Ten thousand calls a year were made at the office of the Prison Association, most of them from men who had “done time.” The association’s staff made over 3,600 visits in 1910 in behalf of men on parole and on probation, and gave nearly 3,500 meals and 1,968 lodgings. The association spent $3,200 in cash relief, including lodgings and meals. Many friends of the association gave clothing, magazines and books, and 344 garments were received by needy prisoners during the year.
Smith Ely contributed $27,500 to the endowment fund, and an equivalent amount was raised by the association last year, but the income will not be available for six months, and an appeal was made for financial help because of greatly increased activity.
The work for dependent families of prisoners was placed in charge of a special committee, with the exclusive service of one visitor. The problem of mental defectiveness among prisoners received much attention from the association, and a special committee on defective delinquents was appointed at the last meeting, which comprised twenty-five specialists in study and care of delinquents. A closely affiliated body of forty business and professional men, calling themselves the Barrows League, was organized to assist the Prison Association through work for the welfare of persons released from prisons or reformatory institutions.
A comprehensive study of the lives of seven hundred present and former inmates of Elmira Reformatory was conducted by the association during 1910, through the financial support of the Sage Foundation. It was expected that this study would be published this year.
THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR AIDING DISCHARGED CONVICTS
In 1846 the Boston Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts was organized for the purpose which its name indicates. At that time there were 276 prisoners confined in the state prison, while on Jan. 1, 1911, there were 876 serving sentences there.
In 1867 the organization was incorporated, and the name changed to the Massachusetts Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts. Upon the formation of the society the state agent for discharged convicts was employed for its work, which was to be carried on along the same lines as that contemplated by the state.
The advantages to the society from its co-operation with the state in this work are many. Perhaps the greatest is the fact that by this arrangement the records of all the commitments and discharges to and from all the prisons of the commonwealth, which are in the office of the prison commissioners, are open to the inspection of the agent at all times. Here the story of an applicant for aid can be verified or disproved immediately. In addition to the criminal records are many others, going more fully into the personal history and home conditions of those who have been in prison; all of this information is useful and necessary in dealing with the ex-prisoner. The saving in administration expenses, rent, and other items, leaves more funds available for the prime object of the society, i.e., help to the prisoner.
During the year ending Nov. 30, 1910, this society has helped four hundred and sixty-three men, most of whom had served terms in the jails, houses of correction, and on the state farm. The assistance rendered has been generally in the form of transportation, meals and lodgings, room rent, clothing, tools, taking property from pawn shops, medicines, spectacles, etc. There has been expended during the year about $1,700.