Plans for County Prisons.—Instructions were given to the Acting Committee in 1836, to have plans prepared for the County Jails, on the separate system. And upon their report in 1838, the legislature was memorialized by the Society, to appoint commissioners to investigate the condition of these jails.
Annual County returns of Crime, &c.—In 1839 and 1840, the Acting Committee of the Society was engaged
by calling the attention of the Executive to the subject, and otherwise, in endeavours, by legal enactment, to secure an annual return being made to the Secretary of the commonwealth, with regard to the condition of all the county jails, and the proceedings in the criminal courts; giving full statistics on all points of especial interest, with a view to aiding in adapting legislation to the existing state of things in the prisons, and improving the criminal code, where necessary. Although a law was subsequently enacted, to effect this very desirable object, it has been almost wholly without operation.
Moral and Religious Instruction.—From its first introduction, moral and religious influences, and instruction were considered to be necessary adjuncts to the separate mode of discipline. This subject was consequently referred to a committee of the Society in 1841, and in 1843, the appointment of a special officer as a moral instructor for the Philadelphia County Prison, was reported, his salary being paid by private subscription. Such an officer had been appointed in the Eastern Penitentiary in 1838.
Quarterly Journal.—The Society had, at different times from its rise, expended considerable sums of money in publishing pamphlets, &c., with a view to enlightening the public mind, and thus furthering the benevolent objects for which they had associated, and for the promotion of which they were so constantly and zealously laboring; and, finally in the autumn of 1844, it was deemed expedient to commence the publication of a quarterly journal, as furnishing a means by which they could embody in a more permanent form, the results of their observation, inquiry and experience, and might also embrace other kindred subjects. In pursuance of this conclusion, at the beginning of the next year, the
first number of the “Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy” was issued, and, (with the exception of one year,) has been continued until the close of last year, (1861,) comprising in all 16 volumes.
“House of Refuge.”—In 1845, after observing the successful progress of the House of Refuge for juvenile delinquents for a period of nearly twenty years, the practice of frequently sending boys of an older and more hardened character, to be confined there with the younger and less so, was seen to be an evil which ought to be remedied if practicable. The subject was discussed by the Society from time to time, and the suggestion was made that a prison on the separate plan, somewhat modified from the penitentiary, should be erected for the reception of this older class, but the heavy cost of such an establishment seemed to be an insuperable difficulty in the way at that time.
Abuses in County Prisons.—In the autumn of 1846, one of the officers of the Society, who had personally visited and inspected several of the county jails, made a voluminous report of their condition. His leading representations were, “the entire neglect of wholesome discipline, the intermingling of prisoners of both sexes and all ages, and every grade of crime, from murder to misdemeanor, and the idle and vicious habits in which the prisoners were allowed to live, made it almost a matter of doubt, whether the public would not, in the end, gain by abandoning most of the jails. Cases were mentioned, in which men had escaped and found honest employment, who, if they had staid their time out in jail, would probably, have sunk irreclaimably through the influence of such associations, as they must have encountered there.”
Vindication of our System.—In 1847 a volume was published in Boston, under the title of “Prison Discipline
in America,” which was ably written, and though not intending to misrepresent our system, really did so very greatly, from a want of a correct knowledge of the facts. The author being a gentleman of standing, and his work being favorably noticed in two of the principal periodicals published in that city, it was found that the prejudices previously existing against the system we had adopted, were likely to be strengthened and confirmed. To counteract this, and enlighten the public generally in relation to the true character of the “Pennsylvania System,” a pamphlet, written by one of our members, was published by our Society in 1849, entitled “An Inquiry into the Alleged Tendency of the Separation of Convicts, one from the other, to produce disease and derangement,” by a citizen of Pennsylvania: 160 pp., 8vo. This work had a wide circulation, and we trust has had a salutary influence in removing unfounded prejudices, and correcting erroneous impressions.