While providing prisoners at the time of their discharge with a respectable outfit, it has also been my earnest desire to point them to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. I have also continued my visits to the cells of the prisoners, and I have felt that a blessing has attended my efforts. While I can never know the result of these labors, I have worked in faith endeavoring to minister to both their temporal and spiritual needs. Many have confessed to me that their imprisonment had been to them a blessing. Arrested in their career of crime, they had resolved to lead better lives in the future. I have not doubted their sincerity, and have encouraged such to seek Divine help. It is right to protect the community, and the law-breaker must suffer the penalty for his crime, but while he is incarcerated it is our duty to avail ourselves of the opportunity to instruct him and to plead with him to follow better ideals. Indeed, I have felt it a great privilege to sit beside a prisoner in his cell and tell him of the “old, old story of Jesus and his love.”
From careful inquiries, I am satisfied that the most of the prisoners can trace their downfall to indulgence in drink and the social evil.
THE EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
At the Eastern Penitentiary several thousand visits are annually made by the members of the Acting Committee of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. This Committee is composed of clergymen and laymen, men and women. To each block one or more visitors are assigned, and it is believed that the interviews held by these with the prisoners, either in their cells or at the cell doors, are productive of much good. The lady visitors of the Committee are all assigned to the women’s block. Here a Bible class is held every Sabbath afternoon; and the matron is also earnestly and constantly interested in the spiritual welfare of those in her care. On every Sabbath morning, at 9 o’clock, service is held in each of the corridors under the direction of the moral instructor, the Rev. Joseph Welsh. The speakers are supplied by the Local Preachers’ Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Protestant Episcopal City Mission and the Lutheran City Mission.
The total amount expended by the Society during the last two years for the use of prisoners at the time of their discharge was $5,152.54, and for tools $93.30.
The following are the statistics of population at the Penitentiary during 1908.
| White | Colored | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | ||
| Number remaining from 1907 | 925 | 12 | 280 | 8 | 1,225 |
| Committed during 1908 | 524 | 4 | 137 | 8 | 673 |
| Total population | 1,449 | 16 | 417 | 16 | 1,898 |
| Discharged during 1908 | 318 | 5 | 92 | 3 | 418 |
| Remaining December 31, 1908 | 1,131 | 11 | 325 | 13 | 1,480 |
THE DISCHARGES WERE AS FOLLOWS:
| By | Commutation | 357 |
| ” | Order of Court | 8 |
| ” | Time expired | 20 |
| ” | Pardon | 9 |
| ” | Order of Huntingdon Reformatory | 9 |
| ” | Death | 15 |
| Total | 418 | |
| Average daily population for 1908 | 1,371 | |
| Largest number in confinement during the year | 1,486 | |
| Smallest number in confinement during the year | 1,225 | |