Part 8

The “Prison Reports,” physical and moral, in Great Britain, are all to the Government of the nation; and every part of every city jail seems to work with as distinct a reference to the whole system of prison regulation as the lower clerkships of a State Department do to the administration of the whole. This, it must be admitted, is easy in that country, where there is but one legislature to direct, and one government to administer and execute. It would be impossible in this country, for the National Congress to issue ordinances for the administration of _State_, county, and city prisons. To say nothing of State rights and State sovereignty, there would be insurmountable difficulties in prescribing and carrying out rules for prison discipline and dietaries for all the jails from Oregon to Maine. So that, when we read of the happy and harmonious working of the prison laws in Ireland and Great Britain, we must call to mind the proximity of each establishment to the other, and of the whole to the Government, to whose chief officers they are bound to make report, and with whose agents they are bound to co-operate. In England and Ireland the difference of longitude is so small, that, by the Sovereign’s command, it is made mid-day at the same moment in both kingdoms. In the United States, something more than human power would be required to work out that wonder, and something more than constitutional prerogative would be necessary to enforce it. We must take things as they are, and work with the means and in the space which are allowed. If we cannot expect national interference in behalf of prison discipline, we certainly may appeal to the State in which we live to exercise and dignify its sovereignty by legislation that will adapt prisons and their discipline to the use of society, and while the House is one of penal discipline, it shall be a place of moral improvement. We scarcely expect the Legislature of the State to initiate the good work. It is the duty of those who feel most anxious for its establishment, to prepare the means and present the arguments; and it is believed that no means of inducing a systematic arrangement of prison discipline throughout the State exists outside this Society. Persons abound who see and deplore the evils of the present want of system, but they lack the full information, and especially do they lack concurrent action; and it is believed that the establishment of auxiliary societies throughout the State would produce the ends proposed, viz., properly constructed prisons, the establishment and maintenance of proper discipline; and the whole co-operative and correspondent, each with the other, till the system work, with regard to the government, as perfectly in Pennsylvania as it does in Great Britain, and much more effective in the interest of humanity and virtue. We have little to change, excepting the structures of our prisons, and the consequent classification and treatment of prisoners; little to unlearn in their management; we are not wedded to any past theory. It is generally admitted, that much of what this Society condemns is wrong; the only doubt, or supposed difficulty, is how it can be remedied. That doubt and that difficulty will be removed when auxiliary Societies shall be established to correct and embody public sentiment, and when the parent Society, through its branches, shall be allowed to bring its moral action into co-operation with the physical efforts of the Commonwealth, to alleviate the miseries of public prisons.

COMPENSATION TO PRISONERS FOR OVER-WORK.

Among the inquiries instituted by the Society this year, was one that related to the earnings of convicts in the Eastern Penitentiary, which arose out of a complaint made by a United States prisoner, who had received, as he thought, less for over-work than was in reality due to him. The character of the prisoner, or the title of the court by which he was sentenced, had nothing to do with the character of the claim, or the interest which the Society felt and would manifest in his behalf. He was a prisoner, and as such, whether in the County Jail or the State Penitentiary; whether sentenced by a Police Magistrate, or by a Judge of the Court of the United States, there could be nothing in his case to alienate him from our sympathies, or deprive him of the benefit of our interference in his behalf.

A committee was instructed to present the case of the complainant to the proper authorities of the Penitentiary, and to ascertain, in the first place, on what principle the over-work of prisoners was estimated, and to make especial reference to the case of the United States prisoner, which had suggested the investigation. It need scarcely be said that these inquiries were to be made with that friendly feeling and high respect which have marked the intercourse of the Society with the authorities of the Eastern Penitentiary, and that the questions were answered with the freedom and feeling of those who have an established, well devised plan of action, and are conscious of an adherence to that plan in all its execution; and the friendly spirit of the Committee of this Society was reciprocated by those to whom the appeal was made.

As settling a question about which some doubt existed, and especially as giving information that must be valuable to many, and interesting to all, the report of the Chairman of the Committee on the Penitentiary is subjoined.

TO THE ACTING COMMITTEE, &C.

As Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Eastern State Penitentiary, I have been requested to make some inquiry into the manner of determining the value of the work done by the prisoners, and the allowance to be made to them for “over-work.” The inquiry has been made accordingly, and the following may be given as the result:—

In the first place, it is an important fact, that the law of the State only directs that convicts shall be sentenced to “hard labor,” leaving the _manner_ of executing the sentence to the Inspectors and Wardens, or those having the immediate control of the Jails and Penitentiaries. There is no provision for any compensation to the prisoners for this labor; the primary, and probably the sole purposes for which it was made a part of the sentences, being to enforce it as a salutary part of the prison discipline, and also as a means of compelling the prisoners to contribute something towards the expense of their maintenance; consequently, any allowance made to them for over-work is altogether a gratuity, which they have no right to claim.

In the exercise of the discretion vested in the Inspectors and Warden of the Penitentiary, they judged that the introduction of rewards to the prisoners for industry would have a salutary tendency in several directions, and they therefore allotted to each of them, a certain quantity of such kind of work as should be given him, to be performed in a day, or a month, to pay for his keep. This is sometimes called “the task,” and is so moderate, that with ordinary skill and application, it can be accomplished with ease. Such a money valuation is affixed to this work, as will admit of the Institution obtaining from their outside customers a small advance, to provide tools, working materials, &c. The prisoner is expected, at the price affixed, to earn for the Institution from twenty to twenty-five cents per day. No penalty, however, is visited on him for a failure, unless it is the result of culpable sloathfulness or insubordination. Every thing done beyond this allotted task, is credited to the prisoner as “over-work,” at the same rate affixed to the “task,” half of it for the use of the County, and the other half for his own use, to be paid to him at the expiration of his term; or portions of it, during his imprisonment, are applied, at his request, to the purchase of books, or, perhaps, a carpet for the floor of his cell, or some other little comforts beyond the prison allowance which the authorities may permit him to be supplied with, or remitted to his family.

Under this system, many of the convicts, on the well known and generally acknowledged principle, that “the hope of reward sweetens labor,” are stimulated to so apply themselves, that they not only fully do what is claimed of them by the Penitentiary, (and which, without this encouragement, would often fail to be performed,) but they sometimes accumulate the very handsome sum of several hundred dollars against their discharge. One of them recently earned $14.31 _for his own use_ in one month—equal to $171.72 per annum—and remarked that with a full supply of materials, he would have been able to have doubled his earnings. The system, indeed, works admirably, and its influences are salutary in several respects. The interests of the Institution are advanced by it, and the present comfort of those in confinement is promoted, and the susceptibility of their minds to the favorable action of reformatory influences is increased by having their time occupied by what they feel to be profitable employment. Also, without having the character of compulsory labor, it trains them to habits of industry, and practically convinces them of the important truth, that labor is a thing of real value. These habits, and this conviction, will be of great value to them when they again enter into the world, and the money they take with them will be an important aid in starting them afresh in the business of life.

In allotting the tasks, if any of the prisoners appear to be disheartened under an apprehension that they are greater than they can accomplish, and therefore think it useless to attempt it, the Warden reduces them, and thus leads them on gradually, and the result fully proves that a greater amount of work is actually obtained from them under this system, than would be by the more exacting plan.

The law and rules in these respects, as applied to United States prisoners, having also been under discussion in our Society, special information has been desired on that branch of the subject. It being understood that the General Government pays for their board, doubts have been expressed whether they are bound to labor at all; and if they do, it has been suggested that they should receive a credit for the _whole_ value of their work. The first branch of the question is answered and settled by the fact, that they are sentenced to under go imprisonment for a certain term, _in conformity with our State Laws_—that is, “at hard labor.” Next, as to compensation, their board being paid. It is true the United States pays for each of its prisoners $2.50 per week, which is for board, clothing, fuel, medical attendance, and, indeed, all his ordinary wants, and is hardly half of the cost to the Commonwealth, of each of those in confinement. The Penitentiary was erected by the State of Pennsylvania, at a cost of about $600,000, _for its own use_. The interest of this sum, and an annual appropriation made, to meet current expenses, such as salaries of officers, &c., amount together to about $50,000 per annum, which, as the average number in confinement does not exceed 400, makes a yearly cost to each of, say $125, _in addition to their board and incidentals_. It is fairly said, that, although we may be willing to submit to the loss on our own prisoners, it is but reasonable that we should be protected from it, when accommodating the General Government. The result is, that United States prisoners, as regards labor and compensation, are treated throughout in the same manner as our own.

