' JUL 27 1894 PRESTON SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY AT lONE. Circular of Information TRUSTEES: E. M. PRESTON, Nevada City, President. ADAM ANDREW, Sacramento. FAYETTE MACE, lone. E. CARIy BANK, Superintendent. SACRAMENTO: STATE OFFICE, : : A. J. JOHNSTON, SUPT. STAT:^ PRINTING. \ 1894. c--^' • . • ' • CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION. The Preston School of Industry is located about one half mile from lone, Amador Count}^, California, on a beautiful eminence, which affords a fine view of the village and the sur- rounding country. lone is a town of about eight hundred inhabitants, and is nearly forty miles southeast of Sacramento, and about one hundred and forty miles, by rail, northeast from San Francisco. It is the terminus of the Amador branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which connects with the main line of that road at Gait. The institution is under the control of a Board consisting of three members, who are appointed by the Governor for terms of four years each. The Board appoints the Superintendent, Secretary, and Military Instructor; all other officers are ap- pointed by the Superintendent, with the consent and approval of the Board. The school was named in honor of Hon. K. M. Preston, who originated and introduced the bill which established the insti- tution, and who was subsequently appointed President of the Board of Trustees. No person is given employment whose habits of life are not in every way exemplary, and no one will be retained in the service who does not prove to be fitted for the work. The institution is designed to be a place of reformation for boys whose habits of life and environment are leading them toward a criminal career. It is not conducted on the plan of a penal institution, but rather, as its name indicates, as an Indus- trial School ; and thus the reformation is not accomplished by any retributive or punitive means, but rather by proving to the boys the value of. good conduct and a good reputation, giving them an education, and teaching them some means of earning a living. The school consists of three departments; namely. Academic, Military, and Industrial; and each boy is a pupil in each de- partment. 332858 — 4 — In the Academic course we give to a boy of ordinary intelli- gence, whose stay with us is not limited, an education equal to the grammar grade in our public schools. Each boy attends school four and one half hours each day, either in the forenoon or afternoon, and the other half day is spent at work, with a certain time allotted each day for recreation. In the Military Department the boys are taught daily, by competent instructors, in such branches of military training as are ordiuarily used in the Government service, giving especial emphasis to those parts which secure to the cadet an erect and soldierly bearing, a neat appearance, respect for superiors, and prompt and cheerful obedience to orders. In the Industrial Department each boy is given the oppor- tunity to gain a knowledge of some vocation, which will be of practical assistance to him in after life, and help him to earn living wages as soon as he leaves the school. Besides doing all the work about the buildings and grounds, we are able to use a large number of boys in carrying on our various farming operations. We have about 300 acres of land, and aim to produce the larger part of fruit, vegetables, haj^ grain, etc., which we use. As soon as practicable, we expect to make our own clothing and shoes with boy help, and also establish printing, carpentry, blacksmithing, and plumbing departments. Our whole aim is to so train the boy's hand and brain that he may become a useful member to society, as well as a credit to himself and to the institution. To any one contemplating asking advice about sending any particular boy to this school, we would respectfully decline to comply with such request. To advise sending a boy would be equivalent to saying that we would guarantee refonnation; to discourage the commitment would be to confess a lack of faith in our work. On general principles, we can say that it is our opinion that there is no school yet in existence which is eqnal^ in every ivay^ to a first-class home; but where such a home is wanting, whether from inability to provide for, or to properly govern, and where the child is growing more and more into evil ways and evil habits, we think that a course of training in an institution of this kind will more than likely result in good. — 5 — How Boys are Committed. The following sections of the Organic Act relate to commit- ments to the school: Sec 15. When any boy under the age of eighteen years shall be found guilty, by a magistrate or Court of competent jurisdiction, of any offense punishable by fine, or by imprisonment, or by both, and who, in the opinion of such magistrate or Court would be a fit subject for commit- ment to the said school, it shall be lawful for the magistrate or Court to suspend judgment or sentence (except when the penalty is life imprison- ment or death), and to commit such boy to the said school for a period not exceeding the time when he shall attain his twenty-first birthday, unless sooner discharged by law, or as in this Act provided ; but no boy who is under the age of eight years, or who is of unsound mind, shall be committed to the said school. The Board shall have authority to make rules reducing, as the reward for good conduct, the time for which such person or persons have been committed. It shall be the duty of all Courts and magistrates committing any boy to such school to certify to the Superintendent thereof the age of the person so committed, as nearly as can be ascertained by testimony taken under oath before such Court ox magistrate, or in such manner as the Court or magistrate may direct. Sec. 16. Before any commitment, made by a Police Court or by a Justice of the Peace, under this Act, shall be executed, it shall be approved by a Judge of the Superior Court of the county in which the Police Court or Justice of the Peace has jurisdiction, and his approval indorsed on the warrant of commitment. But if such sentence shall