Prison Commissioner O’Sullivan has thus summarized the recent developments:
“The most important act passed by the last General Assembly affecting the prisons was the bill providing for State aid in the building of county roads. While it makes no reference to the penal institutions, the opportunity it presents is providential. On January 1, 1915, the contracts on the labor of at least 900 prisoners will expire. In the face of the adverse legislation in Congress, it is probable that the prison contractors will not again bid for this labor, even if the Prison Commissioners were inclined to make new contracts.
“The law permitting the Prison Commission to lease farms adjacent to the prisons at Frankfort and Eddyville is of inestimable value. These farms can not only be made self-sustaining, but the tubercular prisoners can be transferred there and given the chance for life which is sometimes denied them in the narrow confines of a prison cell.
“The indeterminate sentence law does away with the automatic parole of prisoners and gives the jury the power to fix a minimum and maximum sentence proportionate to the crime committed.
“The passage of a law limiting the age of children sent to the House of Reform, near Lexington, and making the county pay part of the cost when the child is not guilty of a penal offense, will prevent the scandalous practice prevalent all over the State of consigning innocent, dependent children to this institution. Some of the officials seem to be in a conspiracy with the parents to get rid of their unfortunate offspring and make the State support them. The Prison Commissioners have returned to their homes 125 children under thirteen years of age who were sent to the House of Reform on flimsy charges. Two boys, six years old, were among the number. They were charged with ‘housebreaking.’ Dozens of cases just as flagrant could be cited.
“The Board has under way plans that will broaden and better this institution, which is one of the most important in the State, as it deals with the child after he has made his first mis-step.
“Before the recent parole of 450 prisoners under the Court of Appeals decision there were 1,450 convicts at the Frankfort Reformatory and 780 at Eddyville. The number of children at the House of Reform will average 700.
“The contractors at Frankfort and Eddyville paid into the State treasury last year $352,000. The cost of conducting these institutions, salaries, supplies etc., was $340,454. The cost of maintaining the House of Reform was $123,386.
“In eighteen months from August 1, 1912, to January 1, 1914, the prisoners have been paid in earnings the sum of $86,000. A great portion of this amount is sent home to their families.
“In the two prisons there are 556 men confined for murder, 115 for manslaughter, and 153 for malicious shooting and wounding. Of this number 340 are life prisoners.