the prisoners not only contradicted that assurance, but added that they had sometimes had blows inflicted upon them, accompanying a refusal of their request to grant them an additional supply. It is only necessary for the committee to add, upon the subject of the treatment of the prisoners, that they likewise examined a number of the convicts at the Mount-Pleasant prison, as to their treatment, which examination was also conducted separate and apart from any of the officers. They feel it their duty also to premise by observing, that the propriety of the request of the committee for this purpose, so readily complied with by the Agent of the Auburn prison, was much disputed and discussed by the Agent at MountPleasant, and to add their regret that it seemed to be reluctantly complied with. Several of the convicts were however presented who concurred with those at Auburn, formerly confined at MountPleasant, in representing their punishment as cruel in the extreme; and, if their representations are to be credited, in the opinion of the committee, altogether unjustifiable. Your committee refrain to enlarge upon this topic; they are aware that the source of the complaints is, perhaps, unworthy of credit. It was the only evidence, however, to which we could resort, on the part of the prisoners, as to any improper or cruel treatment. The committee are willing, as your honorable body doubtless will be, to consider the officers innocent of any improper treatment, until proof to the contrary be furnished: and, without further comment, the committee respectfully submit, for your consideration, all the testimony upon this branch of their duty which came to their knowledge.

The character of the business at the Mount-Pleasant prison, and the manner in which it is conducted, in the opinion of the committee, presents to your honorable body a subject worthy the most mature deliberation. Much of the marble is transported from the quarries a very considerable distance to the prison yards, where the same is prepared for market. To accomplish this, from four to six convicts are attached to each of the carts, a heavy block of stone is fastened to it, and the convicts are compelled to conduct the load to its proper destination. This is accomplished, as the committee understood, by the physical strength of those attached to the respective carts. It is done principally by balancing the load by the counteracting strength or weight of the prisoners, which, sometimes, is extremely oppressive. After the load is deposited in the yard, the still more repulsive spectacle is exhibited

of the convicts returning to the quarries drawing their carts up a steep hill, fastened to it by harness attached to their bodies, not dissimilar to the practice of using brutes. The committee do not pretend to claim for themselves any unusual degree of sensibility, nor would they desire to present themselves in that attitude before your honorable body; but coming from various parts of the State, and believing they are acquainted with, and enjoy in common the feelings of the citizens among whom they respectively reside, they can not withhold the expression of their deep humiliation, as members of this enlightened and humane community, when they witnessed their fellow beings doomed to so ignominious, so degrading a punishment. The language of the constitution of the United States, declaring that "cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted," seemed to your committee to be violated, in the letter as well as in the spirit, and we have yet to learn that there existed, at the time of the adoption of that instrument, any ordinance authorising the treatment of men equal to, if not worse, than beasts of burthen. The proceeds of the labor of the convicts at this establishment have not, thus far, realised for the State any very profitable results. This may be attributable to the nature of the principal business pursued there, and the manner in which the same has been conducted. We allude to the stone cutting and marble business. This has been carried on for the benefit of the State, the Agent making the contracts and furnishing the work. Thus presenting the State in the character of a competitor with individual enterprise.

The committee have no hesitation in expressing their conviction, that the labor of the convicts should be differently directed, and they as readily express their belief from the information acquired from creditable sources, as well as their own judgment upon the subject, that if the labor of the prisoners was disposed of to contractors in the same maner as is pursued at the prison at Auburn, Charleston and Weathersfield, instead of being a tax upon the State treasury, it would, as do the prisons referred to, furnish no inconsiderable revenue. Why the worthy Inspectors of the institution have not directed the Agent to make contracts for the labor of the prisoners, as provided for by the Revised Statutes, is certainly a matter which remains unexplained to the committee. The committee understood from the Agent, that the Inspectors considered it inexpedient or unadvisable to direct him to make such contracts

for the labor of the convicts, upon the ground that if any profit was to be realized from their labors, it ought to go into the coffers of the State, and not into the pockets of individuals. If this be so, and there is certainly no reason to doubt it, we respectfully beg leave to differ with them in such conclusion. Had we no other argument than that presented by the successful operations at Auburn, in hiring the labor of prisoners to contractors, we should deem it our duty to recommend the passage of a resolution 'recommendatory, or an act directory of such an employment of the convicts.

