Two thousand five hundred and five boys have been actually under supervision. Of these, 914 are still reporting and doing well, and 237 were doing well when supervision expired; 1073 have for one reason or another been unsatisfactory on parole. Of these 791 have been returned to the institution (including 56 voluntary returns); 154 have been committed to other institutions or are now on trial, and in 128 cases supervision expired with the boys not doing well. In 281 cases out of 2505 nothing is at present known. This means that 11.21 per cent. of our boys are out of touch with the institution, having left home, family moved, or for some other cause. Five hundred and six boys have attained their majority and have therefore passed from under supervision. At the time of expiration 237 of the 506 were doing well; 128 were doing badly, or were at the time in other institutions; while in 141 cases no information was at hand. It is only fair to state that of this latter number (141), 80 are boys who were paroled before October, 1905, which was before adequate parole supervision had been established. Taking only the cases of these 506 boys who have graduated from our supervision, present records enable us to account for only 46.84 per cent. who were known to be doing well. In making this statement we are not crediting ourselves with probable satisfactory cases; any boy concerning whom definite information is not at hand is placed in the unsatisfactory class.
Short parole periods are a fallacy. Of the 202 boys returned for violation of parole, 49 were out of the institution more than a year and 18 of them more than two years.
Thirty-six per cent. of 202 delinquents were returned for crime (burglary, larceny, forgery, robbery, picking pockets, and receiving stolen property). Of the total number of Protestant boys on parole 09.26 per cent. were returned for violation; of the whole number of Catholic boys, 14.04 per cent.; of the Jewish boys 14.66 per cent.
PAROLE LAW ADOPTED IN TEXAS
The new parole law in Texas embodies the following important features: A board of prison commissioners acting as a board of parole; eligibility for parole when the minimum sentence has expired; the retaking by the employes of the board of delinquent paroled men; meetings of parole board when necessary; opportunity for each prisoner at expiration to appear in person or before board; merit system of recording prisoner’s life and conduct during term; absolute release at discretion of board; agent for employment and supervision; delinquent paroled prisoner to be regarded in same light as escaped prisoner.
“When a convict who has been paroled shall have complied with the rules and conditions governing his parole until the end of the term to which he was sentenced, he shall upon a written or printed discharge by the board of prison commissioners, setting forth these facts, be entitled to a restoration of his citizenship by the Governor of the State of Texas.”
EVENTS IN BRIEF
[Under this heading will appear each month numerous paragraphs of general interest, relating to the prison field and the treatment of the delinquent.]
Convicts Put at Road Making.—With the coming of open weather the question of the relation of convicts to road making is reviving in different parts of the country.