as the heads of these homes 
 are to be of first worth, Christian gentlemen and ladies persons of first 
 rate common sense and intelligence of natural refinement as well as 
 some acquired culture, and if they have had or have children of their 
 own, it is a matter of gain. If not, then those are to be sought w r ho 
 have strong natural love for children, and sympathy with child life. 
 They are to be Christian, that in ample way they may be in God's stead 
 to the untrained and neglected child qualified to lay the foundation 
 for moral character, and the efficient architects of its further develop- 
 ments persons whose interest in the child relate not alone to time, but 
 to eternity. 
 
 We pass, now, to more specific notice of the more common and promi- 
 nent objections. 
 
 The matter of expense has been urged. Yes, we cheerfully admit the 
 family to be more expensive pecuniarily than the prison system. But 
 let the first part of our answer J)e the considerations of the commonest 
 expediency and sense. The family system is worth more! It is w r orth 
 more in dollars and cents to the State, in that its reformatory efforts are 
 so full of hope that its graduates will become permanently self-support- 
 ing and good citizens, putting the State to no further expense by coming 
 back to the institution, either speedily or eventually; either as criminals 
 or paupers, or both; but on the other hand enriching the State by good 
 citizenship. Yes, it costs somewhat more than the prison reformatory, 
 but it is worth more even by the measurement of the lowest standard. 
 If the reform school means anything, it means physical, mental, and 
 moral reformation for this life, and redemption for the life to come; then 
 where is the man who will sully his Christian faith and name by figur- 
 ing the dollar and cent cost of any reformatory system that will in the 
 greatest degree secure these transcendent results? And we argue that 
 the family system will give these results in the greatest degree. 
 
 Yes, and we argue more. We claim that even if our system was still 
 one in tentative and experimental conditions, and was not yet, what it
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. It 
 
 is, a realized and noble triumph, still it would be worth all the money 
 cost to fairly try the promise that lies it. 
 
 The chief and only noteworthy cost in our system over any other 
 would, of course, come from the increased numbers and superior quali- 
 fications required in the officers and teachers of the school. And yet 
 an economy here may be wisely practiced. It is not necessary for the 
 heads of these cottage homes, or for teachers, to be persons encumbered 
 with anything like large and expensive families of their own. This 
 would be a positive detriment to their needed efficiency, and would be a 
 useless cost to the State. Nothing like dead weights upon any institu- 
 tion should be for a moment allowed. 
 
 But if the State will drive anything like a bargain in this matter, then 
 our system must go unpurchased, for there is a cheaper. The genius of 
 brute power may be bought for even a very low price. A jail need not 
 be an expensive edifice; and the men are plenty and cheap who will 
 make good master jailers. A single turnkey may have charge of even 
 one half the inmates of a school, and all the teachers under such' an 
 administration may consistently be of a lower grade. 
 
 The greatest objection brought against our system is the liability of 
 "escapes." This is so readily presumed that the question most fre- 
 quently is not "Will not the boys escape?" as "How many escape?" 
 We reply by saying that right here around this supposed pivotal critical 
 liability of our system center its finest triumphs. We would have sup- 
 posed this very possible from the fundamental principles of our system; 
 but we have seen the assurance in the actual facts. 
 
 Boys will run away sometimes from even natural homes. They will 
 fly from walled homes as from horrors, if they can. The boy will natur- 
 ally take the first opportunity to flee from the prison home, feeling that 
 it may be his last chance; but why should he fly from the family 
 restraint when the opportunity is ever before him? And we find it to 
 be a most singular fact that he either puts his flight off to some more 
 convenient season, or else his contented abiding must be explained on 
 the pretty well substantiated principle in human nature, especially in 
 the juvenile, that when told that " he shall not do a thing," then he sets 
 himself at once to work to do it, but, on the other hand, when left to 
 carry out his own free will in such a matter, he is either indifferent or 
 decides he will not. 
 
 Thus a wise liberty becomes its own defender. With us a boy has 
 large and generous freedom. Why should he crave more and uncertain 
 liberty? If his home is the rendezvous of comforts, his food good, his 
 clothes tidy, his guardians parental and kind; if benevolence to his 
 animal and higher wants encircle him, his time wisely divided between 
 work and play, will he want to exchange such possessions for the neglects, 
 the poverty, the distastes of even the home of his birth, and for society 
 aimed against him? We should presume not, even if we were contem- 
 plating this matter in the light of theory. But suppose that if even 
 five or ten per cent of the worst boys should irretrievably run away, 
 should the remaining percentage never be trusted to the beneficence of 
 our freedom? Very little philanthropy, surely, would lie in a philoso- 
 phy that would say " yes " to such a proposition. 
 
 But, as intimated, our experience at the Ohio school singularly proves 
 the confidence of our foregoing ideas and presumptions. One of our 
 cardinal principles in discipline was to place confidence in our boys, to 
 
 2D
 
 18 REFORMATOEY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 trust them; and not in one single instance in nineteen years as Overseer 
 of a number averaging four hundred yearly did we have cause to regret 
 it. Hundreds of most interesting illustrations might be given to show 
 the most happy results of putting the boys upon their honor, their man- 
 hood. , 
 
 We have taken, unattended by any other officer, as many as two hun- 
 dred boys in one company to the woods " a chestnuttmg, amid brush 
 of thick, dark growth, the boys dipersing where they pleased for hours, 
 but when the recognized signal was given, every one responded, returning 
 home in good order. At one time the whole body of inmates, four hundred 
 in number, went to Lancaster, six miles distant, to a Sabbath-school 
 " concert." The boys made the whole trip on foot, coming back in the 
 dark, so that no officer knew the whereabouts of his company, and yet 
 every single one returned in good time to the institution, there being a 
 good deal of friendly strife as to which family should reach it first; and 
 yet woodland lined the road almost the entire distance. Hundreds of 
 other instances could be given to show the power over the boy's heart by 
 being trusted; of feeling that he is thought worthy of confidence and 
 esteem. 
 
 During the many years of our connection with the Ohio school there 
 was never a time that at least nine tenths of the boys could not be trusted 
 to go at any time alone to distant parts of the farm on errands, or to 
 town, six miles away. We have received boys from the State Prison, at 
 Columbus, and in three weeks' time they have gone alone to Lancaster, 
 six miles distant, coming back promptly, transacting faithfully the busi- 
 ness intrusted to them; and never in a single case was this trust abused. 
 Great and most gratifying was the evidence of the power over the heart 
 of the boy of being trusted, of the- expectation that he would be faithful 
 and manly. 
 
 The boy or man in need of reformatory treatment is well nigh hopeless 
 if he is to be continually suspected. Such policy of perpetual suspicion 
 is irritative, hateful, and a bondage that blunts and blights whatever 
 desire he may have to be worthy of confidence. As a general policy in 
 the reform of humanity, let us, in the name of Heaven, at least hope 
 that all is right until good evidence of the wrong appears. Under the 
 prison system the boy is constantly suspected. In it, suspicion and spy- 
 ing are reduced to a science, and the child is never in a position to have 
 his honor fairly tried. 
 
 Another objection that appears to be held as a grave one, is that of 
 classification; this taking on the twofold form of classification as to 
 numbers and character. 
 
 As to the size of each family, fifty or sixty boys may be efficiently 
 cared for in one home presided over by a gentleman and wife and one 
 assistant. True, a smaller number would be more in accordance with 
 the size of the natural family, and, we have no doubt, better upon the 
 whole for the inmates; still, from the pressures of State prudence, this 
 large number can be efficiently cared for. This was the size of the 
 family in Ohio, and we believe, also, is the average number in other 
 States; still, if the additional expense can be met, we recommend a 
 smaller number. 
 
 The second form of objection is classification as to character. 
 
 Some institutions make a great virture of such a division, and cry out: 
 "Do not let the bad boys mingle with the good!" We answer, do not
 
 REFOEMATOEY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 19 
 
 tell a boy that he is bad by putting him by himself or with any exclu- 
 sive company of the bad. If you create any such pernicious distinction, 
 you do not restrain the spirit of evil, you develop it. If the bad boy 
 sees that he is as well treated as the boy of superior merit, he will endeavor 
 to rise to that merit. If you have good boys you need their influence 
 over the bad. The natural Christian family does not discard and thrust 
 into exile its wayward members, but seeks their reformation in company 
 with all its other members. 
 
 This principle as to classification was tried in the Ohio school with 
 equally gratifying results, with all the others. No classification as to 
 character was ever known there. 
 
 Thus we have endeavored by direct and indirect statement to meet 
 objections. We will hope to still cover more of such ground by further 
 remarks upon discipline in general. 
 
 Upon this matter there is wide diversity of opinion. The judicious 
 mind will seek for the desirable mean between the extremes. Discipline 
 may be too lax; it may be, and often is, far too severe and cruel. 
 
 There is so much of the spirit in society yet that demands an " eye for 
 an eye," and a " tooth for a tooth," that even the criminal child must 
 not be allowed to escape until there is meted to him a certain amount of 
 punishment. Under the old system of treating physical diseases the 
 patient must be well bled before the healing treatment could be begun; 
 and with many even the wayward child cannot be treated for his bad- 
 ness until he is first punished. This is false in philosophy, and evi- 
 dently wicked in morals. Every child, in the matter of reform, should 
 be taken at his word the first time and every time in which lies a rea- 
 sonable hope that he will perform his promises. 
 
 In the administration of a reform school, next to its foundation upon 
 humane and Christian principles, the great aim should be simplicity in 
 government. The fewest possible of simple rules. The simple, but all- 
 inclusive standard of "do right" should be little seen, but should be felt 
 to pervade the institution like an atmosphere. 
 
 In the Ohio reformatory, for some twelve years, and up to the time of 
 our departure, blanks were furnished the heads of families to be filled 
 with the weekly records of discipline in each family, detailing punish- 
 ments of whatever kind inflicted during the week. These reports were 
 read every Sabbath morning before the whole school, and any boy was 
 allowed to make his personal statement as to the correctness of these 
 reports; and with an average of about five hundred boys in the institu- 
 tion, the aggregate of punishments for one week would not ordinarily 
 exceed twelve, and would sometimes be less than half that number, and 
 frequently several weeks would pass without a single punishment in 
 some of the families. 
 
 In the first years of the history of the Ohio institution a stone lock-up, 
 with cells, was built for the confinement, at times, of the worst cases; 
 but we soon saw its damaging influence and it was abandoned, being 
 converted into a meat house. 
 
 Corporal punishments were resorted to only as a last resort, and the 
 rule was that no blow should be inflicted above the hips. At one time 
 the loss of a meal or more was resorted to, or the feeding upon crust and 
 water, but was soon abandoned as unwise and detrimental. And there 
 is, too, a wise philosophy, we think, in discarding such a punishment. 
 The appetite of the growing boy is a passion, and to starve it is to goad
 
 20 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 it into fury and bring the mind into the worst condition possible for 
 reformatory purposes. All ludicrous and highly artificial punishments 
 are to be avoided. All punishments that bring raillery and ridicule 
 upon the object of it are not to be tolerated. 
 
 No reform institution, of course, can be a success without some corpo- 
 ral penalties, for even these are inflicted in nearly every, perhaps every, 
 natural home. But these are to be inflicted only under a system which 
 shall be administered upon humane and Christian principles, and only 
 by the hands of persons of the highest character. 
 
 And now, in remainder, we purpose to still further meet objections 
 and seeming difficulties by a few observations upon the question: 
 
 "Why even more is not accomplished under the family system; " and 
 will conclude a paper, whose expanded proportions we trust will be 
 excused in the importance of the subject, by some fragments of thought 
 that have incidentally arisen during the progress of the paper. 
 
 In the medical and other important professions, the student is ex- 
 pected to spend a year in diligent study and toil before he is fit for his 
 diploma, and even then he is employed hesitatingly and cautiously; 
 and especially in the case of the physician, the one eagerly sought for 
 and most trusted is the one of skilled reputation, for " everything that 
 a man hath will he give for his life." But if so anxious to give the 
 dangers and crises of our bodies and perishable lives into the hands of 
 the highest skill, and ability, what shall be asked for, in the requirements 
 of character, of those who are to have the training and care not only of 
 the bodily and mental powers of neglected and depraved youth for this 
 life, but for their moral welfare for this life and the next? 
 
 We demand that the teachers of our children shall be persons in whom 
 we have the highest confidence. Shall we demand less for the children 
 of our neighbors whom we are to "love as ourselves?" 
 
 The reform school teachers and officers are to be persons of not only 
 efficient professional ability, but persons ranking in integrity, honor, 
 and purity of character, with any other calling that can be named. 
 
 And yet mark what is still so prevalently the popular opinion. It is 
 not an uncommon thing, in many of the reformatories of the land, for 
 the Boards of Trustees and Managers to hold their offices solely on 
 account of political services to the party in power. So often totally 
 unfit to be permitted to hold these solemn trusts, and then in ignorance 
 and favoritism farming out the subordinate places to timeservers and 
 sycophants. The popular opinion is still most lamentably prevalent, 
 that any passable novice is fit for Superintendent of a reform school, 
 and most any one who can " read, write, and cipher," fit for teachers. 
 
 Now, because a man has been moderately successful as a lawyer, 
 farmer, grocer, Constable, or even Sheriff, is it an argument that he is 
 fit for these positions? Is it an argument that any reputable nobody is 
 fit for these posts because he happens to be in want of a job of some 
 kind and is servant to some small politician? 
 
 It is injury enough to our prison schools to be filled and officered by 
 political timeservers; but for all expectancy of anything like the meas- 
 ure of good which is possible to the family system, it is hopelessness 
 and death. 
 
 Partisan politics, in its ignorance and greed, lays a destructive hand 
 upon a great deal in this country; but it does no such ghastly work as
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 21 
 
 when it intermeddles with the high necessities of our reformatory insti- 
 tutions, making them the playthings of its greedy caprices. 
 
 Not until the people shall with solemn resolution say that, whatever 
 else the ignorance and arbitrariness of partisan politics may effect, they 
 shall never lay a disturbing hand upon the best interests of our reform- 
 atory and philanthropic institutions not till then will the prison sys- 
 tems of reform be better than they are; and not till then will be realized 
 the broad and magnificent promise that lies in the genius and methods 
 of our family system. 
 
 In conclusion, and by way of recapitulation, we would say, while the 
 spirit and practice under the open or family system tend so naturally 
 to lessen the stigma of a boy's being " sent to the reform school," and 
 which would grow still less as the system became still firmer established 
 and improved, yet the form of commitment to the reformatory has much 
 to do in the opprobrium attaching to the history of "reform school 
 boys." Surely it is enough to have in the Judge, in the ostentatious 
 constabulary, and necessary legal formalities, features dignified and au- 
 gust, without the brutal terrorism to a child of handcuffs and shackles. 
 Is this remark thought an exaggerated one? We have seen, many times, 
 small boys accompanied to the reformatory by two able-bodied police- 
 men, and manacled at that. 
 
 Time sentences should never be authorized, and a system of merits 
 should be used until the boy has reached a sufficient degree of honor to 
 permit him to be released on probation, to be returned to the school if 
 need be. 
 
 In government and instruction the officers and teachers should have 
 the incentive of diplomas held out to them, that professional pride may 
 be exalted and aroused. And a very prominent aim should be to bring 
 into service as officers and teachers the boys themselves. This incen- 
 tive will work wonders in effects to virtuous aspirations. In the Ohio 
 school this policy was so happily pursued that many of the inmates 
 were employed as elder brothers, and several have held and are now 
 holding important positions as officers in other reformatories. 
 
 The voice of criticism will continue to be heard here and there against 
 the family system. Some of it will be honest and sincere misgiving; 
 other will be, as it often has been, the voice of prejudice, or the results 
 of partial and inadequate investigation. But here again let us remind 
 the objector of some very reasonable considerations. A theory and 
 principle may be perfectly sound and practicable, and yet be singularly 
 abortive by maladministration. No philanthropic institution can stand 
 the freaks of partisan politics. It cannot stand to have its places of 
 trust filled by inadequacy and mediocrity. 
 
 STATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS AT KEARNEY, 
 
 NEBRASKA. 
 
 This school is also conducted on the family or cottage system, and 
 receives both boys and girls. It is organized under a provision of the 
 Constitution of the State of Nebraska delegating to the Legislature the 
 power " to provide by law for the establishment of a school, or schools, 
 for the safe-keeping, education, employment, and reformation of all
 
 22 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 children, under the age of sixteen years, who, for want of proper parental 
 care, or other cause, are growing up in mendicancy or crime." The 
 school is located on three hundred and twenty acres of land donated by 
 the City of Kearney and adjoining the western limits of the city. The 
 inventory shows an investment in all of $145,000. Incandescent electric 
 lights of the Mather system illuminate the buildings and grounds. The 
 cost of the plant was $3,500. The plant embraces a two hundred and 
 fifty-lamp dynamo, equivalent to sixteen candle power, and a high speed 
 engine having fifty-seven horse power. Water for the uses of the school 
 is obtained by a system of drive wells at the bottom of a hill, and the 
 water is forced up by a double-acting steam pump, through a four-inch 
 main. 
 
 The buildings and cottages are heated by steam. The radiators are 
 heated by one central system connecting by pipes with the different cot- 
 tages. The inmates bathe every Saturday. Each cottage is provided 
 with bathtubs, besides which there is a pond covering four acres, used 
 by the boys for swimming in summer. 
 
 The Superintendent, Mr. John T. Mallalieu, recommends that in the 
 arrangement of the buildings for the Preston School the kitchen and 
 cooking-rooms should be in one building, separated from the adminis- 
 tration and other buildings. In this building the cooking should be 
 done on the lower floor and the upper floor should be used for dining- 
 rooms. At Kearney this arrangement does not prevail. The kitchen 
 and dining-rooms are a part of the administration building, but Mr. 
 Mallalieu is opposed to this plan. 
 
 At the time I visited the school, the number of inmates was two hun- 
 dred and fifty-six, of which number one hundred and eighty-four were 
 boys and seventy-two were girls. Mr. Mallalieu strongly recommends 
 that boys and girls should not be cared for in the same institution. The 
 cost per capita is $3 64 per week, which sum includes all expenses. 
 The cost for clothing and bedding is $25 per capita per year. 
 
 Mr. Mallalieu, in speaking of trades, recommended that all light trades 
 should be taught, and remarked that when a boy became interested in 
 his tools, something could be done with him. He said that the inmates 
 of his institution are in demand from different parts of the State; that 
 he had thirty applications on file at the time of my visit, and had no 
 difficulty in finding employment for the boys when discharged. 
 
 Mr. Mallalieu said he would recommend that forty boys be placed in 
 each cottage, although at his school the cottage buildings contain from 
 forty-four to forty-eight. Various slight punishments are used to correct 
 misbehavior, and in some cases resort is had to solitary confinement.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 23 
 
 Escapes occur at times, but most frequently in the winter when the 
 boys are restless from lack of outdoor employment. Mr. Mallalieu 
 informs me that since May first, of last year, there were only three 
 attempts at escape. If the boys are kept employed and allowed a rea- 
 sonable time for play and recreation there is little disposition to run 
 away. The head of a cottage is called the family manager. He has 
 the entire control of the cottage under his charge, and the Superintend- 
 ent does not deal with the boys except through him. 
 
 In reference to a site for such a school, Mr. Mallalieu stated that it 
 should be within three miles of a city, and should embrace at least a 
 section of land. The boys have a band of eighteen pieces, which has 
 frequently played at the State Fair and on other public occasions. Let- 
 ters are read before they are delivered to the inmates or sent to their 
 friends. They are allowed to write once a month at the expense of the 
 school, and once a month at their own expense, ^yhen parents visit 
 children in the school no watch is kept over them. They may do as 
 they please. 
 
 " The principal thing," said Mr. Mallalieu, " in running a school of 
 this kind is to keep the boys contented without their knowing you are 
 trying to do it." 
 
 No particular mode of feeding the inmates is prescribed, the object 
 being to have as much variety as possible. Breakfast generally consists 
 of potatoes, bread, coffee, syrup, and gravy; dinner, of meat and two 
 or three kinds of vegetables, and supper of stewed fruit, bread, and tea. 
 
 The Superintendent thinks the cottages should be about one hundred 
 feet apart. He aims to be personally familiar with the boys, and to 
 know them, and still make them respect him. The cloth used for the 
 boys' clothes costs $1 75 per yard, delivered at Kearney. In addition 
 to the industries now carried on the Superintendent expects to put in 
 machinery for making socks, to be operated in connection with the 
 tailor shop, and also expects to make all the syrup needed for the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 A large tunnel, with branches, seven feet in height and four feet in 
 width, runs to the various buildings. In this tunnel are placed the 
 steam pipes and electric wires. 
 
 Mr. Mallalieu, speaking of bathing apparatus, says he prefers bath- 
 tubs to a tank, shower baths, or other arrangements. In each cottage 
 there is a play-room, in which, during the winter months, the boys find 
 amusement in such games as authors and dominoes. The daily routine 
 may be said to be: At six o'clock in the morning, the boys are expected 
 to arise, wash, and clothe themselves. At half-past six, they go to
 
 24 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 breakfast, and at seven o'clock one half of their number go to the work- 
 shops, and the other half to school. They so remain until half-past 
 eleven o'clock, when they assemble again for dinner and play. In the 
 afternoon, those who have been working in the morning attend school, 
 and those who have been attending school take up their respective tasks. 
 At five o'clock, the boys return from work or school, and are allowed to 
 play until six o'clock. Supper is then served, and a short time is 
 allowed for recreation. In summer the boys are in bed at nine o'clock, 
 and in winter at half-past eight. The boys disrobe, and march to their 
 beds in the dormitory, by the side of which they kneel, and in unison 
 recite a short prayer. 
 
 The beds are made of iron, three and a half feet in width, with wire 
 mattresses. Mr. Mallalieu recommends that wooden beds should be used 
 instead of those of iron, as the former, he says, have a more home-like 
 appearance. But nearly all the Superintendents with whom I talked 
 differed with him on this point, preferring iron beds, for the reason that 
 it was easier to keep them clean. In the dormitory one boy acts as 
 monitor, but there are no other guards. 
 
 No restriction is placed upon the right of a boy to see the Superin- 
 tendent. He may see him at any time that he desires. Medical ser- 
 vices are furnished by a visiting physician, who receives $80 per month 
 for his services, and furnishes his own medicines. 
 
 When a boy is about to be discharged, if he is unable to find a home, 
 the school will pay his expenses to any place in the State to which he may 
 desire to go. He is given a suit of clothes costing from $9 to $12, and 
 sometimes a small sum of money. If a boy is returning to his parents, 
 he is generally allowed to go alone, but if to a strange place, he is 
 accompanied by the Chaplain. If the boy enters the home of a stran- 
 ger, and is not treated well, he is taken back to the institution, though 
 Mr. Mallalieu frankly remarked that sometimes they do not want him 
 back. 
 
 From May fifteenth to October fifteenth, of each year, all lights -in the 
 employes' rooms must be extinguished at half-past ten p. M.; and from 
 October fifteenth to May fifteenth, at ten p. M., unless special permission 
 is granted by the Superintendent for an extension beyond these hours. 
 
 Attendance at all religious services on the Sabbath, or whenever held, 
 is compulsory on all persons employed at the institution, unless they 
 are excused by the Superintendent. The bringing of intoxicating liquors 
 to the school, except for medicinal purposes, is strictly forbidden, and no 
 person employed at the school is allowed at any time, or in any place, to 
 make use of liquors as a beverage. The inmates are not allowed to receive
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 25 
 
 or use tobacco, and smoking in the boys' buildings, or on the premises 
 in the presence of inmates, is, at all times, strictly forbidden. In the 
 case of an escape, the Superintendent is empowered to offer a reward not 
 exceeding $25, for the recapture of the escaped inmate. And if the 
 escape occurred through carelessness, negligence, or violation of the 
 rules, the person in charge is required to pay the reward and expenses. 
 
 An inmate, when received, is assigned by the Superintendent to one of 
 three classes. The first class is composed of those committed for burg- 
 lary, obstructing railroads, rape, prostitution, or perjury, and each 
 inmate in this class receives six thousand demerits. In the second class 
 are placed those committed for larceny, forgery, assault, and similar 
 offenses, and they are each charged with five thousand demerits. The 
 third class comprises those committed for vagrancy, disorderly conduct, 
 and similar offenses, and each inmate in this class receives four thou- 
 sand demerits. 
 
 The demerits are canceled by the merits earned by good behavior 
 and industrious habits. For such behavior an inmate receives ten 
 merits a day, and for a perfect record during the entire month receives 
 twenty -five extra merits, and if the perfect record is continued for three 
 successive months he is entitled to an additional reward of one hundred 
 merits. The furnishing of correct information to an officer of an in- 
 mate planning to escape entitles the informer to one hundred merits. 
 For an attempt to escape an inmate forfeits all merits earned by him, 
 and may receive such additional punishment as the Superintendent 
 may determine. When all the demerits have been canceled, the inmate 
 is placed on " honor " for one month, and if he continues perfect during 
 the honor month he is entitled to a leave of absence for four months, if 
 a suitable home can be found for him. If he conducts himself properly 
 this [leave of absence is renewed for a year, and annually thereafter 
 until he reaches his majority. 
 
 While all necessary clothing is furnished to each inmate, still rela- 
 tives may send such articles as suspenders, handkerchiefs, slippers, 
 mittens, scarfs, and neckties. 
 
 ILLINOIS STATE REFORM SCHOOL. 
 
 This school is located at Pontiac, Livingston County, and at the time 
 at which I visited it, had three hundred and thirty-six inmates. 
 
 Its management is vested in a Board of three (formerly five) Trustees, 
 appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
 for the term of- five years. The law prescribes that the Board of 
 Trustees shall appoint a Superintendent, whose salary shall not exceed
 
 26 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 $2,000 per annum, and shall also appoint such other officers and assist- 
 ants as the wants of the institution may from time to time require, and 
 shall prescribe their duties and fix their salaries at reasonable sums. 
 In this school boys are received for a specified time, and not generally 
 to be discharged when the officers think proper. Whenever a boy 
 between the ages of ten and sixteen years is convicted before any Court 
 of competent jurisdiction of a crime, punishable, if committed by an 
 adult, in the county jail or State Prison, such boy may be committed, 
 by order of the Court, to the reform school for a term of not less than 
 one nor more than five years. The Board of Directors thenceforth 
 become by law the guardian of his person, and are required to detain 
 him during the term of his sentence, less such time as may be credited 
 to him by law. 
 
 An inmate receives credits for good behavior, as prisoners do in our 
 prisons. For good behavior he is allowed for each month in the first 
 year, five days; for each month in the second year, six days; for each 
 month in the third year, seven days; for each month in the fourth year, 
 eight days; and for each month in the fifth year, nine days. If an 
 inmate is degraded for misconduct or violation of the rules of the school, 
 he forfeits for each degradation five days of his credited time. Upon 
 the discharge of an inmate, he is provided by the Superintendent with 
 a suit of suitable clothing and $5 in money, and a ticket to his home, if 
 resident in the State, or to the county in which he may have been con- 
 victed, at his option. 
 
 It will be observed that the school cannot receive persons unless they 
 have been committed to it upon a trial before a competent Court for 
 some offense. 
 
 A recent amendment to the State Constitution of Illinois prevents the 
 letting out of labor in penal and reformatory institutions by contract. 
 The shoe shop, which constitutes the principal industry carried on at 
 Pontiac, has, since this amendment became operative, been running on 
 State account. The Legislature of that State appropriated $30,000 to 
 enable the plant to be purchased from the contractors, and to furnish a 
 working capital. The State paid $7,000 to the contractors for the plant, 
 thus leaving a balance of $23,000 with which to carry on the work. 
 But the Superintendent, Dr. J. D. Scouller, informed me that difficulty 
 was encountered in disposing of the manufactured product, and not as 
 much profit was realized from this mode of working the shop as had 
 been anticipated. Under this plan the profits amounted to only about 
 two thirds of what would have been realized under the old system. Dr. 
 Scouller did not desire, however, in giving the financial results of the
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 27 
 
 two systems of labor, to be understood as advocating a return to the con- 
 tract system, as he was convinced that in a short time a greater number 
 of industries would be introduced into the school. 
 
 For the ordinary expenses of the school the plan pursued is to draw 
 one fourth of the yearly appropriation in advance at the beginning of 
 the quarter and deposit the same with the Treasurer. Claims are then 
 paid as they mature, and the vouchers and accounts are transmitted to 
 the Secretary of the State Board of Charities at the Capital of the State. 
 It costs, for the maintenance of the school, from $42,000 to $46,000 per 
 annum. When I was there last year, the cost per capita for the nine 
 months of that year, then past, was $123 69. 
 
 The buildings are lighted by gas made from gasoline, though the Su- 
 perintendent strongly favors a system of electric illumination. 
 
 No particular form of dress is prescribed for the inmates. They are 
 required to bathe twice a week. Their food is plain and substantial, 
 and they are allowed meat once a day. 
 
 Dr. Scouller prefers for sleeping purposes separate rooms to large 
 dormitories, and has one of the cottage buildings arranged on this plan, 
 but considers that buildings so arranged are too expensive to permit 
 the general adoption of this system. But the majority of Superin- 
 tendents with whom I conversed on the subject preferred the large 
 dormitories. 
 
 The branches taught are the same as those prescribed by the common 
 school course of the State. The boys are drilled in military tactics, and 
 have a brass band, which is in frequent demand on local occasions. 
 
 For bathing, Dr. Scouller prefers large tubs to separate bathtubs. 
 He recommended that we should make our buildings large enough for 
 all ultimate purposes, and that we should secure as much land as pos- 
 sible, and that the dining-hall should be in a separate building. For 
 heating purposes, he said he knew of nothing better than steam. 
 
 Friends can visit the boys when they please, and boys are called from 
 their work in order that they may receive the visits of their friends. 
 Every inmate is allowed to write regularly the first Sunday of every 
 month, and in case of sickness whenever he desires. No distinction is 
 made between the inmates as to the amount or character of food to which 
 they are entitled, with the exception that there is an " honor " table, at 
 which only those who have earned their release by good behavior are 
 entitled to sit.
 
 28 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Some of the salaries paid are: 
 
 Shopmen ..$40 per month. 
 
 Night Watchman ---f^ per m n S' 
 
 Teachers $50 and $60 per month. 
 
 Assistant Superintendent J80 per month. 
 
 Lady teachers. ... $25 per month. 
 
 The religious services are generally conducted by the Superintendent, 
 but when a sermon is delivered by a minister a fee of $3 is allowed 
 therefor. 
 
 Dr. Scouller has had long experience in his work. He believes in 
 kindness and firmness, and does not take kindly to changing the names 
 of schools from reform to industrial, as the name, he says, cannot change 
 the character of the institution. 
 
 INDIANA REFORM SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 
 
 This school is situated on the Vandalia Railroad, about a mile south- 
 west of the village of Plainfield. The school is managed by a Board 
 of Control, consisting of three Commissioners, appointed . by the Gov- 
 ernor, holding office for four years, and receiving a salary of $500 per 
 annum. The Board appoints the Superintendent and all the officers. 
 The farm consists of two hundred and twenty-five acres of land, and 
 the buildings, which are principally built of brick, number over thirty. 
 
 The school is conducted on the cottage or family system, there being 
 twelve cottages in all. Each family is in charge of a teacher, who is 
 known as a " House Father," and if he is married, his wife is also gen- 
 erally employed as an assistant. The boys of all the cottages eat in a 
 general dining-room, but each family has its own playground. The 
 general arrangement of the cottages is this: The lower, or basement, story 
 is used for a play -room in bad weather; the second story consists of a 
 sitting-room, wash-room, and officers' rooms; and the third story is used 
 for dormitories. For the commission of a crime boys, in age from eight 
 to sixteen years, may be committed to the school, and for incorrigibility, 
 in age from ten to seventeen years. All boys are committed until they 
 attain their majority, and none are ever discharged until that time. 
 But if the authorities of the school consider it advisable, a boy may, for 
 good conduct, be released on " furlough" or "tickets of leave," and 
 these favors may be renewed or recalled, as the boy's conduct may 
 determine. 
 
 The aim of the school is to teach every boy a trade, and among the 
 different trades taught are plumbing, brickmaking, steamfitting, plaster- 
 ing, bricklaying, cooking, breadmaking, shoemaking, tailoring, garden- 
 ing, farming, and floriculture; and in teaching a trade the primary aim
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 29 
 
 is to instruct rather than to make the labor of the inmate productive. 
 The management is strongly opposed to the use of machinery, or to 
 teaching trades that must be followed in crowded shops. Each boy 
 attends school one half the day, and works during the remaining half, 
 and by this course one half of the inmates are attending school in the 
 forenoon and the other half in the afternoon. The schools are con- 
 ducted in the same manner as the public schools of cities, and no vaca- 
 tions are given save to the higher grades, and to them only when the 
 teaching of trades in the busy season may require their labor. During 
 the evening the dull hours are whiled away by music, recitations, and 
 various amusements. The boys are provided with large playgrounds 
 and an extensive gymnasium. 
 
 In selecting officers the rule that " the blind cannot lead the blind" 
 is applied, and hence no person is employed at the institution whose life 
 is not suitable as a model for the inmates. In securing discipline, in 
 suppressing bad dispositions and cultivating obedience, in breaking up 
 evil habits and forming good, the first object to be always kept in view, 
 the officers say, is good treatment, and precept must be accompanied by 
 example. A boy on his arrival expects harsh treatment, and is sur- 
 prised when he finds that he is cordially welcomed, and that the labor 
 that he is called upon to perform is not irksome, and that he is allowed 
 reasonable time for play and amusement. 
 
 Every boy may report at any time any imposition on the part of an 
 officer, and if an officer mistreats a boy he is discharged. 
 
 The cost for each inmate averages $120 per annum. The salaries paid 
 are: 
 
 Superintendent $150 per month. 
 
 Matron $50 per month. 
 
 Clerk $70 per month. 
 
 House Fathers $30 to $55 per month. 
 
 Assistant Superintendent $70 per month. 
 
 Florist $35 per month. 
 
 Superintendent of Live Stock and Teams .$25 per month. 
 
 Night Watchman $20 per month. 
 
 Lady Teachers $30 per month. 
 
 Lady having charge of boys' kitchen $25 per month. 
 
 Lady having charge of boys' dining-room $18 per month. 
 
 Lady having charge of officers' dining-room $20 per month. 
 
 Housekeeper of main building $20 per month. 
 
 CINCINNATI HOUSE OF REFUGE. 
 
 This institution was opened for the reception of inmates in 1850, and 
 is situated about four miles from the Post Office in the city. It receives 
 both boys and girls, and is arranged somewhat on the congregate plan,
 
 30 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 although the inmates are separated as much as possible into classes. 
 The boys are divided into four classes or families, and the girls into two, 
 each of the separate families having separate schools, dining and wash 
 rooms, playgrounds, workshops, and dormitories. The site consists 
 of nine and seven eighths acres of land, and five of these are inclosed 
 on three sides by a stone wall, twenty feet in height, and on the fourth 
 side by the main building. 
 
 The main building is two hundred and seventy-seven feet in length, 
 four stories in height, besides the basement. One wing of the building 
 is devoted to the boys' department, and contains one hundred and twelve 
 dormitories. In the basement is a bathing or swimming tank, in size 
 twelve by fifty feet, and deep enough for swimming purposes. Besides 
 this, there are in the basement also twenty-six dressing-rooms. 
 
 The other wing, devoted to the girls' department, contains seventy- 
 two dormitories, and also nursery, sewing-room, school-room, store-room, 
 girls' hospital, and one large sleeping-room. The basement contains 
 wash-rooms, bath-rooms, and playground. 
 
 The chapel building is connected with the main building by covered 
 passage ways, and is situated in the rear of the main building. On the 
 first floor of the chapel building are situated the bakery, kitchen, three 
 dining-rooms, and four store-rooms; and on the second floor, the chapel, 
 a school-room, and a reading-room. The chapel is fifty-six feet wide 
 and sixty feet long. There are two shop buildings. The main one is 
 one hundred and forty-two feet in length and thirty-seven feet in width, 
 and contains on the first floor engine and fuel-rooms, covered play- 
 grounds, wash-rooms, etc., and on the second and third floors, five work- 
 shops and reading-room, and a dormitory containing forty-six rooms. 
 The other shop building is eighty feet in length and forty-four in width. 
 The ground floor of this building contains two covered playgrounds, 
 and two wash-rooms. The second floor contains a shop-room and a 
 large sleeping-room. The third floor contains a school-room for the 
 smaller boys, a dormitory for these boys, and two bed-rooms for officers. 
 There is also a school building, eighty feet in length, forty in width, two 
 stories in height, and built of stone and brick. The lower story is used 
 as play-room and gymnasium. In the upper story are placed four 
 school-rooms, provided with sliding partitions, so that the four rooms 
 may be thrown into two rooms or into one. 
 
 Light is supplied by gas made upon the premises, and steam is used 
 for heating purposes. 
 
 There is accommodation in the buildings for three hundred and fifty 
 inmates, and the necessary number of officers.
 
 REFORMATOKY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 31 
 
 Last year some of the Directors, with the Assistant Superintendent, 
 made a visit to the House of Refuge at Rochester, Xew York, for the 
 purpose of investigating its school of technology; and after a thorough 
 investigation they recommended that system for adoption by the Board 
 of the Cincinnati school. In the school at Rochester are taught black- 
 smithing, carpentering, painting, wood-turning, foundry work, brick- 
 laying, boot and shoemaking, and tailoring. But in the Cincinnati 
 school it was not deemed expedient, owing to the smaller number of 
 inmates, to introduce so many trades, the average number of inmates 
 at the Cincinnati school being about three hundred. The first trade 
 introduced in the industrial training school was carpentry. 
 
 Employment for the inmates is found in the domestic work of the 
 institution. All the clothing, boots, and shoes used in the institution 
 are made by the inmates. The girls have found employment in the 
 laundry, kitchen, sewing-room, and in general housework. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA REFORM SCHOOL. 
 
 This school was formerly known as the " House of Refuge of Western 
 Pennsylvania," and was at first conducted on the congregate system, 
 being opened in 1854. Its first location was in Allegheny City. But in 
 time the managers were convinced that the school could be much im- 
 proved by the adoption of the family system. The adoption of this 
 system required a location where sufficient ground could be obtained, 
 and in 1876 the institution was removed to Morganza, its present site. 
 The school receives both boys and girls. The inmates are classified 
 into eight families, each of which is under the control of a First and 
 Second Officer, and a Matron. 
 
 A daily record book is kept by the First Officer, in which he notes all 
 misconduct and punishment. This record is read every evening to the 
 inmates in the school-room. The officer then asks if any desire to 
 appeal from the record, and if so, the appellant raises his hand, and 
 states his case. If the officer is satisfied with the record after such 
 statement, but the offender still wishes to make an appeal to the Super- 
 intendent, the word " appeal " must be written opposite the record. The 
 Superintendent meets each family in its school-room as often, at least, as 
 once a month, and determines the justice of the record. The appeal 
 may be sustained, but if made improperly, and without any reasonable 
 ground, it will subject the offender, if the Superintendent thinks the 
 case justifies it, to a loss of a still larger number of demerits. 
 
 The management seeks to avoid every indication of prison life, and 
 is successful in so doing.
 
 32 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Officers are not permitted to smoke during office hours, or in the pres- 
 ence of the inmates; and, unless ordered by the attending physician, 
 spirituous liquors are not allowed to be kept or used by any employe. 
 Gambling in any form is strictly prohibited. 
 
 The plan of giving merits and demerits is similar to that followed in 
 other schools. An inmate is entitled to ten merits for each day of per- 
 fect conduct, and for continued good conduct during four successive 
 months an inmate is entitled to a credit of two hundred additional merits. 
 When an inmate has earned six thousand merits he is entitled to release 
 on parole, as soon as he can be placed in a suitable home. Demerits 
 are given for want of attention to study, uncleanly habits, and improper 
 conduct, and for certain offenses the number of demerits that an inmate 
 shall receive is prescribed. For instance, for absconding the punishment 
 is one thousand demerits; for conniving at escape, five hundred demerits; 
 for theft, eighty demerits; for profanity, obscene conduct or language, 
 fifty demerits; for falsehood, thirty demerits; for fighting, or destruction 
 of clothing, property, or tools, twenty demerits; and for disobedience, 
 quarreling, use of tobacco, or talking while in line, ten demerits. For 
 other offenses the Superintendent fixes the number of demerits to be 
 given, and in aggravated cases inflicts corporal punishment. No officer, 
 however, except in cases where delay might prove dangerous to the per- 
 son or destructive of discipline, is allowed to inflict corporal punishment, 
 without first consulting the Superintendent and obtaining his permission. 
 
 Great care is used to impress upon the offender's mind the justice of 
 the punishment, and that it is not arbitrarily inflicted. Only light pun- 
 ishments are given for first offenses, but when they are repeated, and 
 insubordination is marked, the punishment is prompt, and is intended to 
 impress the offender with the conviction that no matter what the cost 
 discipline and order must be preserved. 
 
 Among the different committees appointed by the Board of Managers 
 is a Visiting Committee, composed of two members. When first ap- 
 pointed at the annual meeting, the member first named on the com- 
 mittee serves for one month, and acts as Chairman. The second named 
 member serves for two months, and acts as Chairman for the second 
 month. As a member retires from the committee monthly, the next 
 member in alphabetical rotation takes his place, and each member of 
 the committee is Chairman for the last month during which he serves. 
 It is the duty of this committee to visit the school the first secular day 
 of each month, and also on the fifteenth of each month, for the purpose 
 of conferring with the Superintendent, examining all persons received
 
 REFORMATORY AMD PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 33 
 
 by the school, and preparing the business for the next meeting of the 
 Executive Committee. 
 
 One of the features of the school is a special book kept by the Super- 
 intendent, in which an account is opened with each officer of the school. 
 On the debit side of the account is placed every item of inattention, 
 want of promptness, absence without leave, or other irregularity. On 
 the credit side is noted any specially commendable act. If the page is 
 entirely blank, it indicates that the officer's duties have been satisfacto- 
 rily discharged. Before the record is complete, an appeal may be taken 
 to the Superintendent, and this record is accessible at all times to the 
 Board of Managers. 
 
 Officers are not granted leave of absence for a longer period than ten 
 days without deduction of salary; and without special permission no 
 officer must be absent after ten o'clock p. M. Officers are directed not to 
 converse about the affairs of the school when inmates are present or 
 within hearing, and officers when on duty are directed not to converse 
 with each other except on official business. They are expected to give 
 their whole time and attention to their duties, and are not allowed to 
 read books or papers while on duty or during business hours. On a 
 matter of interest in the management of institutions it may be observed 
 that the rule in this school is, that while the Superintendent does not 
 attempt to interfere with the social relations of officers, or control in any 
 way their personal affairs, yet if they allow such matters to interfere 
 with the discipline of the institution, and do not settle them promptly, 
 the Superintendent takes the responsibility of deciding them, and his 
 decision must be adopted as a final settlement. 
 
 The salaries paid at this institution are: 
 
 Superintendent $2,400 per annum. 
 
 Clerk $900 per annum. 
 
 Steward $720 per annum. 
 
 Engineer $1 ,000 per annum. 
 
 Two assistants $600 each per annum. 
 
 Hospital Steward $360 per annum. 
 
 Watchman $420 per annum. 
 
 Carpenter $540 per annum. 
 
 Housekeepers (female) $200 per annum. 
 
 First Officer $45 87 to $52 50 per month. 
 
 Second Officer $30 00 to $33 34 per month. 
 
 HOUSE OF REFUGE, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 In 1826 a meeting was held in the City of Philadelphia by some of 
 its benevolent citizens for the purpose of establishing a school for the 
 vagrant, disobedient, and neglected children of that city. A committee 
 
 3D
 
 34 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 was appointed to prepare a constitution and secure from the Legislature 
 an Act of incorporation, and in that same year the House of Refuge was 
 incorporated. The preamble to the Act of incorporation states that the 
 object of the school is " for the humane and laudable purpose of reform- 
 ing juvenile delinquents, and separating them from society and inter- 
 course of old and experienced offenders." 
 
 This institution is supported by donations and bequests, life and 
 annual subscriptions, by its earnings, and appropriations by the State 
 of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia. A majority of the Board 
 of Managers are elected by the contributors, and three of their number 
 are appointed by the Courts of Common Pleas, and two by the Mayor. 
 
 The daily routine is apportioned by devoting three hours to school, 
 six hours to work, one and a half hours to meals, four hours to recrea- 
 tion, half an hour to morning and evening devotions, and nine hours to 
 balmy sleep. 
 
 The average number of inmates is six hundred and upwards. Until 
 recently the average time of detention has been about fifteen months, 
 but now the term has been extended to about two years. The schools 
 are under the charge of lady teachers selected not only for their knowl- 
 edge, but also for their kind and gentle disposition. One evening in 
 each week is devoted to instruction in vocal music. 
 
 When an inmate is received he is first bathed and dressed in clean 
 garments, and then is taken down, from his statements, the history of 
 his life. One reason for this latter step is to separate the depraved from 
 those who have strayed but slightly from virtue's path. The children 
 assemble every morning and evening in their class-rooms, and after a 
 short portion of the Scriptures is read, a hymn is sung and a prayer 
 offered. The children go to chapel service twice every Sunday. 
 
 One of the officers of the institution is the visiting agent, whose duty 
 it is to acquaint himself with the children, find proper homes for them, 
 and exercise subsequent care over all children that leave the house, 
 whether they are indentured, put to service of any kind, simply dis- 
 charged, or returned to parents or friends. 
 
 Among the industries carried on are brushmaking, wicker work, and 
 tailoring. The institution receives both boys and girls. 
 
 No inmate is allowed to use tobacco, and no intoxicating liquors are 
 permitted, upon any pretense whatever, unless ordered by the Physician, 
 to be brought into any part of the buildings. The gates are closed at 
 eleven o'clock p. M., and no officer or employe is allowed, without writ- 
 ten permission of the Superintendent, to be absent after that hour. 
 Such permission can be granted to only one officer at any one time, and
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 35 
 
 the Superintendent is required to report the grant of such permission, 
 with the reasons therefor, to the Board. 
 
 The time allowed for work, play, meals, attending school, and retiring 
 for sleep, is divided into periods as follows: 
 
 From April First to November First Seven Months. 
 
 Time to rise 5.30 A. M. Z*. 
 
 Washing and exercise 5.30 to 6.00 .30 
 
 Devotional exercises 6.00 to 6.15 .15 
 
 Breakfast 6.15 to 6.45 .30 
 
 Play 6.45to 7.00 .15 
 
 Work, with intermission of ten minutes 7.00 to 12.00 5.00 
 
 Recess, washing for dinner 12.00 to 12.10 .10 
 
 Dinner 12.10 to 12.40 .30 
 
 Play 12.40to 1.00 .20 
 
 Work 1.00 to 3.00 2.00 
 
 Play and washing for school 3.00 to 3.30 .30 
 
 School 3.30to 6.30 3.00 
 
 Supper 6.30to 7.00 .30 
 
 Play Singing lessons, etc 7.00 to 7.45 .45 
 
 Devotional exercises. 7.45 to 8.00 .15 
 
 To bed S.OOto 8.15 .15 
 
 Bed 8.15to 5.30 9.15 
 
 School 3.00 hours. 
 
 Work 7.00 hours. 
 
 Meals 1.30 hours. 
 
 Devotions .30 hour. 
 
 Play 2.45 hours. 
 
 Sleep 9.15 hours. 
 
 Total 24.00 hours. 
 
 From November First to April First Five Months. 
 
 Time to rise 6 A. M. oJ^fed. 
 
