Paroled prisoners are asked to make written reports to the board once a week. A man who fails to report is notified by mail, and if he continues delinquent in this respect, his case is handed over to a parole officer. The board employs one investigator and one parole officer.
The board has under its direction a municipal farm of 135 acres, which is used in both the physical and moral rehabilitation of a number of the paroled men.
YEAR’S WORK OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY
During the year ended Nov. 30, 1910, 2,114 male offenders who had served terms of imprisonment varying from eight days to twelve years, in the prisons of Massachusetts, were aided in their efforts to regain in society a place that would provide for their future support, according to a report recently issued by George E. Cornwall, agent for the Massachusetts Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts. One thousand and thirty-one of these men from the Massachusetts reformatory and 457 from the Prison Camp and Hospital at Rutland, were assisted as follows: Railroad fares to homes or places of employment, $1,996.67; board while seeking work, $2,420.24; clothing, $1,284.01; tools, $194.65; miscellaneous purposes, $32.75; total, $5,928.42. One hundred and sixty-three men from the state prison, 129 of whom came out last year, were aided as follows: Railroad fares, $352.34; board and family stores, $1,021.20; clothing, $353.31; tools, $100.21; miscellaneous, $33.50; total, $1,860.56. In addition to these who were aided from the state appropriations, 463 others, released from the jails, houses of correction, state farm, and in two cases United States prisoners, have been helped from the funds of Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts, at an expense to that society of $1,690.12.
Of the 129 men released from the state prison last year, 5 have been returned for other offences. Four of the 5 are known to be intemperate. The report contains the following suggestion:
“Fortunately, but a small percentage of the men released from state prison or the Massachusetts Reformatory use liquor to an extent that interferes with their ability to earn a living. There is, however, a very large number constantly coming out of the jails and houses of correction and from the state farm who by their habits of intemperance are deprived of employment and are ever shifting from place to place. If a permanent home could be established for these unfortunate human derelicts, where they could not obtain liquor, and where they would be obliged to live indefinitely, doing such work as might be provided by intelligent overseers, I believe it would tend much to purify our cities. The money that is expended for their repeated arrests and conviction, under the present plan of dealing with them, would be saved; and this, with what labor they might learn to do, would contribute towards their support. Furthermore, the existence of such a resort might tend to keep away some of the undesirable population who now gather in the cities in constantly increasing numbers.”
DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS AND THE NEW YORK ASSOCIATION
The New York Times printed recently the following: