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EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE KEEPER OF THE STATE

PRISON AT AUBURN.-U.S.

We are extremely anxious to present to our readers the singularly valuable information which is to be found in the reports made to the legislature of the United States by the agents and

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keepers of the state prisons, or penitentiaries, in that country. In an early number we shall take an opportunity of noticing the latest of these reports; but there is so much practical information contained in the following extract from the report made in the year 1828, by Mr. Gershom Powers, the keeper of the prison at Auburn, in the state of New York, that we are induced to give it in this place. The care and labour expended (as will appear from the Table) in obtaining intelligence with regard to the characters of those who have been discharged from the penitentiaries, are highly creditable to the functionaries employed.

Reformation of Convicts.

"It is believed that very erroneous opinions are entertained on this subject; and they, doubtless, have arisen chiefly from the failure of success which has attended the old mode of discipline, which has been practised in prisons without a separation of the convicts.

"The frequency and principal cause of re-convictions in other prisons, will very forcibly appear from the following extracts from the report of the Prison Discipline Society, before quoted:

"The correctness of these opinions, in relation to the evils arising from a crowded state of the night-rooms, is supported by a comparative view of the penitentiaries in the United States, in regard to the re-commitment of convicts, where the night-rooms are crowded, and where they are not.

"In the New-Hampshire penitentiary, the whole number of prisoners received from November 23, 1812, to September 28, 1825, was two hundred and fifty-seven; of whom eleven only were committed a second time.

"Twenty-one have been pardoned; of whom only one has been guilty of a second offence.

"The number of prisoners, September 22, 1825, was sixty-six; of whom only three were for a second offence, and none for a third.

"In this prison, from two to six are lodged together; generally, however, not more than two.

"In Connecticut, of 117 convicts in prison, February, 1825, twentysix were committed for second, third, and fourth offences. In the penitentiary in New-York city, the number of females in November, 1825, was sixty-six; of whom twenty were committed a second time; six, a third; two a fourth; and one, a fifth.

"Here they are lodged ten and twelve in a room.

"In the state prison in New-York city, in 1802, out of one hundred and ninety-one convicts received, forty-four were committed a second time; and two, a third.

"The whole number of re-commitments to that prison, for a second offence, is four hundred and ninety-four; for a third or more offences, sixty-one; and the number pardoned, after having been convicted two, three, or more times, is one hundred and eight.

"In this prison, the average number in the night-rooms is twelve.

"In the Philadelphia penitentiary, the number of prisoners, August 24, 1819, was four hundred and sixteen; of whom seventy-three had been twice convicted; twenty-five, three times; seven, four times; and two, five times.

"In the female department, the number of convicts was sixtythree; of whom seventeen had been convicted twice; and two, three times.

"Of the whole number of convicts in this prison, from 1810 to 1819, four hundred and nine had been convicted twice; fifty-four three times; and two, six times.

દર of four hundred and fifty-one convicts in this penitentiary in 1817, one hundred and sixty-two had been before committed or pardoned. "In this prison, twenty-nine, thirty, and thirty-one, are lodged in most of the night-rooms.

"In the Massachusetts penitentiary, in 1817, out of three hundred convicts then in prison, ninety were under commitment for the second, third, or fourth time.

"In this prison, from four to sixteen are lodged in each of the night-rooms.'

"But in an institution where effective discipline is connected with an effectual separation of the convicts; where those convicts are allowed salutary exercise of body and mind, under proper restraints; where the ignorant are instructed, and the intelligent subdued; where every privilege, deprivation, and movement, tends to produce a moral action upon the mind, and to soften the feelings and affections; where the reproofs, sanctions, and consolations of religion are daily administered, and especially on the Sabbath; and where the resident chaplain and principal officer habitually visit their solitary cells, and personally admonish with kindness and pungency; what cheerful hopes may not the christian, the philanthropist, and the statesman, indulge?

“Let it not be understood that we expect that all, or nearly all, who are or may be confined in this prison, will be reformed. Such an event can by no means be calculated upon by any man in his sober senses. There always will be many, who, previous to their confinement, had become so hardened in villainy, so lost to all that is decent and good, and so insensible to moral obligation, that no rational hope of their being essentially benefitted, by any course of discipline, can be entertained, except what may arise from the interposition of a divine agency.

"There will, doubtless, be frequent cases of re-conviction; and those cases will necessarily multiply, as the number of convicts shall increase, and the number of those discharged shall be continually augmenting.

"In every large establishment, there will always be a class of convicts, who may be appropriately styled, state prison characters. A prison is their element. They can, seemingly, breathe no other air. If you throw them back upon the world, they are not satisfied till they are again in prison, If their sentence be short, when it expires, they go out but to be re-convicted, and to be returned. So they live, and so they die; and it is from this class that re-convictions, for the most part, take place, and are to be expected.

"It ought not, then, from this circumstance, to be concluded, that

much the greater portion of those who are the subjects of the discipline of this prison are not benefitted, and made better men, and fitted to be better citizens. We think that facts abundantly attest, that such a conclusion would be far from the truth. Sufficient time, it is true, has not yet elapsed, fully to develope the influence of confinement in this prison in reforming the habits and dispositions of men ; but enough has appeared to promise the most favourable results.

"In the fall of 1826, an effort was made, by circular letters directed to postmasters, sheriffs, district attorneys, and other public officers, to ascertain the character and conduct of convicts, who had been discharged from this prison, and, withal, the effect which their confinement had produced. The result was, that information was obtained in relation to seventy-nine; and the accounts received were forwarded by the inspectors to the legislature.

"The same effort has again been made the past fall, and on a somewhat larger scale. The number in regard to which information has been lately obtained is 127.

"This number includes about forty of those who were heard from the last year. Reckoning those of the last year's list, who have not been heard from, this season, the whole number in relation to whom information has been received, is 160.

"The following Table will furnish a very condensed but correct view of the result. The names of the individuals are withholden. Their

initials only are given. What is said of character, is, in most cases, in the precise words of those from whom the information was derived. Where there is any variation of expression, it has been made merely for the sake of brevity; the plain import of the language being, in no case, designedly varied. The order in which the several cases are given, is the same as that in which they were received and registered.

"Of the number contained in the following table, which amounts to 160, one hundred and twelve are described either as decidedly steady and industrious, and sustaining good characters, or very greatly improved; twelve, as somewhat reformed; two, as not much improved; four, with respect to whom nothing very particular was known, but nothing unfavourable; two, as rather suspicious characters; two, as deranged; and twenty-six, as decidedly bad, and not at all improved.

"In addition to the following, it is proper to state, that there are now in this prison, twenty-nine convicts who have, once before, been confined here. Several of this number are of that class who were sent to the canal, and escaped, and were afterwards convicted of new offences. A number of others had been old offenders, and had been confined in other prisons previously to being sentenced to this.

"After all, it is humbly conceived, that the facts disclosed in the annexed table and statements, are of a nature to encourage the hopes and warrant the increased exertions of our legislators, and of all who feel an interest in the moral improvement and reformation of this degraded and unhappy class of our fellow beings."

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