 Washing and exercise in yard 6.00 to 6.30 .30 
 
 Devotional services 6.30 to 6.45 .15 
 
 Breakfast 6.45 to 7.15 .30 
 
 Play in yards 7.15 to 7.30 .15 
 
 Work, with intermission of ten minutes 7.30 to 12.00 4.30 
 
 Recess, washing for dinner 12.00 to 12.10 .10 
 
 Dinner 12.10 to 12.40 .30 
 
 Play in yards 12.40 to 1.00 .20 
 
 Work 1.00 to 2.30 1.30 
 
 Play and washing for school 2.30 to 3.00 .30 
 
 School 3.00to 6.00 3.00 
 
 Supper 6.00to 6.30 .30 
 
 Play Singing lessons, etc. 6.30 to 7.45 1.15 
 
 Devotional exercises 7.45 to 8.00 .1 5 
 
 Marching to dormitories, preparing for bed 8.00 to 8.15 .15 
 
 Bed. . 8.15 to 6.00 9.45
 
 36 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 School. _______ ..... _________________________________ 3.00 hours. 
 
 Work _________________________________________________ 6.00 hours. 
 
 Meals ________________________________________________ 1-30 hours. 
 
 Devotions ___________________ ..... ____________________ .30 hour. 
 
 Play _______ ..... _____________________________________ 3.1 5 hours. 
 
 Sleep ________________________________________________ 9.45 hours. 
 
 Total . . ..... . ..... . ...... __________________________ 24.00 hours. 
 
 The beginning of each of these periods is denoted by the ringing of 
 a bell. 
 
 The Board of Managers have decided to change the system from the 
 congregate to the family system, and for that purpose have purchased 
 three hundred and eighty-five acres of land, distant about twenty miles 
 from the center of the business portion of Philadelphia. A committee of 
 the Board visited the leading schools in the United States conducted on 
 the family plan, and a member of the Board visited the reform schools of 
 England and France. When the new buildings are completed instruc- 
 tion will be given in agricultural and horticultural pursuits, and in the 
 elements of such trades as bricklaying, carpentering, plastering, print- 
 ing, and woodturning. 
 
 These new buildings are now in process of erection, and it is esti- 
 mated that from two to three years more will be required for their com- 
 pletion. This institution has been richly endowed by the philanthropic 
 citizens of Philadelphia, having received many donations of $100,000, 
 and of even larger sums. 
 
 LYMAN SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 
 
 This school is located at Westborough, Massachusetts, and now is 
 under the superintendence of Mr. T. F. Chapin. At the time that I 
 visited the school it had one hundred and eighty-five inmates. 
 
 A school for manual training has been recently organized, and every 
 boy in the institution receives instruction for one and one half hours 
 each week in the manual training room. The system used is the 
 Slojd, or Swedish, and is designed to teach the boy to think. In one of 
 the schools a class has undertaken the study of algebra. Instruction 
 is also given in modeling and music, and it is said that the boy who 
 does not sing is an exception. 
 
 The salaries paid are as follows: 
 
 Theodore F. Chapin, Superintendent . . *i 
 
 Mrs. T. F. Chapin, Matron _______ ...... ._['_'_ ' 
 
 George F. Bullard, Assistant Superintendent 500 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Howe, Charge of Family . . '. 70(3 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Norton, Charge of Family _ 800
 
 REFORMATORY AND PEXAL INSTITUTIONS. 37 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. I. T. Swift, Charge of Family $700 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Robertson, Charge of Family 700 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Keith, Charge of Family 750 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Jones, Charge of Family __ 700 
 
 F. E. Corey, M.D., Physician 150 
 
 Miss Carrie Dana, Teacher 300 
 
 Miss Emma F. Newton, Teacher 300 
 
 Miss Bertha C. Leech, Teacher 300 
 
 Miss Flora E. Strout, Teacher 300 
 
 Miss Flora E. Loomis, Teacher 300 
 
 Miss Ella E. Glover, Teacher 300 
 
 M. E. Howard, Teacher of Printing 400 
 
 Miss Mary E . Greeley, Seamstress 250 
 
 Miss Mary E. Custer, Nurse 250 
 
 Mrs. George F. Bullard, Housekeeper, Superintendent's house. 300 
 
 Miss Mabel B. Mitchell, Assistant Matron 250 
 
 Miss Mae E. Hartford, Assistant Matron 250 
 
 Mrs. J. J. Donovan, Assistant Matron 250 
 
 Miss Lizzie J. Parkhurst, Assistant Matron 250 
 
 Mrs. B. F. McFarland, Assistant Matron 200 
 
 Mrs. Edith Howard, Assistant Matron 250 
 
 J. W. Clark, Engineer 900 
 
 J. H. Cummings, Overseer _ 500 
 
 J. T. Perkins, Steward 400 
 
 J. J. Donovan, Farmer 400 
 
 B. F. McFarland, Assistant Farmer 250 
 
 Harlan M. Thompson, Watchman 400 
 
 The two principal points that the Superintendent, Mr. Chapin, called 
 to my attention were the introduction of the manual training school, 
 and the guarding against placing too large a number of inmates in the 
 same building. He thought the proper number that should be cared 
 for in one cottage was twenty-five. 
 
 REFORM SCHOOL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 This school was established some twenty-one years ago, and had from 
 the time of its organization up to the thirtieth of June, 1889, received 
 one thousand three hundred and eighty-six boys. 
 
 Boys are not discharged by the Trustees until proper homes can be 
 found for them; and if the boys are unable to find suitable homes 
 through their own efforts, or those of friends, the Trustees and Superin- 
 tendent make every effort to find such a home. 
 
 The school has three family buildings, and the officers believe that 
 not more than fifty boys should be placed in the same building, although 
 they ha-ve been forced at times when overcrowded to place a larger num- 
 ber in a cottage. The small boys are now placed in the main building, 
 where they are under the immediate surveillance of the Superintendent
 
 38 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and Matron. From the organization of the school only nine deaths 
 have occurred, and not a single death has been recorded for the last two 
 
 years. 
 
 Among some of the salaries paid are those of Superintendent, $1,500 
 per annum; Assistant Superintendent, $900 per annum; Matron, $600 
 per annum; Matrons of families, $180 per annum; foremen, $660 per 
 annum; farmer, $480 per annum; cook, shoemaker, and tailor, each $300 
 per annum; Secretary and Treasurer of Board of Trustees, $600 per 
 annum. 
 
 Formerly the boilers in use at the institution were placed in the sev- 
 eral buildings, but now they are situated in a boiler-house placed at 
 some distance from the buildings, and steam is conveyed underground 
 by connecting pipes to the various buildings where required. By this 
 arrangement the possibility of danger from explosion of boilers is 
 avoided. 
 
 During the past year the school received $3,143 40 from the labor of 
 the inmates and other sources. Of this amount the sum of $1,702 47 
 was received from the chair shop; $443 73 from farm products; $667 5p 
 from the greenhouse; $257 67 from the paper box account, and the 
 balance, $72 03, from other sources. 
 
 Owing to the crowded condition of the school, the President of the 
 Board has frequently during the past year been compelled to notify the 
 Courts to refrain from committing boys to the institution. The school 
 has no power to recall a discharged inmate during his minority, who 
 should be returned for want of a proper home or other sufficient cause. 
 A bill was introduced at the last session of Congress to secure this result, 
 but failed to become a law. 
 
 It is expected that each boy, when free from sickness, will spend a 
 portion of each school day in study, and without the permission of the 
 Superintendent none are excused from attendance upon one daily ses- 
 sion. The books in use are those provided for the common schools of 
 the district, but several classes in the higher grades are taught algebra, 
 geometry, and history. The routine of daily study adopted in the pub- 
 lic schools is followed as nearly as practicable, and boys can only be 
 discharged on their "Honor Badge," and after having gained some 
 knowledge of arithmetic, and possessing the ability to read and write 
 and also recite the tables of multiplication. 
 
 A committee was appointed from the Board of Trustees, on August 
 29, 1889, to visit the House of Refuge, at Philadelphia, and at Randall's 
 Island, New York, and as it may prove interesting I cull from their 
 report the following:
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 39 
 
 At the House of Refuge, Philadelphia, the principal industries are 
 brushmaking, tailoring, shoemaking, and caning chairs. 
 
 The population of this institution on the day we were there was six 
 hundred and fifty boys and one hundred and seventy girls. 
 
 The salaries paid amount to $32,000 per annum. 
 
 The salary of the Superintendent is $3,000 per annum, and the Super- 
 intendents of the Shops, from $1,000 to $1,200 per annum. 
 
 The teachers receive on an average $30 per month, but are not 
 employed in any other capacity, and teach three hours per day five 
 days during the week. 
 
 An officer is employed in this institution, designated as an agent, 
 who receives a salary of $1,500 per annum, whose duty it is to find 
 homes for discharged boys, and to visit them at their homes at least 
 once a month. 
 
 Under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, the institution has con- 
 trol over its inmates until they are twenty-one years of age, and if their 
 homes are found at any time to be improper, or if they are liable to be 
 led astray or are not doing well, they can at any time be recalled to the 
 institution. 
 
 A similar law, we are informed, applies to nearly every institution of 
 a like character throughout the United States, with the exception of the 
 Reform School of the District of Columbia, and although the attention 
 of Congress was called to this matter, and a bill introduced at its last 
 session, giving our school this authority, it failed to become a law. 
 
 After leaving Philadelphia, your committee proceeded to the House 
 of Refuge at Randall's Island, New York. 
 
 The population of this institution on the day your committee arrived 
 there was five hundred and seventy-nine boys and eighty-five girls. 
 
 This institution employs seventy-two officers and employes, including 
 twenty teachers. 
 
 The salary of the Superintendent is $3,500, and the salary of the 
 principal teacher is $2,000 per annum, and the salaries of the assistant 
 teachers average from $600 to $800 per annum. They are employed, in 
 teaching and other occupations, from seven to eight hours per day. 
 
 The State appropriates about $120,000 per annum, and the proceeds 
 from the work of the inmates average $20,000 per annum; making a 
 total of about $140,000 per annum, to be expended for the current 
 expenses of the institution. 
 
 Each of the institutions that we visited had a fine band, made up 
 from the inmates, which was not only a great addition to the institu- 
 tion, but a great advantage to the boys composing the band, as the 
 committee was informed that these boys had no difficulty in obtaining 
 lucrative employment in the line of their calling after leaving the insti- 
 tution. We respectfully recommend that a band be also attached to 
 our school. The instruments can be purchased at an expense not to 
 exceed $400, and an instructor can be obtained at a compensation of 
 $600 per annum. 
 
 The House of Refuge at Philadelphia, after an experience of many 
 years, has finally come to the conclusion that bars and bolts, high fences, 
 stone walls, and cells are things that belong to the past and have no 
 part in the reformation of juveniles. 
 
 They are about to abandon their present "location, and have pur- 
 chased a farm of four hundred acres about twenty miles from the City
 
 40 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of Philadelphia, paying therefor $52,000, and there has been appropri- 
 ated for the erection of the necessary buildings the sum of $750,000, 
 making a total of over $800,000 expended or to be expended by the 
 State of Pennsylvania upon this one institution tor the reformation of 
 boys and girls. 
 
 After careful examination we find the industries of these schools to 
 be similar to those of our own. 
 
 In conferring with the Superintendents of these institutions, they 
 strongly advised that as little machinery as possible be used and that 
 no trades be taught which require the use of much machinery, for the 
 reason that when the inmates leave the institution they have no machin- 
 ery of their own and must depend upon their own hands. Therefore, 
 they should be taught to work with their hands, without the aid of 
 machinery. Of course some machinery is necessary. 
 
 In some institutions bricklaying, plastering, and carpentering are 
 taught to a large extent. Practical mechanics are employed in daily 
 teaching boys by building temporary houses and structures, and then 
 tearing them down and rebuilding others of a different character, using 
 the same material over and over. 
 
 It is true that in this work there is no pecuniary profit, but reform 
 schools are not established for the purpose of making money, but for the 
 education and benefit of the inmates, to enable them to be self-support- 
 ing when they go out into the world. 
 
 After giving the matter careful consideration, your committee respect- 
 fully recommends that as large a class of boys as possible be employed 
 in making shoes and clothing for the school. It is thought possible 
 that the school can obtain work from large clothing establishments in 
 this city and in Baltimore, and it might be worth trying. 
 
 All the shoes needed at the school can be and should be made upon 
 the premises. 
 
 Caning chairs is an occupation only, and not a trade. The boys can 
 be employed at it, and a small revenue derived from it, but it is of little 
 use to the boys when they leave the school. 
 
 In addition to these, the most inexpensive industries that can be 
 established would be bricklaying, plastering, and carpentering. These 
 trades could be readily taught in the manner above suggested, and 
 would be most useful callings for the boys. 
 
 The carpentering would also be of great advantage to the school, as 
 the boys engaged in this work, being proficient in it, could do all the 
 carpentering which will be required at the school, which would in the 
 end amount to a great deal and save a large sum of money which is 
 now expended. 
 
 The boys engaged in bricklaying could also be of use in making cul- 
 verts, drains, and other work upon the premises, and the boys learning 
 the trade of plastering could also be made useful. 
 
 MINNESOTA STATE REFORM SCHOOL. 
 
 This school is at present situated in St. Paul, but it has been found 
 desirable to move away from the city, and a site has been secured at Red 
 Wing. This school is conducted on the family system, and in discipline 
 and management is similar to the other institutions of this character 
 previously described.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PEXAL INSTITUTIONS. 41 
 
 In building their new school at Red Wing the management have been 
 able to profit by observation of other institutions and all that experience 
 has taught to be necessary in their own. The Superintendent, Mr. Brown, 
 and. the architect of the school, Mr. Warren B. Dunnell, made a tour of 
 the Eastern States for the purpose of adopting such improvements as 
 might be found desirable in buildings of the most approved construc- 
 tion. 
 
 The architect resides at Minneapolis, and the Superintendent kindly 
 offered to accompany me to his office and allow me to inspect their plans. 
 I spent most of the time in conversation with the Superintendent and 
 architect in talking of the plan best adapted for the purposes of such 
 an institution, and have brought with me tracings of their plans, which 
 I herewith submit to the Board. 
 
 While theoretically each cottage building should be separate and dis- 
 tinct by itself, and should provide within itself for all its wants, yet 
 there are practical considerations that may require a departure from 
 this plan without in any manner impairing the efficiency of the family 
 plan of management. 
 
 According to the plans for the new school in Minnesota, the main 
 building will be a large structure in the form of a cross. The basement 
 will be devoted to storage-rooms, lavatories, and play-rooms, and the 
 rear wing will be used for a kitchen. The floor above the kitchen will 
 be used as a dining-room, and the other stories of the building will be 
 used for offices, dining-room for the officers and employes, library, 
 and reception and bed-rooms. There will be also a number of cottages 
 of modern design. The reason that this course of arranging the build- 
 ings has been adopted is, that a general kitchen and dining-room will 
 prove less expensive than separate kitchens and dining-rooms in each 
 cottage, and will not interfere with the plan of segregation of the 
 inmates into families; besides, it allows a main building of imposing 
 appearance to be erected, which is to some extent an ornament to the 
 place in which the school is located. 
 
 BUILDINGS. 
 
 From what I have seen of these institutions in the East, I would rec- 
 ommend the cottage or family system of management. I think, how- 
 ever, that provision should be made for those whom it would be at first 
 unsafe to trust with the liberty accorded to inmates of cottages. For 
 such persons, it would be advisable to preserve many of the features of 
 the congregate system. Hence, I think that the schools should be partly 
 congregate and partly on the cottage plan, although these terms scarcely
 
 ,42 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 express the idea I have in mind. The main building should be large 
 and commodious, providing suitable quarters for the necessary officers 
 of the institution, and one or more wings should be utilized for housing 
 the inmates. This plan will be all the more necessary, because in a new 
 institution there will for some time be a lack of that popular opinion in 
 favor of the management that would prevail in an institution conducted 
 on the cottage system for years. For economic reasons a portion of the 
 main building could be used as a dining-room, while the kitchen could 
 conveniently be placed in one wing or in a separate building. 
 
 I submit with this report plans of some of the Eastern schools for the 
 information of the Board. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 The success of the school will depend upon the Superintendent. A 
 good Superintendent can maintain a well managed school, no matter 
 what system of rules may be adopted, while one who does not possess 
 the necessary qualifications can derive no support from the best plan of 
 management ever devised. One who has had some experience in these 
 schools should, in my judgment, be selected. It does not, perhaps, 
 require any high order of talent to conduct one of these schools, yet, as 
 a book agent who has had long followed the business can probably sell 
 more books than one who has not, so a Superintendent who has had 
 experience can avoid the errors that a novice would make. Still, it is 
 not to be considered that only a few such persons can be found. It does 
 not require as much genius to conduct a public institution as it does to 
 command a victorious army. The simple truth is that an institution 
 when well conducted runs itself. The Superintendent should be a person 
 who knows what is necessary in the management, selects proper subordi- 
 nates to attend to the details, and gently but firmly and unmercifully cor- 
 rects any deviation from the straight path of duty. Nevertheless, it does 
 not follow that every man who is out of a position or unable to earn a 
 living in a regular occupation, possesses these qualities. One who has 
 undertaken this work as a business will probably be better qualified than 
 one who has not. To him must be left, in a great measure, the question 
 of what trades should be taught; but I would recommend that such 
 trades should be adopted as require little or no machinery for their 
 practice, so that an inmate can, on his discharge, earn his living by his 
 hands, without the aid of costly tools.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 43 
 
 PART n. 
 
 Reformatories, or Intermediate Prisons. 
 
 I had the opportunity of visiting some of the reformatories, or inter- 
 mediate prisons, which receive criminals under a certain age, and by a 
 system of labor, education, and discipline seek to secure their reforma- 
 tion, so that when they have earned their discharge they may enter the 
 world again, prepared to withstand its temptations and to follow some 
 legitimate kind of labor. 
 
 I submit a brief account of those visited. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA INDUSTRIAL REFORMATORY. 
 
 This institution is located at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and is under 
 the superintendence of R. W. McClaughrey, who, for many years, was 
 Warden of the Illinois Penitentiary at Joliet. It is under the manage- 
 ment of a Board of five Directors appointed by the Governor, who hold 
 meetings once a month and oftener if necessary, and are paid 10 cents 
 per mile, computed circular, for traveling expenses. The term of office 
 is ten years, one Director going out every two years. For misconduct, 
 incompetency, or neglect of duty the Governor may remove any of the 
 managers, after an opportunity has been given to be heard upon written 
 charges. The Board have the charge and management of the reforma- 
 tory and appoint a General Superintendent, Chaplain, and Physician, and 
 may remove any of these for any cause impairing the proper adminis- 
 tration of their office, after an opportunity to be heard upon written 
 charges has been given. The General Superintendent has power to 
 appoint all the other officers and employes, and to remove them at his 
 pleasure; but such subordinate officers are appointed only after a strict 
 examination as to their education, trade, moral character, knowledge, 
 and fitness for the performance of their duties. 
 
 The undeterminate sentence is applied to persons committed to the 
 reformatory, f hich receives any male criminal between the ages of fif- 
 teen and twenty-five years, convicted of an offense punishable by impris- 
 onment in the State Prison, and who is not known to have previously 
 been sentenced to a State Prison in Pennsylvania or any other State or 
 country. The sentence is generally to the reformatory, the duration of
 
 44 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the term of imprisonment not being fixed or limited by the Court in 
 
 passing sentence. 
 
 The object of the reformatory is to prevent young first offenders from 
 becoming habitual criminals, and to train them so as to make them 
 honest, law-abiding citizens. For this purpose the law confers authority 
 upon the Board of Managers to provide such a system of discipline for 
 the inmates as will obtain for each instruction in the rudiments of an 
 English education and in a trade that will be useful to him in securing 
 after discharge some employment by which he may support himself. 
 The law directs that when a prisoner is received there shall be entered 
 in a register the date of his admission, his name, age, and nativity, with 
 such facts as can be learned of his parentage, and of such social influ- 
 ences as would bear upon his constitutional and acquired defects and 
 tendencies. An estimate, based upon these facts, is then made of the 
 prisoner, and of the plan of treatment that appears to be best. At stated 
 times are entered in this register minutes of improvement or deterioration 
 of character. The prisoners are employed on public account, and the 
 contract system of labor is inhibited by statute. 
 
 Each prisoner is credited for good personal demeanor, diligence in 
 labor and study, and for all results accomplished, and is debited for all 
 derelictions, negligence, and offenses. An abstract of the record of each 
 prisoner under the control of the Board, showing the date of his admis- 
 sion, his age, and present condition, whether in the reformatory, State 
 Prison, asylum, or elsewhere, the improvement if any, and reason for 
 release or continued custody, is made up semi-annually, considered by 
 the Board at a regular meeting, and filed with the Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 If after proper investigation and obtaining the opinion of the Physi- 
 cian and Moral Instructor, any person has given evidence, in the opinion 
 of the Superintendent, that he may be deemed reliable and worthy, and 
 may with safety be liberated, a certificate of this fact, and the opinion of 
 the Superintendent, Physician, and Moral Instructor, are then submitted 
 to the Board of Managers, who, after due notice to all the Managers, 
 consider at the next meeting of the Board the case so presented. If the 
 Board believe that he is entitled to his discharge, a record stating the 
 material facts is made and transmitted to the Judge of the Court that 
 pronounced sentence, who if he sees, after consulting the District Attor- 
 ney, no further reason for the detention of the prisoner, sends an order 
 for his discharge. 
 
 Officers and employes are not permitted to hold unnecessary commu- 
 nication with one another while on duty, nor with visitors or the per-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 45 
 
 sons escorting visitors. Officers are strictly forbidden, either at the 
 reformatory or elsewhere, to make as topics of conversation either the 
 institution, the officers, the inmates, or their duties. They are required 
 to wear such uniform as the Superintendent may direct and to maintain 
 always a tidy appearance. They are not allowed to use or bring upon 
 the premises any ardent spirits or malt liquors, nor to smoke or chew 
 tobacco while on duty. 
 
 All officers and employes are required to assemble on the guard-room 
 floor at six o'clock A. M. of each day, unless the Superintendent or dep- 
 uty for special reasons has granted an excuse, and those excused from 
 the six o'clock assemblage are required to report at or before half-past 
 six. Each officer and employe, when he first enters the guard-room in 
 the morning, reports to the Turnkey, who enters the exact time in a 
 book. The institution is closed to visitors at five o'clock p. M., and to 
 officers at eleven o'clock p. M. When officers and employes desire to 
 absent themselves from the reformatory at any time, they must procure 
 permission of the Superintendent or his deputy, and are required per- 
 sonally to place their names on the register, stating by whom the permit 
 has been granted, and the exact time of day of departure and return. 
 They are forbidden to receive or present a gift to any inmate, or to buy 
 from or sell any article to him; nor are they allowed to give the prison- 
 ers any information nor hold any conversation with them except upon 
 duties to be immediately performed, and then briefly and to the point. 
 
 Leave of absence without deduction of salary, whether required on 
 account of sickness, for business purposes, or for vacation, is limited to 
 ten days in each year. If the absence continues for a longer period 
 than ten days, the salary of the officer or employe ceases, unless the 
 Board of Managers for exceptional reasons shall otherwise order. Un- 
 less for special reasons permission is granted by the Superintendent, 
 officers are not allowed to sit while on duty, and they are not permitted 
 to read papers, books, or periodicals of any kind while on duty, or per- 
 form any act that would divert or relax their attention from strict 
 vigilance. 
 
 NEW YORK STATE REFORMATORY AT ELMIRA. 
 
 This institution is well known throughout the United States. It is 
 under the management of Z. R. Brockway, who kindly explained to 
 me the plan of management, and showed me all the various modes of 
 instruction and discipline followed. 
 
 Every sentence to this reformatory is a general sentence of imprison- 
 ment; in other words, an indeterminate sentence. The Courts do not 
 fix or limit the duration of the sentence. The Board of Managers have
 
 46 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 power to transfer, temporarily, with the written consent of the Superin- 
 tendent of Prisons, to either of the State Prisons, any prisoner who 
 subsequently to his committal shall be shown to have been at the time of 
 his conviction over thirty years of age, or to have been previously con- 
 victed of crime. They also have power to transfer to the State Prison 
 any apparently incorrigible prisoner whose presence in the reformatory 
 seems to be injurious to the welfare of the institution, and by written 
 requisition may require the return of any prisoner so transferred. 
 
 The indeterminate sentence and the plan of treating prisoners on this 
 fundamental idea has many warm supporters, and there is much that 
 can be said in its favor. This system, however, has equally strong 
 opponents. 
 
 Mr. M. J. Cassidy, Warden of the Eastern Penitentiary at Pennsyl- 
 vania, who attended a meeting of the Prison Association of the United 
 States at Boston, by direction of the Board of Inspectors of his prison, 
 in a report to the Board, says: 
 
 The Convention continued in session five days. During that time 
 many papers were presented and read on the subject of crime, its causes, 
 and the very many remedies proposed for its cure. There was not 
 much discussion of the topics contained in the various well prepared 
 papers, as the reasoning of the able men who prepared them exhausted 
 the subject of the methods of treating persons convicted of crime. Not 
 much was said for any known system. Most of the experts on theoret- 
 ical criminal treatment, and some of the practical prison officers were 
 caught in the new contagion now prevailing, known as indeterminate 
 sentence and parole, that has been transmitted from England, where it 
 has been tried and failed of accomplishing the results desired. The 
 most successful test of " ticket of leave system " in this country is being 
 directed by Z. R. Brockway, who is managing the Elmira Reformatory, 
 in the State of New York, at Elmira. He is doing more with it than 
 has ever been done elsewhere. But he is an exceptional man, and has 
 given his life to this subject, and can make anything go that will go. 
 
 There is so much plausible theory about the method that is alluring, 
 as in all things that are indefinite. The injustice that must be done in 
 the application of the scheme, the dangerous proceeding of making the 
 decisions of properly constituted Courts indefinite, should be well con- 
 sidered in all its features before it is adopted. 
 
 The paper read by Superintendent Brockway, Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Discipline, was prepared by him. It was an indorsement of 
 the indeterminate sentence and parole system, which Superintendent 
 Pillsbury, of New York, did not fully indorse, but signed the report, 
 stating in substance that in his opinion it was not practicable for State 
 Prisons. Mr. Pillsbury not being present, and I being the third member 
 of the Committee of Three on Discipline, could not agree to the Chair- 
 man's report, and gave the following reasons: 
 
 " I have no doubt you will think it is great presumption in me to 
 dissent from anything that the pioneer of the indeterminate sentence 
 and of the new method of reformation may present. There are many
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 47 
 
 things in this report that I heartily agree with. Much of it is good. 
 But I cannot agree with it all, and there was not sufficient time given 
 to admit of my making suggestions which would not so materially have 
 altered the report that it would have failed to express what Mr. Brock- 
 way intended; therefore I did not sign it. 
 
 " The indeterminate sentence and parole I do not approve. I know 
 you will think me egotistical in setting up my opinion against the pre- 
 vailing tide now setting in that direction. But life is too short for any 
 one individual to have three or five or ten years taken out of it. Human 
 judgment is the only lever that can be used in determining whether a 
 person's time shall be lengthened or shortened. Human judgment is 
 very fallible. Courts with juries and with able counsel are unable to 
 determine the exact amount of guilt or innocence of the person tried. 
 Many times the offense does not warrant the sentence imposed. 
 
 " What Macaulay says is true, that there are several undefined lines 
 that verge so close upon each other that we cannot determine the lines 
 which separate courage from rashness, prudence from cowardice, frugal- 
 ity from prodigality. So there are lines that no jury has ever been able 
 to determine, the line of the amount of violence necessary to justify a 
 killing, and the line where mercy to offenders ceases to be a mercy and 
 becomes a pernicious weakness. I would not act as a Prison Warden 
 where I had to determine the time that any person should serve in 
 prison. 
 
 " Boards of Pardon, which are constituted of gentlemen versed in the 
 law, who have facilities for procuring all the evidence in the case and 
 weighing all the pleas that may be offered, in very many cases err in 
 their judgment in granting pardon, not from a want of a disposition to 
 do what is exactly right, but from the fallacy of human judgment. We 
 cannot foresee and determine what is to become of a prisoner after his 
 term expires. Once a criminal always a criminal, is not true. There 
 are many men serving time in prisons, who recover after three, four, and 
 five falls. I would not like to go to the grave with the consciousness 
 that I had deprived any individual of any portion of his life. That part 
 of the report I disagree with, and these are my reasons. 
 
 " Mr. Brockway has launched a very elegant ship, well built and secure 
 in every way. No doubt he will make a successful voyage, but the most 
 important need for the safety of the ship he has not provided, that is, a 
 master and crew that understand sailing the ship. The most important 
 thing for the people who are interested in the reclamation of prisoners, 
 is to provide some means for the training of prison officers to render 
 them efficient in the discharge of their duty. It is very well to go 
 over the old ground of discipline for prisoners, and ' go as you please ' 
 for officers, but it is just as absurd to place inexperienced men who have 
 had no training at all, to control these men in prison, as it is to place a 
 shoemaker or tailor on board a Government vessel carrying a thousand 
 or fifteen hundred men. Railroads are controlled and managed by peo- 
 ple who begin at the beginning. A railroad man begins as a yardman, 
 then he may become a train hand, then brakeman, and perhaps, after a 
 time, an engineer; but to go out into the street, take a man who has 
 never been in a prison before, and place him in control, that is not right. 
 
 '' Mr. Brockway, no doubt, will agree with me in some of my notions. 
 As I declined to sign this report, I deem it proper to give some explana-
 
 48 KEFORMATOKY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tion for doing so. I hope you will forgive me for not advocating the pre- 
 vailing epidemic of indeterminate sentence and parole." 
 
 The institution at Huntingdon is now completed and is ready to receive 
 inmates. Young first offenders are to be there treated for their reclama- 
 tion from the influences by which they had been surrounded and made 
 criminals, and taught habits of industry, preparing them to become good 
 and reputable citizens. The management of this training school for the 
 wayward youth of the State has been fortunate in securing the services 
 of a man for Superintendent, R. W. McClaughrey, who of all men with 
 any knowledge of the business required of him is one of the few men in 
 the country that is fully adapted for the management of such an institu- 
 tion. If success can be attained, he is the one who can make it, I make 
 this statement from a knowledge of the man for some years as one of the 
 most successful prison managers of much experience. In my opinion 
 the results will justify his selection. 
 
 A better description of this institution, and the system there followed, 
 than perhaps I am able to give, is furnished by Charles Dudley Warner, 
 who remarks: 
 
 The Elmira Penitentiary is in its outward appearance a handsome 
 edifice, built not very well, but with some little pretensions to archi- 
 tecture, for the accommodation of about six hundred people. It is well 
 ventilated. The cells are of two or three sizes, fitted for a graded prison 
 in that respect. The reformatory receives convicts from any part of 
 the State, in the discretion of the Judge, who are between the ages of 
 sixteen and thirty, and who are then convicted of the first penitentiary 
 offense. It is called technically a juvenile reformatory, but in all the 
 prisons there are very many prisoners between the ages of sixteen and 
 thirty. A very large proportion of all the convicts who are there for 
 the second and third time are under thirty. In all the prisons that 
 you visit, you are struck with the youthfulness of the occupants. So 
 that, while this is a prison for first offenders, yet ranging up to the age 
 of thirty there is there a very large number of men just as fully fur- 
 nished for criminal life, just as determinedly set on it, as you will find 
 anywhere else. The accident that they have not been before caught and 
 convicted, is an accident, very likely. They are, for the most part, men 
 who have been brought up from boyhood to a criminal life. They belong 
 in any philosophical classification to the criminal class, so that the 
 experiment there is really with difficult and hardened criminals. 
 
 Before I go farther I want to say another thing about education. The 
 notion very largely prevails that it is not a proper thing to educate a 
 criminal; that it may not only make him a greater adept in crime, and 
 that he will become an accomplished rascal. It is my observation that 
 tbe criminal is not an intellectual being; that the criminal class and 
 the class that will be criminal are low in physical as well as mental and 
 moral condition. They are men usually given to vices through inherit- 
 ance or by carnal and vicious tastes. They are not intellectually capa- 
 ble in any way; their will is gone, their motive power is lost. They are, 
 therefore, men who must be approached, if approached at all in any 
 reformatory, on the intellectual side. I do not believe at all in the 
 rose-water treatment of many prisoners. I have an entire disbelief in 
 holidays, in flowers, in tracts, in the little dabbling of sentiment that
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 49 
 
 would make a prison a pleasant place to visit. You must go more rad- 
 ically at the man himself, and come at him physically, intellectually, 
 and morally, in order to effect anything at all. 
 
 The prison at Elmira is in charge of Mr. Brockway, who has organ- 
 ized and originated this, to me, entirely novel treatment of prisoners. 
 When the prisoner is brought in he is submitted to a very thorough 
 personal examination by the Superintendent. There is a large ledger 
 kept, in which a page or pages are devoted to his case. The examina- 
 tion goes into his heredity who was his father, who was his mother, and 
 even who were his grandparents, if it is possible to ascertain. What 
 sort of lives did they all lead. Where was he born. Had he any 
 home life. How long did he stay at home. Had he any education. 
 The ancestry of the boy as showing the tendency of the man. An 
 examination is also made of him physically; and this interested me 
 very much, because it is not a mere examination of whether he is fat 
 or lean, or consumptive, or with tendency to some other disease, but of 
 the quality of the man's flesh, is there any fineness in him, or is he 
 coarse in his physical fiber. Next, a careful examination is made of 
 him mentally. What intellect has he. What quickness, what solidity. 
 Has he any training. Is he bright or dull. Then a thorough diagnosis 
 of his past life is made, relating not to crime, but to his capacity for 
 good. After that is prognosticated with increasing certainty, the sort of 
 treatment that is best for him. Before that, he is, of course, washed and 
 clad, and made fit for association in a decent prison. At first he is put 
 into the second grade. 
 
 In the institution there are three grades first, intermediate, and third. 
 The newcomers go into the second grade. From that, they may go up or 
 down, according to their behavior. When a man is put into the second 
 grade he is told the length of his sentence, the maximum length. He 
 is also told what he has to do to free himself from the institution. That 
 is, he has to make so many marks in order to get out. He is informed 
 what is expected of him in a disciplinary way. Before going there, I 
 could never understand how an indeterminate sentence could be best for 
 criminals and for society. I never before saw any tribunal that could 
 ascertain when a man was fit to go out of prison. The easiest thing in 
 the world is to be religious and be a hypocrite, and not be a bit changed. 
 How are you going to know when a man is to go out? that was always 
 the sticker with me. A prisoner may be kept for the maximum time 
 for which he may be sentenced, or under the discipline of this prison 
 he may leave within a year. In all the grades there are distinctions of 
 dress and treatment. In the second grade he is not much removed from 
 the citizen in appearance he wears clothes of a brown color, and a Scotch 
 cap. In the first grade, which he may reach by good conduct, he wears 
 a blue uniform, with a soldier's cap. In the third grade, to which he 
 may descend by bad conduct, he is put into a red garment. He looks 
 like a criminal in his apparel. It is a stigma on him. These three 
 grades have different privileges. The first grade men occupy better 
 cells and have better fare. They dine together, and in the dining-hall 
 sit at little tables, eight or ten at a table, as at a hotel. When I visit 
 the institution I always like to go into that dining-hall, it is so well 
 conducted and the men are so polite to each other. When the first 
 grade men march, they walk four abreast, in honorable ranks. They 
 are officered by men chosen from their own grade. They are also the 
 4o
 
 50 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 officers of the second grade. They have also certain disciplinary duties 
 in the institution. All this is openly known. They are overlooked by 
 the officers of the institution, who report any one guilty of dereliction 
 of duty. The second grade men take their meals in their cells, and 
 march in ranks of two. The third grade men march in the prison 
 lock-step, and take their meals in their cells, which are not so comfort- 
 able as the other cells. The prisoners feel these distinctions the more 
 keenly the longer they stay there. 
 
 The Superintendent has to decide for the newcomer what is the best 
 sort of work for him to do, for there are several things taught there; 
 next, into what school shall he go. The code of behavior is very strict. 
 The discipline in little things that go to make up conduct in Elmira is 
 exceedingly minute, so that it is impossible for a man to submit himself 
 to it without feeling it very thoroughly. In the workshop he is marked, 
 as well as for his progress and conduct in school. In the school he is 
 marked for his attainment, his diligence, and his progress. He may be 
 in the primary class or pursuing higher studies; but wherever he is, 
 he is required to come to a certain standard, according to his capacity, 
 and he is marked on that. He has to earn a certain number of marks 
 before he can change his condition from the second grade to the first, 
 and be on his way out of the prison. He has to earn these marks by a 
 kind of discipline in all respects exceedingly repugnant to him. He 
 has to earn them, not to-day, but day after day, for months. He has to 
 behave himself perfectly, so that he gets his nine marks without any 
 dereliction. After he has earned all his marks he is put into the first 
 grade; and after six months more, if his marks are perfect and other 
 things are favorable, he is entitled to a conditional release. The inter- 
 est to me in that was this: that no man can submit himself to that 
 threefold discipline, I do not care whether he does it willingly or unwill- 
 ingly, for one or two years without being decidedly changed. I do not 
 believe it is possible to put a man through a drill of that kind without 
 changing him. At first, very likely, he may be a hypocrite; but that 
 cannot last. It is sometimes a long time before they come down to busi- 
 ness, but, in a majority of cases, they do come down. It is said that 
 some men are incorrigible, that they cannot be touched and reformed. 
 I am not certain that that is not true. There are some snarls that can 
 not be straightened, and perhaps there are some men. I remember Mr. 
 Brockway said at my first visit that about 20 per cent were incorrigible, 
 and that the statistics of the institution show that 80 per cent of the 
 men who went away remained beyond the law, or, as some one said, they 
 were taught to "steal honestly." The second time I was there Mr. 
 Brockway said he did not know about that incorrigible business; he did 
 not feel so sure as a few weeks before about the per cent. He said that 
 he made out a list of ten men that he had a right to send to Auburn 
 who should be sent there if they were incorrigible, but he did not send 
 them. In about a week from that time two of the men got a start, and 
 were doing very well. When I was there later that list had disap- 
 peared. Those ten men were doing as well as any one, and likely to 
 keep on doing well. 
 
 When a man has gone on his three-ply duty, and has come to the end 
 of a year with a perfect record, then he must submit himself to the 
 judgment of the Board of Directors, who are responsible to the State 
 and not to the Superintendent. The case with all its aspects is sub-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 51 
 
 mitted to them, and the question is asked whether the man shall go out. 
 If he goes out, he is paroled for six months, but he is never sent out 
 without a place being provided for him. That place is provided often 
 by the man's friends, often by the men who have employed him before, 
 for this seminary at Elmira is getting to have a good reputation for 
 turning out honest boys. It is asked every month to place men from 
 there. It is a very good diploma to graduate there. The number of its 
 correspondents is increasing, so that it is easier and easier to place men. 
 The men who are sent out are required to report every month as to their 
 condition, and this must be certified to by some one known to the insti- 
 tution. When that has gone on for six months, and the man is earning 
 his own living and behaving himself, the release is made absolute by a 
 vote of the Board, and nothing more is heard of it. It seems a little 
 absurd that criminals should be educated as college boys are, and yet 
 education there is carried to as high a pitch in some respects as in some 
 of our High Schools. It is carried on especially in the direction which 
 will go to make a man a good and intelligent citizen, to make him fit to 
 exercise the right of suffrage, and to do his duty to the State with under- 
 standing. Ordinary political economy, history, English and American 
 literature, and branches of that sort are taught, and taught very thor- 
 oughly, because these young men are not studying as some other young 
 men do, to satisfy some one's pride at home, but to get out, and they give 
 their minds to it. They have to pass examinations, and are marked on 
 their reports. They have among themselves a weekly newspaper. By 
 the way, I recommend it as the most decent family paper I know in the 
 country. It has nothing in it that would injure a prisoner, and you 
 cannot afford to send some of our papers to the prisons. I was very 
 much interested in a very high development that I found there. A law- 
 yer of Elmira has, every Sunday morning, what is called a practical 
 morality class. It is made up of a little more than two hundred of the 
 six hundred in the institution, chosen from the three grades according 
 to their ability. There came up in connection with this a very curious 
 psychological fact bearing upon this relation of morality to education. 
 I found that the very much larger proportion of these higher men were 
 selected from the first grade. There were very few from the third grade. 
 The Superintendent made out a table showing exactly how, from time 
 to time, like an isothermal line, conduct went along with intelligence. 
 The best behaved men were the best scholars; the moral training went 
 along with the intellectual. It is an exceedingly interesting table. In 
 this practical morality class they were finishing the reading of Socrates 
 from Professor Jowett's translation. The class was as remarkable in its 
 intellectual quickness, readiness, and ability to understand the problems 
 of the Socratic teaching as any class I ever saw r . I do not think that I 
 ever heard among young men such apt and wonderfully intuitive discus- 
 sions as they carried on there. What happened one morning? Here is 
 an institution made up of 'perhaps one half Catholics, a good many Jews, 
 and people of all denominations and no denomination. They had been 
 studying and discussing Socrates, weighing all the abstract questions of 
 right and wrong, and morality, and that morning they came to the con- 
 ductor of the class, and said to him, " We would like to go on to the New 
 Testament and study the character of Christ." I do not suppose that 
 all the good clergymen of the State of New York could have drawn that 
 class to the study of Christ in five hundred years. But they came nat-
 
 52 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 urally to it as a study of morality, and the next term they were study- 
 ing the New Testament, and studying it without prejudice. 
 
 I believe that a State Prison should pay. I do not believe that the 
 State ought to support any man, because he is a criminal, in idleness. 
 I asked about this place, and found that it did not pay. It cost the 
 State about $30,000 a year to carry it on ; and as we were talking about 
 building a new prison in Connecticut, that seemed to me a lamentable 
 fact. After I went a second time, I thought it over more, and it came 
 to me in this light: At our Connecticut Prison we get back 60 per cent 
 of those whom we have educated there as criminals. They are very 
 accomplished. They come back a great many times. We get back, I 
 say, 60 per cent; that is about the average of all the State Prisons of the 
 country. Here is an institution that takes men of this character, and 
 80 per cent do not only not come back, but are made productive, decent, 
 and respectable citizens, while it only costs $30,000; all the rest the men 
 earn themselves. They earn it in various trades, besides thus fitting 
 themselves for their own occupation. Classes in stenography, in teleg- 
 raphy, in modeling, in drawing, are all taught, and the men are fitted 
 to work in the world, and it only costs $30,000. Why, it costs more 
 than that, under the old system, to catch the men, and try them, and 
 bring them back to us again. Thus, the State is making and saving 
 money by this institution. The first thing that struck me, after I became 
 familiar with the reformatory, was the absolute change in the faces of 
 the men. All the insensibility, the heaviness, had gone out of them, 
 physically as well as mentally, and moral energy was awakened. They 
 ran up and down stairs, and moved briskly, and the whole aspect of the 
 person was changed. 
 
 There is one very serious objection to any kind of institution life. 
 That is to say, it makes the men dependent. The more we can get rid 
 of institution life in every way, the better for us. The trouble at Elmira, 
 as everywhere else, is that the men are fed, lodged, and clothed, and 
 everything is done for them. This trouble of the dependence of the 
 men, of course, obtains there. They get good food, because the Super- 
 intendent says he gets better work out of the men when he gives them 
 good food; but he finds that they are to a certain degree dependent, and 
 he thinks of putting the whole thing on the " European plan." There 
 is a good deal of sense in that. Let a man go into a restaurant and 
 order what he chooses, knowing what he earns. He would very likely 
 over-eat at first, but the process would bring him down to the basis of 
 knowing how to spend his money as well as to earn it. I do not know 
 any one but Mr. Brockway who could carry out -this plan; but I believe 
 that he can make that institution fully independent, earning its money, 
 buying its food and clothing, just as people are required to do outside. 
 
 Some time ago, owing to the operation of a law in New York on the 
 subject of the employment of criminals, most of the inmates were 
 thrown into idleness, and to secure exercise for them they were formed 
 into companies and drilled in military tactics. Although the necessity 
 that brought this result about has passed away, yet the advantages that 
 accrued from the system of military discipline enforced were considered 
 so numerous and important that this feature is still preserved.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 53 
 
 At the time of my visit the spectacle of a military review was pre- 
 sented, the convicts carrying wooden guns and accompanied by a brass 
 band. They drilled and marched with the utmost precision, and demon- 
 strated the exact and severe drill to which they had been subjected. 
 Aside from the beauty and splendor of the display, it is claimed that 
 the practice of military tactics exercises an important influence in the 
 work of reformation. 
 
 The inmates are drilled in different trades, and exhibit a high state 
 of proficiency, and there is no question, from all that can be learned, 
 that the prison is a success. It has been examined at various times by 
 various Commissions from other States, and they nearly all unite in its 
 praise. 
 
 The Board of Prison Commissioners of Massachusetts said: 
 
 When the New York State Reformatory was established, a new and 
 radically different system was adopted, and has been in successful opera- 
 tion for several years. It is provided that sentences to the reformatory 
 shall be merely " to the reformatory," and the Court does not fix or limit 
 the duration, nor is it specified by the Judge; but the prisoner, under 
 the law, may be held for the maximum term for which he might be sen- 
 tenced to any other prison. Authority to release on ticket of leave is 
 given to the "managers" of the New York Reformatory, similar to that 
 which this Board has to release prisoners sentenced to the Massachusetts 
 Reformatory, when it is thought that they have reformed. 
 
 Strong arguments can be made against either system. Against the 
 system of fixed sentences these considerations may fairly be urged: Even 
 upon the theory that penalties may be imposed in such a manner under 
 some system as to properly punish crime, it is certain that they are not 
 so imposed under the existing system. The Courts endeavor to ascertain 
 the facts in each case as well as they can, but often fail entirely. The 
 great difference in sentence, for offenses which are technically similar, 
 has often been commented upon in a manner grossly unfair to the Courts. 
 It is true that these differences are due partly to the different views held 
 by different Judges as to the seriousness of certain offenses, and it often 
 happens that two Judges, in different parts of the State, impose sentences 
 widely different for offenses really similar, and that great injustice is 
 done to one or the other of the offenders. It more often occurs that there 
 are very great differences in the offenses (of which those who make com- 
 ments are entirely ignorant) which not only make it proper to administer 
 different penalties, but which would make it unjust to punish them 
 alike. But whether the difference in sentences is just or unjust, it works 
 greatly to the disadvantage of all efforts to secure reformation. The 
 person receiving the longer sentence feels himself to be grossly injured, 
 and that feeling constantly aggravates and angers, making futile all 
 efforts to bring him under good influences. No one thing operates so 
 disastrously against reformation as the difference in sentences for offenses 
 technically similar. 
 
 The fixing of a sentence tends, also, to give the offender a wrong stand- 
 ard for measuring his offense and his relation to the community. He 
 feels that when he has served his sentence he has " wiped out " his
 
 54 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 offense, and is entitled to return to his place in society, whether changed 
 in character or not, and the law, by recognizing that claim and discharg- 
 ing him at the end of a fixed term, gives its indorsement to that theory. 
 The sentence itself, therefore, makes no appeal whatever for penitence 
 or reformation. 
 
 The indeterminate sentence is founded upon a different theory. Its 
 assumption is that the character of the offender, and not the character 
 of the offense, should determine the duration of his imprisonment. It 
 starts also upon .this other assumption, that the character of the offense 
 does not necessarily indicate the character of the offender. The man 
 who steals a thousand dollars is not necessarily ten times as bad as the 
 man who steals one hundred. It therefore puts all offenders of a similar 
 class upon the same footing when they enter the prison, assuming that 
 in this way a fair basis is obtained for the imposition of sentences. The 
 duration of the sentence is then made to depend upon the offender's 
 character, to be ascertained during his imprisonment, not only by his 
 behavior for the most dangerous criminals are often the best behaved 
 prisoners but by all the means which can be adopted to ascertain the 
 real character. 
 
 The first advantage of this system is, that it makes a strong appeal at 
 once for the establishment of a good character. The prisoner realizes 
 that he is imprisoned, not so much as a retribution for an offense, as 
 because he is unfit to be at liberty, and that his return to society depends 
 upon a demonstration that he is fit to return to it. This perhaps not 
 at first, but in the course of his term impresses him, as it does every 
 one, as a reasonable thing, and when once the idea is grasped it has of 
 itself a strong reformatory influence. 
 
 When the average prisoner enters the prison his first thought, and 
 the one constant thought, is of the date of his coming release, as the 
 anxious thought before his sentence has regard to its probable length. 
 The indeterminate sentence makes the date of release depend upon him- 
 self, and not upon the word of the Court. He must struggle for it. If 
 he has no trade, he must learn one; if he is illiterate, he must be studi- 
 ous; if he has an uncontrolled temper, he must master it; if he has been 
 lawless, he must learn to obey; if he has been shiftless, he must form 
 habits of industry. When these things have been done, and only then, 
 will his release come. The success of the New York Reformatory de- 
 pends largely upon the fact that the indeterminate sentence makes this 
 appeal to all who enter it. It arouses the ambition and is an incentive 
 to the hope of every man, and by making a prisoner's future depend 
 mainly upon himself, it secures his cooperation in the efforts made for 
 his reformation. 
 
 There are two arguments against the system of indeterminate sen- 
 tences which are entitled to attention. It is said by those who oppose it, 
 that it commits the decision as to the length of a prisoner's sentence to a 
 Board which may not possess or exercise good judgment, and may deal 
 unjustly by the prisoner. We believe it to be a sufficient answer to say 
 that, even if the offense, and not the character of the offender, is to be 
 the basis of a sentence, a Board which can have time to get at all the 
 facts of the case will, in most instances, be better able to reach a just 
 conclusion than any Court can which sees the prisoner for only a few 
 minutes, or at most a few hours. It is hard to conceive of a more diffi- 
 cult task than that imposed upon a Court of deciding, for instance,
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 55 
 
 whether a given offense shall be punished by a sentence of twelve or 
 eighteen or twenty-four months. Under the system of indeterminate 
 sentences, every prisoner guilty of offenses technically similar would 
 be sentenced to the reformatory, and might be held for the maximum 
 term provided by law for the punishment of that offense, leaving the 
 question of the actual duration of his sentence to be determined at a 
 later day by his own conduct. 
 
 It is also said that no Board can ascertain a man's real character with 
 sufficient accuracy to make his release conditional upon it. But it must 
 be remembered that sentences are now imposed by the Courts upon pre- 
 cisely this basis, and a supposed general good character tends to secure 
 a shorter sentence than would otherwise be given. It is, then, merely a 
 question as to whether it is better, or more feasible, to ascertain the 
 character before or after sentence. It seems clear that the authorities 
 under whose eyes the prisoner spends every moment of his time are 
 more likely to form a wise judgment in regard to his character than any 
 Court can in the limited time allowed for an investigation. The Court 
 may be able to ascertain the prisoner's reputation, but his character can 
 hardly be known until it has been ascertained by careful study. If any 
 mistake is made by the Board in regard to a prisoner's character, it will 
 rarely be against him. Men rarely appear worse than they are, and 
 there is little danger that any man will be unjustly dealt with by being 
 kept longer than he should. It would only be upon a definite record of 
 bad conduct, and a clear demonstration of bad character, that a prisoner 
 would be held for the full possible term of his sentence. We can see no 
 more reason for releasing a criminal before his reformation is probably 
 assured, than for releasing an insane person from an asylum at the end 
 of a definite term, regardless of his restoration to sanity. 
 
 INDIANA REFORMATORY INSTITUTION FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 
 
 In this connection it may be proper to say a Avord or two in reference 
 to this institution, which I had the pleasure of visiting in company with 
 Judge Jordan, President of the Reform School at Plainfield. 
 
 This institution is situated at Indianapolis, and is under the super- 
 vision of a Board of Managers consisting of three ladies. It consists of 
 two departments the penal and the reformatory. The Managers 
 strongly desire to have the name of the institution changed, so as to 
 remove any stigma that may exist upon the reformatory department, 
 and suggest that the change should be to " The Reformatory for Girls and 
 Woman's Prison." 
 
 The total cost for maintenance last year was $28,241 44, and the 
 institution earned $4,041 90. 
 
 The reformatory department was created for the purpose of assuming 
 charge of girls under fifteen years of age who might be sent to it by 
 parents, guardians, or Courts, and who required the restraints, discipline, 
 and guardianship of a school of this character. The period of deten- 
 tion is from one to three years, and the aim of this department is to
 
 56 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 teach each girl some form of industrial employment. The principal 
 industries followed are cane seating, painting, whitewashing, plain and 
 fancy cooking, sewing, cutting, fitting, and draping. 
 
 The Superintendent furnishes the following in regard to discipline: 
 
 Discipline in its broadest sense means to train, to develop, to chasten, 
 to educate, and it is the regular enforcing of wholesome rules that makes 
 good discipline. 
 
 Order cannot be maintained in any other way. Obedience is God's 
 first law, and to its mandate all must bow. 
 
 We always give a girl a chance to tell her own story, and to defend 
 her own case when reported for any misdemeanor, always urging her to 
 truthfulness of statement, although she may be greatly at fault. Thus 
 by gentleness and justice, united with firmness, we seek to win her con- 
 fidence and to receive her willing and cheerful obedience. 
 
 Our punishment consists in depriving of privilege to a great extent. 
 If a girl misbehaves in the school-room she is not allowed to enter again 
 until she makes proper acknowledgment of her wrong-doing and prom- 
 ises better conduct in the future. Neither is she allowed to do any kind 
 of work during school hours, but must remain standing idly in the hall. 
 
 If her conduct is bad in the general collection-room, or in passing 
 down to her meals, she is deprived of the privilege of the dining-room 
 for awhile, eating her food alone in the hall above. 
 
 Misbehavior in Sunday-school or church deprives her of those services 
 until she thinks she can act differently. A girl who persists in quar- 
 reling or fighting, or in making disturbance of any kind throughout the 
 house, is removed from the family to her dormitory for awhile, where 
 she remains alone during the day, with work for working hours and 
 books for recreation. Sometimes, as in many private families, her 
 clothes are locked up and she must stay in bed. When these remedies 
 all fail, then to a solitary room she must go, with no privilege save that 
 of her own bad companionship. 
 
 The switch or small round strap is sometimes used when necessity 
 requires, especially with the children and younger girls. The spirit and 
 tone of the house is better even than a year ago. Fewer punishments, 
 and these of shorter duration, are needed, while with very many girls 
 only a word of reproof is necessary. 
 
 Forty-four girls have been received during the year; thirty have been 
 discharged, being of age; eighteen are now out on ticket-of-leave, giving 
 ordinary satisfaction; ten have been returned for various reasons, some 
 doing wrong that they might come back. 
 
 While our hearts are often pained by the abandonment of some of our 
 girls to lives of licentiousness and vice, others are doing so well as to 
 inspire within us a song of thankfulness that we have been permitted 
 to take them by the hand and lift them out of wrong-doing into better 
 paths.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 57 
 
 PAET 
 State Prisons. 
 
 OHIO PENITENTIARY. 
 
 This institution is situated at Columbus, either within or adjoining 
 the city limits, and the site consists of twenty-six acres, of w r hich twenty- 
 two are included within the walls. The buildings, including the shops, 
 cell blocks, administration buildings, and others, number thirty-eight. 
 The wall surrounding the grounds is three feet thick at the bottom, 
 eighteen inches at the top, is twenty -two feet in height above the ground, 
 with seven feet in foundation. The w.all is surrounded with heavy 
 dressed stone coping four inches thick and three feet in width. It has 
 a total length of three thousand six hundred and fifty feet, and the 
 entire cost exceeded $58,000. 
 
 The total receipts for last year were $245,559 75, and the expenditures 
 $230,377 35, leaving the prison not only self-sustaining, but with a sur- 
 plus of $15,182 40. Certainly a creditable showing. 
 
 The prison is under a management of a Board of five Managers, at 
 least two of whom the law requires shall be practical and skilled 
 mechanics, and not more than three of whom are to belong to the same 
 political party. Their term of office is five years, and they are appointed 
 by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The 
 Governor has power to remove any member at his discretion. Each 
 member is entitled to $10 per day as compensation for his services not 
 exceeding one hundred days in a year, and this sum includes all expenses. 
 
 In Ohio the Courts have power, if deemed proper, to sentence any 
 person convicted of a felony, other than murder in the second degree, 
 who has not previously been convicted of a felony and served a term in 
 a penal institution, to a general sentence of imprisonment in the peni- 
 tentiary. Such imprisonment cannot exceed the maximum term fixed 
 by law, and cannot be less than the minimum, but may be terminated 
 at any time between these periods by good conduct. In the case of such 
 a sentence the clerk of the Court is required to furnish to the Warden 
 a record containing a copy of the indictment and any special plea that 
 may have been made, the names and addresses of the Judge presiding 
 at the trial, the jurors, and witnesses sworn on the trial, and also a
 
 58 EEFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 statement of any fact which the Judge may deem necessary for the com- 
 prehension of the case, with his reasons for the sentence inflicted. 
 
 When a convict is discharged, if he has passed the term of imprison- 
 ment without a breach of the rules or discipline, except such as are 
 excused by the Board, he is restored to the rights forfeited by his con- 
 viction, and receives from the Governor a certificate, under the seal of 
 
 State, of such restoration. If he is not at the time of his discharge 
 
 entitled to this restoration, yet if his conduct for a year after his release 
 has been exemplary, he may present to the Governor a certificate signed 
 by ten or more reputable citizens of the place where he has resided for 
 such time, certified to be such by the Probate Judge of the county, and 
 he then becomes entitled to a restoration of his rights. 
 
 For good behavior a convict is allowed by way of commutation of sen- 
 tence, for each month of the first year five days, for the second year 
 seven days for each month, for the third year nine days for each month, 
 and for the fourth and subsequent years ten days for each month. 
 
 The Warden is authorized to place to the credit of all prisoners, ex- 
 cept those sentenced for life, such amount of their earnings as the Board 
 may deem equitable, taking into consideration the character of the pris- 
 oner, the nature of the crime for which he was imprisoned, and his gen- 
 eral deportment; but such credit cannot exceed twenty per cent of the 
 prisoner's earnings. At least one fourth of this amount is retained for 
 the prisoner, and paid to him at the time of his restoration to citizen- 
 ship, but the balance may be paid to him or his family at such time 
 and in such manner as the Board of Managers may deem best. 
 
 The Warden holds his office for the term of two years, unless sooner 
 removed for cause, and is required to be a person who, from practical 
 experience, possesses the ability and qualifications to carry on success- 
 fully the industries of the penitentiary, and the ability essential to the 
 proper management of the officers and other employes under his juris- 
 diction, and to enforce and maintain proper discipline in every depart- 
 ment. One Guard or minor officer is to be appointed from each county 
 in the State until the necessary number is secured. The Warden's bond 
 is $50,000, and the bond is drawn by the Attorney-General, and deposited 
 with the Secretary of State. 
 
 If a prisoner dies, and if none of his relatives, after notice, or friends 
 request the body for interment, the body, either before or after burial, 
 may, on written application of the professor of anatomy in any medical 
 college, or the President of any county medical society, be delivered to 
 such person for the purpose of medical or surgical study or dissection. 
 
 At the time when I visited the prison it had one thousand five hun-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 59 
 
 dred and sixty inmates. They are classified into three grades. When 
 a convict is received he enters the second or middle grade, and his sub- 
 sequent conduct determines whether he shall be elevated to the first or 
 lowered to the third grade. If he serves for six months in the second 
 grade, and conducts himself in accordance with the rules, he is entitled 
 {o a place in the first grade. Those in the first grade are allowed to 
 wear mustaches. Friends may supply a convict with underclothing, 
 but all prisoners are required to dress in the uniform of their respective 
 grades. 
 
 The convicts are permitted, if they so desire, to decorate their cells 
 and to place carpet and furniture in them. Some of the cells that I 
 inspected, occupied by criminals who before their advent into a penal 
 colony dwelt in stately mansions, were quite elaborately furnished. 
 
 They all have the same prison fare, except that friends may once a 
 month supply a convict with a meal when they visit him. The princi- 
 pal punishment is the dungeon and solitary confinement, although the 
 shower bath is occasionally used. 
 
 Daily newspapers are strictly excluded from the prison, and while 
 weekly papers are admitted, still all statements about criminals or the 
 commission of crimes are cut out before the papers are delivered to the 
 prisoners. 
 
 The convicts all eat in one large dining-room, as they do in our 
 prisons. The prison has two thousand cells, and only one man is placed 
 in a cell. 
 
 One of the rules of the present Warden, Mr. Coffin, which has been 
 in force for two years, is that if six or a less number of the prisoners are 
 reported for offenses, they are allowed to talk at dinner. The Warden 
 states that this rule works admirably. To this prison are sent those 
 convicted by the Federal Courts in the Territories and in the Southern 
 States. 
 
 While walking through the prison yard I noticed two persons care- 
 fully guarded by an officer, walking up and down for exercise. They 
 had been convicted of murder in the first degree, and were soon to be 
 hung as the penalty of their guilt. In Ohio the death penalty is enforced 
 only by the Warden, or in case of his death, inability, or absence, by a 
 Deputy Warden. This punishment can be inflicted only within the 
 walls of the prison, within an inclosure to be prepared for that purpose, 
 under the direction of the Warden and the Board of Managers. This 
 inclosure is to be constructed in such a manner as to hide the gallows 
 from public view. The execution takes place on the day appointed by 
 the Court, before the hour of sunrise, and the Warden or Deputy War-
 
 60 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 den executing the sentence receives $50 for his services as executioner. 
 At the execution, besides the Warden and such number of Guards as he 
 may deem necessary, there may be present the Sheriff of the county in 
 which the prisoner was convicted, the Board of Managers and Physician 
 of the prison, the clergyman in attendance upon the prisoner, and such 
 other persons as the prisoner may designate, not exceeding three in 
 number, representatives of not exceeding three newspapers in the county 
 where the crime was committed, and one reporter for each of the daily 
 newspapers published in Columbus. No other person is permitted to be 
 present. 
 
 The statutes of the State provide that the Warden shall furnish each 
 convict with a Bible, and shall permit, as often as he may think proper, 
 regular ministers of the Gospel to preach to the convicts. 
 
 The Governor, heads of all departments, members of the Legislature, 
 and such other persons as the Warden may think proper, are admitted 
 as visitors within the walls of the prison free of charge. The law pro- 
 vides that the Board of Managers may prescribe a reasonable sum for 
 going through the prison, and that the Warden shall procure suitable 
 tickets, which shall be sold by the Clerk, who shall keep an account of 
 such sales and pay the money to the Warden daily, and that the Guard 
 at the door of the guard-room shall also keep an account of them in a 
 book as they are received, and return them to the Warden each day 
 before the prison is closed. The admission price fixed by the Board for 
 general visitors is twenty-five cents. 
 
 The prisoners are not allowed to exchange a word with each other 
 under any pretense, nor communicate any intelligence to each other in 
 writing. They are not permitted to exchange looks, winks, or laughs at 
 each other, or make use of any signs, except such as are necessary to 
 convey their wants to the Guards or other officers. They are not per- 
 mitted to speak to the Guards on ordinary topics, nor address them, 
 except in relation to the work of the prision. 
 
 Each male prisoner is allowed one hat or cap, one jacket, two hickory 
 shirts, one pair of pantaloons, and one pair of shoes. During the winter 
 season the Warden allows sufficient underclothing to such prisoners as in 
 his judgment may require it, and to each man a vest and two pair of 
 socks. All other clothing found in the possession of a prisoner is taken 
 away from him. Each prisoner may also have in his possession one 
 handkerchief, toothpick, and toothbrush, a fine and coarse comb, pho- 
 tographs of his friends, a knife, the blade of which must not exceed one 
 inch in length and be blunt at the point, and his own books. But no
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 61 
 
 prisoner is allowed to have books or papers of his own except by per- 
 mission of the Warden. 
 
 Mention* has already been made of the division of the prison into 
 three grades. When a prisoner is received, after undergoing the ordi- 
 nary bathing and clothing, he is described in the register and medically 
 examined. Questions are then propounded to him concerning his pre- 
 vious history, to ascertain as nearly as possible the causes of his crime 
 and the best probable plan of treatment. When the examination is 
 concluded, careful instruction is given to him in his liabilities, rights, 
 and privileges under the law; and the prison regulations and the system 
 of marks followed at the prison, with the conditions of promotion, degra- 
 dation, and release, are fully explained to him. He enters the second 
 grade and is assigned to a suitable industry. He may be promoted to 
 the first grade by earning nine marks for six months successively after 
 the minimum term of service for his crime has expired. Of the marks 
 to be earned each month, three count for labor, three for demeanor, and 
 three for progress in school. He may be degraded to the third class for 
 such deliberate and continued violations of the rules and regulations as 
 the Warden may deem sufficient cause for such degradation; for such 
 acts of disobedience, quarreling, destruction of property, and misconduct 
 generally as, in the judgment of the Warden, are incompatible with the 
 the good order of the prison; for the unnecessary or wanton destruction 
 or injury to any property, or lack of care in its preservation; or for the 
 violation of any regulation of prison discipline^ which, in the Warden's 
 opinion, materially affects the condition of the prisoner or the grade to 
 which he belongs. A third grade prisoner may, in the discretion of the 
 Warden, be restored to the second grade for three months' good conduct 
 in labor and demeanor. 
 
 Prisoners in the first grade are clothed in blue, those in the second 
 in gray, while those in the third grade are clothed in prison stripes and 
 march in the lock-step. 
 
 The Warden resides at the penitentiary in apartments assigned to 
 him and furnished at the expense of the State in a plain and substan- 
 tial manner. The Matron also resides at the prison, but all the other 
 officers live in the City of Columbus. The Warden is required to examine 
 daily into the condition of the prison, and to visit every department and 
 see every prisoner as often as may be required for good order and proper 
 discipline, and when not necessarily engaged in superintending general 
 affairs and supervising his assistants in the performance of their duties, 
 he is required to remain during working hours in the Warden's office. 
 Every night, before retiring, he passes through the prison and satisfies
 
 62 REFOEMATOKY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 himself that all is safe and that the Night Guards are properly discharg- 
 ing their duty. 
 
 When he is not prevented by sickness or other cause,- he Is required, 
 under the rules, to attend divine service whenever it may be held in 
 the chapel of the prison, and to inspect the moral character of the pris- 
 oners. 
 
 A prison school is maintained at this institution, which is under the 
 charge of a Guard qualified for the place, and detailed for that purpose 
 by the Warden, and he has charge of the illiterate and other prisoners 
 attending the school. He assists the prisoners appointed as teachers 
 and makes a report monthly as to the attendance of the prisoners and 
 the progress made in their studies. 
 
 Guards are strictly enjoined to refrain from whistling, scuffling, 
 immoderate laughter, boisterous conversation, exciting discussions on 
 politics, religion, or other subjects, provoking witticisms or sarcasms, 
 and all other acts calculated to disturb the harmony and good order of 
 the prison. They are required to be men of good moral character and 
 of temperate habits, and for consorting with lewd or vicious company 
 they may be discharged. 
 
 No officer or employe is permitted to use ardent spirits, wines, strong 
 beer, or ale, upon any occasions in or about the prison, nor is any per- 
 son permitted to bring any intoxicating liquor within the prison walls, 
 except for the hospital to be used for medicine, under the direction of 
 the Warden or Physician. 
 
 In Ohio much progress has been made in prison management, and 
 not the least important of the features of its penal system are the parole 
 law and the law relative to habitual criminals. In 1885 the Legislature 
 conferred upon the Board of Managers power to establish rules and 
 regulations under which any prisoner imprisoned under a sentence other 
 than for murder in the first or second degree, who had served the mini- 
 mum term provided by law for the crime for which he was convicted, 
 and who had not previously been convicted of a felony, might be 
 allowed to go upon parole outside of the buildings and inclosures, but 
 to remain, while on parole, in the legal custody and under the control 
 of the Board and subject at any time to be taken back within the 
 inclosure of the prison. The Legislature also conferred power upon the 
 Board to enforce the rules and regulations made by them and to reim- 
 prison any convict upon parole. No prisoner is, however, paroled, 
 under the rules adopted by the Board, unless he has been in the first 
 grade continuously for a period of at least four months, nor until the 
 Board is satisfied that- the prisoner will conform to the rules and regu-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 63 
 
 lations of his parole, and satisfactory evidence is furnished to the Board 
 in writing that employment has been secured for him, from some respon- 
 sible person, certified to be such by the Auditor of the county where 
 such person resides. It requires the affirmative vote of at least four 
 members of the Board to grant a parole, and every paroled prisoner 
 may be retaken for any reason that may be satisfactory to the Board, 
 and at their sole discretion, and when retaken he remains in confine- 
 ment until released by law. 
 
 The prisoner, when paroled, is required to proceed to the place of em- 
 ployment provided for him, and remain at such place, if practicable, for 
 a period of at least six months. If he desires to change his place of 
 employment or residence, he must first obtain the written consent of the 
 Board. He is required to conduct himself honestly, avoid evil associa- 
 tions, obey the law, abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors as a 
 beverage, and on the first day of each month until his final release, for- 
 ward by mail, to the Secretary of the Board, a report of himself, stating 
 whether he has been constantly in receipt of wages during the preceding 
 month, and if not, stating the reason therefor; the amount of money 
 that he has earned, the amount that he has expended, and a general 
 statement of his surroundings and prospects. 
 
 Mr. Coffin, the Warden (in answer to a question of mine), said that 
 this law works well and produces beneficial results. To avoid the pressure 
 of friends to secure paroles for prisoners, the Board will hear no oral 
 argument by attorneys or others in the interest of prisoners who have 
 made application for parole, but all such efforts must be placed in writ- 
 ing and filed with the application of the prisoner to whom it refers. 
 
 Ohio also recognizes the existence of the habitual criminal, and to 
 prevent him from preying on society, restrains him for life. A person 
 who has been twice convicted, sentenced, and imprisoned in a penal 
 institution for felony, whether committed in Ohio or elsewhere within 
 the limits of the United States, and who is convicted and sentenced to 
 the Ohio Penitentiary for felony, is deemed an habitual criminal. He 
 is not entitled to a discharge on the expiration of the term for which he 
 was sentenced, but, unless pardoned by the Governor, he is to be detained 
 in prison during the term of his natural life. The Board of Managers, 
 however, have power, after the expiration of the term for which the pris- 
 oner was sentenced, to allow him, in their discretion, to go upon parole 
 outside of the buildings and inclosures, but to remain in the legal cus- 
 tody of the Board, subject at any time to be taken back. 
 
 A woolen mill is conducted at the prison, which makes an indestruct- 
 ible blanket for the Insane Asylums of the State. It also makes cloth
 
 64 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 for prison clothes, and the Managers desired to obtain an order to supply 
 the California Prisons. The meat supplied to the prison costs 6| cents 
 a pound at Cincinnati. The salaries paid are as follows: 
 
 Warden $1,800 per annum. 
 
 Deputy Warden $1,200 per annum. 
 
 Assistant Deputy Warden $900 per annum. 
 
 Secretary $1 ,500 per annum. 
 
 Clerk $1,500 per annum. 
 
 Assistant Clerk $900 per annum. 
 
 Steward $1,200 per annum. 
 
 Storekeeper $900 per annum. 
 
 Physician $900 per annum. 
 
 Superintendent of Hospital (day) $780 per annum. 
 
 Superintendent of Hospital (night) $780 per annum. 
 
 Captain of Night Watch .$900 per annum. 
 
 Captain of Guard-room $900 per annum. 
 
 The Guards receive $65 per month, without board or lodging. 
 
 The various other officers, such as Superintendent of Construction, 
 Superintendent of State Shop, Superintendent of Subsistence, Superin- 
 tendent of Gas Works, Superintendent of Yard, Superintendent of Piece 
 Price Work, Superintendent of Woolen Mill, and Superintendent of 
 School, each receive $65 per month. The Matron receives $50 per 
 month and board and lodging. 
 
 The per capita expense for last year was $176 67 for the entire year, 
 or an average of 48.296 cents per day, and was thus distributed: 
 
 Expenses 
 for Year. 
 
 
 Per Capita Expense. 
 
 Day. 
 
 Year. 
 
 $5,000 00 
 22,250 51 
 75,944 11 
 235 65 
 67 63 
 402 85 
 2,821 15 
 11,500 40 
 799 97 
 3,372 44 
 70 55 
 4,198 02 
 1,539 68 
 530 81 
 1,078 70 
 319 29 
 18,399 27 
 5,352 83 
 3,370 55 
 63,863 79 
 2,496 74 
 1,958 86 
 2,536 47 
 2,267 08 
 15,182 40 
 
 Managers. . ... 
 
 $0 00.983 
 04.376 
 14.936 
 00.047 
 00.013 
 00.079 
 00.555 
 02.262 
 00.157 
 00.663 
 00.014 
 00.826 
 00.303 
 00.105 
 00.212 
 00.063 
 03.619 
 01.053 
 00663 
 12.560 
 00.491 
 00.385 
 00.499 
 00.446 
 02.986 
 
 $3 59ft 
 1600ft 
 54 63ft 
 16ft 
 04ft 
 28ft 
 2 03 
 8 27ft 
 57ft 
 2 42ft 
 ttft 
 3 02 
 1 10ft 
 38ft 
 77ft 
 23 
 13 23ft 
 3 85ft 
 242ft 
 45 94ft 
 179ft 
 140ft 
 182ft 
 163ft 
 10 93 
 
 Officers 
 
 Guards ,' 
 
 Broom shop . 
 
 Chapel . 
 
 Fein ale Department 
 
 Flour mill . 
 
 Fuel 
 
 Halls and cells 
 
 Hospital .. 
 
 Library. 
 
 Miscellaneous .. 
 
 Offices and postage 
 
 Photograph gallery 
 
 Printing office 
 
 School-room 
 
 ("Clothing 
 
 State shop < Shoe 
 
 (.Tobacco 
 
 Subsistence 
 
 Wash house 
 
 Warden's house 
 
 Woolen mill 
 
 Yard and stable 
 
 By balance 
 
 
 $245,559 75 
 
 ?0 48.296 
 
 $176 67
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 65 
 
 There were at the time of my visit thirty female prisoners in the peni- 
 tentiary. They are now engaged in caning chairs, but had previously 
 been engaged in cigarmaking. 
 
 If a prisoner desires to see the Warden or a member of the Board of 
 Managers he sends notice on a printed slip, which must be delivered to 
 the person to whom it is addressed. Each prisoner is furnished with a 
 number of these slips and can make this request as often as he desires, 
 stating the reason for which he desires the interview. 
 
 The inmates are allowed two plugs of chewing tobacco each week. 
 The plugs used are two inches wide, four inches long, and a quarter of 
 an inch thick. No smoking is permitted except on the fourth of July, 
 Christmas, and Thanksgiving Day. Each prisoner on these days is 
 allowed two cigars, costing $15 per thousand. Friends are allowed to 
 furnish a prisoner with chewing tobacco of a quality different from that 
 supplied by the prison, but not of any larger size. 
 
 The cell-doors, instead of being made of impenetrable heavy iron, are 
 composed of bars in the form of a grating. It is claimed by the prison 
 officers that these doors, while they are preferable on account of allowing 
 the sun and air to enter, are safer also, because they permit an uninter- 
 rupted view into the cells to be had at all times. 
 
 On Sunday the exercises of the day are opened by the Sunday-school, 
 which commences at eight o'clock in the morning, and continues for an 
 hour. A prayer meeting follows, beginning at nine o'clock and termi- 
 nating at ten. At eleven o'clock the regular services commence, and 
 every prisoner is required to attend. The services last for half an hour. 
 In the afternoon the prisoners are locked up in their cells and remain 
 there until Monday morning. A Catholic priest ministers to those of 
 his faith. 
 
 The bill of fare that must satisfy the appetite of the prisoner is as 
 follows: 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee, bread and butter, and part of the time meat. 
 Dinner. Potatoes, vegetable soup, meat, bread, one or two apples or 
 a ripe tomato. 
 
 Supper. Tea, molasses, and sometimes meat or sausage. 
 
 In Ohio it is recognized that protection is due to the American cow, 
 for it is provided by a law of that State that no butter or cheese not 
 made wholly from pure milk or cream, salt, and harmless coloring 
 matter, shall be used in any of the charitable or penal institutions of 
 the State. 
 
 5D
 
 66 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ILLINOIS STATE PENITENTIARY. 
 
 This penitentiary is situated at Joliet, Illinois, and for many years 
 was under the superintendence of Major R. W. McClaughrey, who now 
 has charge of the reformatory at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. 
 
 During the year ending September 30, 1887, the total earnings of the 
 prison were $225,328 76, and during the year ending September 30, 1888, 
 $201,719 05. 
 
 At the time that I visited the prison the fiscal year for 1889 had not 
 expired, so that in order to show the financial management of the prison 
 I shall take the figures of 1887 and 1888. During the first of these 
 years the prison earned from labor under contract, $220,536 80; from 
 railroad dock and teaming, $2,438 58; and from the labor of female 
 prisoners, $167 93; which, with the earnings from the State shops, 
 amounting to $2,041 11, and the net gain from the store, make the total 
 named. The average price paid for the labor of convicts under contract 
 was 62.71 cents per man per day, and the average earnings per man per 
 day, including productive and unproductive men, including working 
 days, Sundays, and holidays, amounted to 42.31 cents. 
 
 During the year 1888 the amount realized from the earnings of con- 
 victs under contract was $194,112 32; from railroad dock and teaming, 
 $2,318 90; from the labor of female prisoners and idle-room, $793 04; 
 from the State shops, net gain, $1,772 05, and from the store and farm, 
 $2,848 57. The average contract price paid for contract labor was 63.06 
 cents per man per day, and the average earnings per man per day, includ- 
 ing productive and unproductive men, including working days, Sundays, 
 and holidays, amounted to 41.72 cents. 
 
 During the year ending September 30, 1887, the average number of 
 convicts was one thousand four hundred and fifty-nine; the total cost 
 of maintenance during the year was $236,264 09, and the average cost 
 for each convict per day, or the per diem, was 44.36 cents, or $161 93 
 for the year. 
 
 Of this maintaining cost, the sum of $102,924 10 was for salaries, 
 board, and lodging of officers; $58,924 10 for convict subsistence; $16,- 
 583 12 for convict clothing and bedding; $19,830 98 for convict dis- 
 charge clothing and transportation; $5,786 55 for cell-houses, including 
 rations of tobacco and writing material; $4,878 41 for incidentals, in- 
 cluding fuel and other supplies for shops, guard boxes, solitary, armory, 
 yard, female prison, etc.; $5,316 13 for teaming and stable department; 
 $934 61 for hospital (special subsistence supplies); $1,920 61 for hos- 
 pital (sanitary and medical supplies); $11,487 85 for motive power and
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 67 
 
 steam for cooking, heating, and ventilating; $3,310 89 for gas; $5,068 85 
 for office and general expenses, legal and professional services; and $3,- 
 196 04 for traveling, advertising, recapturing escaped prisoners, and 
 holiday expenses, etc. 
 
 For the year ending September 30, 1888, the total maintaining cost 
 of the prison was $225,686 88, the average number of prisoners 1,321, 
 and the cost per diem 46.68 cents. The details of this cost of mainte- 
 nance are as follows: 
 
 DEPABTMENT OF EXPENSE. 
 
 Total During 
 Year. 
 
 PEE CONVICT. 
 
 Per Year. 
 
 Per Day. 
 Cents. 
 
 Salaries, board, and lodging of officers 
 
 $102.007 00 
 53.600 23 
 14,759 95 
 15,786 48 
 
 5,741 91 
 
 4,572 89 
 4,116 90 
 1,111 71 
 1,765 18 
 
 12,659 89 
 3,190 77 
 
 4,070 59 
 2,303 38 
 
 $77 22 
 40 57 
 11 17 
 11 95 
 
 4 35 
 
 3 46 
 3 12 
 
 84 
 1 34 
 
 9 58 
 2 42 
 
 3 08 
 1 74 
 
 21.10 
 11.10 
 3.05 
 3.26 
 
 1.19 
 
 0.94 
 0.85 
 0.23 
 0.37 
 
 2.62 
 0.66 
 
 0.84 
 
 0.47 
 
 Convict subsistence 
 
 Convict clothing and bedding . 
 
 Convict discharge clothing and transportation 
 
 Cell-houses, including rations of tobacco and writing 
 material 
 
 Incidentals, including fuel and other supplies for shops, 
 guard boxes, solitary, armory, yard, female prison, etc.. 
 Teaming and stable department 
 
 Hospital ( special subsistence supplies) 
 
 Hospital (sanitary and medical supplies) 
 
 Motive power and steam for cooking, heating, and ven- 
 tilating ... . 
 
 Gas 
 
 Office and general expenses, legal and professional ser- 
 vices 
 
 Traveling, advertising, recapturing escaped convicts, 
 and holiday expenses, etc. . 
 
 Totals 
 
 $225,686 88 
 
 $170 84 
 
 46.68 
 
 
 Average of convicts (for vear) 1,321 
 
 Number of days' board (for year) 483,491 
 
 The following will show the quantities and cost of convict subsistence 
 and the average cost per convict, for the fiscal years ending September 
 30, 1887, and September 30, 1888: 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 TOTAL, 1887. 
 
 TOTAT,, 1888. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Fresh beef pounds 
 
 182,770 
 21,732- 
 36,499 
 31,717 
 32,650 
 4,951 
 50,544 
 3,260 
 39,213 
 2,557 
 200 
 7,003 
 1,281 
 8,880 
 3,101 
 734 
 819 
 
 $12,322 22 
 1,345 69 
 2,414 57 
 2,380 97 
 1,379 25 
 425 16 
 2,913 15 
 338 81 
 3,962 06 
 179 27 
 200 00 
 426 30 
 152 07 
 1,645 02 
 12,407 01 
 183 50 
 134 18 
 
 197,547 
 22,983 
 11,473 
 21,066 
 
 $12,249 04 
 1,101 10 
 468 12 
 1308 48 
 
 Salt beef, pounds 
 
 Fresh porlc, pounds 
 
 Salt pork and bacon pounds 
 
 Hocks pounds 
 
 Veal mutton and lamb pounds 
 
 6,661 
 49,419 
 3,158 
 36,412 
 3,653 
 100 
 11,940 
 1,260 
 5,910 
 2,946 
 600 
 2,546 
 
 542 81 
 3,023 52 
 328 74 
 3,037 25 
 297 84 
 110 00 
 820 90 
 156 21 
 1,140 23 
 11,193 87 
 154 14 
 400 32 
 
 Sausage, pounds - 
 
 Turkev and chickens pounds . - 
 
 Shoulders, pounds 
 
 Lard pounds - .. ... 
 
 Oysters, gallons . 
 
 Codfish, pounds . - ...... 
 
 Eggs, dozens 
 
 Butter, pounds . - 
 
 Flour, barrels 
 
 Yeast, pounds 
 
 Milk, eallons . .
 
 68 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 SUBSISTENCE ACCOUNT Continued. 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 TOTAL, 1887. 
 
 TOTAL, 1888. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 
 
 
 374 
 6,555 
 42 
 394 
 124 
 171 
 26 
 12,208 
 613f 
 
 $11 11 
 5,075 45 
 52 12 
 421 25 
 51 80 
 222 10 
 33 50 
 67 87 
 1,219 94 
 351 23 
 
 Potatoes bushels - . . --. 
 
 7,534 
 166 
 319 
 
 $5,874 80 
 64 30 
 189 50 
 
 Parsnips, bushels 
 
 Onions bushels --. --- ----- 
 
 Tomatoes bushels --- - -..-.--.-.. 
 
 Turnips bushels 
 
 393 
 95i 
 27,490 
 501 
 76 
 17 
 5 
 
 161 50 
 49 00 
 152 74 
 347 66 
 166 70 
 82 48 
 20 48 
 
 Beets bushels - - ----- . .... 
 
 Cabbage, pounds 
 
 White beans, bushels 
 
 Apples barrels - _-. . - 
 
 Pickles barrels - - --------- 
 
 Sauerkraut barrels 
 
 
 
 Carrots bushels - -. .... .....____. 
 
 22 
 
 27 65 
 169 51 
 935 60 
 2,420 54 
 6 22 
 290 97 
 718 75 
 61 30 
 366 46 
 65 60 
 200 39 
 31 32 
 158 05 
 17 38 
 127 48 
 29 42 
 4 66 
 59 68 
 31 03 
 13 37 
 216 04 
 323 95 
 616 50 
 632 81 
 249 30 
 1,532 58 
 415 84 
 217 40 
 
 Farni vegetables 
 
 
 170 29 
 527 19 
 2,229 00 
 19 15 
 48 74 
 782 73 
 93 05 
 346 49 
 58 90 
 243 30 
 74 44 
 46 50 
 77 65 
 
 Tea pounds . .......--. .. ... 
 
 1,989 
 15,957 
 6 
 730 
 55 
 373 
 1,468 
 67 
 37 
 245J 
 781 
 24 
 
 2,415 
 12,115 
 3 
 3,895 
 46 
 241 
 1,553 
 69 
 29 
 101 
 2,347 
 
 *i 
 
 3,676 
 166 
 10 
 810 
 93 
 183 
 65 
 89i 
 136 
 
 Coffee, pounds . 
 
 Crackers, barrels. ... 
 
 Sugar pounds ----- .......--.-. ...... 
 
 Syrup, barrels . 
 
 Ginger, pounds . . ... .... 
 
 Pepper, pounds 
 
 Salt, barrels .. ... 
 
 Vinegar, barrels . 
 
 Mustard, pounds .. 
 
 Rice, pounds .. . 
 
 Hominy, pounds .. . . 
 
 Barley, pounds . .......... 
 
 Allspice, pounds . 
 
 266 
 
 46 03 
 
 Cinnamon, pounds .. ..... ... 
 
 Currants, pounds 
 
 1,046 
 156 
 
 70 10 
 42 32 
 
 Baking powder, pounds 
 
 Soda, pounds .. 
 
 Soap, boxes 
 
 66 
 51| 
 92 
 
 217 73 
 155 85 
 533 35 
 675 34 
 155 71 
 1,460 33 
 459 44 
 248 63 
 
 Ice, tons 
 
 Coal, tons .... 
 
 Implements and utensils 
 
 Female prison 
 
 
 
 Board 01 convicts in Warden house 
 
 
 
 Hospital 
 
 
 
 Repairs on implements 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 
 
 $58,170 17 
 144 22 
 
 
 $53,778 74 
 178 51 
 
 Credits for sundry sales 
 
 
 
 Net totals 
 
 
 
 
 $58,025 95 
 
 
 $53,600 23 
 
 Total number of days' board 
 
 533,526 
 1,459 
 
 
 
 483,491 
 1,321 
 
 
 
 Daily average number of convicts 
 
 A _. ( Per day cents .. 
 
 10.9 
 
 $39 77 
 
 11.1 
 
 $40 57 
 
 Average cost per man j Per ye * r _ dollars 
 
 
 

 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 The issues of the Clothing Department for convict clothing and bed- 
 ding, the aggregate expense for the same, and the average cost per con- 
 vict for the fiscal years ending September 30, 1887, and September 30, 
 1888, are shown by the following: 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 TOTAL, 1887. 
 
 TOTAL, 1888. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Clothing. 
 Coats and overcoats _ . 
 
 628 
 1,821 
 543 
 64 
 23 
 1,059 
 79 
 78 
 2,452 
 
 $1,444 50 
 2,822 55 
 597 30 
 192 00 
 44 00 
 2,479 00 
 243 50 
 239 75 
 
 693 
 2,158 
 657 
 
 19 
 907 
 68 
 21 
 2,904 
 204 
 386 
 368 
 496J 
 65^$ 
 
 1,286 
 
 2,91$* 
 2,639 
 289 
 1,376 
 57 
 64 
 5 
 17 
 87 
 44 
 
 10,394! 
 
 l',048 
 1^217 
 
 2,082 
 52 
 6 
 8 
 
 $1,590 05 
 3,345 35 
 742 30 
 199 25 
 38 85 
 2,132 64 
 222 50 
 59 75 
 
 Pants . 
 
 Vests 
 
 Caps 
 
 Straw hats 
 
 Shoes 
 
 Boots .. 
 
 Rubber boots 
 
 Hickory shirts 
 
 Undershirts . 
 
 938 
 275 
 1,175 
 
 
 
 Woolen shirts 
 
 
 
 Drawers 
 
 
 
 Socks 
 
 1721 
 511 
 992 
 65 
 2,413 
 
 1,127 06 
 816 23 
 
 1,320 76 
 555 88 
 
 Gloves and mitts . 
 
 Scarfs 
 
 Suspenders 
 
 
 
 Combs . 
 
 30 44 
 
 37 66 
 
 Handkerchiefs 
 
 Duck aprons 
 
 3,069 
 
 
 
 Oversleeves 
 
 266 
 1,963 
 
 
 
 Shop towels 
 
 
 
 Convict slippers 
 
 
 
 Sneak shoes . 
 
 45 
 5 
 
 105 
 52 
 17 
 8,047i 
 1,1691 
 6,118 
 l,003i. 
 4,05ll 
 1,453 
 61 
 2,543| 
 80 
 9 
 8 
 
 
 
 Pants buttons 
 
 6 60 
 7 41 
 64 75 
 41 60 
 23 20 
 794 21 
 349 43 
 728 00 
 100 12 
 460 12 
 163 35 
 45 75 
 813 03 
 20 00 
 9 40 
 12 70 
 13 80 
 57 00 
 174 32 
 i->noi 10 
 
 6 95 
 15 50 
 75 85 
 34 72 
 21 70 
 1,080 51 
 500 54 
 446 56 
 120 00 
 470 94 
 154 43 
 47 85 
 464 91 
 14 00 
 6 20 
 11 85 
 17 04 
 18 80 
 168 56 
 
 <M9001 on 
 
 Agate buttons 
 
 Spool cotton 
 
 Spool linen . 
 
 Skein linen 
 
 Hickorv . . 
 
 Check flannel 
 
 Cotton flannel 
 
 Handkerchief muslin 
 
 Duck . . 
 
 Crash 
 
 Stripes 
 
 Sole leather 
 
 Calf patching 
 
 Shoe thread 
 
 Shoe oil and ink 
 
 Shoe nails 
 
 Shoe lace 
 
 110 
 
 42 
 
 Sundries ... . - . 
 
 

 
 70 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 CLOTHING AND BEDDING ACCOUNT Continued. 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 TOTAL, 1887. 
 
 TOTAL, 1888. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Quan. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Laundry. 
 Soap 
 
 61 
 44 
 
 2,765 
 9,943 
 6 
 
 603 
 3,132| 
 
 '560 
 211 
 434 
 
 ""ifffffO 
 
 |206 55 
 168 85 
 138 25 
 192 66 
 14 79 
 
 **7O1 1A 
 
 74 
 35 
 2,350 
 1,490 
 3 
 
 $240 24 
 133 75 
 117 50 
 113 27 
 13 08 
 
 fi17 c-f 
 
 Potash 
 
 Tallow 
 
 Salsoda 
 
 Marking ink 
 
 Bedding. 
 Blankets 
 
 1,500 00 
 239 85 
 177 82 
 
 
 Sheeting ... . 
 
 3,092| 
 555J 
 905 
 
 261 05 
 
 72 37 
 
 Ticking 
 
 Pillow cases 
 
 Pillow ticks 
 
 
 
 Sheets 
 
 
 810 
 
 2?THny 
 
 
 Straw 
 
 133 29 
 <Wl Ofi 
 
 10 57 
 313 99 
 
 Freight 
 
 17 04 
 
 ""4 18 
 
 Repairs on tools, etc. 
 
 
 53 85 
 
 
 56 05 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $16,764 07 
 
 
 $14,943 96 
 
 Credit for sales of rags 
 
 
 180 95 
 
 
 184 01 
 
 Net totals 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $16,583 12 
 
 
 $14,759 95 
 
 Total number of days 
 
 532,526 
 
 
 483,491 
 1,321 
 
 
 Daily average number of 
 convicts 
 
 1,459 
 
 
 
 Average cost per man per 
 day cents 
 
 
 31 
 
 30 
 
 Average cost per man per 
 year dollars 
 
 
 $11 37 
 
 
 $11 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The expense of discharging convicts, for discharge clothing and 
 transportation, the average cost per prisoner discharged, and the average 
 cost per convict per day, during the two. fiscal years ending September 
 30, 1888, were as follows:
 
 KEFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 71 
 
 DISCHARGE CLOTHING. 
 
 Suspenders 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 
 | 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 8 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 j 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 is 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Socks 
 
 m 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 8S8 
 
 m oo **< 
 
 (N 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 ^88 
 
 
 83 
 
 TH TH 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 TH 
 
 TH 
 
 3 
 
 Vr 
 
 
 8 
 
 Q 
 
 
 -SS 
 
 H(0 
 
 TH 
 TH 
 
 
 
 s? 
 
 - 
 
 sr 
 
 S3 
 
 
 TH 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 TH 
 
 $ 
 
 Undershirts and 
 Drawers 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 8 
 it 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 TH 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 
 TH 
 
 <N 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 TH 
 
 00 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 SS 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 8 
 
 TH 
 
 O 
 
 rH 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 I 5 
 
 8 
 
 rH 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 qp 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 TH 
 
 Shirts 
 
 tn 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 8 
 1 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 TH 
 
 
 8 
 
 r- 
 
 
 ** 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 Q 
 
 
 TH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 TH 
 
 S^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Cost 
 
 COO,<5 
 
 ICTH (M t- ffi(M-<tl 
 
 3 
 
 W- ,_( 
 
 8 
 
 TH 
 
 Ift" 
 M- 
 
 
 Vests 
 
 o 
 fc 
 
 TH TH -H TH 
 
 3 
 
 sen-sea g-g 
 
 g 
 
 
 Pants 
 
 6 
 
 -H TH TH TH 
 
 t 
 S3 
 
 TH rH TH 
 
 1 
 
 
 Coats and Over- 
 coats . 
 
 6 
 5Z5 
 
 23383859-8*8" 
 
 1 
 
 (N TH TH TH iH 
 
 i 
 
 
 Nui 
 cl 
 
 nber of Prisoners Dis- 
 larged .. 
 
 8g2gggK3g$ 
 
 8 
 t- 
 
 585SS^Sg^^S3 
 
 1 
 
 
 MONTHS. 
 
 1886 October- .. 
 
 01 
 JS 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 a, 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 a, 
 c 
 
 a, 
 
 a 
 
 1887 January.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 h 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >5 
 
 < 
 
 September 
 
 Totals second fiscal year 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _> 
 *. 
 
 .February ... 
 
 March . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 c 
 z 
 
 I t iiLfr 
 
 -O 00 >H^3^>l>-c 
 
 _4f 1 Iffilii 
 
 (5-^a o^p^feS< 
 
 sU 
 
 oooo 
 oooo 
 
 ,rt 
 
 S 
 
 
 e 
 
 1-5
 
 72 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 STATEMENT SHOWING THE EXPENSE OF DISCHARGING PRISONERS Continued. 
 