The same principle, as to compensation for labor, though differing somewhat in its practical details, has been introduced into our County Prison, with very satisfactory results. Whether it has been adopted in our Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh, or not, we are not clearly informed; and we are not aware that it is to be found in any Jail or Penitentiary beyond the limits of our State. It is one of the advantages of the Pennsylvania Separate System of imprisonment that it better admits of such an arrangement, than where the prisoners are congregated together in the workshops.

E. H. BONSALL.

_Philadelphia_, 11_th_ _Mo._ 19, 1863.

While on this subject, it is deemed advisable to present a statement of the plan for labor and extra work which is in operation at the County Prison at Moyamensing; premising, however, that the penal servitude in the County Prison is generally so much less than that in the Penitentiary, that it is found necessary in many particulars to accommodate the assignment of work to the _time_ of the prisoner sentenced, as few who come into the prisons have regular occupations, and a six months’ sentence does not allow time enough to acquire any trade sufficiently to earn money thereby.

And it may be remarked here, that the civil war which has disturbed our country for more than two years, has cut off one of the most important branches of prison labor, viz., that of cotton weaving, by which hundreds of prisoners could pay all the expense resulting from their incarceration, and often take with them, at the termination of their sentence, more money than they would have _saved_ from their earnings, had they been at large, indulging in the evil habits of occasional excessive drinking, and suffering the consequent misery of that delirium which only the inebriate can know.

Cotton weaving, and the preparation of the yarn for the loom, which was once so important a branch of employment, has, as we have already stated, almost ceased to be carried on in this prison. The sound of the shuttle is now scarcely heard where, a few years ago, the continued rattle, in almost every cell, gave notice of profitable industry. It was the custom of the prison, at the time to which we refer, to assign to prisoners a certain fixed task, and to allow them a fair compensation for over-work, so that a good and industrious weaver generally earned for himself about twelve dollars a month. Of course, he made more for the prison. The return of peace, and the introduction of raw cotton, will, undoubtedly, revive the manufacturing in the prison, and enable many, who now have but small employment, to make their time and their punishment profitable.

The Cordwaining Department has been more active; and in that a different system of labor and compensation prevails.

Here the prisoner is charged two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) a week for his board, to be deducted from the compensation for work actually performed.

The prices allowed for good work are as follows:

For sewed boots, 45 cents per pair. For pegged boots, 30 cents per pair. For rogans sewed, 35 cents per pair. For rogans pegged, 28 cents per pair.

To those who purchase these articles, the price seems low; yet the average clear profit to each prisoner is about ten dollars a month,—a sum which, under ordinary circumstances, he would scarcely exceed, if at full liberty, with some of those habits that attend the man who is the candidate for, or the graduate of, a prison. Some prisoners considerably exceed ten dollars a month: they are usually not only faster but better workmen.

But, as many of the prisoners are without any trade, (and perhaps they owe their imprisonment in part to a neglect of some one to give to them a means of acquiring an honest living,) it follows that some time is necessarily consumed in acquiring such a skill in shoemaking as may be turned to their profit in prison, especially when the sentence is not for a long time. But many, it is believed, have made such advance in the art, under personal instructions, as to place them in a position to do some part of the work of their trade, and thus by practice to perfect themselves in a respectable occupation. Too much importance can scarcely be attached to this result, even of a short imprisonment.

Attempts have been made to introduce some kinds of labor for the benefit of prisoners who had short terms of incarceration, or who seemed destitute of abilities to acquire a trade; but these efforts have not been so successful, and, in the present absence of cotton weaving, some of the convicts remain wholly or nearly unemployed.

In the Female Department there is no regular employment by which labor is compensated in money. The tedium of the cell is relieved by ordinary female work, such as making and mending the clothes of other convicts, and providing clothes for those who seem to require some addition to their clothing, when they leave at certain seasons. There is a considerable demand upon the peculiar talents of these prisoners, and it would seem that if only half the industry (with economy and temperance) were practised out of the prison which they manifest willingly in the cell, they would have no temptation to steal, or to covet their neighbor’s goods, “nor anything that is their neighbor’s.” These females are, however, not dismissed from the prison without some consideration for their industry. They usually come in with very few clothes. They are dismissed with at least comfortable garments; and if their home is at a distance, means are supplied to reach it. In this matter, also, this Society assigns special duty to its Agent; and in many cases the poor creature who having tasted the pleasures of sound resolutions for the future, begins to feel the terrors of inability, on her departure from the prison, to escape the associations that led her there, is suddenly surprised with the gratifying information that she will be aided by the Society to leave the city, when she leaves the prison, and may abide in the cell, or in some institution or family, till she can be safely “sent _home_” at the Society’s expense.

