REPORT OF ACTING COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR 1918.
At a meeting which was held May 8, 1787, in Philadelphia, at which the “Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Prisons” was organized, provision was made for the appointment of an Acting Committee which should discharge the executive functions of the Society. It was composed of nine persons, the President, the two Vice-Presidents, and six additional members. The first Acting Committee was composed of
Bishop William White, President,
Dr. Henry Helmuth, Vice-President,
Richard Wells, Vice-President.
| Tench Coxe, | John Kaighn, |
| Dr. George Duffield, | Benjamin Wynkoop, |
| William Rogers, | George Krebs. |
From time to time, on account of additional duties, responsibilities and opportunities for service, this Committee has been enlarged until at the present time it is limited to sixty persons, and at the present time is composed of fifty-six members.
In 1886 the name of the Society was changed to “The Pennsylvania Prison Society”—a name indicating no change of purpose, but rather a wider scope of operations.
In the year 1829, the Acting Committee, by Act of Assembly, were appointed Official Visitors of all prisons in the Commonwealth. Our Society was the only one having such duties until the year 1903, when, by another Act of the Assembly, the privilege was granted to the Acting Committee of the Catholic Society for the Visitation of Prisoners.