 Average Cost per Con- 
 vict per Day Cents. 
 
 
 cr 
 i i 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 Average Costper Pris- 
 oner Discharged 
 
 
 * 
 
 rH 
 
 C-l 
 
 C-l 
 
 *ff 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 M- 
 
 
 
 
 
 ; 
 
 Tot 
 P 
 
 al Discharge Ex- 
 nses 
 
 
 S 
 
 !OO>OOHiOt^C 
 
 rTfcocoooooc^a 
 
 >S8i3S 
 
 CO 1C 1C CD 
 
 00 
 
 NP 
 
 $ 
 t- 
 IO~ 
 as- 
 
 
 < 
 
 <j^- 
 
 4(9- 
 
 Dis 
 
 PC 
 
 charge andTrans- 
 rtation 
 
 X 
 
 ^ r^ t~ t CD oo 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 oo" 
 se- 
 
 o o o o 10 10 10 o 10 o 10 10 
 
 St^ i-H CO O "^t* CD Gi O5 00 CO CO 
 CO CD t~~ 00 CO C^- ^ CO ^* CO O" 
 * rH~ 
 
 
 
 -* 
 
 $ 
 
 OO 
 
 t-T 
 M- 
 
 
 DISCHARGE CLOTHING Continued. 
 
 Total 
 
 gSSS8SfiSSgi2 
 
 O<N>Ot~--i'H'-H<Naoao,_i>o 
 O.i-J i H - O COlOt~(NOCOlOCN 
 
 i-Ti-Ti-T i-T 
 
 W9- 
 
 00 
 
 N 
 
 
 t^ 
 
 S(9- 
 
 1OO10OCOOIMOOOOO 
 t^-COt-^i-Ht^-OlOC^^COC^lC 
 
 i-H CO CN i-H O5 CC <3> i 1 O5 rH 00 
 i-T r-T 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 00 
 
 t~r 
 
 
 
 Sundry Sup- 
 plies . 
 
 OT 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 O O <N 
 
 55 * 10 
 
 i-H 1O i-H 
 
 Mr 
 
 O 
 00 
 
 <N 
 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 W9- 
 
 
 O CO 
 IO ^ 
 
 ^ iH 
 
 
 
 
 
 $ 
 
 & 
 
 
 Collars 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 fff 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 c 
 
 - 
 
 
 8 
 
 w 
 
 - 
 
 
 <n 
 <u 
 
 K 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Boots and 
 Shoes 
 
 w 
 
 <n 
 
 
 O 
 
 rH i-H T 1 iH I 
 
 ae- 
 
 80 
 * 
 
 coa> 
 * 
 
 iH 
 
 00 
 
 -H 
 
 O. 
 ^H" 
 %- 
 
 < 
 
 i-H rH 
 
 g 
 
 cc 
 
 r- 
 
 iH 
 
 1 1 
 
 i 
 
 * 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Pu 
 
 8S8-SS- 
 
 CN O5CC 
 
 O5 
 
 1 
 
 83 
 
 cot--aOTf<Tj<Tt<Tj<oc 
 CDCOTfiCNOOCNIMTj 
 
 C^ 
 
 1 
 
 IO 
 t^ 
 
 10 
 
 Hats 
 
 *S 
 
 01 
 O 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 8 S S 
 
 9& O CO 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 t^ 
 
 88 
 
 8^ 
 
 S 
 
 *<= 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 ws- 
 
 tN 
 
 oS 10100 
 
 <M rf (N CN OO 
 
 
 CO 
 
 g 
 
 00 
 
 E 
 
 
 iH CD <* i-H 
 OO t^ 
 
 iH 
 
 g 
 
 ^W 
 l>- 
 
 S 
 
 w 
 
 9! 
 
 * 
 
 "W 
 
 rH 
 
 "1 
 
 1 >O *< 
 
 ^ 
 
 I-H 
 
 
 CO 
 
 s 
 
 * 
 
 MONTHS. 
 
 a> S >> 
 
 Illili 
 ||||||, 
 
 CD t^ 
 
 00 ao 
 
 OO 00 
 
 i 1 i-H 
 
 S > 
 1^ 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 '5 
 
 H: 
 
 
 
 H^ 
 
 *5 
 
 September 
 
 Totals second fiscal year 
 
 August 
 September 
 
 Totals first fiscal year 
 1887 Ontnhpr . 
 
 i 
 
 ~ 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 December 
 
 1888 Jannarv - 
 
 February 
 March 
 
 * 
 
 c >
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 73 
 
 The prison and buildings are heated by steam. The coal used, which 
 is soft coal, costs $1 90 per ton. Flour costs from $4 25 to $4 50 per 
 barrel; beef, 4| cents per pound, dressed, and 8 cents for hind quarters. 
 Butterine, costing 16 cents per pound, is used instead of butter. 
 
 The tobacco furnished to the prisoners is manufactured at the prison. 
 Each prisoner is allowed four ounces of chewing tobacco per week. 
 Smoking is prohibited except three times during the year, on holidays, 
 when they are allowed two cigars each, which are worth about $18 per 
 thousand. 
 
 All the convicts are treated alike. Friends can give them fruit, to be 
 eaten in their presence. 
 
 There are two prisons in Illinois, the other of which is known as the 
 Southern Illinois Penitentiary. The prison at Joliet, which is the gen- 
 eral penitentiary for the State, is under the charge of three Commission- 
 ers, appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of 
 the Senate, and subject to removal by the Governor at his discretion. 
 If removed, that fact, and the cause thereof, must be reported by the 
 Governor to the next Legislature. The Warden, Chaplain, and Physi- 
 cian are appointed by the Commissioners, and hold their respective 
 offices for the term of three years, unless sooner removed by the Com- 
 missioners. The Commissioners give bonds in the sum of $25,000 each 
 for the faithful performance of their duties, and the Warden gives a like 
 bond in the sum of $50,000. 
 
 The Warden has power, by and with the consent of the Commission- 
 ers, or a majority of them, to appoint a Deputy Warden, Clerk, and 
 Steward, who, however, are subject to removal. by the Warden. 
 
 The Commissioners prescribe the articles of food and the quantity of 
 each kind which shall be provided for the convicts, and determine the 
 number of hours per day during which the convicts shall be required to 
 labor. 
 
 The law makes it the duty of the Commissioners to cause, at least once 
 a year, a full and accurate inventory and appraisement of all the ma- 
 chinery, fixtures, goods, and property of every description belonging to 
 the State in and about the penitentiary, to be made under oath by two 
 or more competent appraisers, to be appointed for that purpose by the 
 Commissioners, and to cause a copy of such inventory and appraisement 
 to be filed in the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts, and another 
 copy to be appended to their biennial report to the Governor. 
 
 It is the duty of the Commissioners to meet at the penitentiary at 
 least as often as once in each month, and as much oftener as the proper 
 control and superintendence of the prison may require. It is their duty
 
 74 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 also to examine and inquire into all matters connected with the govern- 
 ment, discipline, and police of the penitentiary, the punishment and 
 employment of the convicts, and also into any improper conduct which 
 may be alleged to have been committed by the Warden or any other 
 officer or employe; and for this purpose the Commissioners have power 
 to issue subpoenas, and compel the attendance of witnesses, and the pro- 
 duction before them of writings and papers, and examine any witnesses 
 on oath who may appear before them. 
 
 The statutes governing the penitentiary provide that it shall be the 
 duty of the Warden to reside in and constantly attend the penitentiary, 
 except when absent on some necessary duty connected with his office, 
 and that in no case shall the Warden and Deputy Warden be absent at 
 the same time. 
 
 The Warden, among other duties, is required to examine daily into the 
 state of the penitentiary, and into the health, condition, and safe-keep- 
 ing of the convicts, and to inquire into the justice of any complaints 
 made by any of the convicts relative to their provisions, clothing, or 
 treatment. 
 
 Among the salaries paid per annum are: 
 
 Commissioners, each $1 ,500 
 
 Warden 2,500 
 
 Deputy Warden 1 ,800 
 
 Chaplain 1,500 
 
 Physician 1 ,500 
 
 Meal tickets are sold to visitors if they desire them. Visitors are 
 allowed to visit the pri.son every day except Sundays and holidays. 
 They are taken in charge by an usher at nine A. M., eleven A. M., two 
 p. M., and four p. M. And if they arrive after any one of these hours 
 they are required to wait until the next specified hour. An admission 
 fee is charged to general visitors. 
 
 Each Guard receives twelve meal tickets free, which he may use as he 
 pleases during the year. If he desires more he is charged at the rate of 
 25 cents per ticket, and if he does not use all that he is entitled to with- 
 out charge, he may surrender those remaining unused and receive 25 
 cents for each. 
 
 This prison has a well deserved reputation throughout the United 
 States for its discipline and government. This is largely due to its rules 
 and regulations, and their strict and impartial enforcement. The rules 
 now in force are these:
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 75 
 
 The Warden. 
 
 The Warden, in the performance of his duties as chief executive offi- 
 cer of the Illinois State Penitentiary, shall be guided by the statutes and 
 laws providing for the management of the penitentiary, and by such 
 rules and orders as may, from time to time, be adopted and placed on 
 record by the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners. 
 
 Duties of the Deputy Warden. 
 
 1 . The Deputy Warden is the assistant and agent of the Warden in 
 the general government and management of the penitentiary, more par- 
 ticularly in matters of discipline of its officers and prisoners. 
 
 2. He shall attend daily at the prison, from the hour of unlocking in 
 the morning until after the prisoners shall have been locked up at night. 
 
 3. In the absence of the Warden from the prison, the Deputy War- 
 den shall perform his duties, and shall not leave the prison until the 
 Warden returns. 
 
 4. He shall not be absent from the prison, at any time during the day, 
 when the prisoners are out of their cells, without first obtaining leave 
 from the Warden. 
 
 5. He shall visit the prison occasionally during the night by surprise, 
 and personally ascertain that the prisoners are all secure; and that the 
 officers are on duty and alert. 
 
 6. Under the orders of the Warden, he shall have special control and 
 direction of the Keepers, Guards, Foremen, and other servants of the 
 prison, and shall be responsible that every one performs his respective 
 duties with intelligence, fidelity, and zeal. And it shall be his duty to 
 report to the Warden, strictly and promptly, every neglect of duty or 
 impropriety or misconduct on the part of any officer. 
 
 7. He shall report to the Warden the name of every officer coming 
 upon duty under the influence of intoxicants or without being in uni- 
 form. 
 
 8. He shall not grant leave of absence to any officer for a longer period 
 than one day without consulting the Warden, except in cases of emer- 
 gency. 
 
 9. He shall enforce obedience to the prison rules and regulations, and 
 to all orders given from time to time by the Warden, and shall maintain 
 generally the police and discipline of the prison with the strictest exact- 
 ness, for which purpose he shall frequently, during the day, but at irreg- 
 ular periods and without notice, visit the shops, yards, hospital, kitchen, 
 cells, and other apartments of the prison, and the different places where 
 work is in hand, taking every precaution for the security of the prison 
 and prisoners, seeing that the officers are vigilant and attentive to their 
 duties, and that they keep the prisoners under them diligently employed 
 during their hours of labor. 
 
 10. He shall not permit any book, pamphlet, or newspaper to be read 
 by any officer, nor to be in his possession, while on duty in or about the 
 prison. 
 
 11. When a prisoner is received, the Deputy Warden shall see that 
 he is properly bathed, clothed in a prison suit, and duly inspected by 
 the prison Physician, and vaccinated. He shall then read and explain 
 to him the rules and regulations for the government of prisoners, give
 
 76 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 him his privilege tickets, and assign him to duty under direction of the 
 Warden. 
 
 12. He shall at short intervals examine the locks, levers, and gratings 
 in and about the entire prison, and see that they are in good condition. 
 
 13. He shall exercise due vigilance, to see that there is no embezzle- 
 ment of the property of the penitentiary; that not only no willful waste, 
 but also no want of economy in the necessary consumption or the use 
 of supplies takes place, without making such known to the Warden 
 immediately. 
 
 14. He shall consider it his duty to make himself acquainted with the 
 social habits and conduct of every subordinate officer and employe of 
 the prison, and particularly whether, when off duty, he is a frequenter of 
 saloons or other houses of similar resort, or associates with idle or loose 
 characters, and report the facts to the Warden. 
 
 15. He shall see that no material is allowed to be placed near the 
 inclosing walls, and that nothing is accessible to prisoners which can 
 facilitate escape. He shall especially see that ladders are properly 
 secured. 
 
 16. He shall have a vigilant eye over every person who may have 
 business about the prison, to see that nothing is carried in or out for a 
 prisoner; and, so far as he can, that no communication of any descrip- 
 tion is attempted by such person with any prisoner, except by authority, 
 and in the presence of an officer. 
 
 17. He shall, every evening, before relieving the Guards and Keepers 
 from duty, verify by actual count the written daily count report fur- 
 nished him from the office. 
 
 18. As the Penitentiary Act of 1872 affords to prisoners the privilege 
 of earning diminution of their sentence, it will be incumbent upon all 
 the officers of the prison to give the strictest attention to the conduct 
 and character of every prisoner; and especially it shall be the duty of 
 the Deputy Warden to satisfy himself as to the behavior of every pris- 
 oner, his industry, alacrity, and zeal in the execution of his work, so 
 that the Deputy may be able to advise with the Warden, as to the dim- 
 inution of sentence to be made to each convict. And for this purpose 
 he shall communicate freely with every officer in charge of a gang, when 
 making his rounds. 
 
 19. The Deputy Warden shall, under orders of the Warden, investi- 
 gate all reports of offenses committed by prisoners, and make disposition 
 of the same. In these investigations the Deputy Warden shall be careful 
 in endeavoring to arrive at the truth concerning each case; in awarding 
 punishment he shall take into consideration the age, previous conduct, 
 habits, and disposition of the offender, so far as he may be able to ascer- 
 tain the same, and in the administration of punishment he shall take 
 special care to deprive it of all appearance of personal vindictiveness, 
 even under great provocation, at the same time making it sufficiently 
 severe, without cruelty, to secure the end desired. He shall make daily 
 written report to the Warden of all prisoners reported to him, the nature 
 of their offense, and of all punishments awarded or administered. 
 
 20. The only disciplinary punishments of prisoners allowed to be 
 administered in this prison are: 
 
 1. Taking from prisoners one or all of their privilege tickets. 
 
 2. Solitary confinement on short rations of bread and water.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. , , 
 
 3. Handcuffing prisoner to the grated cell door at the height of his 
 breast. 
 
 Corporal punishments of any kind are prohibited by the statute. 
 
 Duties of Assistant Deputy Warden. 
 
 1 . The Assistant Deputy Warden shall attend daily at the prison from 
 the hour of unlocking in the morning until after the prisoners have 
 been locked up at night. 
 
 2. He shall assist the Deputy Warden in the discharge of his duties 
 whenever called on by him; and in the absence of the Deputy Warden 
 from the prison, he shall perform all the duties incumbent upon that 
 officer. 
 
 3. He shall assist the Deputy Warden in maintaining and executing 
 the rules of government of the prison, and report to him any violation 
 of the same by either the officers or the prisoners that may come under 
 his notice. 
 
 4. He shall keep, mornings and evenings, the time of officers on duty 
 during the day, and report the same to the Clerk on the first of each 
 month. 
 
 5. He shall attend the daily sick call, accompanying prisoners who 
 are to see the Physician, from the different workshops to the hospital, 
 and ordering them to sick cell or on duty, as the Physician may direct. 
 
 6. He shall have charge of the prison armory, assigning Guards and 
 Keepers their arms and accouterments, and seeing that everything belong- 
 ing to the armory, including the special supply of lanterns, is in good 
 condition and serviceable at a moment's notice. 
 
 7. He shall inspect the arms and equipments of the Guards at least 
 once a week, and report any officer whose rifle or equipments are not in 
 good order. He shall frequently inspect all the arms and equipments 
 not in daily use and see that they are kept in thorough repair. 
 
 Duties of Chaplain. 
 
 1 . He shall conduct religious services in the penitentiary under such 
 regulations as the Commissioners may prescribe, and attend to the 
 spiritual wants of the prisoners. 
 
 2. He shall obtain from each prisoner, when received in the peniten- 
 tiary, as complete a statement as possible, of his religious and educa- 
 tional antecedents, and his parental and conjugal relations, and shall 
 make report thereof, on blanks furnished, to the Warden. 
 
 8. He shall visit the prisoners in their cells, for the purpose of giving 
 them moral and religious instruction. 
 
 4. He shall furnish, at the expense of the State, a Bible to each pris- 
 oner. 
 
 5. He shall not have any intercourse with prisoners in the shops 
 or while they are at work, nor shall he hold communication with them, 
 except as may be necessary and proper in imparting to them such secu- 
 lar and religious instruction as is required by law and the prison regu- 
 lations. 
 
 6. He shall not furnish the prisoners with any information or intelli- 
 gence in relation to outside matters, except by permission of the Warden. 
 
 7. He shall visit daily the sick in the hospital and administer to their 
 spiritual wants.
 
 78 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 8. He shall, once a week, read to prisoners that have arrived during 
 the preceding seven days, the rules and regulations for the government 
 of prisoners, impressing upon them the necessity of their strict observ- 
 ance of the same, and the benefits they may derive thereby under the 
 good time law. 
 
 9. He shall have charge of the library, so far as to see that no im- 
 proper books are placed in possession of the prisoners, and if such books 
 are found, either in the cells, or in possession of prisoners, he shall take 
 away and deliver the same to the Warden; and for the purpose of the 
 proper discharge of these duties, he shall visit the cells in the penitentiary, 
 and the books so taken away from prisoners shall not be returned to 
 them without the express order of the Commissioners. 
 
 10. Sectarian doctrines in the matter of religious belief shall not be 
 taught, nor shall any attempt be made, directly or indirectly, to prose- 
 lyte a prisoner. If any prisoner desires communication with a minister 
 or instructor of his particular faith, on proper application to the War- 
 den it shall be allowed, under and in conformity with the law and the 
 general regulations of the prison; but such minister or instructor, on 
 such occasions, must in all things conform to the rules and regulations 
 for the government of the Chaplain; any infringement or departure from 
 which Avill debar him from future intercourse with the prisoners. 
 
 11. He shall make an annual report to the Commissioners for each 
 year ending the first day of October, relative to the religious and moral 
 conduct of the prisoners during such year; stating therein what services 
 he has performed, and the fruits of his instruction, together with any 
 other facts relative to said prisoners he may deem proper to report. 
 
 12. The Chaplain shall, when required by the Commissioners, give 
 instruction in the useful branches of an English education to such pris- 
 oners as, in the judgment of the Warden, may require the same and be 
 benefited thereby, and be entitled thereto by previous good conduct; 
 and such instruction may be given for such length of time daily as said 
 Commissioners shall prescribe (Sunday excepted), between the hours of 
 six and nine p. M. 
 
 13. He shall make a quarterly report to the Commissioners in case 
 such instruction shall be given, stating the number of prisoners instructed 
 during the quarter, the branches of education taught, the text-books 
 used, the progress made by the convicts, and note especially any case in 
 which unusual progress has been made by a prisoner. 
 
 Duties of the Physician. 
 
 1. He shall attend at all times to the wants of the sick prisoners, 
 whether in the hospital or in their cells, and shall render them all 
 necessary, medical service. 
 
 2. He shall examine weekly the cells of the prisoners, for the purpose 
 of ascertaining whether they are kept in a proper state of cleanliness 
 and ventilation, and report the same weekly to the Warden. 
 
 3. He shall examine, at least once a week, and oftener if he thinks 
 proper, into the quality and condition of the provisions provided for the 
 prisoners; and whenever he shall have reason to believe that any pro- 
 visions are prejudicial to the health of the prisoners, he shall imme- 
 diately make report thereof to the Warden. He shall also have power, 
 and it shall be his duty to prescribe the diet of the sick prisoners, and
 
 REFOKMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 79 
 
 his directions in relation thereto shall be followed by the Warden and 
 Steward. 
 
 4. He shall vaccinate every prisoner on his entering the prison, and 
 examine him as to the condition of his heart, lungs, and chest, evidence 
 of previous or present hereditary disease, and keep a record of such 
 examination in a book provided for that purpose. 
 
 5. He shall visit the prison every day between the hours of seven and 
 ten in the morning. When the state of a sick prisoner requires it, he 
 shall visit at such hours as he may think the case demands, and if sent 
 for at any time by the Warden or Deputy Warden, he shall immediately 
 repair to the prison to the exclusion of all other engagements. 
 
 6. He shall keep a daily record of all admissions to the hospital, and 
 the cases treated in the cells or elsewhere, indicating the sex, color, 
 nativity, age, occupation, habits of life, period of entrance and discharge 
 from the hospital, disease, and the prescription and treatment in each 
 case. 
 
 7. He shall have full control over the patients in hospital, subject to 
 the rules of the prison and instructions of the Commissioners, and shall 
 leave his daily general instructions as to the government, etc., of the 
 patients with the Hospital Steward. 
 
 8. It shall be the duty of the Physician, in case of any prisoner claim- 
 ing to be unable to labor by reason of sickness, to examine such prisoner; 
 and if, in his opinion, upon examination, said prisoner is unable to labor, 
 he shall immediately certify the same to the Warden, and such prisoner 
 shall thereupon be released from labor and admitted to the hospital, or 
 placed in his cell, or elsewhere, for medical treatment, as said Physician 
 shall direct, having a due regard for the safe-keeping of such prisoner, 
 and such prisoner shall not be required to labor so long as in the opin- 
 ion of said Physician such disability shall continue; and whenever said 
 Physician shall certify to the Warden that such prisoner is sufficiently 
 recovered to be able to labor, said prisoner shall be required to labor, 
 and not before. He shall also direct the transfer, permanent or tem- 
 porary, of prisoners from first to second class work, and report such 
 transfer to the Warden. 
 
 9. He shall examine carefully every morning all prisoners in punish- 
 ment in the solitary cells, and shall make written report to the Warden 
 of their condition. He shall be particular to report to the Warden in 
 writing any prisoner whose health he thinks is suffering or endangered 
 by the punishment he is undergoing, and shall recommend such changes 
 in the diet of prisoners in punishment as he may think necessary. He 
 shall require the Hospital Steward to make a similar examination every 
 evening, between the hours of four and five o'clock, and make a written 
 report of the same. 
 
 10. He shall, whenever in his opinion a prisoner becomes insane, cer- 
 tify that fact to the Warden, giving his reasons therefor, and make, on 
 blanks furnished him for that purpose, a brief statement of the general 
 condition of the patient, together with his recommendation as to what 
 disposition shall be made of him. 
 
 11. When a prisoner dies, the Physician shall record the nature of the 
 complaint and all the circumstances connected therewith that he may 
 deem proper and necessary, and report to the Warden. 
 
 12. When the Physician considers it necessary, or when required by 
 the Commissioners or Warden, to make a post mortem examination of
 
 80 REFOEMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 any prisoner, he shall do so within thirty-six hours after the decease. 
 He shall make written reports of his examination to the Warden, and 
 of his conclusion as to the cause of death. 
 
 13. He shall keep such books and in such forms as from time to time 
 may be indicated to him according to schedules ordered by the Com- 
 missioners; all of such books shall be open at all times to the Warden. 
 
 14. He shall make a written report daily to the Warden of the attend- 
 ance at sick call in the morning, and of the disposition made of those 
 reported sick, also of all admissions to and discharges from hospital, 
 deaths, etc. 
 
 15. He shall, whenever requested so to do by the Commissioners or 
 Warden, make a careful examination of any prisoner, and make written 
 report of his physical condition. 
 
 16. He shall make report monthly to the Commissioners, of patients 
 received into the hospital, or treated in the cells or elsewhere during the 
 preceding month, stating their respective age, color, disease, occupation 
 in prison, quantity and kinds of medicine administered during the 
 month, the time they have remained in hospital, date of commencement 
 and termination of treatment, and number of days during which such 
 patients, in consequence of sickness, have been relieved from labor; 
 also of all deaths and cause thereof, transfers to insane hospitals, etc. 
 
 17. He shall make a yearly report to the Commissioners of the sani- 
 tary condition of the penitentiary for the past year, in which all infor- 
 mation in his daily and monthly reports shall be condensed. This 
 report shall also contain nominal lists of prisoners who have died or 
 been certified to be insane during the year. 
 
 Duties of Hospital Steward. 
 
 1 . The Hospital Steward shall be the assistant to and shall act under 
 the immediate directions of the Physician about the hospital, and in 
 his absence shall perform the duties of his office. 
 
 2. He shall be responsible for the nurses, orderlies, and other servants, 
 employed about the hospital, and shall see that good discipline in the 
 hospital is at all times maintained. 
 
 3. He shall have charge of the dispensary and the hospital, for the 
 good order and cleanliness of which, and of all its approaches and sur- 
 roundings, he shall be responsible. 
 
 4. He shall have charge of the sick in the hospital, and of the con- 
 valescent prisoners, so long as they are receiving advice from the Phy- 
 sician, and shall strictly attend to all instructions that may be given 
 him as to their medicine, diet, and treatment. 
 
 5. He shall also attend to the complaining prisoners not in hospital, 
 to whom medicine is administered. 
 
 6. He shall see that every chamber in the hospital is well ventilated, 
 the bedding and clothing cleansed and changed when necessary, the 
 ceilings, walls, and floors cleaned and purified by frequent scrubbing 
 and whitewashing, and that all impurities of every description are 
 instantly removed. 
 
 7. He shall attend the Physician in his visits to the sick, make up alt 
 the prescriptions, compound all the medicines, and see that they are 
 administered in the form and at the times ordered by the Physician. 
 
 8. Should the symptoms of any patient appear to him to become
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 81 
 
 aggravated, he shall at once report to the Warden, in order that, if 
 necessary, the Physician may be sent for, without loss of time. 
 
 9. Should he observe the death of a prisoner approaching he shall at 
 once notify the Warden or Deputy, in order that information may be 
 sent to the Chaplain. 
 
 10. It shall be his duty to make a tour of the wards of the hospital 
 frequently during the day, and especially he shall do so, as his first 
 duty in the morning and the last duty at night. 
 
 11. He shall see that the bedclothes of patients, who are able to leave 
 their beds, are well ventilated, while they are out of bed. 
 
 12. When a prisoner is received sick, from the cell-house during the 
 night, the Hospital Steward shall immediately notify the Warden, if 
 the case seems to him to be urgent. 
 
 13. He shall issue no alcoholic or intoxicating liquors to any employe 
 or prisoner under any circumstances, except upon the written order of 
 the Warden, or the written prescription of the Physician. 
 
 Duties of the Clerk. 
 
 1. He shall be the Warden's accountant and his assistant and agent 
 in matters of the records and fiscal affairs of the penitentiary, and shall 
 as such have charge, under the supervision and immediate direction of 
 the Warden, of the following books and records. 
 
 Records: 
 
 1. The Commissioners' Journal of Proceedings. 
 
 2. The Warden's Record of Official Orders. 
 
 3. The Convict Register and complete index thereto. 
 
 4. The Discharge Register and Records. 
 
 5. The Record of Statistics. 
 
 6. Punishment Record. 
 
 7. Book of Daily Counts. 
 Account Books: 
 
 1. The Store, double-entry Journal and Ledger and auxiliary books, 
 accounting for the receipts and issues of supplies. (See Storekeeper.) 
 
 2. The State Shops' Day Book, accounting for all transactions of 
 the State Shops, in the way of permanent improvements, repairs, fur- 
 nishing of implements, fuel, etc. (See Supt. State Shops.) 
 
 3. The Convict Money Journal and Ledger, accounting, individ- 
 ually, for moneys deposited by and paid to prisoners. 
 
 4. The Consolidated Check Roll, an abstract from all the Time 
 Check Rolls of the prison, which in their aggregate are daily to 
 correspond with the evening's count. 
 
 5. The Cash Book, with triplicate vouchers for all expenditures, 
 and as complete a system of vouchers for receipts (by stubs, tickets, 
 etc.) as practicable. 
 
 These books may be consolidated and abstracted monthly, in: 
 
 6. The General Journal; and, 
 
 7. The General Ledger. 
 
 2. He shall be responsible for the safe-keeping and orderly arrange- 
 ment of all the accounts, vouchers, bills, mittimuses, and other docu- 
 ments of every kind confided to him. 
 
 3. He shall make out all financial and other statements and exhibits 
 of any kind at such times as the Warden may direct. 
 
 GD
 
 82 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 4. He shall assist the Warden in making the annual and biennial 
 statements and exhibits (financial and statistical) as are by law, and 
 under the directions of the Commissioners, required of the Warden. 
 
 5. He shall collect from employes and outsiders, all the bills made 
 against them by the Store, State Shops, Clothing Department, or other 
 departments of the prison, give receipt for same, and report the col- 
 lections to the Storekeeper or the Superintendents of the respective 
 departments on the regular stub blanks provided for that purpose. 
 
 6. He shall give individual receipts to all prisoners from or for whom 
 he has received money or other articles of value. 
 
 7. All vouchers for payment of supplies must be made from original 
 bills of particulars approved by the Steward and must pass through 
 Store books. All vouchers for payrolls and other expenses must be 
 authorized and approved by the Warden. 
 
 8. He shall, at the end of every month, make from the Discharge Reg- 
 ister a complete list of all prisoners to be released during the succeeding 
 month by expiration of sentence, and furnish a copy of this list to all 
 officers of the penitentiary whose business it is to be acquainted with it. 
 
 9. He shall, on the first of every month, make a statement to the Gov- 
 ernor of the State, giving a nominal list of all prisoners received during 
 the preceding month, the counties they come from, and their crimes and 
 sentences, and also a list of all prisoners discharged, pardoned, and 
 otherwise released during the same period. 
 
 Duties of the Assistant Clerk. 
 
 1. He shall assist the Clerk in the performance of his duties, and in 
 his absence shall perform the duties of the office or any other clerical 
 work required of him by the Warden. 
 
 2. He shall be a telegraphist and have charge of the prison telegraph 
 and electric apparatus. 
 
 3. He shall take, or have taken, the photograph of every incoming 
 male prisoner as soon as practicable after his arrival, preserve and take 
 care of the negatives, and keep the respective photographs in orderly 
 arrangement in a case provided for that purpose. 
 
 Duties of the Steward. 
 
 1. The Steward shall be the Warden's agent and assistant in making 
 purchases of goods and merchandise used for the penitentiary, and gen- 
 erally supervising the property of the State, and shall, subject to the 
 decision of the Warden, and under his direction, be the judge of the 
 needs and requirements of the prison in the matter of supplies. 
 
 2. He shall have particular charge of the supply department of the 
 penitentiary, of the kitchen, the cellars, and the other chambers where 
 provisions are kept, and all the passages leading thereto. 
 
 3. He shall receive all the provisions directly from the party supply- 
 ing the same, as well as all fuel and forage, and shall cause every article 
 to be weighed or measured as the case may be. Immediately on receipt 
 of goods he shall have them turned over to the store. 
 
 4. He shall not receive any article of supplies without a bill of partic- 
 ulars along with it, nor until after he has carefully examined the article, 
 and ascertained that it is of good quality, and strictly according to the 
 specifications of contract. Should the bill be correct, he shall certify
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 83 
 
 the same and transmit it to the Storekeeper without delay; if not, he 
 shall report the facts to the Warden. 
 
 5. He shall not sell or permit tHe Storekeeper to sell any goods or 
 property of the State, with the following exceptions: 
 
 Contractors are allowed to purchase such articles as they may require 
 for shop use only. Employes may purchase, through the store, uniforms, 
 hats, caps, cloth, and buttons. Rags, hides, tallow, lard, and bones may 
 be sold, through the store, at market prices, to outsiders. 
 
 6. He shall see that all provisions of every kind received by him are, 
 until used, kept in a proper place, and in proper vessels, to prevent 
 their becoming injured. He shall take care that no provisions which 
 have become unserviceable are cooked, and that everything unsound is 
 taken away. 
 
 7. Should provisions be delivered by a contractor, which are found by 
 rigid examination to be not according to contract, he shall refuse to 
 receive them, and shall at once report the fact to the Warden, so that 
 no delay may take place in obtaining a supply from elsewhere, if the 
 contractor should be unable, or unwilling, to replace immediately what 
 has been rejected. 
 
 8. He shall take special care that the utmost cleanliness prevails in 
 the kitchen, the cellars, and in every chamber or vessel in which pro- 
 visions are kept, or from which they are eaten. 
 
 9. He shall daily attend upon and see to the cooking and serving of 
 the provisions for the prisoners, to the end that no improper food is used, 
 that it is cooked in a proper and cleanly manner, served in clean, whole- 
 some vessels, and equally and honestly distributed to the prisoners. 
 
 10. He shall report to the Warden from time to time the condition of 
 the supplies and the necessities of immediate purchase thereof, and it 
 shall be his duty, under the direction of the Commissioners and the 
 Warden, to purchase such supplies; and at all times, when such pur- 
 chases are made, to furnish the Warden proper certified bills for the 
 same. 
 
 11. He shall have special charge of the farm, and the stock thereon, 
 and see that everything connected with that department is managed to 
 the best interest of the State. 
 
 Duties of Storekeeper. 
 
 1. He shall be the custodian and keeper of all supplies purchased for 
 the use of the penitentiary by the Warden or his agent, the Steward. 
 
 2. He shall personally receive check from bills of particulars, and 
 inspect all goods delivered to him, and report deficiencies in quantity 
 and quality of the same to the Steward and also to the Warden, who 
 will decide as to their receipt or rejection. He will have charge of issu- 
 ing supplies to the different departments on requisitions approved by 
 the Steward, and shall not issue anything without having such requisi- 
 tion therefor, or without making a memorandum bill on manifold bill 
 book. 
 
 3. He shall, under direction and supervision of the Clerk of the peni- 
 tentiary, keep accurate double-entry accounts of all transactions in the 
 store, of receipts and issues or sales, and shall, at the end of each month, 
 or as soon thereafter as practicable, furnish a trial balance to the Clerk, 
 together with bills of items against contractors and such other parties
 
 84 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 as may be permitted to purchase supplies from the store. (See duties 
 of Steward.) 
 
 4. He shall, every three months, lake inventory of all property in the 
 store, and give a transcript of the same to the Clerk. 
 
 5. He shall, from the bill book, make individual bills for all the sales 
 from the store to citizens (not contractors), and balance them, on stub, 
 upon receipt of cash delivery tickets from office. These individual bills 
 shall also be entered on his ledger. 
 
 Duties of the Warden-House Stewards. 
 
 1. The Steward of the Warden House Proper has charge of and is 
 responsible for the good condition of the main, second, and third floors 
 of the house, and all property therein. The house servants are accounta- 
 ble to him, and it is his duty to know that the rooms are in order at all 
 times. He has charge of all rooms and will make daily (and oftener 
 when necessary) inspection of apartments, generally supervising and 
 directing the work of his men. 
 
 2. He shall use his best endeavors to maintain strict discipline among 
 the men under his charge, and be particularly watchful to prevent 
 escapes. 
 
 3. He shall see that all supplies furnished him on his daily requisi- 
 tions are economically and properly used. 
 
 4. He shall assign rooms and beds for employes in such manner as to 
 accommodate the greatest number. 
 
 5. He shall make written lists of clothes he sends to the female prison 
 to be washed, and check them on their return. 
 
 6. He shall, on the first of every month, make a detailed report to 
 the Steward of the Penitentiary, giving the aggregate cost of subsistence 
 in his department and the average cost of each meal served. 
 
 7. The Steward of the Warden House Basement has charge of the 
 basement floor of the house and its contents, receiving his instructions 
 from the Steward of the Penitentiary. 
 
 8. He is responsible for the conduct and good discipline of the pris- 
 oners in his department, and Keepers and Guards are prohibited from 
 interfering unless called upon; also from conversing with prisoners in 
 basement about anything not strictly pertaining to their duties. 
 
 9. He has charge of and is accountable for all State property in his 
 department, and shall use strict economy in the use of supplies of every 
 kind furnished him on his requisitions. 
 
 10. He shall allow no person, not an officer of the penitentiary, unless 
 authorized by the Warden, to take a meal in his department without a 
 ticket procured at the Clerk's office. 
 
 11. He shall check the Clerk's office on every meal ticket sold or 
 otherwise issued from there. 
 
 12. He shall exact and enforce strict compliance with all regulations 
 of common decency in public eating houses. 
 
 13. He shall, on the first of every month, make a detailed report 
 to the Steward of the Penitentiary, giving the aggregate cost of subsist- 
 ence in his department and the average cost of each meal served, giving 
 credit to the department for every commutation or single meal ticket 
 known to him as having been sold by the Clerk. 
 
 14. The barber shop and bath-rooms are for the convenience of the
 
 REFORMATOEY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 85 
 
 employes, and may be used by any one connected with the institution, 
 under such restrictions as may from time to time be provided. 
 
 Duties of Convict Kitchen Steward. 
 
 1. He shall, under immediate direction of the Steward of the Peni- 
 tentiary, have charge of the convict kitchen and bakery, also the flour- 
 room, vegetable-rooms, and cellars belonging thereto, and of all State 
 property in that department, and shall direct and supervise the labor of 
 prisoners assigned to him, and maintain strict discipline among them. 
 
 2. He shall make his written bill of fare and requisition on the store 
 once a week for supplies for his department during the entire succeeding 
 week; and he shall personally inspect all supplies before cooking them, 
 and refuse all such as may not come up to the requirement of being 
 absolutely wholesome. He will be held responsible for cooking any 
 article of food that is not in good and wholesome condition. 
 
 3. He shall take special care that the utmost cleanliness prevails in 
 the kitchen, bakery, and appurtenances, and in every vessel in which 
 provisions are kept or from which they are eaten. 
 
 4. He shall see that provisions are properly cooked and seasoned, and 
 that the meals can be served warm, in sufficient quantity, and at the 
 proper time. 
 
 5. He shall admit to the kitchen dining-rooms such prisoners only as 
 have special permits to that effect from the Warden or Deputy. 
 
 6. He shall, on the first of every month, make to the Steward of the 
 Penitentiary a detailed statement of all supplies of subsistence con- 
 sumed in his department during the preceding month, the aggregate 
 cost of such supplies, and the average cost of subsistence per man per 
 day. 
 
 Duties of the Chief Engineer and Superintendent of State Shops. 
 
 1. He shall have charge of all property, machinery, tools, implements, 
 and merchandise in the different departments of the State shops, of all 
 boilers and engines belonging to the State, and of machinery and fixtures 
 employed for the service of the State, as appearing from the annual 
 inventory of machinery and fixtures. 
 
 2. He shall have charge of the water supply system for the prison, 
 shall be responsible for the condition of the necessary pipes, pumps, 
 and other appliances, and for any unnecessary waste of water. 
 
 3. He shall have supervision of the entire steam apparatus for the 
 heating, cooking, ventilating, and mechanical purposes of the prison, 
 and shall see that the same is kept in good condition. 
 
 4. He shall have supervision of the sewer system of the prison, and 
 direct the construction and repairs of the same. 
 
 5. He shall have charge of the gas works, and see that waste is pre- 
 vented and economy exercised. 
 
 6. He shall have charge of the fire department, take care of the chem- 
 ical engines, and test their efficiency from time to time, and see that the 
 fire buckets, grenades, etc., placed in different stations around the prison, 
 are serviceable and in good condition. 
 
 7. He shall have charge of the machine shop, the blacksmith, car- 
 penter, tin, and paint shops connected with his department, together 
 with the control and management of the prisoners therein engaged;
 
 86 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 shall see that all work is properly done, and that skill and industry 
 are attained and observed. 
 
 8. He shall see that all machinery, tools, implements, materials, stock, 
 or other effects necessary for carrying on the above mentioned duties 
 and industries are properly used, taken care of, and accounted for. 
 
 9. He shall have charge of the erection of all buildings within the 
 prison inclosure; the plans, estimates, and specifications for the same 
 shall be prepared by him and submitted, through the Warden, for the 
 approval of the Board of Commissioners. 
 
 10. He shall, at the direction of the Board of Commissioners or the 
 Warden, furnish estimates as to the cost of any proposed improvement 
 or change in the prison buildings. 
 
 11. He shall have supervision of all improvements or repairs on the 
 prison buildings, and see that skill, economy, and industry are exercised 
 by those working thereon for the State. 
 
 12. He shall have general supervision of all the buildings constituting 
 the prison, and shall see that they are kept in proper repair. 
 
 13. He shall superintend and instruct in their duties all citizens, 
 engineers, or workmen that may from time to time, either permanently 
 or temporarily, be employed for the service of the State. 
 
 14. He shall, in a general way, supervise the condition of the boilers 
 and engines belonging to contractors, and shall at once make report to 
 the Warden when, in his opinion, there is danger to life or property 
 threatened from that source. 
 
 15. He shall furnish and charge to contractors any material or work 
 that they may desire for their workshops and machinery. 
 
 16. He shall, under direction and supervision of the Clerk of the 
 penitentiary, keep accurate account of his transactions in any of the 
 branches above enumerated, in a day book, giving separately the amounts 
 respectively charged for labor and material. A summary and abstract 
 of this day book shall be furnished to the Clerk on the first of every 
 month. 
 
 17. He shall from his bill book make individual bills for all work done 
 in the State shops for citizens (not contractors), and balance them, on 
 stub, upon receipt of corresponding cash delivery tickets from office. 
 These individual bills shall also be entered on his day book. 
 
 Duties of Receiving and Discharging Officer (Superintendent of Clothing 
 
 Department), 
 
 1. He shall receive from the office all incoming prisoners and attend 
 personally to the bathing, washing, and clothing of the same, and take 
 from them all money and valuables on their persons, to be turned over 
 to the Clerk. 
 
 2. He shall, on the blanks furnished him, take a detailed personal 
 description of every incoming prisoner, and also take his written consent 
 to the examination of his incoming and outgoing mail by the Warden 
 or an officer authorized by him. 
 
 3. He shall clothe and take to the office for discharge all the prisoners 
 whose terms of sentence have expired according to monthly list furnished 
 him from the office, or who have been pardoned or otherwise released; 
 in so doing he shall be careful that nothing is carried out by a discharged 
 prisoner that is not his property.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 87 
 
 4. He is charged with the execution of all orders, special and general, 
 relating to clothing and bedding for the use of the prisoners. 
 
 5. He shall have charge of the wash-room, bath-room, clothing-room, 
 and repair shop, and shall keep an account of all stock received, used, 
 and issued, and of all articles made and repaired in said shop. 
 
 6. He shall have superintendence of all work performed in the wash- 
 room and clothing-room, and see that it is properly done. 
 
 7. He shall superintend the shaving, hair cutting, and bathing of the 
 prisoners, and shall see that it is done at the proper time. 
 
 8. He shall, from his bill book, make individual bills for all repairs 
 and other work done in his department for citizens, and check off and 
 balance them, on stub, upon receipt of corresponding cash delivery tick- 
 ets from office. 
 
 9. He shall, on the first of every month, make a report to the Warden 
 of the operations under his charge, giving account of the quantities of 
 materials used and goods issued. 
 
 Duties of Usher. 
 
 1. The Usher shall, at such hours as may from time to time be desig- 
 nated by the Warden, conduct visitors through the penitentiary, but to 
 such places only as are indicated on visitors' passes and admission 
 tickets. 
 
 2. He shall be supplied by the Clerk with admission tickets, hand to 
 the Turnkey one for each visitor not provided with a pass, and shall, 
 once a month, settle with the Clerk for his monthly sales of tickets. 
 
 3. He is forbidden to point out any individual prisoner to visitors. 
 
 4. He will not permit visitors to have any communication whatever 
 with prisoners, to point at, or to speak to them, or to handle any tools, 
 working material, or manufactured goods in shops. 
 
 5. It shall also be the duty of the Usher to closely examine all incom- 
 ing and outgoing mail of prisoners, also all newspapers, parcels, and 
 packages addressed to prisoners, and to admit and permit only such 
 matter as is consistent with the general rules of the prison and require- 
 ments made known to him by the Warden. 
 
 6. He shall also attend to interviews between prisoners and their 
 friends under restrictions of the general rules for the government of 
 prisoners; shall pay close attention to their conversation, and see that 
 no articles of. contraband character pass between them. 
 
 7. He shall receive and investigate complaints of prisoners through 
 the Keepers, of irregularities in the receipt of mail and newspapers, 
 and remedy the defects if possible. 
 
 8. He shall turn over to the Clerk all moneys and valuables sent to 
 prisoners by mail, or deposited with him by friends visiting them, and 
 shall take the Clerk's receipt therefor. 
 
 Duties of Librarian. 
 
 1. He shall, under the direction of the Warden, have charge of the 
 Prison Library, shall have the books properly covered, labeled, and 
 shelved, and see that they are kept in good condition by prisoners or 
 other persons entitled to the privilege of the library. 
 
 2. He shall superintend the issuing of books to prisoners under such 
 regulations and restrictions, and in such manner as the Warden, from
 
 88 REFORMATOEY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 time to time, may direct, and shall pay particular attention, by frequent 
 personal inspection, that the right books are delivered to the prisoners 
 who order them. 
 
 3. Civilians employed by or otherwise connected with the penitentiary 
 must, before they are permitted to draw books out of the library, be pro- 
 vided with a written permit from the Warden to that effect, and the 
 Librarian shall take individual receipts on blanks, furnished for that 
 purpose, for books issued on the authority of such permits. 
 
 4. He shall examine the books when they are returned from the cell- 
 houses, and shall report any serious mutilation or defacing of them to 
 the Warden or Deputy. 
 
 5. He shall carefully check the bills of particulars for books bought 
 for the library, receive the books, assort and catalogue them, and report 
 any deficiency to the Warden. 
 
 6. He shall furnish the Warden such statements and statistics con- 
 cerning the library, as may from time to time be required. 
 
 Duties of the Wagonmaster. 
 
 1. He shall have charge of the teams, conveyances, and rolling stock 
 of the penitentiary, and all the appurtenances thereto; shall see that 
 the horses and mules are properly cared for, and that all the State 
 property under his charge is economically used and kept in good 
 repair. 
 
 2. He shall, under the directions of the Warden and Deputy, supply 
 the contractors and State department with teams in sufficient number 
 and at the proper time. 
 
 Duties of Mail Carrier and Expressman. 
 
 1 . He shall be a sworn mail carrier of the United States postal service 
 and carry the penitentiary mail to and from the Joilet Post Office, in 
 such manner and at such times as the Warden may direct. 
 
 2. He shall, on every mail trip to Joilet, visit the express companies 
 for parcels directed to the institution or its employes, and do such other 
 errands in Joilet for the service of the institution as the Warden or 
 heads of departments may request. 
 
 3. He shall, when not on duty with his regular mail trips, assist the 
 Usher in conducting visitors through the penitentiary. 
 
 Duties of Keepers and Guards. 
 
 1. The Keepers and Guards are the agents of the Warden in enforcing 
 the police and discipline of the prison, and in carrying into effect the 
 laws for the government thereof. 
 
 2. It shall be the duty of the Keepers and Guards to attend at the 
 prison at the opening thereof, and not absent themselves therefrom, on 
 any pretext or excuse, during prison hours, except by permission of the 
 Warden or Deputy Warden. 
 
 3. They shall supply themselves with uniform, such as shall be pre- 
 scribed by the Warden, with the approval of the Board of Commission- 
 ers, which shall be constantly worn while on duty; they shall constantly 
 observe the utmost cleanliness in dress, person, and habits. 
 
 4. While within the prison, the Keepers and Guards shall refrain
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 89 
 
 from whistling, scuffling, immoderate laughter, boisterous conversation, 
 exciting discussions on politics, religion, or other subjects, provoking 
 witticisms or sarcasms, and all other acts calculated to disturb the har- 
 mony and good order of the prison. 
 
 5. In their intercourse among themselves the officers, Keepers, and 
 Guards of the prison are at all times to treat each other with that mu- 
 tual respect and kindness that become gentlemen and friends, and are 
 required to avoid all collisions, jealousies, separate and party views and 
 interests among themselves, and are strictly forbidden to treat each other 
 with disrespect, or to use any ungentlemanly epithets. 
 
 6. They shall not, while on duty, hold conversation with each other, 
 nor with the contractors or their foreman, except such as may be neces- 
 sary in the discharge of their duties. 
 
 7. Neither shall they be engaged, while on duty, in reading or writing, 
 other than making necessary entries, nor in any other employment calcu- 
 lated to interfere with constant care and vigilance. 
 
 8. They shall not under any circumstances allow prisoners to speak 
 to them upon any subject not immediately connected with their duty, 
 employments, or wants. 
 
 9. They shall keep the prisoners under their charge diligently at work 
 at the several occupations at which they are employed, and shall make 
 report on the check roll books of the daily attendance at work, also of 
 all time lost by reason of sickness, punishment, or otherwise; closely 
 following the instructions printed in front of each check roll. 
 
 10. They shall not permit prisoners to hold any conversation with 
 each other, or with any person whatever, except those allowed by law, 
 nor to communicate with each other by signs or signals, except in con- 
 nection with their work. 
 
 11. They shall require the greatest possible cleanliness in the prison- 
 ers, their persons and clothing, and in their working and sleeping 
 apartments. 
 
 12. They shall instruct the prisoners in all the rules of the prison 
 necessary for their government, and admonish them on the least appear- 
 ance of insubordination. 
 
 13. In all their intercourse with prisoners, they shall be careful to 
 maintain a quiet demeanor, under any provocation, recollecting that 
 the prisoner, however disposed to be violent or abusive, is entirely in 
 their power. 
 
 14. They shall not punish a prisoner, nor strike him, except in sell- 
 defense, or to quell an insurrection; nor shall they use any profane or 
 indecorous language to prisoners, or in their presence, but shall uni- 
 formly treat them in a kind and humane manner. 
 
 1 5. Whenever a prisoner is guilty of any infraction of prison disciplinary 
 rules, the Keeper shall at once report the fact in writing to the Deputy, 
 stating the nature of the offense, and keeping a copy of such report on 
 the stub of the blank book furnished him for that purpose. 
 
 16. Discipline is the first and highest consideration in a, prison, and 
 must be maintained at all hazards, but that officer who maintains it 
 with the lowest number of punishments deserves the highest commenda- 
 tion. 
 
 17. If a prisoner desires to make any complaint to or have an audi- 
 ence with the Governor, Commissioners, or Warden, the Keeper shall 
 receive his application and report it in writing at once to the Warden's
 
 90 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 office, keeping on the corresponding stub of the blank book, furnished for 
 that purpose, a copy of such report. 
 
 18. Whenever, in the morning, a prisoner reports himself sick or 
 desirous to see the Physician, the Keeper shall put the applicant's name 
 and register number on the sick list book, and have both book and 
 prisoner in readiness to go to the hospital with the Assistant Deputy 
 Warden on his daily round for sick reports. If a prisoner is taken sick 
 or injured during the day, the Keeper shall at once report the fact to the 
 Deputy or his assistant. 
 
 19. It shall be the duty of Keepers to keep constant watch over pris- 
 oners in workshops, to see that, while pretending to be engaged on the 
 work given them to do, they are not in reality at work at something else. 
 Keepers shall not allow prisoners to leave their work without permis- 
 sion, nor to speak to or gaze at visitors. 
 
 20. The duties of Keepers should be understood as separate and dis- 
 tinct from those of foremen, and the Keepers will not interfere with or 
 attempt to instruct the prisoners in the manner in which they shall 
 work, or on what particular part they shall labor, or what amount they 
 shall perform; but they shall listen to all reports the foremen may 
 desire to make, and dispose of the cases as instructed. 
 
 21. In forming their opinions with respect to the industry of a pris- 
 oner, officers will bear in mind that as one prisoner may be able to do 
 more work in a given time than another, so their reports on this head 
 will have regard more to the continuous labor of the prisoner, the care 
 bestowed upon it, and the evidence of his desire to do all he can, than 
 the absolute quantity he does, as compared with others. An amount of 
 work which may thus be sufficient for one man, may be quite insuffi- 
 cient for another, and the officers' reports will be made accordingly. 
 
 22. Keepers shall receive applications from prisoners to send or trans- 
 fer money to friends or for subscription to newspapers, etc., and shall 
 twice a month make a report to the Clerk. Transfers of money from 
 one prisoner to another must be approved by the Warden or Deputy. 
 
 23. No officer, Keeper, or Guard shall receive from or deliver to a pris- 
 oner any article or thing whatsoever, without the knowledge or consent 
 of the Warden or his Deputy. 
 
 24. When a prisoner is sent from one part of the prison to another, 
 the officer sending him shall give him a pass, stating the place from 
 which, and the place to which, or person to whom he is sent. Care 
 shall be taken that the pass is delivered up by the prisoner, and that 
 he is not too long away. 
 
 25. When a prisoner is obliged to retire for necessary purposes, the 
 officer in charge shall take care that the place is so conspicuous that the 
 prisoner cannot leave it without being fully seen; that only one is per- 
 mitted to be in the place at a time, and that he is absent for a reason- 
 able time only. Any delay in such cases should arouse suspicion at 
 once, and the officer must immediately make certain that all is right. 
 
 26. No officer shall take the statement of one prisoner against another, 
 on which to make a report for punishment, respecting the prisoner com- 
 plained of, but shall report the facts nevertheless to the Warden or 
 Deputy. 
 
 27. If a prisoner makes complaint to any officer of any order given 
 him, or of any action towards him, by which he considers himself ag- 
 grieved, it shall be the duty of the officer to inform the Warden thereof
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 91 
 
 at the earliest moment convenient thereafter, and the Warden will act 
 in the matter as he may think reason and justice may require; but the 
 officer shall in the meantime see that the prisoner obeys the order given 
 him. 
 
 28. As soon as the prisoners are locked up at night, each Keeper hav- 
 ing charge of a division shall report immediately to the Deputy Warden 
 the number he has locked up or has in charge, at the same time turning 
 over the cell door keys to the Warden House Turnkey. 
 
 29. The Turnkey and the Gatekeepers shall permit no person, not 
 connected with the prison as a regular employe of the State, or contract- 
 ors, to enter the prison, except in company with the Governor of the 
 State, the Commissioners, the Warden, Deputy, Assistant Deputy, or 
 Chaplain, unless such person is provided with a pass from the office; 
 nor shall they allow any prisoner to pass outside the walls unless he is 
 accompanied by an officer or has written authority to pass. 
 
 30. Gatekeepers will closely examine the contents of wagons and other 
 vehicles passing out of their gates, and must ever be vigilant in guard- 
 ing against surprise or stratagem on the part of prisoners. They must 
 never permit both of the trap gates to be opened at the same time. 
 
 31. The East Gatekeepers and West Yardkeepers shall carefully weigh 
 all goods or merchandise in bulk, consigned to the penitentiary by rail- 
 road or teams, also all goods coming from the prison farm and slaughter 
 house, and shall make daily report thereof in writing to the Steward 
 and Storekeeper. The West Yardkeeper, particularly, shall keep close 
 and accurate account of all railroad cars left on the prison tracks, and 
 keep record of their contents, and how and where to they are disposed 
 of, and make daily report thereof to the Steward and Storekeeper. 
 
 32. The Yardkeeper shall have general supervision of the yard, and 
 keep it at all times in the most cleanly condition possible. He shall 
 assist and take instructions from the Superintendent of State Shops in 
 any work where the services of the yardmen are required on the grounds 
 of the prison. He shall have charge of the tools and implements as- 
 signed to the yard gang, and keep them in good condition and repair. 
 
 33. The front yards and the courts of the hospital and solitary and 
 the greenhouse shall be in charge of a special officer assigned to that 
 duty by the Warden. 
 
 34. The Keeper of the solitary shall have charge of the punishment 
 cells and the court solitary cells and their inmates. In regard to men 
 in punishment, he shall strictly execute the orders given him by the 
 Warden or Deputy, and shall at once report to them any unusual occur- 
 rence in his department. He shall carefully search each prisoner enter- 
 ing a solitary cell for punishment, and take from him every article found 
 on his person, except his clothing; he shall also, at least twice a day, 
 open every cell occupied, and look after the condition of its occupant. 
 He will remain constantly within call of every prisoner occupying a 
 punishment cell, except when relieved by another officer, who will 
 assume his duties. 
 
 35. Cell-house Keepers will see that the utmost cleanliness prevails in 
 the cells and corridors, that the houses are thoroughly ventilated and 
 warmed when necessary, that the cells are regularly supplied with drink- 
 ing and washing water, and that the distribution of food at meal times, 
 also the regular issues of tobacco, soap, and other supplies, are properly 
 and impartially made. They shall also carefully and promptly deliver
 
 92 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 all letters, newspapers, etc., handed over to them by the Usher with his 
 " permit," to their respective addresses. They are not permitted to ex- 
 amine or inspect either outgoing or incoming convict mail. They shall, 
 from time to time, examine the cell doors and gratings and see that they 
 are in good and secure condition; they also shall occasionally examine 
 and search cells and report the presence of any contraband articles to 
 the Warden or Deputy. 
 
 Duties of Armed Guards. 
 
 1. Guards are subject to the same rules and regulations as Keepers, in 
 regard to their relation to officers and prisoners. 
 
 2. The first and most important duty of a Guard at all times is to 
 maintain the safe custody of the prisoners, and to that end the rules of 
 the institution require, and the laws of the State justify, the shooting of 
 prisoners, when in a state of mutiny, when offering violence to officers 
 or other prisoners, or when attempting to escape. Except in extreme 
 cases, offenders should be once distinctly warned of the consequences 
 before shooting is resorted to. 
 
 3. Wall and Front Guards are required to pace their beats at least half 
 the time while on duty, with rifle in hand, and must never leave their post 
 of duty without being relieved by proper authority. 
 
 4. Guards must keep their arms and accouterments clean and in per- 
 fect order, constantly ready for use, and neither cut, mark, nor deface 
 them in any manner. Arms will be charged to them, and they will be 
 required to pay for the willful or careless loss, destruction, or damage to 
 the same. 
 
 5. The Guards will require on the part of the prisoners a strict com- 
 pliance with such rules of the institution as may come within the province 
 of their special duties to enforce, and report at the earliest practicable 
 moment any infraction thereof. 
 
 Duties of Captain of Night Watch and Night Guards. 
 
 1. The night force shall go on duty at the sound of the evening whistle, 
 and remain on duty until the signal is given in the morning for unlock- 
 ing the cells of the prisoners. 
 
 2. The Captain shall be held responsible for the security of the prison 
 and see that good order is maintained during the night. He shall make 
 report to the Warden in the morning of any unusual occurrence or any 
 violation of the rules and regulations of the prison that may have taken 
 place during the night. It shall be his duty to call the Warden at any 
 hour during the night that he may regard his presence necessary. 
 
 3. It shall be his duty to make a thorough inspection of the prison 
 during the night once every two hours, and personally convince himself 
 of the watchfulness of his subordinates in the different parts of the 
 prison. 
 
 4. He shall require of all officers or citizens who work inside of the 
 walls at night a strict compliance with all the rules that prevail in the 
 daytime, and has authority to eject any citizen who does not strictly 
 conform to them. 
 
 5. He shall not, under any circumstances, leave the prison during his 
 time of duty, or until properly relieved, without the consent of the 
 Warden.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 93 
 
 6. The Warden House front door must invariably be locked at eleven 
 o'clock p. M. The Captain and the Night Turnkey are both required to 
 promptly report to the Warden on the following morning any person 
 entering the prison under the influence of liquor or at an unusually late 
 hour. 
 
 7. It shall be the duty of the Night Guards, having charge of the cell- 
 houses, to be moving around the cells with " sneakshoes " on, in a silent 
 manner, that they may be able to detect any unnecessary noise; and it 
 is strictly enjoined upon them not to hold conversation with the prison- 
 ers, or to suffer the prisoners to speak to them except to make known 
 immediate wants; they must use their utmost exertions to suppress 
 noise of any kind, and report to the Captain of the Night Watch any 
 violations of the rules and regulations of the penitentiary, by the prison- 
 ers, while in their cells. 
 
 8. The Night Guard in the solitary shall closely follow the instructions 
 of the Warden and Deputy in regard to inmates of punishment cells, 
 and shall every morning make written report to the Warden of the num- 
 ber of prisoners in solitary and their condition during the night, noting 
 every unusual occurrence coming under his observation. 
 
 9. The Night Guard in the hospital shall observe the rules governing 
 the Hospital Steward in regard to inmates of the hospital, and attend 
 conscientiously to wants of the sick. 
 
 10. The Night Fire Watch shall make his regular rounds in the prison 
 at short intervals, in such a way as the Warden or Captain of the Night 
 Watch, from time to time, may direct. 
 
 Duties of Matron. 
 
 1. She 'shall, under the supervision of the Warden, have charge of 
 the Female Department of the penitentiary, and of the prisoners and 
 prison property therein. She shall conform to the general rules and 
 regulations governing the prison. 
 
 2. She shall not introduce any change in the nature of the employ- 
 ment of the prisoners without the permission of the Warden. 
 
 3. She shall see that each prisoner under her charge is furnished with 
 such clothing, food, and other articles as the prison regulations prescribe. 
 
 4. She shall see that good discipline and order are observed by all the 
 inmates, and that the prisoners faithfully do the work required of them 
 by direction of the Warden. 
 
 5. On the reception of a prisoner, she shall see that she is thoroughly 
 washed, dressed in prison clothing, and examined by the Physician. 
 Every article which a prisoner brings in with her shall be taken from 
 her, and the same steps taken with regard to her effects as are required 
 with those of male prisoners. 
 
 6. She shall spend the entire day visiting frequently, but irregularly 
 and w'ithout notice, the work shop and laundry, instructing the prison- 
 ers in their work, and see that it is properly done. 
 
 7. She shall attend the sick and see that they are properly cared for. 
 
 8. Cases of sickness are to be regularly reported by her to the Physi- 
 cian, and any sudden case occurring during either the day or night 
 must be reported immediately to the Warden, Deputy Warden, or Cap- 
 tain of the Night Watch. 
 
 9. She shall not absent herself from the penitentiary during her time 
 of duty, without the permission of the Warden.
 
 94 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 10. She shall attend Sunday morning services whenever held for the 
 inmates of the female prison. 
 
 11. She shall reside at the penitentiary, in the apartments furnished 
 for her by the State, and shall, on the first of each month, furnish a 
 written report to the Warden of the work done in her department the 
 previous month, and the general condition thereof. 
 
 General Rules. 
 
 1. Every man received upon the staff of the penitentiary will bear 
 constantly in mind the nature of the institution into the service of 
 which he enters, the peculiarity of the duties he will have to perform as 
 an officer, and the moral obligations he is 'Understood to assume, with 
 reference to his own personal conduct, from the time he is engaged. 
 
 2. He must understand that the penitentiary is not only designed as 
 a prison for the punishment of persons who have offended against the 
 law r s, but also as an institution which intends their reformation, if pos- 
 sible. 
 
 3. Every officer, therefore, will not only feel it his duty to see that 
 the rules of the prison are observed by the prisoners placed under him, 
 but will also understand that he must conduct himself, when off duty as 
 well as when on duty, in such a way as to inspire sentiments of respect 
 for his moral principles and character. 
 
 4. He will be accordingly expected to be circumspect in his way of 
 life in society, careful as to the company he keeps and the places he 
 frequents, and guarded as to the discharge of his personal obligations, 
 debts, etc.; and the Warden will take all necessary steps to make him- 
 self acquainted with the conduct and general habits of every officer and 
 servant of the institution, as it will be his dilty to retain no man in the 
 service whose conduct is improper. 
 
 5. It shall be the duty of every officer of the penitentiary to make 
 himself acquainted with the provisions of the Penitentiary Act, and 
 also with the rules and regulations of the prison, and with the orders 
 on the bulletin board, to obey them readily himself in all points of his 
 own duty, and to enforce strict obedience of them upon all who may 
 come under his authority. 
 
 6. All persons entering upon or retaining any position as employes of 
 this institution, must do so with the full understanding that they are 
 to lead a prompt, willing, and positive obedience to the rules of the 
 penitentiary, and the instructions of its officers, and devote their best 
 energies and abilities industriously and faithfully to the performance 
 of the duties to which they may be assigned; and all who cannot do so 
 cheerfully must neither accept nor retain position here. 
 
 7. Any employe desiring to leave the service of the institution will be 
 required to give thirty days' notice of his intention so to do, otherwise 
 all pay due will be forfeited to the penitentiary. While the 'prison 
 authorities are willing to give the same notice when consistent with the 
 interests of the institution, yet they reserve the right to dismiss at any 
 time, without notice, by paying in full for all services rendered. 
 
 8. Employes will be required to report to the Assistant Deputy War- 
 den twice each day (morning and evening), that their time may be 
 correctly kept, and to be promptly at their respective posts and places 
 of business at the appointed hour.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 95 
 
 9. No employe will be allowed to absent himself from duty under any 
 circumstances, without permission from the Warden or Deputy. Should 
 an employe be taken sick he must immediately send information thereof 
 to the Warden or Deputy, so that another may be employed temporarily 
 in his place. 
 
 10. Employes are strictly prohibited from taking newspapers, books, 
 or other reading matter inside the walls or cell-houses, and are cautioned 
 against leaving the same about the Warden's house within reach of the 
 prisoners, and are absolutely prohibited from leaving any citizens' cloth- 
 ing inside the yard or cell-houses. 
 
 11. Employes are strictly prohibited from talking with prisoners at 
 any time, except as the nature of their business may require, and all 
 familiarity between employes and prisoners is absolutely prohibited. 
 
 12. Employes are prohibited from selling to or buying anything from 
 prisoners, or giving to or receiving from them anything in the nature of 
 a gift or present, or conveying to or from them any message, either writ- 
 ten or verbal. 
 
 13. Employes are prohibited from replying in like terms to what they 
 may conceive to be impudent or insulting language on the part of a 
 prisoner. Their duty is to report such infraction of discipline. 
 
 14. Employes are prohibited from using profane, indecent, abusive, 
 or insulting language toward prisoners, or in their presence, and are 
 required to refrain at all times from the use of such language in or 
 about the institution. 
 
 15. Employes will be required to pay for the willful destruction, loss, 
 waste, or damage by them of any property of the prison. 
 
 16. All employes are prohibited from discussing, within the limits of 
 the prison, the manner in which any officer or employe performs his 
 duty, and from making any remarks which might tend to reflect upon 
 the character or management of such officer or employe. They are also 
 prohibited from discussing, in the presence of prisoners, matters relating 
 to the discipline or management of this or other similar institutions. 
 
 17. Employes are strictly prohibited at all times from smoking inside 
 the walls or cell-houses. 
 
 18. Intemperance will not be tolerated among employes, neither will 
 they be allowed to keep or use intoxicating drinks in or about the insti- 
 tution. Frequenting saloons or disreputable places by employes will 
 be considered as sufficient cause for their dismissal. 
 
 19. Employes will refrain from visiting the shops or yard while off 
 duty, and from receiving visits while on duty. 
 
 20. No officer, Guard, or Keeper will be permitted, except in an emer- 
 gency, to exchange duties with another or procure a substitute to dis- 
 charge his duties, without first obtaining permission of the Warden or 
 Deputy Warden. 
 
 21. Every officer of the penitentiary must understand that the War- 
 den has the right to exact his services without extra pay in any capacity 
 for which he may consider the officer fit. 
 
 22. Employes, who reside at the penitentiary, have to report to the 
 Deputy Warden whenever they absent themselves from the prison in 
 the evening or during the night. The outer doors of the prison will be 
 locked at eleven o'clock; officers returning after that hour without special 
 permit will be reported to the Warden. 
 
 23. Under the laws of this State the Warden of the penitentiary and
 
 96 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 his assistants, the Guards and Keepers, shall be conservators of the peace, 
 and, as such, have power to arrest or cause to be arrested, with or with- 
 out process, upon any grounds owned or leased by the State of Illinois 
 and used by the penitentiary, all persons who shall break the peace or 
 be found upon said grounds violating any criminal law of this State, and 
 take such persons before a magistrate for trial. 
 
 24. The Commissioners allow each employe of the institution, after 
 six months' continuous service, a furlough of fourteen days each year 
 without loss of pay, and in order to equalize this furlough among all, 
 the commutation of the same in money to all whose salary is less than 
 $70 per month. This commutation of furlough will be paid once a year, 
 about the first of July, but is forfeited either by resignation or discharge. 
 Therefore, absence from the prison for any cause whatever will be charged 
 against the officer's payroll; the only exception being sickness, when, on 
 producing a certificate from a physician, an officer will be allowed pay 
 for ten days each year for absence from duty on that account. 
 
 Rules for Contractors and Foremen. 
 
 1. Contractors, their agents and foremen, shall hold no intercourse 
 with any of the prisoners, other than those employed or superintended 
 by them, nor upon any subject whatever, other than the business car- 
 ried on by them. 
 
 2. No foreman shall be employed by contractors within the prison 
 without first obtaining the consent of the Warden. 
 
 3. The chief duty of foremen is to instruct and direct prisoners in 
 that particular branch of business to which they are assigned, and to do 
 so in a mild but firm and dignified manner. In assigning tasks to pris- 
 oners the amount of each task shall be determined by the Warden, sub- 
 ject to revision by the Commissioners. 
 
 4. Foremen are not required for the purpose of governing or disciplin- 
 ing prisoners; therefore it is not necessary that they should use force 
 or threatening language in the discharge of their duties, and the use of 
 such is strictly prohibited, except of course in cases of self-defense, in 
 defense of others, or to preserve the peace of the institution, and main- 
 tain the safe custody of the prisoners. 
 
 5. When prisoners willfully fail to carry out the instructions of a 
 foreman, or use threatening, defiant, or impudent language, or commit 
 any other act endangering the peace and good discipline of the institu- 
 tion, it shall be the duty of the foreman to immediately report the same 
 to the Keeper in charge. 
 
 6. All foremen must be promptly at their respective shops at the hour 
 fixed for prisoners to commence work, and will be required to remain 
 there during working hours, and make a thorough examination of their 
 premises personally, after the prisoners have left, at noon and at night. 
 
 7. Foremen are particularly prohibited from carrying in or out of the 
 prison any mail matter for prisoners without express permission from 
 the Warden. Offenders will invariably be summarily dealt with. 
 
 8. Contractors will not be allowed to erect any temporary wooden 
 buildings or sheds within the prison walls. 
 
 9. All scraps, shavings, chips, sticks, and other combustible waste 
 must be disposed of each day either for fuel or by removal from the 
 yard.
 
 REFORMATOKY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 97 
 
 10. Old trash and other material, not necessary to carry on the busi- 
 ness of the contracts, must not be permitted to accumulate within the 
 yard or shops. 
 
 WESTERN PENITENTIARY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 This institution is situated at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In 1883 the 
 law abolished contract labor, and this necessitate'd a resort to the public 
 account system; and the management selected the manufacture of cocoa 
 mats and matting as the main industry, for the reason that this branch 
 of labor did not compete with any interest of the State. The work is 
 performed almost wholly by hand, and is of such a simple character that 
 it can be easily learned. But this industry does not give employment 
 to all the convicts, and many are idle for want of proper employment. 
 
 The Warden receives a salary of $4,500 per annum, with a furnished 
 house, horses, carriage, and driver, but supplies his own provisions and 
 subsistence. 
 
 The salary of the Deputy Warden is $2,000 a year. The Chaplain 
 receives a salary of $1,500 per year, the Physician $1,200, the Clerk 
 $1,800, the Assistant Deputy Warden $1,000, Steward $1,000, Chief En- 
 gineer $1,300, and Assistant Engineer $1,000. The Guards or Overseers 
 who have been in the service for less than six months receive $600 per 
 annum; those who have been retained for two and a half years receive 
 $700 per annum; those who have served after that time and less than 
 five years receive ,$800 per annum; while those who have been in the 
 service of the State for over five years receive $900 per annum. 
 
 At the time that I visited this institution in September, it had six 
 hundred and seventy-one inmates. The prisoners are fed in their cells, 
 all eating the same kind of food, and their fare is varied for different 
 days, running through the week as follows: 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread, coffee, and cheese; sugar or syrup once a month. 
 Dinner. Fresh beef, boiled rice, and coffee, with a little sugar on top 
 of rice. 
 
 Supper. Bread and coffee. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread, coffee, and fried bacon. 
 Dinner. Vegetables, soup, boiled beef, and potatoes. 
 Supper. Bread and tea, and during the summer season a small 
 quantity of fruit or tomatoes. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread, coffee, and fried mush. 
 
 Dinner. Roast beef, baked beans or potatoes, coffee. 
 
 Supper. Bread and coffee.
 
 98 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread, coffee, and "Bowery" hash. The hash is made of 
 twelve bushels of potatoes, one hundred and fifty pounds of beef, and 
 three bushels of onions. 
 
 Dinner. Tomato or bean soup, boiled beef. 
 
 Supper. Coffee and bread. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread, coffee, fried salmon. ( Columbia River salt salmon. ) 
 Dinner. Stew (composed of three hundred and twenty-five pounds 
 
 of mutton and beef, fifteen bushels of potatoes, and three bushels of 
 
 onions). 
 
 Supper. Bread and tea. 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 Breakfast. Cornbread and coffee. 
 Dinner. Bean soup and meat. 
 Supper. Coffee and bread. 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 Breakfast. Bread and coffee. 
 
 Dinner. Pork, potatoes, raw onions or pickles. 
 
 Supper. Coffee. 
 
 I made some inquiry of the officers as to what extent convicts were 
 permitted to perform clerical work in the prison. They are allowed, I 
 was told, to make entries in the books of the Commissary Department, 
 but not in those of the Clerk of the prison. 
 
 The per capita cost last year was 45 cents per day, including all 
 repairs; but excluding these, the cost was 36-| cents per capita, and of 
 this amount a per capita cost of 12 cents was required for subsistence. 
 
 The convicts are not allowed to put furniture in their cells. They are 
 allowed a looking-glass costing 25 cents, and all else is required to be in 
 keeping with their surroundings. 
 
 The mode of punishment usually resorted to is incarceration in a 
 semi-dark cell, for a period not extending over eight or nine days. 
 
 Visitors are required to have a pass from one of the Inspectors. They 
 are received every afternoon except on Saturdays and Sundays, and the 
 general visitor is charged an admission fee of 25 cents, and the money 
 realized from this source is devoted to the library. 
 
 The officers all board themselves in the city. They are required to be 
 on duty from six A. M. to six p. M. Each officer is allowed ten days leave 
 of absence during the year without reduction of salary. If in case of 
 sickness or other cause his absence from duty reaches a longer period, 
 he does not receive any salary for such excess. 
 
 Cigarette smoking is not allowed. The prisoners are allowed to smoke 
 in their cells in the evening from six to seven o'clock. They are allowed
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 99 
 
 the use of string instruments, and instruction is given to illiterate pris- 
 oners by an officer detailed for that 'purpose. 
 
 Convicts are allowed to write to friends or others once a month and 
 to receive letters from them in return, and may see their friends once in 
 three months; but these privileges may be suspended for bad conduct. 
 
 STATE PENITENTIARY FOR EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The prison is situated at Philadelphia, and is unique in its character, 
 being the only one in the United States in which the plan of the sep- 
 arate imprisonment of prisoners is now followed. Mr. Richard Vaux, 
 who is President of the Board of Inspectors, and has a reputation 
 throughout the United States and Europe as an able writer and deep 
 thinker on prison management and penal subjects, gave me many valu- 
 able suggestions in reference to the treatment of criminals and the 
 reformation of the young. To him I am indebted for the following 
 information concerning the history and management of this institution. 
 
 On the seventh of February, 1776, there was formed in Philadelphia 
 an association known as " The Philadelphia Society for Assisting Dis- 
 tressed Prisoners." Owing to the possession of the city by the British 
 army, the society was able to accomplish but little. 
 
 In 1787 another society was formed under the name of "The Phila- 
 delphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons." This 
 society presented a memorial to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
 in which it was represented that punishment " by more private or even 
 solitary labor would more successfully tend to redeem the unhappy 
 objects." This society presented several memorials to the Legislature of 
 the State, and several Acts were at different times passed by that body 
 relating to prison management; and finally, in 1821, an Act was passed 
 authorizing the erection of a State Penitentiary within the City and 
 County of Philadelphia, to be conducted on the principle of the solitary 
 confinement of the convicts. 
 
 The question of whether the congregate or the separate plan was the 
 better for prison management was a topic much discussed. The separate 
 plan had many opponents as well as friends. As showing the views 
 that prevailed at that time among those who considered the separate 
 plan as the more advisable, attention is called to the following extract 
 from the answer of Roberts Vaux to the objections of an opponent of 
 this system: 
 
 It is very evident to my mind that the true nature of the " separate 
 confinement " which is proposed, requires explanation. I will, there- 
 fore, endeavor to describe what is intended by its friends. Previously,
 
 100 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 however, it ought to be understood that the chambers and yards pro- 
 vided for the prisoners are like anything but those dreary and fearful 
 abodes which the pamphlet before me would represent them to be, " des- 
 tined to contain an epitome and concentration of all human misery, of 
 which the Bastile of France and the Inquisition of Spain were only pro- 
 totypes and humble models." 
 
 The rooms of the new penitentiary at Philadelphia are fire-proof, of 
 comfortable dimensions, with convenient courts to each, built on the 
 surface of the ground judiciously lighted from the roof well ventilated 
 and warmed, and ingeniously provided with means for affording a con- 
 tinual supply of excellent water, to insure the most perfect cleanliness 
 of every prisoner and his apartment.* They are, moreover, so arranged 
 as to be inspected and protected without a military guard, usually though 
 unnecessarily employed in establishments of this kind in most other 
 States. 
 
 In these chambers no individual, however humble or elevated, can be 
 confined, so long as the public liberty shall endure, but upon conviction 
 of a known and well defined offense, by the verdict of a jury of the 
 country, and under the sentence of a Court for a specified time. The 
 terms of imprisonment it is believed can be apportioned to the nature 
 of every crime with considerable accuracy, and will no doubt be meas- 
 ured in that merciful degree which has uniformly characterized the 
 modern penal legislation of Pennsylvania. Where then, allow me to 
 inquire, is there in this system the least resemblance to that dreadful 
 receptacle constructed in Paris during the reign of Charles the Fifth, 
 and which at different periods through four centuries and a half was an 
 engine of oppression and torture to thousands of innocent persons; 
 or by what detortion can it be compared to the inquisitorial Courts and 
 prisons that were instituted in Italy, Portugal, and Spain between the 
 years 1251 and 1537? 
 
 With such accommodations as I have mentioned, and with the mod- 
 erate duration of imprisonment contemplated on the Pennsylvania plan, 
 I cannot admit the possibility of the consequences which thy pamphlet 
 predicts, "that a great number of individuals will probably be put to 
 death by the superinduction of diseases inseparable from such mode of 
 treatment." I do not apprehend either the physical maladies, so vividly 
 portrayed, or the mental sufferings, which with equal confidence it is 
 promised shall "cause the mind to rush back upon itself, and drive 
 reason from her seat." On the contrary, it is my belief that less bodily 
 indisposition and less mortality will attend separate confinement than 
 imprisonment upon the present method, for which some reasons might 
 be given that it w r ould be improper here to expose. 
 
 By " separate confinement," therefore, it is intended to punish 
 those who will not control their wicked passions and propensities, 
 thereby violating divine and human laws; and moreover to effect this 
 punishment, without terminating the life of the culprit in the midst of 
 his wickedness, or making a mockery of justice by forming such into 
 communities of hardened and corrupting transgressors, who enjoy each 
 other's society, and contemn the very power which thus vainly seeks 
 their restoration, and idly calculates to afford security to the State from 
 their outrages in future. 
 
 *The exact size of the chambers is eight feet by twelve feet, the highest point of the 
 ceiling sixteen feet. The yards are eight feet by twenty feet.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 101 
 
 In " separate confinement " every prisoner is placed beyond the possi- 
 bility of being made more corrupt by his imprisonment, since the least 
 association of convicts with each other must inevitably yield pernicious 
 consequences in a greater or less degree. 
 
 In " separate confinement " the prisoners will not know who are 
 undergoing punishment at the same time with themselves; and thus will 
 be afforded one of the greatest protections to such as may happily be 
 enabled to form resolutions to behave well when they are discharged, 
 and be better qualified to do so, because plans of villainy are often 
 formed in jail which the authors carry into operation when at large, not 
 unfrequently engaging the aid of their companions, who are thereby 
 induced to commit new and more heinous offenses, and come back to 
 prison under the heaviest sentences of the law. 
 
 In "separate confinement" it is especially intended to furnish the 
 criminal with every opportunity which Christian duty enjoins for pro- 
 moting his restoration to the path of virtue, because seclusion is believed 
 to be an essential ingredient in moral treatment, and with religious 
 instruction and advice superadded, is calculated to achieve more than 
 has ever yet been done for the miserable tenants of our penitentiaries. 
 
 In " separate confinement " a specific graduation of punishment can 
 be obtained as surely and with as much facility as by any other system. 
 Some prisoners may labor some may be kept without labor some may 
 have the privilege of books others may be deprived of it some may 
 experience total seclusion others may enjoy such intercourse as shall 
 comport with an entire separation of prisoners. 
 
 In "separate confinement" the same variety of discipline for offenses 
 committed after convicts are introduced into prison, which any other 
 mode affords, can be obtained, though irregularities must necessarily be 
 less frequent by denying the refractory individual the benefit of his 
 yard, by taking from him his books or labor, and lastly, in extreme 
 cases, by diminishing his diet to the lowest rate. By the last means the 
 most fierce, hardened, and desperate offender can be subdued. 
 
 Hon. John Sergeant, of Philadelphia, in a letter published in 1827, 
 in vindication of the Pennsylvania system, said: 
 
 The objection to it is that its severity would be intolerable. As it 
 has never been fairly tested by experiment, this objection must, for the 
 present, be somewhat conjectural. There may be individuals who will 
 not be able to endure continued solitude for a considerable length of 
 time. In such cases some modification in their favor may be necessary. 
 Experience will show to what extent this ought to be made. That there 
 are any to whom solitary confinement, even for a short time, would be 
 fatal, or even highly injurious, may well be doubted, for we have had 
 frequent instances of its infliction without such effects. 
 
 To return, however, to the charge of cruelty, with which it has been 
 stigmatized in advance, and therefore gratuitously, it may be replied, in 
 the first place, that if it be only meant that the punishment will be 
 severe, but without injury to the health or morals of the patient, there 
 is nothing in the objection. Punishment ought to be severe, if it is 
 meant to operate at all. People are not sent to prison to enjoy there 
 the comforts and luxuries of life. It may be replied, further, that admit- 
 ting it to be severe, or even very severe, before it can on that account be
 
 102 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 condemned, it must be compared with any other practicable mode of 
 punishment, and a fair comparison made of the cruelty (so called) of 
 each. And in making this comparison we must take into account 
 the general merits of the respective plans as they tend more or less to 
 the welfare of society and of the unhappy subject of punishment. If 
 there is a well grounded hope of lessening the quantity of crime, and 
 thus promoting the general happiness and security of society, and if 
 there is also a hope of reforming the criminal, or even deterring him 
 from the repetition of crime, these are powerful considerations to be 
 placed in the scale against specific objections of severity. Nor, in this 
 estimate, must we forget that this plan of solitary confinement has one 
 peculiar and great recommendation which no one can question. It will 
 prevent prisoners from injuring each other by vicious instruction, a most 
 cruel thing, it must be admitted, as it relates to those who are exposed 
 to such a novitiate, and as it relates to society in general. 
 
 In 1828, Hon. Edward Livingston, lawyer and publicist, in a printed 
 letter on the subject, used the following language: 
 
 But above all, do not force those whom you are obliged to imprison 
 before trial, be they innocent or guilty, into that contaminating society 
 from which, after they are found to be guilty, you are so anxious to keep 
 them. Remember, that in Philadelphia, as well as in New York, more 
 than two thousand five hundred are annually committed, of whom not 
 one fourth are found to be guilty, and that thus you have introduced 
 every year one thousand eight hundred persons, presumed to be inno- 
 cent, into a school where every vice and every crime are taught by the 
 ablest masters; and we shut our eyes to this enormous evil, and incon- 
 sistently go on preaching the necessity of seclusion and labor and indus- 
 try after conviction, as if penitentiaries were the only places in which the 
 contamination of evil society were to be dreaded. Why will not Penn- 
 sylvania take the lead in perfecting the work she began, and, instead of 
 patchwork legislation, that can never be effectual, establish a complete 
 system, in which all the different but mutually dependent subjects of 
 education, pauperism, penal law, and prison discipline should be em- 
 braced? I am preaching, I know, to the converted, when I urge the 
 consideration of these subjects upon you; but mutual exhortation is of 
 service even between those who think alike, and there is no cause to the 
 success of which I would more willingly devote my feeble talents, and the 
 exertions of my life, including, as it does, the cause of religion, humanity, 
 and social order, than the one which forms the subject of this letter; 
 there is none, I am sure, more interesting to you, and therefore I will 
 mix with it no other than that of the high esteem with which I am 
 always, my dear sir, your friend and humble servant. 
 
 The Hon. H. W. Desaussure, a member of the judiciary of South 
 Carolina, in his views upon this subject, published in 1834, said: 
 
 I confess my own mind had imbibed some prejudices against it as 
 a cruel punishment, and as tending to drive the mind to madness. 
 Experience has shown, it seems, that the latter effect has not been pro- 
 duced, and the severity of solitary confinement is entirely obviated by 
 the prisoner being allowed to labor and to receive instruction, literary
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 103 
 
 and moral, during his confinement. These seem to approximate the 
 system as near to perfection as any human plan can be carried into 
 effect; we must not, however, expect too much from it. If we suppose 
 this treatment will reform all offenders, we shall be mistaken. The 
 strongest motives are held out by human and divine laws to avoid the 
 commission of crimes, yet men commit them daily. 
 
 In 1829, Mr. George W. Smith published a "Defense of the Pennsyl- 
 vania System of Solitary Confinement of Prisoners." A second edition 
 of this pamphlet appeared in 1833, and in it he expressed his views as 
 follows : 
 
 The introduction of labor as an essential element of a general sys- 
 tem of prison discipline may perhaps be justly attributed to that spirit 
 of economy w r hich characterizes the legislation of the Dutch. The main- 
 tenance of any class in idleness has never been intentionally practiced 
 by this industrious and thrifty nation. Hence prisons and workhouses 
 have been synonymous terms in Holland from a very remote period; 
 attempts to promote reformation by the religious instruction of the pris- 
 oners appear to have been sometimes made in that country, with partial 
 success. In no other part of Europe was this system generally pursued; 
 in few countries was it attempted in any of their prisons; and, in Great 
 Britain, it had not even entered into their imaginations. We think it 
 highly probable that our illustrious founder, William Penn, observed 
 during his travels in Holland this striking feature of their policy, and 
 resolved to adopt the measure, when he projected the celebrated code of 
 laws in England (1682) for the government of this province. In the 
 tenth section it is expressly declared that " all prisons shall be work- 
 houses for felons, vagrants, and loose and idle persons." The Great 
 Law (1682) contains a similar enactment the stock on which all our 
 subsequent legislation has been grafted. The merit, therefore, of origi- 
 nality has been perhaps erroneously attributed to him. It is, however, 
 sufficient praise that he had the penetration to perceive and judgment 
 to approve and copy these useful institutions of a foreign land. His 
 fame as a legislator for originality and humanity rests on a sure basis 
 the abolition of the punishment of death for all crimes but murder 
 (which exception, however, is known to have been contrary to his 
 opinion). From the year 1682 to 1717 labor formed an invariable 
 portion of the punishments of those sentenced to our prisons; at this 
 period our mild Penal Code was finally repealed by Great Britain, which 
 had neither the humanity to adopt it, nor the magnanimity to permit 
 its continuance. The decline of this system, until its final extinction 
 in practice, some years before the Revolution, proves the negligence of 
 our ancestors. At some future time we may resume this subject, but 
 our present design will not permit us at present to discuss this interest- 
 ing portion of our history. 
 
 A few years before the Revolution, the Penal Code, with its sanguinary 
 enactments, and the abuses existing in prison discipline, began to attract 
 the attention of some of the humane citizens of Philadelphia; they 
 finally formed a society on the seventh of February, 1776, for the pur- 
 pose of effecting their benevolent designs. This association, which was 
 called "The Philadelphia Society for Assisting Distressed Prisoners,"
 
 104 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 after a brief but not useless existence of nineteen months, was dissolved, 
 or rather suspended, by the capture of Philadelphia in 1777. The public 
 mind had been, however, prepared for the amelioration of the Penal Code, 
 partly by the efforts of the members of this society; and the first Con- 
 stitution of the State, in 1776, ordains in Chapter II, Section 28, that 
 "punishments be made in some cases less sanguinary," and in Section 
 39, punishment by " hard labor " in the prisons is substituted. The 
 law remained a dead letter during that memorable period; and it was 
 not until the year 1786, after the conclusion of peace, that the sub- 
 ject was resumed, and hard labor enforced; but these efforts were par- 
 tial and ineffectual. In the following year, May 8, 1787, some of the 
 surviving members of the society previously mentioned, and others, 
 reorganized the association under the name of " The Philadelphia Society 
 for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons." This useful and unas- 
 suming body is the parent of all the societies which have been since 
 formed for similar purposes in Europe and this country. It has perhaps 
 effected more for the permanent benefit of mankind than any of the 
 meritorious charities of this city of benevolence. It has the enviable 
 fame of being the first to reduce the humane and philosophic theory of 
 preventive and reforming punishments, by the separate confinement and 
 instruction of prisoners, to the unerring test of successful experiment. 
 
 Before we describe the actual introduction of solitary confinement, as 
 it is perhaps erroneously styled, into our system of legislation, it may 
 be expedient to make a few observations on the history of this interest- 
 ing department of prison discipline. 
 
 As a means of more effectual seclusion from society and the preven- 
 tion of further injury by prisoners during the period of incarceration, 
 and as a mode of inflicting vindictive punishment, it has been partially 
 practiced in almost every nation from the remotest ages. The Egyptians 
 were accustomed to bury alive in the dark, narrow, and secluded cells 
 of some of their vast and secure edifices, which at once served for prisons 
 and for tombs, certain offenders against their laws. These unhappy vic- 
 tims, from the hour when they were immured until the tedious period 
 when death released them from their lingering misery, never beheld the 
 light of day, never inhaled the fresh air of heaven, and never again beheld 
 the face of man, nor heard the consoling accents of his voice. Among 
 the Romans, among the nations of the dark ages, among the modern 
 Italian republics, and in yet later times, solitary confinement has been 
 occasionally practiced as one of the most dreadful means of vindictive 
 punishment a confinement unmitigated, absolute, and inhuman; a 
 confinement at the mere mention of which the philanthropist shudders 
 with horror, and the philosophic reformer turns aside with disgust and 
 reprobation. 
 
 The earliest cases of solitary confinement, as an intended means of 
 reform, may be discovered in the records of ecclesiastical history. Never- 
 theless, it is to Catholic Rome that we owe the first great reform in pen- 
 itentiary discipline. The prison in which it was introduced remained 
 for nearly a century a solitary instance of successful benevolence, ex- 
 tended no further in Rome, where it originated, and unimitated in Chris- 
 tendom. The Hospital of St. Michael (founded in Rome, 1718) was the 
 first " house of refuge " in Europe. Mere workhouses, in which the oper- 
 atives were felons, had indeed been established in other countries; and, 
 although in a few of them instruction had been attempted, the corrupt-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 105 
 
 ing intercourse which was permitted day and night; the mixture of all 
 ages, ranks, and sexes into one corrupting leavened mass of shameless 
 iniquity, rendered the consignment of a juvenile offender to these abodes 
 of sin a certain sentence of moral death. He who entered their gates 
 a novice in guilt, accomplished his education in viliiany; and leaving 
 character, shame, independence, and every incentive to voluntary indus- 
 try and virtue within their walls, departed an adept in crime, ignorant 
 only of his duties, prepared to practice at the expense of society those 
 lessons of vice which its folly had forced on his acquaintance, and 
 almost compelled him to exercise as a profession when discharged. 
 Such was the deplorable condition of these colleges of crime, as prisons 
 have been too correctly denominated, when this noble institution of St. 
 Michael was commenced; the foundations were laid on the firm basis 
 of humanity and sound philosophy. The great evils of idleness were 
 prevented by constant labor during the day; classification to a certain 
 extent, and silence, as far as practicable in an assembly, were enforced; 
 and separate dormitories, or night rooms, for each prisoner provided; 
 appropriate moral sentiments were inscribed on conspicuous tablets, for 
 the continual inspection of the inmates; and, above all, religious in- 
 struction was administered. 
 
 The Assembly of Pennsylvania, convinced by the arguments of the 
 society, in the year 1789-90 effected a radical change in the discipline 
 of the prison. The convicts were compelled to labor; the sexes were 
 separated; the convicts were separated from the untried prisoners and 
 debtors; suitable food and clothing were provided for them; the intro- 
 duction of ardent spirits was strictly prohibited, and jail fees and gar- 
 nish utterly abolished; above all, religious instruction, and as far as 
 possible, a classification of the prisoners, were introduced; conversation 
 Avas also restrained. The prisoners at that time not being numerous, 
 these arrangements were practicable in the prison, which was, however, 
 far too limited to test the merits of the system of improvements which 
 the society was anxious to introduce. The Legislature was not at that 
 time prepared to appropriate a sufficient sum of money to construct a 
 new and perfect prison for the purpose of testing the merits of an untried 
 experiment, however flattering might be the prospects of success. The 
 friends of the new system were willing to test its merits with the imper- 
 fect apparatus which alone was at their disposal. These alterations, in 
 conjunction with some others of a minor description, would alone have 
 produced effects highly beneficial; and doubtless a portion of the 
 reformation, which most unquestionably was produced by the new sys- 
 tem, is attributable to them; but the great object of reform was mainly 
 produced by the celebrated law enacted by the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
 vania, April 5, 1790, by which separate and solitary confinement was 
 first introduced. In the preamble to that Act it is declared that the 
 previous laws for the punishment of criminals " had failed of success, 
 from the communication with each other not being sufficiently restrained 
 within the places of confinement, and it is hoped that the addition of 
 unremitted solitude to laborious employment, as far as it can be effected, 
 will contribute as much to reform as to deter." In the eighth section it 
 is ordered that " a suitable number of cells be constructed in the yard 
 of the jail of the said county, each of which cells shall be six feet in 
 width, eight feet in length, and nine feet in height; and the said cells 
 shall be separate from the common yard by a wall of such height as,
 
 106 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 without any unnecessary exclusion of air and light, will prevent all 
 external communication, for the purpose of confining therein the more 
 hardened and atrocious offenders," viz.: those mentioned in this and a 
 former Act. 
 
 In section tenth, " the residue of the said jail shall be appropriated to 
 the purposes of confining as well such male convicts sentenced to hard 
 labor as cannot be accommodated in the said cells, as female convicts 
 sentenced in like manner, persons convicted of capital offenses, vagrants, 
 and disorderly persons committed as such, and persons charged with 
 misdemeanors only; all of which persons are hereby required to be kept 
 separate and apart from each other as much as the convenience of the 
 building will admit," etc. In section thirteenth, " during which labor 
 the said offenders shall be kept separate and apart from each other, if 
 the nature of their several employments will admit thereof; and where the 
 nature of such employment requires two or more to work together, the 
 Keeper of the said jail, or one of his deputies, shall, if possible, be con- 
 stantly present." In section twenty-first, for certain offenses committed 
 within the prison, the Jailer is authorized to confine prisoners violating 
 the discipline of the prison in the dark cells, on bread and water, for a 
 short time only; but in the county prisons, the period of inflicting this 
 punishment is unlimited. 
 
