REVIEW OF THE BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF THE STATE PENITENTIARY FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE YEARS 1910-1911.
This report is contained in a pamphlet of one hundred and sixteen pages, of which about twenty pages are devoted to a historical account of the institution.
It appears that the first buildings were completed November 22, 1827, and on the supposition that very soon after prisoners were received at the institution, its penal history covers more than eighty-three years.
The statistics show that on January 1, 1910, the number of convicts was 1,261.
| Received during the year 1910 | 297 |
| Discharged during the year 1910 | 502 |
| Population December 31, 1910 | 1,056 |
| Showing a decrease of | 205 |
Of the 1,056 prisoners there at the beginning of 1911, there were:
| White Males | 845 |
| White Females | 20 |
| Colored Males | 185 |
| Colored Females | 6 |
Those who were discharged may be classified:
| Pardoned by the Governor | 5 |
| Expiration of Sentence | 10 |
| Commutation of Sentence | 448 |
| Transferred to Insane Asylum | 8 |
| Order of President (United States Prisoner) | 1 |
| Paroled | 26 |
| Died | 4 |
| 502 |
The parole officer, John M. Egan, states that “the parole system ... has already been productive of good results, and promises development that will compare favorably with the most successful reformative work of other States.... The good deportment of our indeterminately sentenced inmates, their sincere efforts to map out for themselves a future foreign to their previous lives of crime and the faithful manner in which all, save two, of the convicts who have been granted conditional freedom are complying with the provisions of their parole, is gratifying.”
Of the 297 received during the year:
| Those who are serving sentence for the first time | 221 |
| Those known to have been previously imprisoned | 76 |
| Under thirty years of age | 152 |
| Over thirty years of age | 145 |
| 297 | |
| Number apprenticed to some trade, including the unapprenticed who had worked at least four years at a trade | 74 |
| Number unapprenticed | 223 |
| 297 | |
| Natives of United States | 202 |
| Foreign Born | 95 |
| 297 | |
| Social Relations: | |
| Single | 159 |
| Married | 114 |
| Widowed | 23 |
| Divorced | 1 |
| 297 | |
| Nature of Crimes: | |
| Against Person | 172 |
| Against Property | 125 |
| 297 |
The gratuities to prisoners discharged in 1910 amounted to $3,195.00. This sum presumably was given in cash and clothing.
The bill for provisions amounted to $63,361.00.
Tobacco for the prisoners cost the State $2,471.00.
The various industries in operation at the penitentiary show substantial gains:
During the year the sales of mats and matting amounted to $114,475.00.
The profit from this industry was $29,696.00.
The profit in the hosiery department was $5,191.00.
The profit in the shoe department was $1,665.00.
The earnings by labor, piece price, in the broom department, $4,069.00.
It appears that the officials make effort to find work for the large majority of the convicts.
The number of days of labor reported by those in fair health is 275,051.
The number of days of idleness seems large, 85,074, but indicates that the convicts are at work a little over three fourths of the time.
They now have a regular optical department equipped with modern appliances, and in 1910 386 prisoners were fitted with glasses. The physician reports that in many instances those who were thus supplied showed both physical and mental improvement, to say nothing of the satisfaction of having deficiencies of eyesight remedied.
The chaplain reports that the number of bound volumes in the library is 11,882. During the year the number of books issued to the prisoners was 73,070.
The report contains resolutions of the Board of Inspectors in memoriam of John Linn Milligan, whose mission since 1863 had been in looking after the spiritual interests of the inmates of the Western Penitentiary. The following paragraph from one of his recent reports illustrates the spirit of the man and of his work: “Since my official relation with this prison began, 11,624 convicted men have passed within these gates. Many of these have gone out to struggle into the cold and suspicious world, friendless and alone, to struggle against the handicap that conviction and punishment of crime bring. Doubtless many have died, bruised under the burdens they have had to bear. Doubtless many more than the public believes have been absorbed into the ranks of industrial honesty of life and purpose. A small per cent. were instinctive and professional criminals, and nothing but the sovereign grace and mercy of the good Lord, who said to the poor sinner in the face of the murderous crowd, ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go, sin no more,’ could cure the crime habit for them.
“When I look back along the line of the regiment of convicted criminals, whom I have tried to strengthen with a new and manly purpose, the busy efforts do not seem long, nor has my knowledge and familiarity with their character hardened my heart nor diminished my desire to uplift them. Nor has the backward glance lessened my hope in true reformative efforts, patient, firm and kind, and I believe more sincerely in the deep necessity of Divine love and power for their spiritual reclamation.”
Warden Francies earnestly recommends that immediate steps be taken to remove the prison to a more healthful location on some large tract of land on which buildings may be erected largely by convict labor, and where the inmates may in the future be employed in producing their own sustenance thus saving a large part of the expense of the maintenance of the prison.