CORRESPONDENCE.

UNITED STATES.

We have received reports of various philanthropic societies in the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts. They have mostly in view objects similar to those of this Society: that is, the alleviation of public evils, by direct action upon the minds and consciences of those by whom those evils come.

Among these are the schools in Massachusetts for alleviating the condition of girls and of boys,—separate institutions, but working admirably in the fulfillment of the designs of the founders.

The Report of the Board of Trustees of the “State Reform Schools of Connecticut” is exceedingly interesting. These last seem, in design, to correspond very much with the “House of Refuge” in this city; and it is gratifying to notice that all of them appear to be in a flourishing condition.

There is one “Report” that specially arrested our attention,—that of the “Massachusetts State Agency for Aiding Discharged Convicts.” Here seems to be a true charity, not dependent, alone, on individual efforts and contributions. It appears, by the Report, that the amount expended by the “Agency,” on account of “the government of the State,” was $1,656 32. That, of course, as the Agent says, “will meet the discharged convicts’ wants for a brief period.” If we had not extended our Report this year much beyond usual limits, we should feel disposed to copy most of the Report of this Charity into our own Annual Statement. The following, however, is too well put to be omitted:

“Society has a vital interest in a mission that induces the night-burglar to abandon his trade and allow men to sleep in safety, and that converts the felon’s tools into proper implements, and brings his mind and heart into a _willing_ frame for house-_building_ instead of _shop-lifting_ and house-_breaking_. We approach an employer, and for _his safety_ confide to him our knowledge of the past life and present state of the applicant, now penitent and resolved on reform. By awaking sympathy, we open a door to honest industry, which he enters, and is surrounded by shop mates, ignorant of his crime, ready to fellowship him without prejudice; so that, feeling safe from those taunts that would otherwise assail him, and which, surely, have no healing or strengthening power, he becomes inspired with hope, and courage to make self-reliant effort, trusting that, with the added blessing of Heaven, he will henceforward be an honest man.”

Many of the Reports which we have received are from State Prisons, Penitentiaries, &c. They, of course, are interesting for the statistics they contain, and will be acceptable to those who are directly interested in, and responsible for, the condition of penal institutions. But we feel naturally more interest in the progress of improvement in the care of the prisoner, than in the cost of his maintenance. It is gratifying to find that, in all these prisons, the voice of instruction is heard, and that, in addition to stated religious exercises, there is personal visitation, and this seems to be followed up by the established preacher or “moral instructor.”

The State “Schools” in Massachusetts for rearing, instructing, and reforming girls and boys, not only in separate buildings, but in separate parts of the State, appear to be doing immense good. The reports upon the conduct of many who have graduated from the Schools, show success; and some remarks intimate also, that the failure to reform all, has excited unwelcome criticism. We do not copy the reply: it is exactly what every “visitor” of this Society feels,—it is what the managers of the House of Refuge in this city would say. The largest anticipations of the self-sacrificing philanthropist are not to be realized. The true philosopher will appreciate the benefit to the individual and to society, resulting from a single reformation.

We have received the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Prison Association of New York. It is a clear, explicit statement of the doings of the Agent and Committees of the Association, and will be read with deep interest by those who have a sympathy with the unfortunate and a desire to assist into goodness those that have done wrong. The details of proceedings by the Agent are quite similar to those set forth by Mr. MULLIN, the Agent of our Society, and show a low condition of primary justice in New York, and a wretched state of the lower stratum of society in that city. Tyranny in the small landlords, utter debasement of the moral faculties in the multiplied liquor dealers, and a determination on all hands to do the worst by others and the best (according to their own estimate of good) to themselves, distinguish the condition and conduct of those who in New York live by fleecing the shorn and miserable, and making vice of every kind subservient to their plans of personal profit.

The Report to which we now refer, contains much that is usually presented in the Annual Report of the Inspectors of the Prison. The statements, however, are interesting as showing the condition in New York of those affairs which occupy the attention of our own Society.