 In 1829 the Legislature of Pennsylvania enacted several reforms in 
 the Penal Code of that State, and also prescribed the following rules for 
 the government of the penitentiary: 
 
 SECTION 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the following rules and regulations for the better ordering and government 
 of said penitentiaries shall be and continue in force until altered by the 
 Legislature, or in the manner hereinafter stated. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 Of the Inspectors and their Duties. 
 
 They shall at their first meeting, and annually thereafter, appoint out 
 of their number a President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and keep regular 
 minutes of their proceedings; they shall hold stated meetings once a 
 month, and adjourned and special meetings whenever necessary; the 
 Treasurer shall give bond with sufficient surety in such amount as the 
 Inspectors may fix and determine, and shall receive and disburse all 
 moneys belonging to the prison, according to the order of the Board; 
 they shall semi-annually appoint a Warden, a Physician, and Clerk for 
 the institution, and shall fix their salaries as w r ell as those of the Under - 
 keepers or Overseers, and the persons employed about the prison; they 
 shall serve without any pecuniary compensation, and shall.be exempted 
 from military duty, from serving on juries and arbitrations, or as guard- 
 ians of the poor; they shall visit the penitentiary at least twice in every 
 week, to see that the duties of the several officers and attendants are 
 performed; to prevent all oppression, peculation, or other abuse or mis- 
 management of the said institutions; they shall have power, if they on 
 conference find it necessary, to make such rules for the internal govern- 
 ment of said prison, as may not be inconsistent with the principles of 
 solitary confinement as set forth and declared by this Act.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 107 
 
 They shall attend to the religious instruction of the prisoners and 
 procure a suitable person for this object, who shall be the religious 
 instructor of the prisoners; provided, their services shall be gratuitous. 
 
 They shall direct the manner in which all raw materials to be manu- 
 factured by the convicts in said prisons, and the provisions and other 
 supplies for the prisons shall be purchased, and also the sale of all arti- 
 cles manufactured in said prisons. 
 
 They shall cause accurate accounts to be kept by the Clerk, of all 
 expenditures and receipts in the penitentiaries, which accounts, respect- 
 ively, shall be annually examined and settled by the Auditors of the 
 county of Allegheny, and of the county of Philadelphia. 
 
 They shall on or before the first day of January in every year make 
 a report in writing to the Legislature, of the state of the penitentiaries. 
 The report shall contain the number of prisoners in confinement, their 
 age, sex, place of nativity, time of commitment, term of imprisonment 
 during the preceding year, noticing also those who have escaped or died, 
 or who were pardoned or discharged, designating the offense for which 
 the commitment was made, and whether for a first or repeated offense, 
 and when and in what Court, or by whose order; and in such return the 
 Inspectors shall make such observations as to the efficiency of the sys- 
 tem of solitary confinement as may be the result of their experience, 
 and give such information as they may deem expedient for making the 
 said institution effectual in the punishment and reformation of offenders. 
 
 They shall have power to examine any person upon oath or affirma- 
 tion relative to any abuse in the said places of confinement, or matter 
 within the purview of their duties; they shall direct in what manner 
 the rations for the subsistence of the prisoners shall be composed, in 
 conformity with the general directions on that subject hereinafter con- 
 tained. 
 
 The Inspectors in their weekly visits to the several places of confine- 
 ment shall speak to each person confined therein out of the presence of 
 any of the persons employed therein; shall' listen to any complaints 
 that may be made of oppression or ill conduct of the persons so employed, 
 examine into the truth thereof, and proceed therein when the complaint 
 is well founded; and on such visits they shall have the calendar of the 
 prisoners furnished to them by the Warden, and see by actual inspec- 
 tion whether all the prisoners named in the said calendar are found in 
 the said prison, in the situation in which by the said calendar they are 
 declared to be. 
 
 A majority of the said Inspectors shall constitute a Board, and may 
 do any of the acts required of the said Inspectors; two of the Inspectors 
 shall be a quorum for the weekly visitations hereby directed to be made. 
 
 The Warden shall not, nor shall any Inspector, without the direction 
 of a majority of the Inspectors, sell any article for the use of the said 
 penitentiaries, or either of them, or of the persons confined therein dur- 
 ing their confinement, nor derive any emolument from such purchase or 
 sale, nor shall he, or they, or either of them, receive, under any pretense 
 whatever from either of the said prisoners, or from any one in his behalf, 
 any sum of money, emolument, or reward whatever, or any article of value, 
 as a gratuity or gift, under the penalty of five hundred dollars fine, to 
 be recovered' in the name of the Commonwealth, by an action of debt, in 
 any Court of record thereof, having jurisdiction of sums of that amount.
 
 108 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 Of the Duties of the Warden. 
 
 The Warden shall reside in the penitentiary; he shall visit every cell 
 and apartment, and see every prisoner under his care at least once in 
 every day; he shall keep a journal, in which shall be regularly entered 
 the reception, discharge, death, pardon, or escape of any prisoner, and 
 also the complaints that are made, and the punishments that are inflicted 
 for the breach of prison discipline, as they occur; the visits of the In- 
 spector and the Physician, and all other occurrences of note that concern 
 the state of the prison, except the receipts and expenditures, the account 
 of which is to be kept in the manner hereinafter directed. 
 
 The Warden shall appoint the Underkeepers, who shall be called Over- 
 seers, and all necessary servants, and dismiss them whenever he thinks 
 proper, or the Board of Inspectors direct him so to do. 
 
 He shall report all infractions of the rules to the Inspectors, and with 
 the approbation of one of them, may punish the offender, in such man- 
 ner as shall be directed in the rules to be enacted by the Inspectors, con- 
 cerning the treatment of prisoners. 
 
 He shall not absent himself from the penitentiary for a night without 
 permission in writing from two of the Inspectors. 
 
 He shall not be present when the Inspectors make their stated visits 
 to the prisoners under his care, unless thereto required by the Inspectors. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 Of the Duty of the Overseers. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Overseers to inspect the condition of each 
 prisoner at least three times in every day, to see that his meals are regu- 
 larly delivered, according to the prison allowance, and to superintend 
 the work of the prisoners. 
 
 They shall give immediate notice to the Warden or Physician when- 
 ever any convict shall complain of such illness as to require medical 
 aid. 
 
 Each Overseer shall have a certain number of prisoners assigned to 
 his care. 
 
 He shall make a daily report to the Warden of the health and con- 
 duct of the prisoners, and a like report to the Inspectors when required. 
 
 No Overseer shall be present when the Warden or the Inspectors visit 
 the prisoners under his particular care, unless thereto required by the 
 Warden or Inspectors. 
 
 The Overseers shall obey all legal orders given by the Warden, and 
 all rules established by the Board of Inspectors, for the government of 
 the prison. 
 
 All orders to the Overseers must be given through or by the Warden. 
 
 The Overseers shall not absent themselves from the prison without 
 permission from the Warden. 
 
 No Overseer shall receive from any one confined in the penitentiary, 
 or from any one in behalf of such prisoner, any emolument or reward 
 whatever, or the promise of any, either for services or supplies, or as a 
 gratuity, under the penalty of one hundred dollars and imprisonment 
 for thirty days in the county jail; and when any breach of this article 
 shall come to the knowledge of the Warden or Inspectors, the Overseer
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 109 
 
 or Overseers so offending shall be immediately discharged from his 
 office, and prosecuted for the said offense according to law. 
 
 No Overseer who shall have been discharged for any offense whatever 
 shall again be employed. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Of the Duties of the Physician. 
 
 The Physician shall visit every prisoner in the prison twice in every 
 week, and oftener, if the state of their health require it, and shall report 
 once in every month to the Inspectors. 
 
 He shall attend immediately on notice from the Warden that any 
 person is sick. 
 
 He shall examine every prisoner that shall be brought into the peni- 
 tentiary, before he shall be confined in his cell. 
 
 Whenever, in the opinion of the Physician, any convict in the peni- 
 tentiary is so ill as to require removal, the Warden shall direct such 
 removal to the infirmary of the institution, and the prisoner shall be 
 kept in the infirmary until the Physican shall certify that he may be 
 removed without injury to his health, and he shall then be removed to 
 his cell. 
 
 He shall visit the patients in the infirmary at least once in every day, 
 and he shall give such directions for the health and cleanliness of the 
 prisoners, and, when necessary, as to the alteration of their diet, as he 
 may deem expedient, which the Warden shall have executed; provided, 
 they shall not be contrary to the provisions of this law, nor inconsistent 
 with the safe custody of the said prisoners; and the directions he may 
 give, whether complied with or not, shall be entered in the journal of 
 the Warden, and in his own. 
 
 The Physician shall inquire into the mental as well as the bodily 
 state of every prisoner, and when he shall have reason to believe that 
 the mind or body is materially affected by the discipline, treatment, or 
 diet, he shall inform the Warden thereof, and shall enter his observa- 
 tion in the journal hereinafter directed to be kept, which shall be an 
 authority for the Warden for altering the discipline, treatment, or diet 
 of any prisoner, until the next meeting of the Inspectors, who shall 
 inquire into the case, and make orders accordingly. 
 
 The Physician shall keep a journal, in which, opposite to the name 
 of each prisoner, shall be entered the state of his health, and if sick, 
 whether in the infirmary or not, together with such remarks as he may 
 deem important, which journal shall be open to the inspection of the 
 Warden and the Inspectors, and the same, together with the return pro- 
 vided for in the first article in this section, shall be laid before the 
 Inspectors once in every month, or oftener if called for. 
 
 The prisoners under the care of the Physician shall be allowed such 
 diet as he shall direct. 
 
 No prisoner shall be discharged while laboring under a dangerous 
 disease, although entitled to his discharge, unless by his own desire. 
 
 The infirmary shall have a suitable partition between every bed, and 
 no two patients shall occupy the same bed; and the Physician and his 
 attendants shall take every precaution in their power to prevent all 
 intercourse betAveen the convicts while in the infirmary.
 
 110 KEFOEMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 Of the Treatment of the Prisoners in the Penitentiary. Of the Recep- 
 
 tion of the Convicts. 
 
 Every convict sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary shall, 
 immediately after the sentence shall have been finally pronounced, be 
 conveyed by the Sheriff of the county in which he was condemned to 
 the penitentiary. 
 
 On the arrival of a convict, immediate notice shall be given to the 
 Physician, who shall examine the state of his or her health; he or she 
 shall then be stripped of his or her clothes, and clothed in the uniform 
 of the prison, in the manner hereinafter provided, being first bathed 
 and cleaned. 
 
 He or she shall then be examined by the Clerk and the Warden, in 
 the presence of as many of the Overseers as can conveniently attend, in 
 order to their becoming acquainted with his or her person and counte- 
 nance; and his or her name, height, apparent and alleged age, place of 
 nativity, trade, complexion, color of hair and eyes, and length of his or 
 her feet, to be accurately measured, shall be entered in a book provided 
 for that purpose, together with such other natural or accidental marks, or 
 peculiarity of feature or appearance, as may serve to identify him or 
 her, and if the convict can write, his or her signature shall be written 
 under the said description of his or her person. 
 
 All the effects on the person of the convict, as well as his or her clothes, 
 shall be taken from him or her, and specially mentioned and preserved 
 under the care of the Warden, to be restored to him or her on his or her 
 discharge. 
 
 If the convict is not in such ill health as to require being sent to the 
 infirmary, he or she shall then be conducted to the cell assigned to him or 
 her, numerically designated, by which he or she shall thereafter be known 
 during his or her confinement. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 Of the Clothing and Diet of the Convicts. 
 
 The uniform of the prison for males shall be a jacket and trousers of 
 -cloth or other warm stuff for the winter, and lighter materials for the 
 summer; the form and color shall be determined by the Inspectors, and 
 two changes of linen shall be furnished to each prisoner every week. 
 
 No prisoner is to receive anything but the prison allowance. 
 
 No tobacco in any form shall be used by the convicts, and any one 
 who shall supply them with it, or with wine or spirituous or intoxicating 
 fermented liquor, unless by order of the Physician, shall be fined ten 
 dollars, and if an officer, be dismissed. 
 
 Of Visitors. 
 
 No person who is not an official visitor of the prisons, or who has not 
 .a written permission according to such rules as the Inspectors may adopt 
 as aforesaid, shall be allowed to visit the same; the official visitors are 
 the Governor, the Speaker and members of the Senate, the Speaker and
 
 KEFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. Ill 
 
 members of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Common- 
 wealth, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Attorney-General and his 
 Deputies, the President and Associate Judges of all the Courts in the 
 State, the Mayor and Recorder of the Cities of Philadelphia, Lancaster, 
 and Pittsburg, Commissioners and Sheriffs of the several counties, and 
 the Acting Committee of the Philadelphia Society for the Alleviation of 
 the Miseries of Public Prisons. 
 
 None but the official visitors can have any communication with the 
 convicts, nor shall any visitor whatever be permitted to deliver to or 
 receive from any of the convicts any letter or message whatever, or to 
 supply them with any article of any kind, under the penalty of one 
 hundred dollars fine, to be recovered as hereinbefore provided for other 
 fines imposed by this Act. 
 
 Any visitor who shall discover any abuse, infraction of law, or 
 oppression, shall immediately make the same known to the Board of 
 Inspectors of the Commonwealth, if the Inspectors or either of them are 
 implicated. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 Of the Discharge of the Convicts. 
 
 Whenever a convict shall be discharged by the expiration of the term 
 for which he or she was condemned, or by pardon, he or she shall take 
 oft' the prison uniform, and have the clothes which he or she brought to 
 the prison restored to him or her, together with the other property, if 
 any. that was taken from him or her on his or her commitment, that 
 has not been otherwise disposed of. 
 
 When a prisoner is to be discharged, it shall be the duty of the War- 
 den to obtain from him or her, as far as is practicable, his or her former 
 history; what means of literary, moral, or religious instruction he or 
 she enjoyed; what early temptations to crime, by wicked associations or 
 otherwise, he or she was exposed to; his or her general habits, predom- 
 inant passions, and prevailing vices, and in what part of the country he 
 or she purposes to fix his or her residence; all of which shall be entered 
 by the Clerk in a book to be kept for that purpose, together with his or 
 her name, age, and time of discharge. 
 
 If the Inspectors and Warden have been satisfied with the morality, 
 industry, and order of his conduct, they shall give him a certificate to 
 that effect, and shall furnish the discharged convict with four dollars, to 
 be paid by the State, whereby the temptation immediately to commit 
 offenses against society, before employment can be obtained, may be ob- 
 viated. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 Duties of the Religious Instructor. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Instructor to attend to the moral and 
 religious instruction of the convicts, in such manner as to make their 
 confinement, as far as possible, the means of their reformation, so that 
 when restored to their liberty they may prove honest, industrious, and 
 useful members of society; and the Inspectors and officers are enjoined 
 to give every facility to the Instructor, in such measures as he may 
 think necessary to produce so desirable a result, not inconsistent with 
 the rules and discipline of the prison.
 
 112 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 SEC. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the expenses of maintaining* and keeping the convicts in the said 
 Eastern and Western Penitentiaries shall be borne by the respective 
 counties in which they shall be convicted, and the said expense shall 
 be paid to the said Inspectors by orders, to be drawn by them on the 
 Treasurers of the said counties, who shall accept and pay the same; 
 provided, that the said orders shall not be presented to the said Treas- 
 urers before the first Monday of May in each and every year; and pro- 
 vided, also, that the said Inspectors shall annually, on or before the 
 first Monday of February, transmit, by the public mail, to the Com- 
 missioners of such of the counties as may have become indebted for 
 convicts confined in said penitentiaries, an account of the expense of 
 keeping and maintaining said convicts, which account shall be signed 
 by the said Inspectors, and be sworn or affirmed to by them, and attested 
 by the Clerk; and it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners, imme- 
 diately on receipt of said accounts, to give notice to the Treasurers of the 
 respective counties of the amount of said accounts, with instructions 
 to collect and retain moneys for the payment of said orders when pre- 
 sented; and all salaries of the officers of the said penitentiaries shall be 
 paid by the State, and it shall be the duty of the Inspectors to transmit 
 to the Auditor-General the names of the persons by them appointed, 
 and the salaries agreed to be paid to each of them under the provisions 
 of this Act, which sums shall be paid in the usual manner, by warrants 
 drawn by the Governor upon the Treasurer oi the Commonwealth. 
 
 SEC. 10. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the several Acts of Assembly of this Commonwealth, and such parts 
 thereof, so far as the same are altered or supplied by this Act, be and 
 the same are hereby repealed, from and after the first day of July next; 
 provided, that the repeal thereof shall in no wise affect any indictment, 
 trial, sentence, or punishment of any of the said herein mentioned crimes 
 or offenses which have been or shall be committed before this Act shall 
 come into operation. 
 
 SEC. 11. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the Governor be and he is hereby authorized and required to issue his 
 warrant to the State Treasurer, in favor of the Inspectors of the Western 
 Penitentiary, for the sum of three thousand dollars, to be applied by 
 said Inspectors to such alteration of the interior of said penitentiary, as 
 in their opinion will best adapt the same to the provisions of this Act. 
 
 SEC. 12. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, 
 for the purpose of finishing the Eastern Penitentiary, introducing a 
 supply of water from Fairmount Waterworks, and procuring the neces- 
 sary furniture and fixtures for the accommodation and reception of the 
 prisoners, the sum of five thousand dollars be and it is hereby appro- 
 priated for the said purposes, and the Commissioners appointed to super- 
 intend the erection of the State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of 
 Pennsylvania are directed to carry the same into effect, and to draw 
 the sum hereby authorized from the State Treasury, in the same manner 
 as is by law provided. 
 
 SEC. 13. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the Board of Inspectors of the Eastern Penitentiary, who shall be ap- 
 pointed as is hereinbefore provided, be and they hereby are authorized 
 
 * Repealed Act of 1833.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 113 
 
 to draw from the State Treasury, upon warrants drawn in the usual 
 manner, any sums of money which shall not together amount to more 
 than one thousand dollars, to enable said Inspectors to support and 
 employ the prisoners who may be committed to said penitentiary, 
 until so much of such sums of money as may become payable by the 
 several counties from which convicts may be removed to said prison 
 shall be received by said Board, as will enable them to manage the affairs 
 of said prison without such aid, which sum so advanced by the State 
 shall be repaid to the State Treasury by the said Board as soon as the 
 funds of said prison will enable said Board to make such repayment. 
 
 A description of this prison can best be given in the words of those 
 who at different times have made an exhaustive study of it. In 1823 
 the following description was given of this prison and its condition at 
 that time: 
 
 The Eastern State Penitentiary is situated on one of the most elevated, 
 airy, and healthy sites in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Large sums have 
 been expended for the purpose of giving an unusual degree of solidity 
 and durability to every part of this immense structure, which is the most 
 extensive building in the United States. The ground occupied by it con- 
 tains about ten acres. The material with which the edifices are built is 
 a grayish granite, or gneiss, employed in large masses; every room is 
 vaulted and fire-proof. The design and execution impart a grave, severe, 
 and awful character to the external aspect of this building. The effect 
 which it produces on the imagination of every passing spectator is pecul- 
 iarly impressive, solemn, and instructive. The architecture is in keep- 
 ing with the design. The broad masses, the small and well proportioned 
 apertures, the continuity of lines, and the bold and expressive simplicity 
 which characterize the features of the facade, are most happily and judi- 
 ciously combined. The originality of the plan, the excellent arrange- 
 ment and execution of the details, display the taste and ingenuity of the 
 architect, to whom our country is indebted for some of her noblest edi- 
 fices-^-our fellow citizen, Mr. John Haviland. 
 
 This penitentiary is the only edifice in this country which is calculated 
 to convey to our citizens the external appearance of those magnificent 
 and picturesq.ue castles of the middle ages, w T hich contribute so eminently 
 to embellish the scenery of Europe. 
 
 A reference to the accompanying view and plan will render only a 
 brief description necessary. The front of this building is composed of 
 large blocks of hewn and squared granite; the walls are twelve feet thick 
 at the base, and diminish to the top, where they are two and three 
 quarters feet in thickness. A wall of thirty feet in height above the 
 interior platform, incloses an area six hundred and forty feet square; at 
 each angle of the wall is a tower for the purpose of overlooking the 
 establishment; three other towers, which will be presently described, are 
 situated near the gate of entrance. The facade or principal front, which 
 is represented in the accompanying view, is six hundred and seventy feet 
 in length, and reposes on a terrace, which, from the inequalities of the 
 ground, varies from three to nine feet in height; the basement or belting 
 course, which is ten feet high, is scarped, and extends uniformly the 
 whole length. The central building is two hundred feet in length, con- 
 sists of two projecting massive square towers, fifty feet high, crowned by 
 8n
 
 114 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 projecting embattled parapets, supported by pointed arches resting on 
 corbels or brackets. The pointed mullioned windows in these towers 
 contribute in a high degree to their picturesque effect. The curtain 
 between the towers is forty-one feet high, and is finished with a parapet 
 and embrasures. The pointed windows in it are very lofty and narrow. 
 The great gateway in the center is a very conspicuous feature; it is twenty- 
 seven feet high and fifteen feet wide, and is filled by a massive wrought 
 iron portcullis, and double oaken gates studded with projecting iron 
 rivets, the whole weighing several tons; nevertheless they can be opened 
 with the greatest facility. On each side of this entrance (which is the 
 most imposing in the United States) are enormous solid buttresses 
 diminishing in offsets and terminating in pinnacles. A lofty octangular 
 tower, eighty feet high, containing an alarm bell and clock, surmounts 
 this entrance, and forms a picturesque proportional center. On each 
 side of this main building (which contains the apartments of the War- 
 den, Keepers, domestics, etc.) are screen wing walls, which appear to 
 constitute portions of the main edifice; they are pierced with small 
 blank-pointed windows, and are surmounted by a parapet; at their ex- 
 tremities are high octangular towers terminating in parapets pierced by 
 embrasures. In the center of the great court-yard is an observatory, 
 whence long corridors, eight in number, radiate; (three only of these 
 corridors, etc., are at present finished). On each side of these corridors 
 the cells are situated, each at right angles to them, and communicating 
 with them only by small openings for the purpose of supplying the pris- 
 oner with food, etc. r and for the purpose of inspecting his movements 
 without attracting his attention; other apertures, for the admission of 
 cool or heated air, and for the purpose of ventilation, are provided. 
 
 Among the advocates of this system in Europe, we may refer to How- 
 ard, Paul, Eden, Mansfield, Blackstone, Paley, Liancourt, Villerme, etc., 
 and in this country, to the venerable Bishop White, whose whole life 
 has been but one prolonged illustration of that religion which he pro- 
 fesses, Dr. Rush, Bradford, Vaux, Wood, Sergeant, Livingston, and many 
 of our most eminent citizens. The intrinsic and obvious excellence of 
 the plan afforded a powerful argument for its adoption upwards of* forty 
 years since. The partial experience of its merits has been beneficially 
 experienced in our State and other parts of the Union, notwithstanding 
 the numerous disadvantages which have heretofore attended the trial. 
 The only failures which have occurred in other States are unquestion- 
 ably attributable to the absurd and culpable manner in which the pro- 
 cess has sometimes been conducted. The experience of several of the 
 European States, as well as of our own Commonwealth, incontestably 
 proves that this system of prison discipline is the most efficient which 
 the wisdom of philanthropists has heretofore devised; that, when admin- 
 istered in a proper manner, the reformation of the great majority of 
 criminals is practicable; that no injury to the health, mental or bodily, 
 of the convicts occur; that the severity is sufficient, not only to operate 
 on the inmates of the prison, but to deter others by the example of their 
 sufferings; and, finally, that as a means of preventing crimes it is in 
 fact the most economical. A superficial view of this subject has too 
 frequently led to erroneous conclusions in some of our sister States. 
 
 As "the Pennsylvania system of prison discipline" effects, not indeed 
 the extirpation, but the prevention and diminution of crime, to an 
 unknown and unrivaled extent, the dictates of mere economy, of sordid
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. llo 
 
 self-interest, as well as of patriotism, humanity, and general religion, 
 cry aloud for its general adoption. The prime cost of an efficient labor- 
 saving machine is never considered by the intelligent and wealthy cap- 
 italist as a wasteful expenditure, but as a productive investment. This 
 penitentiary will be, strictly speaking, an apparatus for the expeditious, 
 certain, and economical eradication of vice, and the production of reforma- 
 tion. The State of Pennsylvania has exhibited at once her wisdom, 
 philanthropy, and munificence, by the erection of this immense and 
 expensive structure, which, in connection with her other noble institu- 
 tions, will largely contribute to the amelioration and protection of her 
 population. 
 
 The corner-stone of the front building of the penitentiary was laid on 
 the twenty-second day of May, 1823, in the presence of the Commis- 
 sioners, architect, Superintendent, and workmen. On this interesting 
 occasion, Mr. Roberts Vaux said that he much regretted the unavoidable 
 absence of the President of the Board, in whose place he had just then 
 been unexpectedly desired to say a few words concerning the purpose for 
 which the Commissioners were assembled. 
 
 He remarked that the occasion was calculated to awaken reflections 
 at once painful and gratifying. Painful, because such was the erring 
 character of man, so ungovernable were his passions, and so numerous 
 his propensities to evil, that it was necessary society should provide 
 means for the punishment of offenders against its laws. Gratifying, 
 because a correct view of human nature, coupled with the indispensable 
 exercise of Christian benevolence, had led to the melioration of punish- 
 ments. Justice was now mixed with mercy, and whilst the community 
 designed to teach offenders that the way of the transgressor is hard, it 
 wisely and compassionately sought to secure and reform the criminal 
 by the most strict solitary confinement. The penitentiary now to be 
 erected was designed to accomplish these important ends, and when it 
 shall be completed it will afford the first opportunity of putting into 
 efficient practice the Penal Code of this State. Mr. Vaux congratulated 
 his fellow citizens of Pennsylvania, because their legislators were the 
 first (almost forty years ago) to abolish those cruel and vindictive pen- 
 alties which are in use in the European countries from which we had 
 descended. The pillory, the whipping-post, and the chain were not cal- 
 culated to prevent crime, but to familiarize the mind with cruelty, and, 
 consequently, to harden the hearts of those who suffered, and those who 
 witnessed such punishments. The substitution in Pennsylvania of 
 milder correctives had excited the notice and respect of nations abroad, 
 as well as of our sister States; our example had, in some instances, been 
 followed, and he had no doubt the principle would more extensively 
 prevail. 
 
 The box deposited in the corner-stone, which you have seen laid, con- 
 tains a plan and elevation of the prison, and a metal plate bearing the 
 following inscription:
 
 116 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 PENITENTIARY 
 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 FOUNDED, 
 AGREEABLY TO AN ACT OF ASSEMBLY 
 
 Passed on the twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and twenty-one. 
 
 JOSEPH HIESTER, ANDREW GREGG, 
 
 Governor. Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Under the direction of the following named gentlemen, 
 COMMISSIONERS: 
 
 Thomas Sparkes, John Bacon, Roberts Vaux, Samuel R. Wood, Cole- 
 man Sellers, James Thackara, Daniel H. Miller, William Davidson, 
 Thomas Bradford, Jr., Caleb Carmalt, Geo. N. Baker. 
 
 JOHN HAVILAND, JACOB SOUDER, 
 
 Architect. Superintendent of Masonry. 
 
 It only remains for us, said Mr. Vaux, in conclusion, to express our 
 ardent desire that this institution may fully answer the important purr 
 poses for which it was founded. 
 
 In a report to the Legislature, Mr. Thomas McElwee gave this de- 
 scription: 
 
 The Walnut-Street Prison was commenced in 1773, finished in 1774. 
 It contained sixteen cells for solitary confinement they were only used 
 in emergency. The evils of permitting convicts to work and lodge in 
 companies, with unrestrained intercourse with each other, were mani- 
 fested at an early day to the discerning and the philanthropist. 
 
 In 1801 a memorial was presented to the Legislature by the "Phila- 
 delphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons," dated 
 Philadelphia, 12 mo., 1801, signed Wm. White, President, requesting 
 the Legislature to devise means "to separate the convicts from all other 
 descriptions of prisoners;" and two years afterwards the same society 
 requested the Legislature " to adopt the mode of punishing criminals 
 by solitary confinement at hard labor." In 1818, the society presented 
 another petition in which they request the Legislature " to consider the 
 propriety and expediency of erecting penitentiaries in suitable parts of 
 the State for the more effectual employment and separation of the pris- 
 oners, and of proving the efficacy of solitude on the morals of those 
 unhappy objects" 
 
 The chief object of the society appears to be to lessen the commission 
 of crime by inflicting the punishment of privation, solitude, and labor 
 for a certain time for a specified ofiense, not as a mere matter of restraint, 
 but strictly as a punishment.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 117 
 
 In 1821 another memorial was laid before the Legislature, signed by 
 Wm. White, Roberts Vaux, and other eminent men who have labored 
 unceasingly to promote the happiness of their fellow-beings. This peti- 
 tion was successful. The Legislature, by Act of March 20, 1821, author- 
 ized the construction of the Eastern Penitentiary on the principle of 
 " separate and solitary confinement at labor," with an appropriation of 
 $100,000, and the proceeds of the sales of certain lots of ground situate 
 in the City and County of Philadelphia; and the interest of the Com- 
 monwealth in the Arch-Street Prison was vested in the Commissioners 
 on condition of securing to the State the payment of $50,000 out of the 
 proceeds of the sale of that building and the lots on which it is situated. 
 
 A lot containing thirteen acres, situate on Cherry Hill, two miles 
 northwest of the Court House, was purchased and appropriated for this 
 important purpose. 
 
 The corner-stone of the front building was laid on the twenty-second 
 day of May, 1823, in the presence of the Commissioners, architect, 
 Superintendent, and workmen; Roberts Vaux presiding over the cere- 
 monies. 
 
 A box was deposited in the corner-stone, containing a plan and eleva- 
 tion of the prison, and a metal plate bearing the following inscription: 
 [See the copy of inscription printed on page 116.] 
 
 Thus was laid the foundation of the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 The Eastern State Penitentiary is situated on one of the most elevated, 
 airy, and healthy sites in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Large sums have 
 been expended for the purpose of giving an unusual degree of solidity 
 and durability to every part of this immense structure, which is the most 
 extensive building in the United States. The ground occupied by it con- 
 tains about ten acres. The material with which the edifices are built is 
 a grayish granite, or gneiss, employed in large masses; every room is 
 vaulted and fire-proof. The design and execution impart a grave, severe, 
 and awful character to the external aspect of this building. The effect 
 which it produces on the imagination of every passing spectator is pecul- 
 iarly impressive, solemn, and instructive. The architecture is in keep- 
 ing with the design. The broad masses, the small and well proportioned 
 apertures, the continuity of lines, and the bold and expressive simplicity 
 which characterize the features of the facade, are most happily and judi- 
 ciously combined. The originality of the plan, the excellent arrange- 
 ment and execution of the details, display the taste and ingenuity of the 
 
 architect, who has planned some of the noblest edifices of our country. 
 * * * * * * * * * " 
 
 In the center of the great court-yard is an observatory, whence long 
 corridors, seven in number, radiate. On each side of those corridors the 
 cells are situated, each at right angles to them, and communicating with 
 them only by small openings, for the purpose of supplying the prisoner 
 with food, and inspecting his movements without attracting his attention; 
 other apertures for the admission of cool or heated air, and for the pur- 
 pose of ventilation, are provided. The privy pipes carry off the impuri- 
 ties of the cell to a common sewer. Originally there was a defect in the 
 construction of those pipes, which admitted communication between the 
 prisoners, endangering the existence of the institution. This defect is, I 
 understand, removed. The cells are warmed by heated air, conducted 
 by flues through the whole range. Light is admitted by a large circular
 
 118 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 glass in the crown of the arch, which is raking, and the highest part six- 
 teen feet six inches above the floor, which is of wood, overlying a solid 
 foundation of stone. The walls are plastered and whitewashed; the cells 
 are eleven feet nine inches long, and seven feet six inches wide. At the 
 extremity of the cell, opposite to the apertures for inspection, etc., pre- 
 viously mentioned, is the doorway, containing two doors; one a lattice 
 work or iron grating, to admit the air, and secure the prisoner; the other 
 composed of planks to exclude the air if required. This door leads to a 
 yard attached to each cell on the ground floor, eighteen feet by eight, the 
 walls of which are eleven and a half feet high. In the second story each 
 prisoner is allowed an additional cell or bed-room. Each cell is fur- 
 nished with a bedstead, clothes rail, seat, shelf, tin cup, wash basin, 
 victuals pan, looking-glass, combs, scrubbing brush and sweeping brush, 
 straw mattress, and one sheet, one blanket, and one coverlet. 
 
 The bedstead or bunk is so constructed that the prisoner can rear it 
 against the wall and fasten it with a staple, which gives him more room 
 in the cell. Each cell is provided with water by means of a stopcock. 
 The bedstead now in use is constructed of wood. The iron bedstead and 
 hammock were found inexpedient. There were three hundred and eleven 
 cells completed on the first day of January, 1835; all the rest are nearly 
 fitted for the reception of prisoners. The edifice is calculated to contain 
 in all about six hundred and fifty convicts. The three blocks first con- 
 structed are one story; the other four are two stories each. 
 
 The close approximation of the level of the edifice to the surface of the 
 public reservoirs at Fairmount, has produced some difficulty in obtain- 
 ing an ample supply of water. That difficulty has been removed by the 
 following contrivance: A well of thirty feet in diameter, and about 
 twenty-five feet in depth from the surface of the ground, is duly and 
 securely walled up and arched over with bricks; contiguous to this well 
 a building of substantial masonry has been erected of forty feet by thirty- 
 four feet; an arched basement contains the furnaces and boilers, over 
 which is placed a steam engine of six horse-power, by means of which 
 the water will be drawn from the large well, and forced into a reservoir, 
 erected also of substantial masonry, north of and adjoining the last 
 mentioned building. This reservoir is about forty feet in diameter and 
 ten in height above the surface of the ground, and contains about seventy- 
 six thousand six hundred gallons of water supplied by the Fairmount 
 Waterworks. From this reservoir the lower stories of the cell buildings 
 and the privy pipes belonging thereto receive their supply of water. 
 
 Over this reservoir is an apartment sufficiently capacious to contain 
 nine large cedar tanks or cisterns, filled with water from the large well 
 by the power of the engine. From these tanks the second stories of cells 
 and privy pipes will receive their supply of water. This contrivance, 
 which is very excellent, will furnish an ample supply of water to the 
 whole establishment. 
 
 An apothecary's shop is kept within the walls under the superintend- 
 ence of the Physician. One apartment is allotted to the Inspectors and 
 one as a hospital. Within the walls is a garden appropriated to the 
 Warden and one to the domestics. 
 
 The food of the convicts is cooked by steam, but it is estimated that 
 the present apparatus has not the capacity to prepare food for more than 
 two hundred persons.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 119 
 
 The cost of the building cannot be acurately ascertained, but the fol- 
 lowing sums are known to have been appropriated by the Legislature: 
 
 By Act of March 20, 1821 1 . ..$100,000 00 
 
 By Act of March 15, 1824 80,000 00 
 
 By Act of March 1, 1825 . 60,00000 
 
 By Act of March 15, 1826 89,124 09 
 
 By Act of April 9, 1827 1,00000 
 
 By Act of April 14, 1828 4,000 00 
 
 By Act of April 23, 1829 5,00000 
 
 By Act of April 3, 1830 4,000 00 
 
 By Act of March 28, 1831 120,000 00 
 
 By Act of February 27, 1833 130,000 00 
 
 By Act of April 15, 1834 20,000 00 
 
 By Act of April 14, 1835 60,000 00 
 
 City prison, city lots, etc 99,476 60 
 
 * 
 
 Total $772,600 69 
 
 Pennsylvania is indebted for the penitentiary system to such men as 
 the Rt. Rev. Bishop Win. White, R. Wells, B. Wynkoop, T. Wistar, S. 
 P. Griffitts, J. Kaighn, Wm. Rogers, C. Marshall, T. Connelly, T. Cooper, 
 C. Lowndes, B. Shaw, T. Harrison, Wm. Lippincott, Geo. DuffieJd, Rob- 
 erts Vaux, N. Collin, T. Reed, etc. men whose philanthropy knows no 
 bounds, whose courage nothing could daunt, and whose industry in benev- 
 olence knows no resting place. Those are the men who have devised a 
 system, and under whose auspices was commenced an institution which, 
 in the strong language uttered by an experienced man to the writer, 
 " had it been rightly conducted it would have been impossible to find a 
 fault with it." 
 
 Richard Wistar led the way in alleviating the miseries of prisons in 
 Pennsylvania. This benevolent man, before the Revolutionary War, 
 was in the habit of causing wholesome soup, prepared at his own dwell- 
 ing, to be conveyed to the prisoners and distributed among them. The 
 jail was then situated at the southwest corner of Market and Third 
 Streets. " The Philadelphia Society for Assisting Distressed Prisoners" 
 was formed on the seventh of February, 1776, suspended in 1777, by 
 reason of the presence of the British army in Philadelphia, and revived 
 May 8, 1787, under the name of "The Philadelphia Society for Alleviat- 
 ing the Miseries of Public Prisons." To the efforts of this society may 
 be attributed the construction of the Eastern State Penitentiary. 
 
 At a meeting held in March, 1872, the Board of Inspectors directed 
 the President, Mr. Richards Vaux, to prepare a brief sketch of the origin 
 and history of the prison for a meeting held in London to consider 
 prison subjects, and he gives this description of the prison: 
 
 The front entrance of the penitentiary is sixteen feet wide, forty in 
 height. It has two gates, an outer one on Coates Street, and an inside 
 gate opening into the interior grounds. These two gates are not allowed 
 to be opened at the same time, and when a vehicle passes in from the 
 street the gate from the outside is closed and locked before the inner 
 gate leading to the premises is opened. The same precaution is observed
 
 120 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 when the vehicle passes out. The Gatekeeper is always present in his 
 room at the western side of this entrance. The eastern portion of the 
 front buildings is for the Warden's family, and the Inspectors have 
 their room on that side. The western is for the Resident Physician and 
 the Clerk's office, and any other purpose for which it may be needed. 
 The carriage and footway to the center building is thirty feet wide, and 
 on either side of it are large plots of ground with flowers and grass. 
 
 The "center building " is forty feet in diameter. It is of an octagonal 
 shape, and each corridor opens into it. A good idea may be had of its 
 form by likening it to the hub of a wheel from which the spokes, repre- 
 senting the corridors, radiate. It is two stories high. On the top is 
 a lantern and lookout. In the lantern or cupola are eight reflectors, 
 twenty inches in diameter, silver-plated, and by the use of gas the light 
 is thrown at night into all parts of the grounds. It is deemed one of 
 the best protections. The height of these reflectors from the ground is 
 about fifty feet. The center building stands in the exact center of the 
 whole plot of ground, around whilh is a substantial stone wall, the aver- 
 age height of which is thirty-five feet. At the base it is twelve feet wide, 
 and at the top two feet, with a coping overhanging inside two and one 
 half feet. There is a tower at each corner, and the plot of ground con- 
 tains about ten acres. 
 
 Escapes. 
 
 Since the opening of the penitentiary, in 1829, there have been nine 
 escapes. Of these six were retaken. 
 
 Flour Mill. 
 
 The grist mill, situated over the cook house and boiler-room, forms 
 an important feature in the economical arrangement of this prison, inas- 
 much as it furnishes the penitentiary with fresh flour, uniformly sweet 
 and good, at a very considerably less cost than it purchased in the 
 market. 
 
 The engine which drives the mill is one of ten horse-power, and was 
 erected in the year 1834, for the purpose of pumping water from a large 
 well into the reservoir at times of scarcity of water at the city water- 
 works, and it still performs that service when needed. 
 
 The net gain of this arrangement, for the eleven months it has been 
 in operation, has been $1,324 46. 
 
 Carpenter Shop. 
 
 There is a building in the grounds, between the third and fourth 
 blocks, constructed so that, in case of emergency, or if a contagious dis- 
 ease should manifest itself in the cells, a comfortable, well heated, and 
 ventilated hospital could, in a few hours, be ready for use. It is fifty 
 feet in length, twenty-five in width, and two stories in height. The use 
 to which it is designed is a general shop for storing wood and for car- 
 penter's work. The upper story, twelve feet in height, can be promptly 
 made ready for a hospital, and the patients separated by temporary 
 screens. 
 
 Reservoirs. 
 
 The water is supplied from a reservoir to all the prisoners. This res- 
 ervoir is circular in form, forty-one feet six inches in diameter, twenty-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 121 
 
 five feet deep, holds two hundred and fifty-two thousand nine hundred 
 and ninety-two gallons of water. The weight of the water, when full, 
 is equal to one thousand five hundred tons. There were two hundred 
 thousand bricks used on the inner wall; the outside wall is of stone. 
 The walls are three feet thick, and bound with iron hoops, built in the 
 wall, two feet apart. The whole is covered with a slate roof with venti- 
 lator at the top. 
 
 The kitchen, for preparing the food of the prisoners, the bake house, 
 and the flour mill, in which all the flour is ground, are located in the 
 buildings adjoining the reservoir. There is a well fourteen feet in diam- 
 eter between the reservoir and the kitchen, out of which a supply of 
 water is pumped by steam when the water in the basin supplied by the 
 city waterworks is too low for general use. 
 
 Heating and Lighting. 
 
 The heating of the cells is by steam from boilers at the end of the 
 corridors, and the refuse steam is used for the prisoners' bath house, and 
 to heat the center building and library, which is on the second story of 
 the center building. Five and one half miles of iron pipe are employed 
 in conducting the steam through various parts of the premises. Steam 
 as a means of heating has been introduced in lieu of hot water. The 
 total number of gas burners whereby the cells are lighted is six hundred 
 and fifty. 
 
 Wash-Room. 
 
 The wash-room is twenty-five by twenty-five feet, the drying-room 
 twenty-five by thirty feet, and each fifteen feet high. Between these 
 rooms is the boiler-room, twenty-five by twenty feet and twelve high, 
 and over the boiler-room is the room for storing boots and shoes, twenty- 
 five by twenty feet and eleven feet high. These rooms are situated at 
 the end of the seventh block. 
 
 The drying-room is heated by steam pipes, giving a temperature of 
 150 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 The same boiler which heats this room supplies hot water in abun- 
 dance for washing. 
 
 The washing is done with a machine, which is put in rapid motion by 
 a pair of cranks or winches, turned by four men. It is found to be very 
 effective, doing its work thoroughly. After washing, the clothes are put 
 under a screw-press and the water forced out, leaving them nearly dry. 
 
 There are not less than two thousand eight hundred pieces of clothing 
 washed each week. 
 
 Each article is marked with the prisoner's number, and his own clothes 
 and bedding are always returned to him. 
 
 Receiving- Room. 
 
 On the western side of the main entrance, at a short distance beyond 
 the inside gate, is a room properly protected for the reception of the 
 convicts. It is so secured that no combination of prisoners to escape 
 can be successful. They sometimes arrive, several at one time, in the 
 night, from the counties comprising the Eastern District, when caution 
 is necessary, as they are then unknown to the prison authorities. In 
 this room the reception of the prisoners takes place, and all the exami-
 
 122 EEFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 nations then necessary are made before they are taken to the cells. In 
 passing from the front to the center building, and thence to their cells, 
 they wear a cap which prevents recognition in the daytime and secures 
 them from acquiring any topographical knowledge of the ground plan 
 of the penitentiary. Every prisoner, on being received, is taken to a 
 bath-room and thoroughly cleansed. He is then supplied with a clean 
 suit of prison garments, and the clothing he wore upon admission and 
 such articles as were found upon his person are carefully packed away, 
 to be restored to him on his discharge. Personal cleanliness is further 
 secured by a frequent use of the bath-room. A number is assigned to 
 each prisoner when received, and by that number he is designated as 
 long as he remains in the institution. 
 
 Corridors and Blocks of Cells. 
 
 The length of the "first block" is three hundred and sixty-eight feet; 
 ten feet wide, twenty-one feet high to the top of the arch. The old cells 
 in this block are seven feet six inches in width by twelve feet in length, 
 and say fourteen feet in height. The new cells in this block are eight 
 feet wide, sixteen feet long, and eleven feet high. There are twenty of 
 these new cells, built in 1869-70. There are fifty cells in this block. 
 
 The length of the " second block " is two hundred and sixty-eight feet, 
 including passage way from the corridor to the center building. The 
 block is only one hundred and eighty feet in length, ten feet wide, and 
 twenty-one feet high. There are thirty-eight cells in this block. 
 
 The size of the " third block "is same as second block. There are 
 twenty cells in this block; eighteen "double cells," or seventeen by 
 twelve feet, twelve feet high, and used as shops. These three blocks 
 are one story high. 
 
 The length of the " fourth block " is two hundred and sixty-eight feet. 
 It is two stories in height. There are fifty cells on the ground floor, and 
 fifty cells in the second story. The size is seven feet six inches wide by 
 fifteen feet long and eleven feet high. The cells in the second story are 
 the same size as the others, and twelve feet high. There are one hundred 
 and thirty-six cells in this block. 
 
 The " fifth block " is three hundred and sixty-two feet in length, ten 
 feet wide. The corridor is thirty-three feet high and has two stories. 
 There are sixty-eight cells on the ground floor and sixty-eight on the 
 second floor. The size of the cells is the same as in the " fourth block." 
 
 The "sixth block" is two hundred and sixty-eight feet long, ten feet 
 wide, two stories high. The height of the corridor is thirty -three feet, and 
 it contains one hundred cells of the same size as in the " fourth block." 
 
 The " seventh block " is three hundred and sixty-five feet long, two 
 stories high, fifteen feet wide on the gallery, ten feet wide on the ground 
 floor. It is thirty-eight feet in height. The cells are seven feet six 
 inches wide, sixteen feet long, and eleven feet high. There are one hun- 
 dred and thirty-six cells in this block. 
 
 The cells on the ground floor of all the corridors have yards attached 
 to them; the cells in the second story have no yards. Some are double 
 cells (two cells in one), for special use.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 123 
 
 The New Cells. 
 
 Twenty new cells have been added to the first block corridor. They 
 are the result, in construction, of all the experience gained as to the best 
 mode of building such apartments. These new cells are eight feet by six- 
 teen, and twelve feet high. They are lighted by a skylight five feet by 
 twelve inches. The means of supplying heat and ventilation and light 
 are regarded as most complete. The heat is from steam supplied by a 
 boiler at the end of the block, and is sufficient for this and the second 
 block. Each cell has a yard eight by fourteen feet, and inclosed by a 
 wall eleven feet high. The water for drinking is at the command of the 
 prisoner. The gas is given between certain hours. A privy is in each 
 cell, and is cleaned daily by flooding into a sewer. 
 
 The doors into the corridors slide in grooves, and the fastenings were 
 designed by Mr. Cassidy, the principal Overseer, who had entire super- 
 intendence of the construction of the work. The cells are regarded as 
 the most approved of any in use. 
 
 A Review of the Development of the Administration. 
 
 From the opening of this penitentiary in 1829, to the end of last 
 year, 1871, forty-two years have elapsed. This period may be subdivided 
 into two epochs. The first, from 1829 to 1849, should be designated as the 
 epoch of "experiment and experience;" the latter of "development and 
 progress." It requires neither argument nor justification to denominate 
 the first period as one during which the system was to be studied and 
 understood. From the earliest efforts to secure "solitude," as it was 
 called, for the convict during his imprisonment, till the trial was so 
 indifferently and partially made in the Walnut-Street Prison, by the 
 separation of a few prisoners, it was the theory of separation that was 
 mainly considered. 
 
