WARDEN'S REPORT. .

To His Excellency WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Governor, and the Honorable the Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

GENTLEMEN :-Agreeably to custom, I now have the honor to submit a statement of the general affairs of the State Prison for the year ending September 30, 1871.

Another year of peace and prosperity has terminated. We have much to be thankful for, having been blessed by the Giver of all good to an extent which claims our acknowledgment and gratitude.

DEATHS.

We have had eight deaths out of a population of 712. Among the number, several were far advanced in consumption when received, and inmates of the hospital during the whole period of their confinement.

PARDONS.

Thirty-six have been pardoned, against sixty-five last year.

EDUCATION.

Our school for secular instruction has been continued three evenings a week through the year, with the exception of a few weeks in summer, under the direction of G. F. Haynes, assisted by several of the inmates, graduates of some of the most distinguished institutions of learning in the country, who profess, and have shown by their labors, great interest in the success of the school.

Permission was granted by the last legislature to expend one thousand dollars from the funds appropriated for the support of the prison in fitting up the room over the chapel for a school-room, and the purchase of suitable furniture for the

same.

This has been done, and we now have a most convenient and pleasant apartment, with accommodations for one hundred and fifty scholars; we have that number of regular attendants selected from those having had the least advantages. The branches taught are reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and geography. In addition to this, many of the inmates are engaged in the study of the higher branches of education and recite to the teacher in their rooms. The good order, decorum and interest manifested by the attendants are deserving great credit, and the progress made by them is truly remarkable.

The amount expended the past year for educational purposes, not including the Chaplain's salary, was $1,537.89.

In addition to the school we had a very full course of interesting lectures, gratuitously given by distinguished individuals, for whose service we were indebted to Messrs. Redpath and Fall of the Lecture Bureau, to whom, as well as to the ladies and gentlemen themselves, we are under great obligations.

RELIGIOUS.

The Rev. M. M. Parkhurst, appointed Chaplain on the first of September of last year, resigned in December following, to accept a call from Chicago. He was succeeded by Rev. W. W. Colburn, whose labors have been blessed beyond precedent, as indicated by the quiet demeanor and strict attention of the inmates during the services in the chapel. Our meetings are so marked in this particular as to attract the notice and approbation of the numerous distinguished visitors from abroad, as well as many of our own citizens who seek admission to our chapel.

Our services are greatly enhanced by the excellent singing of our choir (all convicts), under the direction of Mr. J. Howard Richardson. I venture to say that few churches in the State, not employing professional performers, can boast of better singing than we have in the State Prison.

LIGHT.

The introduction of gas into the cells has been attended with marked improvement in two particulars at least, viz., a reduction in the expense ($712.91 the past year), and in the

comfort and real enjoyment of light by the inmates, enabling them to read and pursue their studies without straining their eyes as they were compelled to do by the old corridor light.

DISCIPLINE.

I have nothing new to say on this subject. If the success attending our efforts during the last fourteen years were not sufficient, the fact that the system then inaugurated, though strongly opposed by distinguished prison officials, and questioned even by philanthropists, has been adopted to a greater or less extent in almost every prison in the country, is an assurance that our theory of discipline is in the main correct. Not perfect by any means, but unquestionably we are on the right track, and its ultimate success depends in a great measure upon the countenance and coöperation of the legislature and the community at large.

The fact that we can and do obtain, upon an average, fifty per cent. more for the labor of our men than they do in the other prisons of the country, is a conclusive answer upon this point. It is a well settled principle, that just in proportion as your discipline is good or bad, will you obtain prices for your labor. An examination of some of the largest prisons in the country will verify this statement. We need not go out of our own State or vicinity for an illustration. In two institutions, of a similar character, within a cannon's shot of each other,—in one they get from seventy-five to eighty cents a day for their inmates; in the other they realize but fourteen. It has sometimes been intimated by those not familiar with the results, that our system is too lenient; that a greater degree of severity would be more likely to deter these men from again committing crime when once discharged; that the present policy is to invite and encourage crime by removing the implements of torture which were once thought to be indispensable in controlling and governing them; that Christian treatment and wholesome food are too great inducements to be held up to the lazy and vicious, or even the unfortunate. The visions of a home may be so attractive that crime will be committed with impunity, and our prison filled with those desirous of enjoying these comforts. Let us look at the facts and figures.

From 1843 to 1857, a period of fourteen years, with an average population in the State of about 900,000, when the showerbath, lash and questionable food were the principal elements in the discipline, 2,030 were committed to this prison, of whom 233 were committed for the second time. From 1857 to 1871, a like period, with an average population in the State of about 1,200,000, under the present system 1,985 were committed, of whom but 181 were for the second time. These figures would seem to indicate that their fears are groundless; that humanity is not at a discount nor a retrograde movement demanded.

If it were necessary, it could also be shown that, in a pecuniary point of view, the result of the last fourteen years has been more marked than the commitments or recommitments.

Punishment should be inflicted with reference to reformation, and great care should be taken to divest it of the semblance of revenge. "The policy of humiliation is a dangerous one, at all times and on all occasions, and far more souls have been crushed by this than sins have been confirmed by over-leniency. To destroy all self-respect is to destroy all healing power, and to prevent all possibility of a rebound. In dealing with the faulty, however hard we may be on the sin, we ought always to reserve a way of restoration to the sinner."

SENTENCES.

The legislature at its last session took a step in the right direction in changing the punishment for rape, arson and burglary from a life sentence to a term of years, or life, at the discretion of the judge. Two convicts have been received since the Act went into effect, one for rape and the other for arson, sentenced to ten years each.

A sentence for life has not for many years been considered, either by the judge or criminal, as a finality, but, on the contrary, with almost positive assurance that it would be annulled sooner or later by a pardon. The records of the prison show that in the last twenty-five years 117 have been sentenced for life, and 20 have had their sentences commuted from death to imprisonment for life, making a total of 137. Of this number, 60 have been pardoned.

The average time served of those pardoned, sentenced for life, was five years one month.

The average time served of those pardoned, sentenced to

twenty years, during the same period, was eight years two months. For fifteen years, six years four months. For ten years, five years six months.

Judging from the past, they are likely to be more severely punished under the new than they were under the old law. Any Act having a tendency to lessen the necessity for executive clemency is a move in the right direction.

CONTRACTS.

One of the contracts of the Tucker Manufacturing Co., for two hundred men, expired July 1st of this year. Proposals for their labor were solicited through advertisements, and contracts made with Morgan & Dore, of Lynn, for seventy-five men, to work at shoemaking, at one dollar per day, and with Fearing, Rodney & Swift, for twenty-five men, to work at chain-making, at one dollar and eight cents per day. Arrangements were made with the Tucker Manufacturing Co. for the balance, some fifty or sixty men, till the first of July of next year, when their other contract for one hundred and fifty men expires.

FINANCES.

It will be observed that our receipts are somewhat less than last year. This is in consequence of the reduction in our number, our daily average being forty less than last year. The reduction of expenses cannot be made in the same proportion with the reduction of numbers, it requiring the same amount of heating, lighting, officers and laborers about the prison for 550 as for 600 men; the reduction, therefore, comes from the number at work on contract, from whom we obtain our receipts.

Our expenses have also been affected by the increase of the officers' salaries made by the last legislature, and the fitting up of the school-room and furniture ($714.55), which ought properly to have been charged to construction rather than to the support of the prison.

No charge is made for the labor of convicts at work for the State in making clothing, repairing and improving the buildings and grounds, in fitting up the school-room, or in filling up the flats belonging to the Commonwealth, several thousand feet being annually filled and made available and valuable for building or other purposes,