be disapproved, the Police Court or Justice of the Peace shall then impose the ordinary sentence prescribed by law. Sec 17. It shall be lawful for the Board, whenever it may deem any inmate of said institution to have been so far reformed as to justify his discharge, to give him an honorable dismissal, and to cause an entry of the reasons for such dismissal to be made in the book of records pre- pared for that purpose. All persons thus honorably dismissed, and all those who shall have served the full term of their respective sentences, shall thereafter be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the ofienses or crimes for which they were committed. Upon the final discharge of any inmate as in this section provided, the Superin- tendent shall immediately certify such discharge in writing, and shall transmit the certificate to the magistrate or Court by which such inmate or boy was committed. Said magistrate or Court shall thereupon dis- miss the accusation and the action pending against said person. Sec 18. The Board shall have authority also to issue certificates of conditional dismissal and parole to any worthy boy confined in the insti- tution, on the following conditions: It may bind such boy, by articles of indenture, to any suitable person who will engage to educate him and to instruct him in some useful art or trade, or it may return him to his parents, or it may place him under the care of any reputable person who is a citizen and a resident of this State, after such person, parent, guard- — 6 — ian, or resident citizen shall have become bound to the said Board, with good and sufficient sureties, conditioned on the proper custody, care, education, and moral and industrial training of the said paroled boy. The time of such conditional release shall be made subject to good behavior and continued reformation on the part of the person thus paroled. Any boy who violates his parole, or who becomes habitually disobedient and incorrigible, may be returned to the said school to serve the unexpired term of his sentence, on complaint of his guardian and the written requisition of the Superintendent of the said school, and if received from either of the State Piisons may be returned to the same. Every paroled boy who properly observes and obeys the conditions of his parole until the date of the expiration of his time of commitment, shall be entitled to all the benefits and immunities in this Act provided. Sec. 19. Any boy who shall, during the time of his commitment, be found incorrigible, or who shall be an improper subject for detention in said school, may be returned to the magistrate or Court by which said boy was committed ; and upon written complaint of the Board, attested by the Superintendent and filed with the original complaint, it shall be lawful for said Court or magistrate to enter judgment and pass such sentence as would have been lawful at the time when the offender was first committed to the said school, and if committed from either of the State Prisons may be returned to the prison whence received, to serve out his unexpired term. Sec. 20. Any boy under the age of eighteen years, who is undergoing sentence in any State Prison in this State (except such as are undergoing a life sentence), and who shall be deemed a fit subject for training in the said school, may, upon recommendation of the State Board of Prison Directors, with the approval of the Governor, be transferred to said school for the unexpired period of his sentence, and when honorably discharged from said school, as hereinbefore provided, shall be entitled to such benefits and immunities as are provided for the other inmates of the institution. Please notice the following points: 1. Only boys committed by a court of competent jurisdiction are received; there is ?io other way. 2. Commitments made by Police Courts and Justices' Courts must be approved by the Superior Judge of the county, and his approval must be indorsed upon the warrant of commitment. 3. Only boys between eight and eighteen years of age can be committed. 4. No boy of unsound mind, or one who is subject to epileptic fits, or who has a contagious disease, will be admitted. Blank forms of commitment will be furnished on application to the Superintendent. We would urgently request that every boy be committed — 7 — "until h^ shall arrive at the age of twenty-one Jyears," etc. Not that we may keep them in the institution[until they have arrived at that age (for we seldom do that), but that we may send them out before that time and still retain af restraining hand on them. This control and authority over the boy after his leaving the school is one of the most important factors in the]^work, and without it many boys might return to their evil ways before they were fairly started in habits of well doing. \With this control over him the boy feels that he is yet responsible to the institution, and he therefore has a great incentive to so conduct himself that he will not be returned. After he has gotten well into habits of industry and right living under all the influences of his every-day life, he is very certain to make a success of life. We would cordially invite all persons interested in the work to visit the school, for we believe that a more intimate acquaint- ance with the institution will result in benefit to us all. Very sincerely, K. CARI. BANK, Superintendent. RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT T0^-#^ 202 Main Library 642-3403 LOAN PERIOD 1 2 3 4 5 6 LIBRARY USE This book is due before closing time on the last dote stamped below DUE AS STAMPED BELOW . :: i: b 'uiS b-': •^..,,.. L-/-, Pv^ o -4 CO UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD6A, 20m, 1 1/78 BERKELEY CA 94720 a^i 5! JURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO^"» ^02 Main Library 649 Q/m-? LOAN PERIOD 1 '" ' o^»^^4UJ LIBRARY USE This boolc is due b«fare closing lime on the lost dote ito mped below DUE AS STAMPED BELOW UBRARYUSF UMiOim C«. MAY ] I 1982 ORM NO DD6A 9n , V^jy^^^'^^ °F CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY UKM NO. DD6A, 20m, 1 ) /78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 mi