 When the penitentiary was ready in 1829 for the reception of some 
 occupants, it may be said that very little was really known as to the 
 effect of the discipline on the prisoners. Indeed, the discipline of itself 
 was a theory. For many years following 1829, it was not possible to do 
 more than supervise the administration, and put it into working order. 
 It required some time to settle what were the consequences of the disci- 
 pline, and patient investigation was necessary to determine them. To 
 finish all the buildings, suffer from some serious criticisms on the man- 
 agement, and harmonize almost irreconcilable opinions, if not feelings, 
 among those who were first connected with the administration of the 
 penitentiary, distracted the minds of those who were charged with the 
 government of the institution. Therefore, from 1829 to 1835 the atten- 
 tion of the Inspectors was not wholly concentrated on the workings of 
 the system which had been established for the penitentiary. From 1835 
 to 1849 the treatment of the prisoners was thoroughly considered, and 
 then it was that the experience developed in the experiment of the sepa- 
 rate system became of great importance. 
 
 From 1849 to 1871, the Inspectors were to a greater extent occupied in 
 investigating the principles and the philosophy of the separate or indi- 
 vidual treatment discipline, which is now in full operation in this peni- 
 tentiary. 
 
 These remarks are properly prefatory to the annexed extracts from 
 the reports of the Inspectors to the Legislature. They are also intended
 
 124 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 to present the reason for, and explain the purpose of, the statement of 
 the results of the administration of the system of separate confinement 
 of prisoners in the penitentiary, for the two periods to which reference 
 has been made. This statement will give some idea of the progress 
 made, but prominently shows the philosophic basis on which penology 
 must rest, and the intimate relations it bears to social science. 
 
 The penitentiary went into operation, by the reception of the first 
 prisoner, on October 25, 1829. The law organizing it was in force June 
 1, 1829, and S. R. Wood, the first Warden, took charge August 1, 1829. 
 Four blocks of cells were yet unfinished, and the architect and the friends 
 of the separate system, as well as the Inspectors, were engaged in ascer- 
 taining what improvements could be made in the details of the general 
 plan. The State Penitentiary at Pittsburg (Allegheny), and the one at 
 Philadelphia, constructed on the plan of separate confinement of the con- 
 victs, were both originally devised without, of course, much, if any, prac- 
 tical experience in their adaptation to the objects for which they were 
 to be occupied. It is not to be presumed that experience, when obtained, 
 did not suggest various improvements in the structure of prisons for the 
 separation, individual treatment, and labor and instruction of the inmates. 
 
 It is but proper to note that, in 1818, there was a difference of opinion 
 among the friends of the system as to what it really should be in its 
 administration. Some were for solitude, as it was called in contradis- 
 tinction to congregation, without labor. Others were in favor of solitude 
 and hard labor. The first blocks of cells were erected when this subject 
 had been settled, but it had so engaged the minds of all parties before 
 the great results which experience has since shown were to result from 
 separation and the individual treatment of the prisoners, that these apart- 
 ments were not wholly suited to the wiser and truer discipline. 
 
 It is not now scarcely possible to explain how much of discussion and 
 difference of opinion then existed on these subjects. The friends of the 
 separate system had not only to educate the public mind in Pennsylvania 
 as to its real merits, but also to combat opposition in England, New En- 
 gland, New York, and among various gentlemen who had some general 
 opinions on penal jurisprudence. It is not possible to give all the views 
 expressed from these sources. A history, even as brief as the one now 
 presented, would not, however, be satisfactory without some reference to 
 these interesting questions and their effects on the Pennsylvania system. 
 
 The system of Pennsylvania may now be properly described as the 
 separate and individual treatment system of prison discipline. We 
 believe it to be as great a success as human effort, under all the circum- 
 stances, could be expected to accomplish. 
 
 Crime and criminals should be regarded in the relation they bear to 
 the social condition. Society, the State, or Commonwealth, demands 
 protection against violations of those laws which are enacted for pro- 
 tection of the interests, happiness, security, and welfare of the people. 
 For these violations of law, punishment is to be inflicted on the offender. 
 Thus far the State is directly interested in the laws defining crimes, and 
 declaring the penalties. The vindication of the law and its administra- 
 tion, and the infliction of the punishment, comprise the paramount inter- 
 ests of the State. The punishment begins its operation on the criminal, 
 and so far as that punishment deters from crime, the State has a direct 
 interest in the system by which it is administered. Out of the system 
 come other benefits to the State, such as the reformation of the offender,
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 125 
 
 and the protection of the State from the perils of a crime-class, created 
 by the system of punishment. 
 
 The system by which, in penitentiary or prison, the punishment is 
 inflicted, and by which these benefits are to be derived both by the State 
 and the convict, is of equal importance with any other of the interests 
 the State has directly in its jurisprudence. 
 
 This system is one to be considered and determined by applying to 
 the principles on which it is based a scientific investigation only, for 
 any other subordinates to the feelings and interests what should be pre- 
 dominant as a question of social science. 
 
 This subject, it may be remarked, is one that requires the most thor- 
 ough examination before any conclusions can be safely arrived at. The 
 questions of original cost, kind of labor, or capacity to be self-support- 
 ing, have no direct concern with the system of punishment. If the 
 punishment by the separate and individual treatment of the convicts, 
 secures society and protects the people; deters from crime; punishes the 
 offender; reforms the individual; returns him to his former social rela- 
 tions better, or no worse, than when he was separated from them by his 
 imprisonment; prevents the organization or augmentation of a crime- 
 class in the community; then the principal purposes, the highest aims 
 of punishment are obtained. It is with these that society is directly 
 concerned. To ascertain whether these effects are the consequences of 
 any system of punishment, requires that the system should be scientific- 
 ally and practically investigated, and all other questions should be 
 postponed till these consequences are determined. 
 
 It is claimed for the separate and individual treatment system, as now 
 administered in the Eastern State Penitentiary at Philadelphia, that it 
 accomplishes all these purposes. Let the contrary be demonstrated 
 before the system is either condemned or set aside for one which yields 
 less or none of the great objects of punishment by imprisonment of offend- 
 ers. It will not suffice to condemn the separate system, because by the 
 separation of convicts less profits are obtained from their labor than 
 when they work, aided by machinery, in an associate or congregate 
 prison. The State has no such paramount interest in the profits of the 
 labor of its convicts as to abandon all the other benefits which should be 
 derived from their punishment. The congregation or association of con- 
 victs during their punishment by imprisonment, produces evils ulti- 
 mately far more expensive to the State than the loss of profits gained by 
 working them together for the period of their imprisonment. 
 
 It is doubted if ever yet a system of penitentiary discipline, or of treat- 
 ment of offenders sentenced to separation from society for crimes against 
 it, has been adjudged the best because it is preeminently a profit-mak- 
 ing, money-gaining system. Such a decision, based on such a principle, 
 would, or should, shock the moral sense of mankind. It may be possi- 
 ble to introduce into the profit-making discipline a means of moral cult- 
 ure, promising the reform of those who are subjected to it. But so long 
 as the profits are the primary purpose of the discipline, the great aim, 
 punishment, is lost sight of, because punishment then is only incarcera- 
 tion in a prison, and the reformation of the prisoner is subordinate to 
 the best method of labor.
 
 126 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 No regard is paid to the effects of congregating in a prison large num- 
 bers of convicts working together, when these prisoners leave the insti- 
 tution to mix again in society. This consideration, and the reformation 
 and individual benefits to be derived from proper instruction during 
 punishment, are questions which, if considered, and due weight given to 
 their importance, would involve loss of profits. A congregate prison 
 the system of congregating prisoners for work unless it is profit-making, 
 could not be regarded as defensible. Its only merit now consists in the 
 asserted fact that it may be self-supporting. Such are the sordid influ- 
 ences that the system of money-making prisons begets a system so 
 prejudicial to the convict and society. 
 
 Remarks and Facts in Relation to Administration. 
 
 It may be said, without fear of denial, that the best system of prison 
 discipline ever devised may utterly fail by reason of its bad administra- 
 tion. So, also, is it true of a bad system; it may produce good results, 
 provided it is well administered. So much depends on administration. 
 The most important element in all administrations is the character and 
 capacity of the governing power, and the adaptation of the officers to 
 their duties. It is to be remarked that the changing of the officers for 
 any reason other than unfitness, or impropriety of conduct, is to be con- 
 demned in the strongest manner as fatal to the best interests of the insti- 
 tution. Political or sectarian influences should never be permitted to 
 control the administration, nor in any way interfere with the government 
 of a prison. It produces the worst possible condition of the administra- 
 tion, and destroys the independence of those who are required to be 
 responsible for the faithful discharge of their peculiar duties, which must 
 be systematized, rigidly supervised, and performed with exactness, and 
 with a full understanding that direct accountability is demanded. 
 
 Very little consideration is given to the importance of these principles 
 in prison government. It is too often the case that favoritism is made 
 the ground for pertinacious recommendations for positions, when the 
 want of character and fitness in the applicant is known to be positive. 
 Appointments to positions should be in every case dependent only on 
 integrity, character, and special qualifications for the duties to be per- 
 formed, and the tenure should depend solely on good conduct. In this 
 penitentiary all the appointments of Overseers are made by the Warden 
 without the intervention of the Inspectors, who, however, hold the War- 
 den responsible therefor. 
 
 It may better explain the basis of the administration of the discipline 
 to give the following account of some of the means adopted to improve 
 and reform the prisoners: 
 
 For the past three years, out of a total population during that period 
 of one thousand four hundred and ninety-five persons, only ninety-six 
 were subjected to punishment for violating the rules, for gross insubor- 
 dination, or for other bad conduct. The only punishment permitted is a 
 dark cell and bread and water. 
 
 For the same period twenty thousand three hundred lessons were given 
 by the secular teachers, instructing those who were illiterate, or improv- 
 ing those who had some education. 
 
 The whole number of lessons given by the Moral Instructor was twenty-
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 127 
 
 four thousand two hundred and ninety-six, besides one thousand and 
 eighty-nine Sunday exercises on the Sundays of these years. 
 
 There were twenty-eight thousand and thirty-one newspapers, of all 
 religious denominations, distributed. 
 
 The library contains six thousand two hundred and sixty-eight vol- 
 umes, and for three years sixty-nine thousand six hundred and fifty- 
 eight books were distributed to the prisoners, besides one hundred and 
 twelve thousand six hundred and fifteen pages of tracts. 
 
 Every prisoner is taught a handicraft occupation, and when able to 
 do the work he is allowed one half of the product of his labor, in excess 
 of his task, for his own use or that of his family. All those who are 
 received and capable of learning are taught to read, write, cipher, and a 
 trade. When any prisoner has a decided talent for either intellectual 
 or mechanical pursuits, he is permitted to improve himself in study or 
 perfect himself in mechanism. 
 
 Letters to and from the prisoners are forwarded by the Warden after 
 such examination only as to provide against infractions of the rules. 
 Within the past three years eleven thousand two hundred and seventy- 
 five letters were sent by prisoners, and eighteen thousand nine hundred 
 and eleven received by them. 
 
 The influences best adapted to each individual as a reformatory treat- 
 ment of his case are directly applied. 
 
 The cells are regularly cleaned, and great attention is given to this 
 subject, and also to personal cleanliness. 
 
 The number of general visitors to the institution for the past ten years 
 amounts to one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and forty. 
 Visits to the prisoners are regulated by a general rule, but special cases 
 are governed by the circumstances in each case. 
 
 The officers, Warden, Physician, Moral Instructors, and Teachers and 
 Overseers in charge, have constant intercourse with the prisoners. 
 
 Two of the Inspectors arc detailed each month as " Visiting Inspect- 
 ors," who have the general duties of supervision imposed on them, besides 
 such special business in regard to the administration as the Board 
 directs. 
 
 The " Prison Society " has a visiting committee which occupies itself 
 with visits to the prisoners, and a special officer of the society to look 
 after discharged prisoners. 
 
 Meetings of the Board. 
 
 The regular meetings of the Board of Inspectors are held monthly, at 
 which time a written report in detail is required from the Treasurer, 
 Warden, Physician, Moral Instructor, and Secular Instructor. Bills are 
 at the same time submitted by the Warden for all purchases made by 
 him since the preceding meeting, their payment, however, not being 
 ordered by the Board until, upon examination by a committee of the 
 Board, they are found to be correct. The Warden is also required by 
 law to keep a journal and enter therein daily all events happening in 
 the penitentiary, including all cases of punishment or discipline, open 
 to the examination of the Inspectors.
 
 128 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Annual Reports of the Inspectors to the Legislature. 
 
 From the first year of the opening of the penitentiary, 1829, annually, 
 as by law required, the Inspectors have made to the Legislature of the 
 State reports on the condition of the institution. These reports are 
 exhaustive on all the subjects connected with the administration of the 
 penitentiary. The views of the Inspectors as to the system of separate 
 or individual treatment of convicts are presented, and such suggestions 
 are from time to time made as directly relate to the cause of crime, legis- 
 lation for the prevention and punishment of offenders, and also the 
 opinions of the Inspectors on the proper means by which the effects of 
 punishment are most surely produced. Each annual report is accom- 
 panied by statistical tables most carefully prepared from the best sources 
 of information, in which the most thorough exposition of the relations, 
 physical, moral, and mental, of each prisoner on admission and dis- 
 charge is shown. 
 
 It is believed that no more full and complete exhibit of any institution 
 can be found than is thus afforded. 
 
 The student of penal science, in its relations to social science, jurispru- 
 dence, systems of punishment, prison discipline, the effects of imprison- 
 ment by the separate system on all who are subjected to it, can obtain 
 in these reports most valuable information. There are now printed and 
 published forty -three of these reports with full tabular statistical exhibits, 
 and in order that those who desire to learn how much has been done by 
 the Inspectors for the past few years, for the information of those who 
 take any interest in investigating the questions involved, it may be stated 
 that each of the more recent annual reports contain about one hundred 
 and fifty pages of printed matter. 
 
 Receiving Book. 
 
 The following is a copy of the " Receiving Book " which has been in 
 use in this penitentiary for nearly forty years: 
 
 No. 
 
 Age, 
 
 Native of, 
 
 Bound, 
 
 Trade, 
 
 Complexion, 
 
 Eyes, 
 
 Hair, 
 
 Stature, 
 
 Marks, 
 
 No. of convictions, 
 
 Parents, 
 
 Reads, 
 
 Writes, 
 
 Temperate, 
 
 Married, 
 
 Property, 
 
 Crime, 
 
 Sentence, 
 
 County and Court, 
 
 Sentenced, 
 
 Received, 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 Apprenticed: 
 
 and left before the end of term of apprenticeship, 
 and served until expiration of term. 
 
 Went to public school, 
 Went to private school, 
 Age on leaving school,
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 A Copy of the Medical General Record of Admissions. 
 
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 130 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Medical Department. 
 
 The health of the large number of inmates of a penitentiary is a sub- 
 ject of careful attention. After much experience and reflection, the 
 Inspectors came to the conclusion that the importance of the interests 
 involved required that a competent physician should permanently reside 
 upon the premises, so as to be constantly at hand, by day or night, when- 
 ever an occasion should arise for his services. This has been found 
 much more satisfactory than the system of a visiting physician from 
 without. Medical visits, of which a daily record is kept, are constantly 
 and systematically made by the Resident Physician to every prisoner, 
 and each new recipient into the institution undergoes, upon his admis- 
 sion, a thorough and medical examination, the results of which are fully 
 recorded. An ample assortment of medical supplies is kept in the apoth- 
 ecary shop of the penitentiary, which is under the charge of the Resi- 
 dent Physician. 
 
 The Discharge of Prisoners. 
 
 It is of great importance, where a penitentiary, located in a city, 
 receives inmates from a distance, that they should when discharged be 
 immediately sent to the localities whence they came, and not be exposed 
 to the temptations of the city. In order to accomplish this beneficial 
 object, the Inspectors have obtained authority, by an Act of Assembly 
 of the State of Pennsylvania, to give, if it should be needed, to each 
 prisoner, upon his discharge, a specified sum of money for the purpose 
 of paying his traveling expenses to the county from which he came, viz.: 
 $5 under fifty and $10 over fifty miles. 
 
 The "Prison Society" also, as a part of its benevolent operations, 
 takes care that each prisoner, upon his discharge, shall, if his necessities 
 require it, be supplied with such clothing as shall enable him to present 
 a proper appearance when he rejoins his family or friends. 
 
 Rules for the Prisoner. 
 
 In each cell there is a printed copy of these rules. "You are desired 
 strictly to observe the following rules established by the Inspectors for 
 your government:" 
 
 First You must keep you person, cell, and utensils clean and in 
 order. 
 
 Second You must obey promptly all directions given to you either 
 by the Inspectors, Warden, or Overseers. 
 
 Third You must not make any unnecessary noise, either by singing, 
 whistling, or in any other manner; but in all respects preserve becom- 
 ing order. You must not try to communicate with your fellow prisoners 
 in the adjoining cells, either from your own apartment, or during the 
 time you are exercising in your yard. 
 
 Fourth All surplus food must be placed in the vessel provided for 
 that purpose; and all wastage of materials, or other dirt, must be care- 
 fully collected and handed out of the cell, when called for by the Over- 
 seer. 
 
 Fifth You must apply yourself industriously, at whatever employ- 
 ment is assigned you; and when your task is finished, it is recommended 
 that your time be devoted to the proper improvement of your mind,
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 131 
 
 either in reading the books provided for the purpose, or in case you can- 
 not read, in learning to do so. 
 
 Sixth Should you have any complaint to make against the Overseer 
 having charge of you, make it to the Warden or Inspector; if against 
 the Warden, to an Inspector. 
 
 Seventh Be at all times, in your intercourse with the officers of the 
 penitentiary, respectful and courteous, and never suffer yourself to be 
 led astray from your duties by angry or revengeful feelings. 
 
 Eighth Observe the Sabbath; though you are separated from the 
 world, the day is not the less holy. 
 
 The Inspectors desire to treat every prisoner under their charge with 
 humanity and kindness; and they hope that in return the prisoner will 
 strictly conform to the rules adopted for his government, which are not 
 merely advisory, but are a law to him, especially the third, any violation 
 of which will incur proper punishment. 
 
 Special Notice. Violations of these rules or any part of the discipline 
 of the institution, will deprive the prisoner of the benefit of the "Com- 
 mutation Law." 
 
 N. B. Not to be defaced in any manner. 
 
 Mr. Vaux then proceeded to answer some of the popular prejudices 
 against the separate system, and said: 
 
 The volume entitled "American Notes," by Mr. Charles Dickens, has 
 had a large circulation in Europe and America. From his description 
 of the Eastern Penitentiary, an impression has doubtless been made on 
 the minds of many persons corresponding to his published idea of the 
 institution. He thus writes in regard to it: 
 
 " In the outskirts stands a great prison called the Eastern Penitentiary, 
 conducted on a plan peculiar to the State of Pennsylvania. The system 
 here is rigid, strict, and hopeless solitary confinement. I believe it in its 
 effects to be cruel and wrong. In its intention, I am well convinced that 
 it is kind, humane, and meant for reformation; but I am persuaded that 
 those who devised this system of prison discipline, and those benevolent 
 gentlemen who carry it into execution, do not know what it is that they 
 are doing. I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the 
 immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, 
 prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers, and in guessing at it myself, 
 and in reasoning from what I have seen written upon their faces, and 
 what to my certain knowledge they feel within, I am only the more con- 
 vinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance in it which none but 
 the sufferers themselves can fathom, and which no man has a right to 
 inflict upon his fellow creature. * * * I was accompanied to this prison 
 by two gentlemen officially connected with its management, and passed 
 the day in going from cell to cell and talking with the inmates. Every 
 facility was afforded me that utmost courtesy could suggest. Nothing 
 was concealed or hidden from my view, and every piece of information 
 that I sought was openly and frankly given. * * * In another cell 
 there was a German sentenced to five years' imprisonment for larceny, 
 two of which had just expired. With colors procured in the same man- 
 ner, he had painted every inch of the walls and ceiling quite beautifully. 
 He had laid out the few feet of ground behind with exquisite neatness, 
 and had made a little bed in the center that looked, by the bye, like a
 
 132 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 grave. The taste and ingenuity he had displayed in everything were 
 most extraordinary; and yet a more dejected, heart-broken, wretched 
 creature it would be difficult to imagine. I never saw such a picture of 
 forlorn affliction and distress of mind. My heart bled for him, and when 
 the tears ran down his cheeks, and he took one of the visitors aside to 
 ask, with trembling hands nervously clutching at his coat to detain him, 
 whether there was no hope of his dismal sentence being commuted, the 
 spectacle was really too painful to witness. I never saw or heard of any 
 kind of misery that impressed me more than the wretchedness of this 
 man." American Notes, vol. 2, page 246, A. D. 1842. 
 
 Mr. Dickens visited at his own special request the Eastern Penitentiary. 
 He remarked, when asking for an opportunity to examine the institution, 
 that " the Falls of Niagara and your penitentiary are two objects I might 
 almost say I most wish to see in America." His visit was thorough. 
 He saw everything in the penitentiary, and all the prisoners that he chose 
 to visit. When about to leave, he remarked to Mr. Bevan, the President 
 of the Board, that he " never before saw a public institution in which 
 the relation of ' father and family' was so well exemplified as in this." 
 Not one word of criticism or objection was then or there made. He did 
 not even express a doubt of the success of separate confinement as a 
 system of prison discipline. How could he, for he never understood it? 
 On his return to England, his " Notes " were published, from which the 
 foregoing extract is taken. Mr. Dickens' recollections of his early life, 
 and the impression then made on him by its associations and privations, 
 perhaps gave, beyond his power of detection, the coloring to his descrip- 
 tion of the penitentiary. His delineation of character is marked by the 
 strong contrasts which he paints in his fictions, and, therefore, his 
 account of his visit to the " solitary prison " may be presumed to be 
 exaggerated or untrustworthy. The case of the German prisoner, which 
 has been given in full from the " Notes," justifies this remark. 
 
 This German prisoner, this " picture of forlorn affliction and distress 
 of mind," this " dejected, heart-broken, wretched creature," was sentenced 
 to this penitentiary for the first time, May 15, 1840, for five years; on 
 June 28, 1852, he was sent to this penitentiary for one year; February 
 24, 1855, he was a third time committed to this prison for two years; 
 April 4, 1861, he came again for one year; on the 12th of March, 1872, 
 he returned to this penitentiary for two years. Thus this " picture of 
 forlorn affliction and distress of mind" is now a living, hale, hearty 
 man of seventy-two years of age, having served out nine years of im- 
 prisonment, under five different sentences, in this penitentiary, with all 
 its horrors and cruelty, such as " no man has a right to inflict on his 
 fellow man; " while the author of the "American Notes," notwithstanding 
 his associations and journeyings, and his life in the midst of pleasure 
 and friends, sleeps with " David Copperfield." 
 
 So much for crude and emotional criticism on an institution in which 
 punishment is considered with the care, deliberation, and thoughtfulness 
 devoted to any other scientific question. 
 
 Since De Tocqueville, of France, wrote his report on prison discipline, 
 there have been several learned and eminent men who have carefully 
 investigated the subject of individual treatment of convicts as applied 
 under the separate system. In Italy, Belgium, and England many stu- 
 dents of penal science, as well as those conversant practically with this
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 133 
 
 subject, have published most interesting papers in defense of cellular 
 imprisonment. 
 
 In Philadelphia there have been contributed exhaustive arguments and 
 statistical information, derived from the actual condition of the admin- 
 istration of the separate system at the penitentiary in that city, both in 
 the reports of the Inspectors to the Legislature and from other sources. 
 Special reference is here made to William Parker Faulke's " Remarks 
 on Cellular Separation," Philadelphia, 1871; and "Journal of Prison 
 Discipline," Philadelphia, by the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler. The con- 
 tributions by Francis Lieber, LL.D., on the Pennsylvania system are 
 well known. In this connection it is most proper to refer to the book 
 of the Rev. J. Field, Chaplain of the Reading (England) Gaol, entitled 
 " Prison Discipline and the Advantages of the Separate System of Im- 
 prisonment," 2 vol., London, 1848, Longman, Brown, Green & Co., pub- 
 lishers. 
 
 He then gave extracts from some of the annual reports of the In- 
 spectors to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, showing the views of the 
 Inspectors and comparisons with other systems: 
 
 In the report of 1830 the Inspectors write: 
 
 " Believing that an accurate knowledge of the discipline established 
 in the Western State Penitentiary, near Pittsburg (in regard to which 
 from rumor there was some uncertainty), might be useful in estimating 
 the operation of that in the East, the President of the Board visited that 
 institution in June last, to ascertain from personal inspection the char- 
 acter of the experiment there made, and, it is trusted, the Board can in 
 nowise be regarded as reflecting upon the highly respectable gentlemen 
 who superintend that prison, constructed, as it confessedly was, for soli- 
 tary confinement, unmitigated by labor, in the remarks here submitted. 
 The ranges of cells being too small and not sufficiently ventilated and 
 lighted to be used as workshops, appeared to be principally used as dor- 
 mitories, and he was induced to believe that convicts could not be advan- 
 tageously employed therein at solitary labor. The building being also 
 unprovided with separate yards for the different cells, it became neces- 
 sary to the health of the prisoners to allow them to associate with each 
 other in the common yards in which the sexes only appeared to be sepa- 
 rated. The result of this visit was a belief that no inference can be 
 drawn from the situation of a prison thus constructed (as some un- 
 friendly to the system appeared to think) prejudicial to the permanency 
 of the greatly successful experiment of its operation in the Eastern Pen- 
 itentiary, in which every prisoner is provided with a separate cell of 
 ample dimensions and with sufficient light, communicating with a sepa- 
 rate yard, for air and exercise. 
 
 " Unbiased by the speculations of enthusiastic theorists on either side, 
 and unbending to the authority of names, whatever their repute, the 
 Legislature of this Commonwealth, by its statute of the twenty-third of 
 April, 1829, so far as concerned the offenses embraced in that Act, com- 
 mitted the ancient penitentiary system of Pennsylvania to the test of 
 actual experiment in a building adequate to the purpose, content to abide 
 the event before it should be abandoned or extended to the whole calen- 
 dar of penitentiary offenses. That system, however imperfectly enforced 
 heretofore, owing to the faulty construction of our prisons, this Board
 
 134 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 considers to be briefly this: solitary confinement at labor, with instruc- 
 tion in labor, in morals, and in religion. . The noble structure under 
 the direction of the Board, so honorable to the liberality and philan- 
 thropy of the State, has, for the first time, presented the opportunity of 
 effectually enforcing this mode of punishing and reforming the violators 
 of the laws of society. In accordance with the views of the Legislature, 
 and in the faithful execution of the trust reposed in the Board, it is now 
 proposed to express a judgment founded on actual experience of the oper- 
 ation of solitary confinement with labor and instruction upon the moral 
 and physical powers of the convicts, and of the probable expense to the 
 counties of maintaining their prisoners. 
 
 " The evidence of the Physician, with the concurring testimony of the 
 Warden, whose respective reports to the Board are annexed, and the 
 particular observation of this Board, establish the fact that neither 
 insanity nor bodily infirmity has been produced by the mitigated soli- 
 tude in which the prisoners are confined. Absolute solitude for years, 
 without labor or moral or religious instruction, probably does bear too 
 severely upon a social being like man, and were such the mode of pun- 
 ishment in this institution, the Board would feel little hesitation in 
 recommending its repeal, as cruel, because calculated to undermine the 
 moral and physical powers of the prisoner, and to disqualify him from 
 earning his bread at the expiration of his sentence; as impolitic, because, 
 when persisted in beyond a very limited time it tends to harden rather 
 than reform the offender, while it produces great expense to the public, 
 the prisoner in no way contributing by labor to his support. An oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing the effects of absolute solitude without labor has 
 occasionally been presented, when, as a punishment to a sturdy and dis- 
 orderly convict, the Warden has ordered the light of his cell to be closed; 
 little time has elapsed with the most hardy before the prisoner has been 
 found broken down in his spirit, and begging for his work and his Bible, 
 to beguile the tedium of absolute idleness in solitude." 
 
 From the report of the year 1834, the following extract is taken: 
 " The Pennsylvania system is emphatically a mild and humane sys- 
 tem. Let us look for a moment at the condition of the majority of those 
 who become subject to its regulation. We find them living a hurried 
 and thoughtless life of hourly excitement, and shuddering at the possi- 
 bility of a pause which could let in (to them) the demon reflection. We 
 see them wanting the ordinary comforts of clothing and cleanliness, 
 without home save that afforded by chance companionship. We find 
 them in the brothel and the ginshop, giving up to all manner of excesses, 
 indulging in every extreme of vice, self-degraded and brutal. We see 
 them corrupted and corrupting, initiating new candidates in the race of 
 misery and dragging them in their own vortex to a death of infamy and 
 horror. Where do we place them, and how do we treat them? They are 
 taken to the bath and cleansed of outward pollution, they are newly clad 
 in warm and comfortable garments, they are placed in an apartment 
 infinitely superior to what they have been accustomed, they are given 
 employment to enable them to live by their own industry, they are 
 addressed in the language of kindness, interest is shown in their pres- 
 ent and future welfare, they are advised and urged to think of their 
 former course and to avoid it, they are lifted gently from their state of 
 humiliation; self-degradation is removed, and self-esteem inducted. 
 Pride of character and manliness is inculcated, and they go out of prison
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 135 
 
 unknown as convicts, determined to wrestle for a living in the path of 
 honesty and virtue. Is not this humane? The object of all prison 
 establishments should be to reclaim. The separation of convicts affords 
 facilities (which would be impossible under other circumstances) to treat 
 each individual case in a manner best adapted to that result. There 
 are no doubt some criminals who are incorrigible, but even with these 
 the vindictive feelings usually generated by prison discipline find no 
 place, and they leave the establishment with sentiments of regard rather 
 than resentment, towards those who have attempted to alter their vicious 
 habits. We are unwilling to make any remarks which may appear 
 invidious, but we ask that a single glance shall be taken at any of the 
 other plans now in operation, and then let it be answered whether the 
 Pennsylvania system does not possess distinctive features which entirely 
 change the relationship of prisoners towards society, and whether it does 
 not embrace an extensive plan of amelioration of their condition." 
 
 In the report for 1836, the Inspectors say: 
 
 "Although a definite labor appears to be assigned, yet inasmuch as 
 the Inspectors may be looked upon as public agents in this particular 
 department, it is hoped they will not be considered as stepping out of 
 their province if they take a more enlarged view of the subject than 
 these limits seem to prescribe. The present Inspectors stand in a pecul- 
 iar relation to the Commonwealth; they were the friends and associates 
 of the promoters of the system, and were in the habit of discussing the 
 subject of penitentiary regulations in all its bearings. They were fully 
 imbued with the principles and views of its advocates, and the majority 
 of them took an active part in calling into operation the schemes of 
 those who felt the necessity of a reform in the criminal jurisprudence of 
 the State. 
 
 " The experiment at the time was a bold one, and was attended with 
 difficulties at its commencement that would have dampened the courage 
 of any set of men less persuaded of the practicability of a plan which 
 years of deliberation had decided to be the true one. Opposed at home 
 by a respectable number of our fellow citizens, who, with views quite as 
 honest, held adverse opinions; its main principles questioned by a Com- 
 mission of our own State especially instituted to examine the subject; 
 assailed by the official agent of an influential and indefatigable society 
 of a sister State, because it conflicted with his favorite system; attacked 
 from abroad by persons of high consideration in the moral and political 
 world, who had become endeared to America by their military and other 
 services, the friends of the Pennsylvania system held their course un- 
 checked, and with steadiness and perseverance worthy the cause, made 
 their opinions public sentiment, and the State at length passed the law 
 which will render her character for philanthropy preeminent. 
 
 " The experiment at the outset was attended with an expense which 
 even a great nation has paused to incur, and is only to be reconciled by 
 the prevalent humanity of the people of Pennsylvania, which yearned 
 to ameliorate the condition of her criminals, and to substitute a moral 
 and wholesome atmosphere in lieu of the vicious miasma which pervades 
 great communities. 
 
 " Accustomed to look at the great results of the law, the Inspectors 
 hold themselves excused, if in attempting to satisfy the public mind as 
 to the wisdom of the measure, they should take a more comprehensive 
 view of the subject than may seem to be required by the letter of the
 
 136 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Act of their appointment. Being called upon to attend to the operation 
 of a system which was urged upon the State, and to test a theory by its 
 practical results, the duty was entered upon with much anxiety and 
 some little distrust, and the Board have hitherto delayed a positive 
 assertion in its favor, until it is forced from them by evidence which 
 appears to be incontestable." 
 
 The report for 1844 contains the following: 
 
 "The Inspectors believe that the following conclusions irresistibly 
 present themselves, as the result of the above comparison of the two 
 systems: 
 
 "1. That the separate system prevents the commission of crime. 
 
 " 2. That it is preeminently calculated to induce and effect reform in 
 the minds of the prisoners. 
 
 " 3. That the health of the prisoners is equal to that of any community, 
 and is not, in the least, injuriously affected by the system. 
 
 " 4. That mortality, under the separate system, is not greater than 
 that of any other system of prison discipline. 
 
 " 5. That the discipline, and the proper administration of the system, 
 are superior to all others. 
 
 " 6. That, of the objections which have been urged against the system, 
 none have been realized. 
 
 " It may be proper here to remark, that the term ' solitary or separate 
 confinement ' refers to the fact that each prisoner is ' alone,' in contra- 
 distinction to the ' aggregate confinement,' or ' silent system,' where 
 prisoners are in gangs, or together in large or small numbers. The 
 prisoners in the separate or solitary prisons have the same intercourse 
 with all but their fellow convicts, and an idle curiosity, as in other 
 systems; and the idea that prisoners are shut up, and shut out, from all 
 intercommunication with the good and the instructive, is an error a 
 gross error. They have that, at all times, besides almost hourly inter- 
 course with their Overseers and other officers of the prison. 
 
 " In the last annual report of the Inspectors, they say, that ' fully 
 impressed with the necessity of a watchful care over the moral and 
 mental improvement of the prisoners, as constituting a fundamental 
 principle in this, as in all penitentiary reform, we are endeavoring to effect 
 some improvements in the present plan of such instruction, particularly 
 as relates to the education in reading and writing, thereby to enlarge 
 the number of those who obtain this knowledge while in confinement.' 
 
 "Within the last year the moral and rudimental instruction has been 
 divided. The former has been left, as heretofore, under the law, together 
 with such religious teaching as each prisoner may desire, and from 
 whatever professional teacher he may select. The latter has been 
 intrusted to a competent person, who acts as an Overseer when required. 
 Ample time is thus given to both branches of learning; and thus a 
 schoolmaster has been successfully introduced into the prison, whose 
 chief duty it is to teach the ignorant to read and write, and practical 
 arithmetic." 
 
 The Inspectors in their report for 1846 report as follows: 
 
 " What may be the analogy between crime and disease, so far as relates 
 to general cause and effect in the moral and physical constitution, is not 
 intended to be here the subject of discussion. It may, however, become 
 the theme for serious and important inquiry and examination. 
 
 " The causes of crime as certainly exist as the causes of disease, for
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 137 
 
 both are but effects in themselves. Some crimes are committed from 
 an imperfection in the moral organization, while others are the result 
 of sudden and exciting moral affections; the former will continue to be 
 repeated so long as the cause remains, and the latter may never occur 
 again, because the excitement may never reappear. The effect of pun- 
 ishment in these two cases would be different, and hence a primary 
 object of punishment should be to correct the cause of the moral dis- 
 turbance which has produced the crime. The separate system is pecul- 
 iarly adapted to such purpose, and as the subject of prison discipline 
 continues to receive the attention of the intelligent observer, unforeseen 
 benefits may result from the adaptation of punishment to the correction 
 or remedy for these moral disorders. 
 
 " The aim and end of imprisonment for crime is punishment, as the 
 first consequence; and in considering the subject of penitentiary disci- 
 pline, care should be taken not to lose sight of this primary object. The 
 law consigns the convict to restraint of his personal liberty in a prison 
 for a violation or infraction of its decrees, and in the prison he is to be 
 subjected to treatment which is in unison with the object for which 
 he was sentenced. The judgment of conviction is but a forfeiture of 
 certain natural rights, as a recompense to society for his inability td 
 regard and obey those regulations which have been established for the 
 protection of the rights of individuals which constitute such community. 
 At this point the power of the law ceases over the convict, for it has 
 exhausted its power in the accomplishment of all its ends. By the pres- 
 ent enlightened policy of our State Penitentiary discipline, the convict 
 thus situated, while undergoing punishment, is sought to be improved, 
 benefited, reformed. In this, society has a deep interest; for if the con- 
 vict at the expiration of the term of imprisonment is improved in his 
 moral character, encouraged to refrain from the commission of offenses 
 against the law, reformed in his habits, and taught those religious or 
 moral lessons of practical utility which will avail him on his again 
 commingling with society deterred by punishment from crime the 
 community has gained twofold by such an imprisonment; it has pun- 
 ished and improved a prisoner, and made an example for the warning 
 of all who are, or may be disposed to become, enemies of social order. 
 
 " To these ends the separate system of penitentiary discipline is 
 eminently conducive; and as they are and ever should be the prominent 
 features of prison discipline, that system which promotes them with the 
 most certainty and effect should be considered as the best adapted to the 
 purposes which an enlightened people, a regenerated Penal Code, and the 
 instincts of a just and benevolent public opinion, should seek to attain. 
 Pennsylvania has nobly set the example; she made the experiment at 
 a time when doubts and difficulties, impediment and hinderance, were 
 clouding the prospect; but year after year has brought to light the wis- 
 dom of the founders of the system, and added proof upon proof of its 
 complete success. It is now no longer an experiment; but the separate 
 system of prison discipline speaks in the voice of experience, subjected 
 to the test of strict trial, to the spirit of progress of this age. Its argu- 
 ments are facts; and its power of convincement over the minds of the 
 enlightened, and unbiased, and unprejudiced, is found to exist in the 
 cumulative evidence which is adduced to maintain that all it ever prom- 
 ised has been more than realized. 
 
 " Irrespective of the results which are to be found in our own State
 
 138 KEFORMATOKY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and Federal Union in support of the great features of our prison reform 
 and meliorated discipline, the testimony of France, England, and Prus- 
 sia is fully sufficient to seal its success. In these countries the system 
 has been subjected to the most scrutinizing examination, and the most 
 able and distinguished champions of social improvement have, after 
 long and arduous inquiry, awarded to the Pennsylvania system their 
 support. However these lights may be sought to be kept ' hidden under 
 a bushel,' they have nevertheless shown in the brightness of honest con- 
 viction. It is not to be supposed that improvements are not, or have not 
 been suggested, on the plan of the administration of the separate sys- 
 tem; this has never been asserted; but whatever these improvements 
 may be, so long as the distinctive features of the Pennsylvania plan are 
 adhered to, so long will that system remain in its original integrity. 
 These features are: Separation of the prisoners from each other at all 
 times; moral and intellectual improvement; honest and persuasive 
 efforts to reform and reclaim the prisoners; prevention, by this con- 
 stant separation from each other, of the evil of contamination and 
 the prejudicial influence which must arise from the association of the 
 more or less hardened offenders; the prevention, by separation, of the 
 acquaintance and knowledge which the community of evil-minded per- 
 sons obtain of each other by association in the place of punishment; 
 the ability which is afforded, by the separation of offenders, to individ- 
 ualize the corrective and reformatory treatment best suited to their 
 peculiar characters; the almost certain consequence which results from 
 the separate system, of making those no worse who cannot be made 
 better by the infliction of the punishment they undergo; the addition of 
 all improvements which experience and not mere theory suggests in the 
 improvement of the moral and physical condition of the prisoners. 
 
 " These are the principles on which the Pennsylvania system is based; 
 these rendered it antagonistical to the congregate system. If experience 
 has proved that one plan is better than the other, if the prisoner and 
 the community are benefited by the operation of one rather than the 
 other, then to the best mode the other must give place. Improve the 
 details of administration as they require and as experience suggests, and 
 the consequences must be that these improvements will only tend to 
 increase the superiority of the separate system over all others." 
 
 In the forty-second report of the Inspectors to the Legislature, dated 
 February 27, 1871, they say: 
 
 "It will be observed by the returns made by the Inspectors in this 
 report that a large number of prisoners have been sentenced for un- 
 usually long terms of imprisonment. These were for crimes of the 
 highest grades, and the individuals are reported to be men of dangerous 
 character in society. When it is known that by the commutation law 
 a ten-year sentence can, by the ' good conduct ' of the prisoner, be dimin- 
 ished by at least twenty-three months, based on the ratio directed in 
 the law, there is no real advantage to the public from these sentences. 
 The words of the law are: ' One month on each of the first two years, 
 of two months on each succeeding year to the fifth year, and of three 
 months on each following year to the tenth year, and of four months on 
 each remaining year of the term of their sentence.' It never has been 
 the opinion of the Inspectors of this penitentiary that long sentences to 
 this institution, or any penitentiary on the separate or individual treat- 
 ment system, are productive of benefits to the State or the convict. The
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 139 
 
 certainty of punishment is more to be regarded than its duration, so far 
 as society is protected and crime punished by the example of convic- 
 tions of offenders. Time is no true element in punishment by impris- 
 onment. Long sentences do not reform the individual, nor protect the 
 public security, nor produce that fear in the crime-class which prevents 
 their committing crime. The fact that every offender is punished for 
 his crime has the effect which is sought to be produced by penal laws. 
 
 "In the Massachusetts State Penitentiary during the year ending 
 September 30, 1870, there was a total population of seven hundred and 
 seventy-four convicts. Of these sixty-three were pardoned. The sen- 
 tences of six of those were for life, six for ten years, two for twenty 
 years, two for fifteen years, and the others for from one to ten years 
 each. The better way to state it will be to say that of fifty-seven prison- 
 ers, the six for life omitted, the average sentence was seven years three 
 months and eleven days, while the time served when they were par- 
 doned was four years two months and eight days. It is not, therefore, 
 a patent remedy for heinous offenses that the convict is sentenced for 
 long terms, or even ' for life ' imprisonment in that State, where, it is 
 to be presumed, the action of the public authorities is governed by integ- 
 rity, wisdom, and intelligence. 
 
 " It is stated that the Executive of the State of New York during the 
 year 1870 issued eighty-five pardons, thirty-four commutations, and one 
 reprieve. Of the pardons, sixteen were on account of ill health; five, 
 insane; ten, innocent; and three for discovering plots among prisoners. 
 Of the pardoned prisoners, two were sentenced for twenty years, five for 
 fifteen years, nine for ten years, one for nineteen years, two for life, and 
 three were sentenced to be hung. All but two were sentenced since 1860. 
 
 " No reference is here made of the ' commutation ' for shorter periods 
 of imprisonment than the sentence. 
 
 " During the year 1870, of the nine hundred and fifty-three total pop- 
 ulation in this penitentiary, fourteen were pardoned. Of these, thirteen 
 were by the State of Pennsylvania, and one by the United States: for 
 ill health, none; insane, none all fourteen for special reasons. 
 
 "The average term of sentences was three years nine months and 
 twenty-three days; and the average time served, one year eight months 
 and one day. 
 
 "To a prison on the separate system the average sentences for the 
 lesser degrees of crime, when punishment promptly follows the offense, 
 might be fixed at two years as the maximum, while a five years' sentence 
 in most cases might be sufficient for those offenses in the commission of 
 which human life was not put in peril. For young offenders, for the 
 first offense, it is very questionable if any advantage results to society 
 or the individual by a longer imprisonment than one year, unless for 
 exceptional cases. 
 
 " It is to be remarked that the primary object of a wise administration 
 of penal laws, regulating the punishment by imprisonment of individ- 
 uals, should be to prevent the creation of a crime-class by the associa- 
 tion of convicts in communities after their imprisonment is terminated. 
 The consequences resulting from such a state of things are to be feared, 
 since by this association desperate men, each known to the other to 
 have been a convict, conspire to commit crimes, and by this association 
 they more easily escape arrest and defy conviction. The separate sys- 
 tem of imprisonment, on this ground, is a protection to the public, while
 
 140 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 it presents the best opportunity for introducing to the convict's attention 
 those reformatory agencies which it is the part of Christian benevolence 
 ever to hold out to the just and the unjust. 
 
 " The Inspectors feel justified in calling to the attention of the Legis- 
 lature the most gratifying fact that in other States some of the promi- 
 nent features of the administration of the Pennsylvania system of 
 penitentiary discipline are receiving both recognition and approval. For 
 many years past the Inspectors, in their annual reports to your honor- 
 able bodies, have given the convictions of their judgment, from practical 
 experience, that the government of penal institutions should be intrusted 
 to those whose capacity, knowledge, experience, and integrity alone 
 qualify them for such responsible duties. It has been found in this 
 penitentiary that honesty and capability, with intelligent observation 
 of the practical working of the system of punishment, on the part of 
 the executive officers, were essential to secure the purposes of peniten- 
 tiary discipline. Frequent change in the executive officers, or their 
 selection on any other recommendation than fitness and fidelity, has 
 ever been condemned as most injurious to the interests intrusted to the 
 Inspectors to guard. Almost alone in these opinions for so long a period 
 of time, it is now with great satisfaction the Inspectors learn that the 
 Prison Discipline Association of the State of New York, in a public 
 meeting, adopted a "Memorial" to the authorities of that State, which 
 thus gives testimony in support of the Pennsylvania practice in this 
 respect: 
 
 " ' The remedy which the association proposes is a radical one, involv- 
 ing an entire change in the organization of the government of the pris- 
 ons. Their examination has extended over the whole period of the 
 existence of the present form "of that government. They say: 
 
 " ' By the Constitution, all the State Prisons are put wholly under the 
 government of three Inspectors, who hold office for three years, and are 
 elected one every year, and who superintend the State Prisons and appoint 
 all the officers therein. They are called Inspectors, but are in fact gov- 
 ernors of the prisons and controllers of the system, subject to no super- 
 vision or inspection, except such as the Legislature may direct, and that 
 of the imperfect power given to the Prison Association. Every year one 
 of them is thrown into the arena of party politics.' 
 
 "The 'Memorial' proposes the State Constitution to be amended so 
 that 
 
 "'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. 
 
 " ' That Board shall have the charge and superintendence of the pris- 
 ons, and have such powers and perform such duties in respect to other 
 prisons in the State as the Legislature may prescribe. 
 
 " ' They shall appoint a Secretary, who shall be removable at their 
 pleasure, and perform such duties as the Legislature or Board may direct, 
 and receive a salary to be determined by law. 
 
 " ' The Board shall appoint the Warden, Clerk, Physician, and Chap- 
 lain of each State Prison, and shall have power to remove them for cause 
 only, after opportunity to be heard on written charges. 
 
 " 'All other officers of each prison shall be appointed by the Warden 
 thereof, and be removable at his pleasure.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 141 
 
 '' ' The Governor may remove any of the Managers for misconduct or 
 neglect of duty, after opportunity to be heard on written charges. 
 
 " ' 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. 
 
 " ' This amendment shall go into effect on the first Monday of January 
 next after its adoption by the people.' 
 
 " If you, gentlemen of the Legislature, will refer to the recent reports 
 from the Inspectors of this State Penitentiary, you will observe that the 
 ' contract system ' of employing convict labor has been condemned as 
 most injurious to society, unjust, and unworthy of an enlightened civili- 
 zation. 
 
 " Under this plan of working convicts, in congregation, by contract 
 with employers, every consideration but the benefit of the convict was 
 absorbed in profit making out of the criminals whom the State punished 
 for violating its laws. This profit was the claimed advantage of this 
 plan of labor, so unworthy of a people who thus justified the brutalizing 
 of those who were young, or convicted for a first offense, as well as those 
 who had, it might be, some redeeming characteristics, in one common 
 mass with the atrocious and hardened veteran in a life of crime. The 
 Inspectors, in these reports, were the only protestants against this con- 
 tract system. The experience, however, of the society alluded to has, at 
 last, enabled it, in the ' Memorial ' to which reference has been made, 
 thus to condemn this plan of prison labor. 
 
 "Thus the 'Memorial' continues: 
 * * * ********* 
 
 " ' On the other side of the account this tendency to augmentation does 
 not seem to have prevailed to the same extent. In Sing Sing, in 1847, 
 convicts put on contracts were let at 35 cents a day; in 1869, they were 
 let at from 30 to 40 cents a day. In Auburn they were let, in 1847, at 
 from 30 to 50 cents a day; and in 1869, at an average of 50 cents a day. 
 Thus while the rate of wages, inuring to the benefit of the State, increased 
 not over 50 per cent, the expenditures, at the cost of the State, increased 
 during the same period at the rate of 300 per cent. The contract system 
 seeming, even to the Inspectors, to be a failure, they have attempted within 
 the last five or six years to abandon it in a measure, and have had re- 
 course to labor conducted under their immediate supervision, with what 
 success the foregoing statements show. Within the past frve years, from 
 1865 to 1869, inclusive, the deficiency of earnings to pay expenses has 
 been $1,094,151 05; an amount larger than the deficiencies of the whole 
 previous eighteen years; and the appropriations from the State treasury 
 have been $4,193,760 07, being about equal in amount to the appropria- 
 tions for all those previous years.' 
 
 " Again from this ' Memorial:' 
 
 " ' The effort, however, during the whole of the last twenty-two years 
 has been a failure, and is, year after year, becoming more signally and 
 disastrously so. 
 
 " ' The following is a table of the number of prisoners at the begin- 
 ning and at the end of the present system:
 
 142 
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 
 1848. 
 
 1869. 
 
 
 473 
 
 950 
 
 
 604 
 
 1,279 
 
 
 84 
 
 130 
 
 "Clinton - 
 
 181 
 
 504 
 
 Asylum (not built until 1859) 
 
 
 78 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 1,342 
 
 2,932 
 
 
 
 
 Increase, 119 per cent. 
 
 Expenditures for the Same Period. 
 
 
 1848. 
 
 1869. 
 
 Female ... 
 
 $11,790 54 
 
 $25,856 26 
 
 Sing Sing 
 
 97,221 41 
 
 351,032 57 
 
 Auburn 
 
 66,969 41 
 
 171,015 81 
 
 Clinton - - . .. 
 
 41,510 16 
 
 317,309 70 
 
 Asylum 
 
 
 13,954 92 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 $217,491 52 
 
 $879,219 26 
 
 
 
 
 Increase, over 300 per cent. 
 
 " ' The following shows the condition of affairs from the beginning of 
 the system to the present day: 
 
 Table of Progress from 18$ to 1869, inclusive. 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Number of 
 Prisoners. 
 
 Expendi- 
 tures. 
 
 Earnings. 
 
 Deficits. 
 
 1847... 
 
 1,421 
 
 $125833 85 
 
 $120 860 08 
 
 $4973 77 
 
 1848 
 
 1366 
 
 204091 80 
 
 110658 94 
 
 93432 86 
 
 1849 
 
 1380 
 
 188754 74 
 
 139285 34 
 
 49469 40 
 
 1850 
 
 1621 
 
 208397 74 
 
 158422 25 
 
 50975 49 
 
 1851 
 
 1,703 
 
 266011 20 
 
 178914 09 
 
 27097 11 
 
 1852 
 
 1,852 
 
 211,751 80 
 
 193,303 11 
 
 18448 69 
 
 1853 
 
 1967 
 
 250818 24 
 
 216 110 65 
 
 34 707 59 
 
 1854 
 
 2005 
 
 272413 03 
 
 213 178 03 
 
 59235 00 
 
 1855 
 
 1957 
 
 233445 59 
 
 197230 29 
 
 35 215 30 
 
 1856 
 
 1910 
 
 223477 99 
 
 197 105 13 
 
 25372 66 
 
 1857 
 
 1 890 
 
 212 714 17 
 
 191 783 63 
 
 9Q 930 54 
 
 1858 
 
 2126 
 
 250356 02 
 
 149 173 93 
 
 101 182 04 
 
 1859 
 
 2538 
 
 279333 68 
 
 189836 52 
 
 89497 16 
 
 1860 
 
 2*729 
 
 291 744 69 
 
 238627 56 
 
 53 117 13 
 
 1861 
 
 2818 
 
 388904 76 
 
 265 55 9 78 
 
 93 351 gg 
 
 1862 
 
 2697 
 
 294 685 57 
 
 228*481 51 
 
 66204 06 
 
 1863 
 
 2131 
 
 291 216 53 
 
 928330 74 
 
 62 885 79 
 
 1864 
 
 1915 
 
 342 794 55 
 
 255957 81 
 
 86 836 63 
 
 1865 
 
 1 885 
 
 414 713 30 
 
 202506 57 
 
 212 306 73 
 
 1866 
 
 2368 
 
 463 995 46 
 
 229413 83 
 
 234 581 63 
 
 1867 
 
 2*920 
 
 779579 61 
 
 600013 43 
 
 179566 18 
 
 1868 
 
 2881 
 
 844 373 93 
 
 601 630 05 
 
 242 734 88 
 
 1869 
 
 2930 
 
 879 219 26 
 
 654 157 68 
 
 225061 63 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making an aggregate deficit in 
 twenty-three years of 
 
 
 
 
 $1997084 45 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' The foregoing statements, though they show a result sufficiently 
 disastrous to convince the association that the present system is finan- 
 cially a failure, do not show the whole extent of the disaster.' 
 
 " These quotations from the ' Memorial' are made with satisfaction,
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 143 
 
 because they are most important testimony in themselves, and unwill- 
 ingly sustain the Inspectors of this penitentiary in their expressed opin- 
 ions on the subject, and show that the time is coming when the broader 
 and more philosophic views of penitentiary discipline which a scientific 
 examination of so increasingly important a subject will produce, may 
 yet become triumphant over the ignorance of bigotry, or the baser, 
 ignoble, and narrow motives which have so long controlled the partisan 
 management of institutions too generally considered only as public 
 receptacles for convicted felons. It would have been worthy of those who 
 in this ' Memorial' have so thoroughly exposed the evils against which 
 they invoke rebuke and remedy, if they had, at least, given to Pennsyl- 
 vania some credit for a consistent opposition to them. It would have 
 been simple justice to our State, to have pointed to her as an example 
 for the reforms which the ' Memorial ' now so markedly approves and 
 advocates in the penitentiaries of New York. 
 
 " The following extract from the ' Memorial' is so thorough a justifi- 
 cation of the discipline, as well as the ' separate system' itself, con- 
 trasted with the ' congregate plan,' now adopted in New York, and 
 heretofore claimed to be the best system of prison government, that it 
 needs no comment: 
 
 " ' MORAL ADMINISTRATION. It is now about twenty-five years since a 
 change was introduced into the moral government of our prisons. Prior 
 to that time the prominent ideas had been punishment and earnings. 
 This change was the introduction of rewards as well as punishments, 
 and keeping the reformation of the prisoners in view as the main object. 
 Appended is a brief enumeration of the measures employed, of their 
 defective execution, and of the benefits that may result from them. 
 
 " ' The Mode of Enforcing Obedience. Formerly it was by means of the 
 whip, but with occasional resorts to other means of violence. In 1830 
 the use of the whip was abolished among the females, and in 1849 
 among the males, except in cases of insurrection, revolt, and self-defense. 
 The substitute provided for it by law was solitary confinement; and in 
 the latter year the law directed solitary cells for that purpose to be built 
 in all the prisons. Those cells have not yet been built, and during the 
 succeeding twenty years other means of force were resorted to, until, in 
 1869, such means, so far as they assumed the form of the " shower-bath, 
 crucifix, and yoke and buck," were forbidden. This was done without 
 providing any substitutes, and the consequences were disastrous. As 
 soon as the passage of the law was known, a general uneasiness in all 
 the prisons was shown. This was followed by individual acts of vio- 
 lence. At Auburn a keeper was assaulted by a convict, struck down by 
 a hammer, and his life saved only by the interposition of another con- 
 vict. At Clinton a keeper was stabbed, and disabled for life; and at 
 Sing Sing a keeper was struck down by a bar of iron, and the officers 
 fired upon by a convict. Then ensued more general movements. At 
 Auburn whole shops refused to work. At Sing Sing one hundred and 
 fifty convicts, on one day, and some five hundred or six hundred the 
 next day, refused to work; and at Clinton there was a general con- 
 spiracy to escape, which was fortunately discovered in time to be pre- 
 vented. At Sing Sing twenty, at Auburn twelve, and at Clinton ten of 
 the ringleaders were kept in irons and chained to the cells for several 
 months, and it is believed that nothing but the action of the well-dis- 
 posed among the prisoners prevented more general outbreaks, and per-
 
 144 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 haps an emptying of our prisons of the great body of their inmates. 
 The use of blows upon the prisoners is forbidden only in our State 
 Prisons. In all the local penitentiaries, to which many of our State 
 prisoners have been removed, it is still allowed; and in the State Prisons 
 it seems to be left to the discretion of the officer immediately in charge 
 to determine what is the condition of revolt, insurrection, or self-defense, 
 which will justify a resort to the whip. A general system of discipline 
 to prevail alike in all the prisons, and which shall prevent the officers 
 immediately affected by disorder from acting as complainant, Judge, and 
 executioner, and which will cultivate the habit of self-government now 
 so predominant among the great number of the prisoners, is a measure 
 greatly to be desired. 
 
 " ' The Introduction of Libraries. This was begun before the adoption 
 of our present Constitution. So thoroughly was this sanctioned by the 
 Legislature that, during the past twenty-four years, appropriations for 
 this purpose have been made to the amount of about $20,000, and the 
 agents were directed to append to their annual reports a catalogue of 
 the prison libraries. This duty has never been performed. 
 
 " ' Teaching the Prisoners. The law has provided, in this respect, that 
 the Chaplains, besides religious services in the chapels, shall visit the 
 convicts in their cells, and devote one hour each work-day, and the 
 afternoon of each Sunday, to giving them religious and moral instruc- 
 tion. So the law has provided for ten teachers in the prisons, at an 
 annual expense of $1,500, to instruct the unlearned in the first rudi- 
 ments of education. In these respects, also, there is a great waste of 
 the wise benevolence of the law, owing to the absence of a well digested 
 plan of instruction; for at present the system of instruction is so con- 
 ducted as to amount to a farce. 
 
 " ' Overwork and Aid to Discharged Convicts. The original allowance 
 to convicts on their discharge was $3 to each from the prison funds. It 
 is now increased to $10; and a practice has grown up, not yet sanctioned 
 or organized by law, of allowing the prisoners to earn money for them- 
 selves, over and above their allotted stents. This also demands an 
 organized system to prevent an abuse of the privilege by prisoners and 
 contractors, to guard against unjust partiality by the officers in charge, 
 and to accord it impartially to all. 
 
 " ' Commutation of Sentence. There is now prevailing in all our State 
 Prisons (but not in all local ones) a measure of enabling the convicts, 
 by their own good conduct, to shorten their terms of imprisonment. In 
 1863, out of one thousand one hundred and twenty-three prisoners who 
 left during the year, only eighty-two left by expiration of sentence, 
 while eight hundred and twenty-nine went out by commutation under 
 the law. In this there is great danger, as well as the actual existence 
 of partiality and injustice, which nothing can prevent so well as the 
 creation of an intelligent and judicious tribunal.' 
 
 " Notwithstanding this is the forty-second yearly report of the In- 
 spectors to the Legislature of this State on the practical results of the 
 Pennsylvania system of separate treatment of prisoners, yet even now 
 there are many, professing to be possessed of general information on 
 penal science as applied to prison populations and systems of convict 
 punishment, who entirely mistake the principles, and are ignorant of 
 the practical results, which these reports exhibit of the Pennsylvania 
 system of penitentiary convict discipline.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 145 
 
 " It is not possible in this report to condense the statements made in 
 the forty-one which have preceded it. But justice to this penitentiary, 
 at least, requires that for the past year, 1870, a comparison should be 
 made of the exhibits of one penitentiary on each system of convict 
 treatment. The Charlestown Penitentiary of Massachusetts is taken as 
 best managed on the congregate, and this penitentiary, on the separate 
 system, for this purpose. 
 
 "In the Massachusetts Penitentiary the total population for 1870 is 
 given as seven hundred and seventy-four. Out of this number there 
 were fourteen deaths, or 1.81 per cent. 
 
 "In this penitentiary the total population for 1870 was nine hundred 
 and fifty-three. Out of this number there were twelve deaths, or 1.26 
 per cent. The difference in population is as seven hundred and seventy- 
 four is to nine hundred and fifty-three, or one hundred and seventy-nine 
 excess in this penitentiary. 
 
 " Of the seven hundred and seventy-four in Massachusetts, sixty-three 
 convicts were pardoned. 
 
 " Of the nine hundred and fifty-three in Pennsylvania, fourteen con- 
 victs were pardoned. 
 
 "In the Massachusetts Penitentiary two convicts were sent to the 
 Insane Asylum. 
 
 "In this penitentiary three convicts were of unsound mind; but, by 
 the treatment in the penitentiary, are reported by the Resident Physi- 
 cian, Dr. Klapp, to be 'fully restored to reason.' 
 
 "As to the discipline or government of the prisoners in the Massa- 
 chusetts Penitentiary, it is stated that ' it is not to be supposed that six 
 hundred men, some of them unquestionably bad, but more of them 
 unfortunate; some of them receiving the just reward for crimes com- 
 mitted, whilst others, in their own minds, at least, are suffering unjustly, 
 can be managed and controlled without occasional friction.' 
 
 "In this penitentiary the discipline has been maintained; for it ap- 
 pears that ' we have had a prison population of nine hundred and fifty- 
 three convicts, many of whom are among the most desperate men who 
 have ever been imprisoned within these walls. Yet quiet and good 
 order have prevailed, and by the vigilance and active care of the officers 
 no escape, even into the yard, has been effected, and no harsh or severe 
 treatment has been found needful.' 
 
 " The above extracts, at least, suggest the inquiry, if congregating into 
 one mass those convicts, the control of whom is described as producing 
 ' occasional friction,' is the wisest plan for their proper government, or 
 for the best interests of society. 
 
 " In Massachusetts, with seven hundred and seventy-four convicts as 
 the total population for 1870, 'our expenses,' as given, were $122,265 72. 
 
 "In this penitentiary, with a total population for 1870 of nine hun- 
 dred and fifty-three convicts, our expenses were $98,886 48. 
 
 " In the Massachusetts Prison the recommitments on seven hundred 
 and seventy-four convicts, total population during 1870, were one hun- 
 dred, or equal to 13.44 per cent. 
 
 " In this penitentiary the total recommitments on five thousand two 
 hundred and ninety-eight convicts, the whole number liable to reconvic- 
 tion since 1829, were five hundred and thirty-two, or for, say, forty years, 
 10 per cent. 
 
 " It is shown by this comparative statement that the ' separate system ' 
 
 10D
 
 146 KEFOKMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 has triumphantly vindicated itself against open, as well as covert assaults, 
 which ignorance, prejudice, or that 'little knowledge' so dangerous in 
 scientific studies, has from time to time made against ,it. 
 
 " It would no,t be presuming too much to believe that you, gentlemen 
 of the Legislature, will invoke the experience of this State institution 
 before enacting into laws measures relating to convict discipline, penal 
 jurisprudence, or crime-cause, either for prevention or punishment. 
 Surely the knowledge of facts, and the practical working of principles 
 or theories on penal science for a period of forty years, might be impor- 
 tant to test either new propositions or determine the proposed benefits 
 that the love of change always promises as the undoubted results thereby 
 to be attained. 
 
 " The necessity for legislation presupposes an understanding of the 
 subject-matter, and no source of information which is reliable, or experi- 
 ence which is respectable, or knowledge which has been carefully and 
 intelligently acquired, should be ignored while such legislation is being 
 perfected for its purpose. Your own experience, gentlemen of the Legis- 
 lature, makes this self-evident. 
 
 " While the primary purpose of this report to the Legislature is to 
 comply with the law directing it to be made, yet the scope of the direc- 
 tion that besides the specific return, ' such information ' may be given 
 as may be deemed ' expedient ' for making this ' institution effectual in 
 the punishment and reformation of offenders/ implies the expression of 
 such suggestions as more generally relate to the subject of penal juris- 
 prudence. 
 
 " It is believed that the statistical information contained in the tables 
 submitted indicates the careful investigation of the case of each convict, 
 and the confidence established between the individual and the prison 
 authorities. This tends to create in the mind of the prisoners the im- 
 pression that though convicts, human sympathy is not to be denied 
 them, and that even in prison there is an interest felt in their welfare 
 and improvement. To some, this is a first lesson in reformation; with 
 others, it awakens the good impressions of childhood. The influence on 
 all is to facilitate the acceptance of any agencies that are designed for 
 reform. 
 
 " But, apart from these considerations, the contributions made in these 
 reports to penal science, limited though they are to the investigation of 
 the population of this penitentiary, it is hoped will invite the Legisla- 
 ture to favorably consider the great importance of authorizing by law, 
 comprehensive reports to be obtained by a department of the State Gov- 
 ernment on those subjects which are intimately connected with unhealth- 
 ful developments in the social conditions of certain classes in the whole 
 population. 
 
 " If such information could be obtained and systematically arranged, 
 it would enable the Legislature to understand what legislation was most 
 necessary for the public good. 
 
 " Crime-cause would be better understood, prevention and punishment 
 could be so adjusted as to separate the proper treatment of those who 
 most needed either, under laws adapted to each. 
 
 " It might be then ascertained that industrial schools and reformatory 
 institutions for the first offenses of the young offenders were more essen- 
 tial than neglected or ill-regulated prisons or more penitentiaries. 
 
 " From such information, the conclusions might be arrived at, that
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 147 
 
 county prisons on the separate system, properly governed and admin- 
 istered, should be the rule for all large counties, rather than the excep- 
 tion in Pennsylvania. 
 
 " It could hardly be doubted that with such reports carefully made 
 the Legislature could better determine how the money of the people 
 might be liberally and wisely expended for the poor, the suffering, the 
 idle, the vicious, the criminal, the ignorant, and the unfortunate. From 
 each section of the State the real condition of these classes would be 
 presented, and then it would be better known how to relieve, restrain, 
 prevent, punish, and educate. It probably would indicate that for all 
 classes a general rule was impossible. True philosophy would teach the 
 adaptation of individual treatment to individual, or special develop- 
 ments of causes producing particular results. 
 
 " It would more certainly enable a judicious classification to be made 
 of remedial, preventive, and punitive agencies, and prevent the pauper- 
 ization of individuals into an idle or indigent class, or a more dreaded 
 crime-class. If no other result was reached, it would be possible to 
 establish by law some system by which education in handicraft skilled 
 labor could be within the reach of those of the young who sought it, 
 and at the same time be approved and applauded by an enlightened 
 public opinion. 
 
 "Reference has already been made to the 'Commutation Law' by 
 which sentences of the convicts are shortened by their ' good conduct ' 
 while under conviction. This plan has been described as a statutory 
 recommendation to the Executive to discharge the convict before the 
 sentence inflicted by the judicial power expires. While it is not a par- 
 don under the exercise of the constitutional prerogative of the Governor, 
 it is a device which, by legislation, controls the judicial and directs Execu- 
 tive action. How wise such legislation may be is no part of the province 
 of the Inspectors to consider, much less to determine. It is now brought 
 to the notice of the Legislature for the purpose of inviting attention to the 
 precedent thus established. If the Legislature can enact a law by which 
 a judicial sentence can be terminated before it expires by its own limita- 
 tion, then it becomes a most important question to consider if this prin- 
 ciple cannot be applied for the purpose of more effectually securing the 
 aim of punishment by imprisonment in particular cases. It sometimes 
 happens that the exercise of the pardoning power is subject to public 
 criticism. There are no doubt cases in which there are grounds for this 
 animadversion, but the Inspectors do not desire to express any opinion 
 on cases of which they have no direct knowledge from their official rela- 
 tions with the prisoner. 
 
 "The comparison hereinbefore made between the pardons granted by 
 Massachusetts. New York, and Pennsylvania, shows that in this State 
 Executive clemency has been very sparingly exercised on convicts in this 
 penitentiary. 
 
 " It is undoubtedly true that there are now in this institution several 
 convicts who are fully entitled to pardon, if the purpose of their punish- 
 ment was to qualify them for restoration to liberty, with benefit to them- 
 selves and advantage to society. 
 
 " To reach these cases is difficult of accomplishment under the present 
 system. If a pardon is asked, then the Inspectors may be regarded as 
 exceeding the line of their duty, and their action misunderstood or mis- 
 construed; or they might be subjected to applications from unworthy
 
 148 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 persons; or the Executive might fail to appreciate their motives. Nev- 
 ertheless, these cases exist; and continuing in prison those who have 
 been brought within the effects of punishment, and over whom it has 
 exercised all the influences designed by law and justice, is of very doubt- 
 ful propriety. It is imprisonment for no purpose. The example, the 
 prevention of crime, as they are supposed to be reached by a conviction 
 of the guilty, has been eected by such conviction and the infliction of 
 the punishment. The only remaining purpose of the law which this 
 punishment proposed has been produced. Society has been protected; 
 the example has been made; those who are intended to be warned have 
 had their warning; and the individual who is punished is now alone 
 to be considered. If this punishment has caused him to repent of his 
 wickedness, and determine, in so far as he can, to reform, then his liberty 
 is more a right than a favor, for longer incarceration is useless to him, 
 and society gains nothing thereby. That these are the well considered 
 opinions of the Inspectors will appear from the following extracts from 
 their reports to the Legislature. 
 
 " From the report for the year 1852 the following extract is taken: 
 
 " ' The Inspectors cannot close this report without again briefly calling 
 the attention of the General Assembly to the subject of revising the 
 Penal Code so as to shorten the minimum period of confinement affixed 
 to certain crimes. The daily observation of the effects of separate and 
 solitary confinement, with the influences connected with it in this peni- 
 tentiary, have fully convinced them that a much greater degree of good 
 would be achieved by shortening most of the sentences for first offenses, 
 and particularly those of all young offenders. For this latter class a few 
 months' confinement, or a year at most, would produce in general vastly 
 more salutary effects than longer terms. The Inspectors are gratified to 
 know that throughout the Eastern District of the State this fact has 
 become apparent to most of the judicial tribunals, and is acted upon to 
 the limits of the law. Should this disposition become general, and a 
 larger discretion be given by law, it would remove, in a great measure, 
 the necessity that is now often believed to exist for the exercise of the 
 pardoning power.' 
 
 "The Pennsylvania system is best described as the individual treatment 
 of convicts, as contrasted with that in other States, which is the congre- 
 gate or class treatment. This distinction is important while considering 
 the views now under discussion. 
 
 "Again, in the report for 1853 it is remarked: 
 
 " ' The Inspectors have again to remark on the subject of the duration 
 of sentences inflicted upon juvenile offenders. It is with regret the 
 Inspectors find that, of the prisoners admitted during the year 1853, 
 there are twenty-two under twenty-one years of age, and forty-eight 
 under twenty-five years of age. The Inspectors are of opinion that in 
 cases of first conviction of minors, or those of immature age, unless for 
 crimes of the most aggravated character, a short term of imprisonment 
 is of far greater benefit to the individual than one which is calculated to 
 punish beyond the period when moral influences have awakened in the 
 heart strong feelings of repentance and a desire to reform. Evil associ- 
 ates, bad example, and a want of proper parental care and watchfulness, 
 admonition, and control, lead the young into crimes. When, therefore, 
 imprisoned as a punishment, the young convict is brought to feel, prob- 
 ably for the first time, the truth of the proverb, that the way of the
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 149 
 
 transgressor is hard, then it is that the most judicious counsel and 
 advice induces the most decided improvement. It is believed that if in 
 such instances the prisoner were set at liberty, a revolution would be 
 effected in his morals and habits, and a new career would be sought 
 after for his future life. The Inspectors make these suggestions in the 
 hope that good may result from their careful consideration.' 
 
 "In the report for the year 1854, the Inspectors thus speak on this 
 interesting subject: 
 
 " ' The Inspectors again feel it their duty to call the attention of the 
 Legislature to the length of sentences inflicted for first offenses, and also 
 on young offenders. It is no longer a question that severity in punish- 
 ment is no prevention of crime; neither does severity of punishment 
 produce the desired effect upon the offender. The causes of crime should 
 be more fully investigated after a conviction, and have a potent influence 
 in determining the duration of the punishment. There is a period in 
 the history of every criminal's punishment when his liberation would 
 most benefit him, and hence society would gain, by the improvement 
 afforded in reclaiming an offender. Those whose constant intercourse 
 with convicts enables them to form an opinion upon the subject, will 
 admit that such periods occur, when most decided advantage would 
 result from the prisoner's liberation. One mode, to be sure a most im- 
 perfect one, to effect this object, is to shorten the sentence, as much as a 
 proper regard to the interests of society would justify, in all cases of 
 first convictions and convictions of young offenders. The Inspectors 
 feel the force of these views, and they have ventured again to invoke 
 legislative attention to the subject. This is not the occasion to suggest 
 any plan to modify and improve the present laws upon this subject; 
 but it is hoped that the time will come when the Legislature of Penn- 
 sylvania will take the important subject of the present Penal Code, as it 
 relates to our admirable system of penitentiary punishment, into consid- 
 eration. Sporadic reforms are worse than useless. Labors of those who 
 are required to learn while they attempt to teach, are vain. The famil- 
 iarity of long experience, careful and earnest devotion to the subject, 
 and an interest in the questions involved, above and beyond an interest 
 in self, are among the qualifications which a proper reform in penal 
 jurisprudence will require at the hands of those who undertake the task.' 
 
 "From the report for 1860: 
 
 " ' It will be observed that the Inspectors have heretofore refrained 
 from presenting reforms in the Penal Code, in relation to young crimi- 
 nals. It was hoped and believed, that one of the citizens to whom the 
 codification of the penal laws was referred, might have been selected for 
 his interest in, and ability to understand, the subject. If such a selec- 
 tion had been made, it would have resulted beneficially, by the incorpo- 
 ration into the penal law of a provision to meet the class of cases to 
 which the attention of the Legislature has been called. 
 
 " ' The Inspectors do not feel themselves required, either by law or 
 from their official position, to do more than make such " observations " 
 as they deem of importance to the public, or prisoners. 
 
 " ' Lest, however, it might be by some attributed to their silence that 
 they have no practical suggestions to offer, they most respectfully sub- 
 mit, as the substance for amendments to the present law, the following 
 proposition: 
 
 " ' That in all cases of first conviction for crime, of minors, the term
 
 150 KEFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of imprisonment shall be terminated by the Inspectors with the consent 
 of the President Judge of the Court in which such minor was sentenced, 
 when in their opinion the punishment has produced its expected results. 
 
 " ' That in all cases of first conviction for crime, of persons between 
 twenty-one and twenty-five years of age, the term of imprisonment shall 
 in like manner be lessened, as a reward for good conduct, by the reduc- 
 tion of three days out of every thirty after the first twelve months of 
 imprisonment. 
 
 " ' That in all cases of first conviction for crime, of minors, the jury 
 trying the case shall find by their verdict if the father of the minor (he 
 being alive and within the jurisdiction of the process of the Common- 
 wealth) was negligent and derelict in his parental duties toward said 
 minor, and on so finding, the Court shall cause said father to be held to 
 pay the costs to the Commonwealth of said trial. 
 
 " ' The Inspectors have ventured respectfully to make these suggestions, 
 with the view to remedy the evil which has been thus authentically 
 brought to the attention of the General Assembly. 
 
 " ' It will not be denied that the necessity for legislation is most seri- 
 ous. That it is increasing, a superficial examination of the facts herein 
 set out cannot fail to teach the observer. That the want of parental 
 control is demoralizing a large and increasing number of our youths, 
 the consequences are manifest. The minor is ungoverned, wayward, 
 vagabond, vicious, contaminated, contaminating, and convict. The 
 moralist, as well as the Christian, must deplore such causes and conse- 
 quences. 
 
 " ' It is believed that the most unconcerned for the welfare of society 
 and its constituents would hardly agree that penitentiary discipline 
 should take the place of primary parental teachings and supervisory 
 restraint. 
 
 " ' The least benevolent will fully consent to the principle, as one of 
 justice, that the child only should not be punished for its parent's neglect 
 or disregard of his duties. 
 
 " 'If in either case society stands in the place of the parent, magnan- 
 imity and mercy both plead that the most reformatory and beneficent 
 influences should be extended to such unfortunates.' 
 
 "In the report for 1867, the Inspectors use the following language: 
 
 " ' It is of vital importance that the individualities and characteristics 
 and surroundings of the accused should be ascertained on his trial, and 
 their just consideration should be taken fully into the judicial deter- 
 mination of the punishment. Arbitrary or merely conventional sen- 
 tences, operating on classes not persons, are unphilosophical, and often 
 unjust, both to the individual and the community. Again, take the 
 crime of larceny. It should be divided into degrees. The highest, and 
 each in sequence to the lowest, should be determined at the trial, from 
 the facts and circumstances and the characteristics of the accused. To 
 determine beforehand, when framing the indictment, the degree of crim- 
 inality, before the accused can explain or defend his acts, is at war with 
 the principle which seeks to protect the accused till he is found beyond 
 the operation of the presumptions of innocence. This system adopted 
 as to all crimes or offenses has the advantage of placing the accused in 
 the exact position in which his acts place him, not that which the defi- 
 nition or description of a class of acts would compel him to occupy 
 without the explanatory benefits he alone could produce. Again, it
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 151 
 
 would not make individuals more criminal than they really are, and 
 thus often unwisely add to the crime-class those who would else never 
 be associated with it. The injurious effects of any system which aug- 
 ments the number of convicts, placing on them the distinguishing mark 
 of enemies to public safety, becomes more and more apparent as popula- 
 tion increases. The true principle of legislation on this branch of the 
 subject is to make few acts of individual crimes, and as few members of 
 society criminals as a due regard for the safety of life, rights, and prop- 
 erty will justify. The more simple the crime code, the more it is ren- 
 dered flexible in individual application; the less rigorous and unbending; 
 the greater opportunity to take the principles of the common law as 
 preferable to those of a statute, and the greater the responsibilities that 
 are placed on the judiciary and taken from the law-making power in 
 all these respects the greater and more substantial are the benefits which 
 society secures. It is thus that society speaks its voice, under the 
 restraints of law, in each particular case. 
 
 " ' Following this view as to the code, we come to consider the punish- 
 ment of crimes. By the present practice there is really no standard. 
 The offense too often determines the sentence, because no opportunity 
 is permitted to investigate all the circumstances of each case; nor is 
 any authority granted for that judicial discretion which should always 
 be an element in the official action of the ministers of justice. The 
 maximum and the minimum of the term of punishment are the only 
 judicial guides, and these regulate the judgment of Judges who, from 
 the trial of the issue of fact, are informed by the verdict of the guilt of 
 the accused. Every offender is actuated by different motives, influenced 
 by various causes of crime; his peculiar position as an individual in 
 society, his lack of advantages, his associations, his mental, moral, per- 
 sonal disabilities, all his individualities are hid from view, because the 
 present system only presents one fact to be ascertained. The interests 
 of society demand that crime be punished, and crime prevented; beyond 
 that it has no other interest, so far as a particular offense is concerned. 
 But growing out of the determination of that fact are vastly important 
 considerations to the very best interests of society. For what degree of 
 crime, for what period of time the guilty is to be sentenced, the motives 
 and causes that induced him to violate law, the effect upon the indi- 
 vidual directly and on society indirectly, are consequences which must 
 result to society finally, to prejudice it to a greater or less degree if the 
 guilty has been punished without regard to these questions. There is 
 no more dangerous element in social condition than the feeling which 
 harshness and injustice produce in the administration of justice. The 
 first of the dangers is the unwillingness to convict for crime, or the 
 anxiety in the minds of juries to except the case from the operations of 
 these influences. Vibrating between the extremes of unwillingness to 
 convict, and the prompt conviction, in the latter case to maintain the 
 law by sporadic firmness in the administration of justice, creates a dis- 
 respect for the law. When one is guilty of a less crime than that for 
 which he is indicted, but escapes because of the arbitrary or fixed defi- 
 nition of acts, as crimes, which the trial shows the accused has not 
 made himself technically amenable to, there is left on the public mind 
 a feeling of insecurity and a distrust of public justice. So on either 
 hand the present system convicts a certain portion of offenders, and 
 society has to be satisfied that all the guilty do not escape. If, however,
 
 152 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the system of jurisprudence was in harmony with the views expressed 
 as to the code, these defects would probably be remedied. 
 
 " ' By the judicious subdivision into degrees, and the consequent reduc- 
 tion of the higher grades of crime, the assimilation of the offense to the 
 acts and motives of the accused, the certainty of, as well as a wise dis- 
 crimination in the punishment, the diminution of the number of indi- 
 viduals united with the crime-class, the better would it be for all the 
 great interests associated in and protected by penal legislation.' 
 
 " That some system should be made lawful by which the opinion of 
 the Inspectors, and that of the chief officers of the penitentiary, as to 
 the propriety of discharging prisoners deserving liberation, would be 
 effective in producing their discharge by competent authority, is most 
 desirable. The Inspectors respectfully call this subject to the attention 
 of the Legislature. It may not meet with favor until a thorough inves- 
 tigation of the question is made, free from those objections which a first 
 impression is most likely to suggest." 
 
 The following is the bill of fare: 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Stewed mutton. 
 Supper. Tea and bread. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Bologna sausage and bread. 
 Supper. Tea and bread. 
 . 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Beef and soup. 
 Supper. Tea and bread. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Stewed beef. 
 Supper. Tea and bread. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Stewed mutton. 
 Supper. Tea and bread. 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Mutton and mutton soup. 
 Supper. Tea and coffee. 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 Breakfast. Coffee and bread. 
 Dinner. Baked potpie. 
 Supper. Tea and bread.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 153 
 
 In addition to these, vegetables when in season are supplied at din- 
 ner, but breakfast and supper remain the same during the entire year. 
 During the winter months sauerkraut is supplied once or twice a week. 
 No canned goods are used. In the spring, onions and tomatoes are sup- 
 plied. 
 
 The Warden receives a salary of $4,500 per annum; the Clerk, $2,000; 
 the Moral Instructor, $1,500; and the Physician, $1,500. The Overseers 
 or Guards are paid according to their term of service, receiving for the 
 first five years, $800 per annum; second five years, $900 per annum; 
 third five years, $1,000 per annum; fourth five years, $1,050 per annum; 
 fifth five years, $1,100 per annum; thirty years and over, $1,200 per 
 annum. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS STATE PRISON. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the Commissioners of Prisons are five in number; 
 two of whom are required to be women. They hold office for the term 
 of five years, and are appointed by the Governor, with the advice and 
 consent of the Council. They receive no compensation, but are allowed 
 their personal expenses while engaged in official duties. 
 
 They have the general supervision of the State Prison and of the 
 reformatory prison for women, and may make all necessary rules not 
 repugnant to law, for the direction of the officers in the discharge of their 
 duties; the government, employment, discipline, and instruction of the 
 convicts. They also have power to make such rules in regard to the food, 
 clothing, and bedding of the convicts, as the health, well being, and cir- 
 cumstances of each convict may require. The law, however, requires 
 that all food, clothing, beds, and bedding shall be of good quality and 
 in sufficient quantity for the sustenance and comfort of the convicts, and 
 the bedding shall include mattresses, blankets, and pillows. After the 
 rules have been established, they are to be laid before the Governor and 
 Council, who may approve, annul, or modify them. One or more of the 
 Commissioners must visit the State Prison and reformatory prison for 
 women at least once in each month, and a majority of the Board must 
 visit these prisons once in three months, and oftener if they consider it 
 to be necessary, for the purpose of inspecting their books and manage- 
 ment, and ascertaining whether the laws and rules are duly observed, 
 the officers competent and faithful, and the convicts properly governed 
 and employed. The full Board are required to visit these prisons semi- 
 annually, and make a thorough examination of them. 
 
 They must report immediately to the Governor and Council all viola- 
 tions of law and omissions of duty which come to their knowledge, on
 
 154 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the part of the Warden, Chaplain, Physician of the State Prison, or on 
 the part of the Superintendent, Chaplain, or Physician of the reforma- 
 tory prison for women. Every officer of the prison who holds his office 
 at the pleasure of the Warden and Commissioners, who is found to be 
 unfaithful or incompetent, or who uses intoxicating liquor as a beverage, 
 the law declares shall be immediately removed, and in the event of a 
 disagreement between the Warden and the Commissioners relating to 
 the removal of any officer or employe, the subject may be referred to the 
 Governor and Council, who may make such removal. 
 
 The Warden, Chaplain, and Physician and Surgeon of the State 
 Prison are appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of 
 the Council, and hold their offices during the Executive's pleasure. The 
 Warden appoints the Deputy Warden and all other officers, subject to 
 the^approval [of the Commissioners, and they hold thir offices during 
 the pleasure of the Warden and Commissioners. The Warden has the 
 right to appeal to the Governor in case there is a disagreement between 
 him and the Commissioners concerning the removal of any officer, and, 
 after reasonable notice to the Commissioners and a hearing, the Gov- 
 ernor and Council may make the removal. 
 
 The Warden receives an annual salary of $3,500; the Chaplain, $2,000; 
 the Physician and Surgeon, $1,000; the Deputy Warden, $2,000; the 
 Clerk of the Turnkeys, $1,200; each Watchman who has been in the 
 service of the prison for less than three years, $800; each Watchman 
 who has been in the service for three years and less than six years, 
 $1,000; and every Watchman who has been in the service for six years, 
 $1,200. 
 
 No officer is allowed to receive any other perquisite, reward, or emol- 
 ument, except there is allowed to the Warden and Deputy Warden 
 sufficient house-room, with fuel and lights for themselves and their 
 families. The Warden supplies his table at his own expense. 
 
 Neither the Warden nor any officer of the prison is permitted to be 
 employed in any business for private emolument, or which does not 
 pertain to the duties of his office. All officers, excepting the Clerk, 
 Physician, and Chaplain, are required to wear, while on duty, such uni- 
 form, cap, or badge as may be from time to time prescribed by the 
 Warden and Commissioners. 
 
 The bond of the Warden is $20,000, and the Warden and Deputy 
 Warden are compelled to reside constantly within the precincts of the 
 prison. 
 
 The law provides that the Warden may, with the consent of the Com- 
 missioners, cause a Sabbath-school to be maintained in the prison for
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 155 
 
 the instruction of the convicts in their religious duties, and permit such 
 persons as they consider suitable to attend the school as instructors. 
 The Warden is authorized to maintain schools for the instruction of 
 the prisoners at such times, excepting Sunday, as he, with the approval 
 of the Commissioners, may fix from time to time, and under such rules 
 and regulations as the Commissioners may prescribe, and he is permitted 
 to expend for such purposes a sum not exceeding $2,000 a year. 
 
 The laws of the State provide that convicts sentenced to the punish- 
 ment of hard labor in the prison shall be constantly employed for the 
 benefit of the State, but no convict shall be employed in engraving of 
 any kind; that the Warden, with the consent of one or more of the 
 Commissioners, may, for such time as may be thought necessary to 
 produce penitence, confine to solitary labor obstinate and refractory 
 convicts. 
 
 Contract labor is forbidden, and the law prohibits the use of new 
 machinery other than such as may be propelled by hand or foot power. 
 
 A General Superintendent of Prisons is appointed by the Governor, 
 and he determines, in connection with the Warden, the industries to be 
 pursued. 
 
 The number of prisoners employed at the same time in a single 
 industry cannot exceed one twentieth of the number of persons em- 
 ployed in such industry in the State of Massachusetts, according to the 
 classification given by the last census preceding such employment, 
 unless a number in excess of this proportion is required to produce 
 materials to be supplied in State and county institutions. 
 
 Among the various industries carried on are brushmaking, harness- 
 making, boot and shoe making, manufacture of tinware, and gilding. 
 
 The rations for the convicts are as follows, although varied somewhat 
 by the Warden, who, upon holidays and at other times at his discretion, 
 introduces articles not named herein: 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 Breakfast. Rice and milk, white bread, and coffee. 
 
 Dinner. Baked fish or baked meat, white bread, fruit, and tea. 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Breakfast. Cornmeal and milk, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Corned beef and vegetables. 
 Supper. White bread and tea. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Meat hash, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Baked beans and graham bread. 
 Supper. Corned beef, white bread, and tea.
 
 156 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Oatmeal and milk, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Beef soup, potatoes, and white bread. 
 Supper. White bread and tea. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Breakfast. Meat hash, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Baked beans and brown bread. 
 Supper. Corned beef, white bread, and tea. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Breakfast. Mush and milk, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Fish, potatoes, and white bread. 
 Supper. White bread and tea. 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 Breakfast. Meat hash, white bread, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Beef soup, potatoes, and white bread. 
 Supper. Corned beef, white bread, and tea. 
 
 The hospital rations are: 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 Breakfast. Baked beans and pancakes, bread and butter, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Roast veal, mashed potatoes, bread and butter. 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Breakfast. Beefsteak, etc. 
 
 Dinner. Roast beef or fish, potatoes, etc. 
 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Hot biscuit and coffee. 
 
 Dinner. Boiled dinner, etc. 
 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Breakfast. Corned beef, mush or beans, and coffee. 
 Dinner. Broiled steak, baked potatoes, pudding. 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Breakfast. Hash, rice and milk, etc. 
 Dinner. Roast beef or fried liver. 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk.
 
 REFORMATORY AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. 157 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Breakfast. Fish balls and fried pork, etc. 
 Dinner. Vegetable soup, bread and butter. 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 Breakfast. Hot biscuit and coffee. 
 Dinner. Beefsteak and onions, etc. 
 Supper. Toast and tea, mush and milk. 
 
 The above list is subject to variations during the different seasons of 
 the year. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I have endeavored to convey a practical idea of the manner in which 
 the best managed reform schools are conducted, and hope that the infor- 
 mation submitted will be of service to the Board. I have refrained 
 from any remarks on abstract questions, dealing only with the practical 
 side of the management of these institutions. The portion of this report 
 devoted to State Prisons has been made longer than perhaps was neces- 
 sary, but it was deemed best to present somewhat fully what I had 
 gleaned on this subject, in the hope that it would prove not altogether 
 unprofitable in the superintendence of the institutions of which the 
 Board have charge. 
 
 I was received with uniform kindness and courtesy by all whom I 
 met, and desire to thank them one and all for the assistance they have 
 rendered. I desire also to express my obligation to the Board for the 
 honor they have conferred upon me in selecting me to make this inves- 
 tigation, and hope that the trust thus imposed has been satisfactorily 
 discharged. 
 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 ROBERT T. DEVLIN, 
 
 President of the State Board of Prison Directors of California.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ALLEGHENY PAGE. 
 
 Western Penitentiary 97 
 
 BILL OF FARE See Rations. 
 
 BUILDINGS FOR INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 41 
 
 CASSIDY, M. J. 
 
 Views of, on indeterminate sentences 46 
 
 CINCINNATI HOUSE OF REFUGE 29 
 
 CONNECTICUT STATE REFORM SCHOOL 8 
 
 COTTAGE PLAN OF MANAGEMENT 5 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 Reform School of 37 
 
 ELMIRA REFORMATORY 45 
 
 EXPENSES 
 
 Boys' Industrial School of Ohio 8 
 
 Connecticut State Reform School 9 
 
 Nebraska Industrial School 22 
 
 Illinois State Reform School 27 
 
 Indiana Reform School 29 
 
 Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women 55 
 
 Ohio Penitentiary 57,64 
 
 Illinois State Penitentiary 66-74 
 
 Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania 97 
 
 Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania 153 
 
 Massachusetts State Prison ' 154 
 
 HOWE, G. E. 
 
 Recommendations of 8 
 
 Views of 10 
 
 HUNTINGDON REFORMATORY 43 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 State Reform School 25 
 
 State Penitentiary 66 
 
 INDETERMINATE SENTENCES- 
 
 Huntingdon 43 
 
 Elmira 45 
 
 Cassidy, M. J., views of 46 
 
 Warner, Charles Dudley, views of 48 
 
 Massachusetts, report of Prison Commissioners of 53 
 
 Ohio, law of 57 
 
 INDIANA 
 
 State Reform School for Boys 28 
 
 Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls 55 
 
 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS See Reform Schools. 
 
 JOLIET 
 
 Penitentiary at 66
 
 160 INDEX. 
 
 KEARNEY PAGE - 
 
 Industrial School at - 21 
 
 LANCASTER 
 
 Boys' Industrial School at 
 
 LYMAN SCHOOL FOR BOYS 36 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS- 
 
 Lyman School for Boys '- 36 
 
 State Prison 153 
 
 MERIDEN 
 
 Reform School at 
 
 MINNESOTA 
 
 State Reform School - 40 
 
 MORGANZA 
 
 Reform School at 31 
 
 NEBRASKA 
 
 Industrial School at 21 
 
 OHIO- 
 
 Industrial School of ' 6 
 
 Penitentiary of 57 
 
 Indeterminate sentence 57 
 
 PAROLE 
 
 System in Ohio 62 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 House of Refuge, Philadelphia. 33 
 
 Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon 43 
 
 Penitentiary for Eastern District .. 99 
 
 Reform School 31 
 
 Western Penitentiary 97 
 
 PER CAPITA See Expenses. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA- 
 
 House of Refuge at , 33 
 
 Eastern Penitentiary 99 
 
 PLAINF1ELD 
 
 Reform School for Boys 28 
 
 PONTIAC 
 
 State Reform School at 25 
 
 PRISONS 
 
 Ohio Penitentiary 57 
 
 Illinois State Penitentiary 66 
 
 Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania 97 
 
 State Penitentiary Eastern District of Pennsylvania 99 
 
 Massachusetts State Prison 153 
 
 RATIONS 
 
 Ohio Penitentiary 65 
 
 Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania _ 97 
 
 State Penitentiary for Eastern District of Pennsylvania 152 
 
 Massachusetts State Prison 155 
 
 REFORMATORIES 
 
 Huntingdon 43 
 
 Elmira 45 
 
 Indianapolis 55
 
 INDEX. 161 
 
 REFORM SCHOOLS PAGE. 
 
 Different plans of management - -.- 5 
 
 Cottage or family plan 5 
 
 Ohio, Boys' Industrial School of 6 
 
 Connecticut, State Reform School of 8 
 
 Nebraska, State Industrial School of 21 
 
 Illinois State Reform School - 25 
 
 Indiana Reform School for Boys . 28 
 
 Cincinnati House of Refuge 29 
 
 Pennsylvania Reform School 31 
 
 Pennsylvania House of Refuge, Philadelphia -- 33 
 
 Massachusetts, Lyman School for Boys 36 
 
 District of Columbia Reform School 37 
 
 Minnesota State Reform School 40 
 
 Buildings 41 
 
 Superintendent 42 
 
 SALARIES 
 
 Boys' Industrial School of Ohio 7 
 
 Illinois State Reform School .-. 28 
 
 Indiana Reform School for Boys 29 
 
 Pennsylvania Reform School - - 33 
 
 Lyman School for Boys - 36 
 
 Reform School, District of Columbia 38 
 
 House of Refuge, Philadelphia 39 
 
 Ohio Penitentiary 57,64 
 
 Illinois State Penitentiary 74 
 
 Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania <. 97 
 
 Penitentiary for Eastern District of Pennsylvania 153 
 
 Massachusetts State Prison 154 
 
 ST. PAUL REFORM SCHOOL 40 
 
 STATE PRISONS See Prisons. 
 SUPERINTENDENT 
 
 Qualifications of - 42 
 
 WASHINGTON- 
 
 Reform School at -* 37 
 
 WESTBO ROUGH 
 
 Lyman School for boys --- 36 
 
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 A""i HIM mum || 
 000 079 453 7 
 
 DATE DUE