The advantages for such a disposition of their labor at MountPleasant are peculiar, and your committee believe it only requires to be put in the market to realize to the State their full value.— The grounds upon which we predicate this opinion are briefly as follows: (It is to be premised, however, that the contractors ought not to be limited in their contracts to working the marble from the quarries belonging to the State, for reasons hereafter to be more fully explained.)

First. The convenience of the prison wharf, with the manual force always at command, would render the unloading of stone of all kinds in its crude state, and the reloading of the same in its finished state, a strong inducement for those desirous of carrying on the business of stone-cutting.

Second. Contractors would avoid the expense of renting a yard, as is now the practice in the city of New-York, in which to perform the labor of preparing the stone for the building.

Third. The expense of dockage of the vessels bringing the stone in their crude state, and the expense of cartage from the wharf to the stone-yard in the city, would be avoided.

Under such circumstances, why should not the labor of a capable stone-cutter upon the prison dock at Mount-Pleasant, command for his employer an amount of compensation equal to the labor of one equally capable in his business in the city of New-York? The freight from the prison to New-York would scarcely exceed the cartage from the vessel to the yard in the city, apart from the rent; and the cartage from the vessel to the building would probably be no more than if taken from the yard in the city.

The committee is aware that much complaint has been made by mechanics against the course pursued by the State, of putting the labor of convicts in competition with the honest laborer, who toils for the support of his family. That those complaints have been in some instances well founded, the committee do not doubt. We believe, however, that they proceed from the same source as the complaints from the officers of the prison, from time to time accompanying their report of unsuccessful operations, which have been an undue effort to force the manufactured material into the market, not only at an extremely reduced price for the labor bestowed upon it, but also having to contend against the prejudice of its being of very inferior quality. With the view of ascertaining as far as practicable, the truth of these imputations, the committee examined a gentlemen who had been for some years employed as an instructor to the prisoners in the stone-cutting business. He informed us that he had no doubt if the labor of the prisoners, engaged in stone-cutting, was presented to the highest bidders in the market, the able bodied men would command an average price of 60 cents per day. He, however, at the same time repudiated the idea of being confined in their operations to working the marble from the State quarries on account of its inferior quality; but that with the privilege of bringing stone from such quarries as he pleased, to be manufactured in the prison yard, he assured us he would himself be willing to pay the amount above specified for 50 or 100 men upon a contract for five years. That he should have a fair proportion of first rate and middling workmen to commence with, and as fast as they were discharged by expiration of sentence, or otherwise, their places should be supplied by entire new hands.

Pursuant to his suggestion, we also addressed letters to Messrs. James Hall, and other gentlemen engaged in the business in the city of New-York, requesting information on the subject, and were favored with answers, copies of which we annex to this report without further comment upon them. In addition to which, the committee would observe whilst upon this subject, that they have had an interesting interview with Louis Dwight, Esq., secretary of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, who, in the course of conversation, confirmed us in the opinion above expressed. He informed us that the principal business carried on at the prison at Charleston, in Massachusetts, was stone-cutting; that large quantities of the work done there, found its market in the city of New-York, and very considerable quantities had been supplied to the cities of

Albany and Troy; that the whole of these prisoners were hired out to contractors, and as an evidence of their successful operations, stated the following general results, viz:

There was on an average, during the last season, 225 prisoners, 105 of whom had the cholera very violently during the season; many of the patients lingering under the disease for several weeks. They paid all the expenses of medicine, food, clothing, and all other necessary provisions, $13,000 of salary to officers, one new suit of clothes, and from $3 to $5 in cash to each convict on his discharge, the expense of transporting the prisoners from their counties, and still retained a surplus of upwards of $4,000.

In connexion with this interesting communication, the committee would beg leave also to call the attention of the Legislature to the unprecedented prosperous results of the State Prison, at Weathersfield, Connecticut, to be found in the 7th annual report of the Prison Discipline Society, Boston, page 24 and 25, where it appears that from the labor of 192 convicts, (18 of which were females,) the State realized, beyond all expenses, the sum of $8,713.53.

It cannot be considered obtrusive in this place, also to quote from the same report, the fact that, from the 1st of October, 1827, until the 31st March, 1832, the State had realized a revenue beyond all expenses, of $25,853.06, and to contrast it with the fact also stated, that for the same period preceding the year 1815, the expenses of their old prison, above all earnings, were $51,103.11.

From these data it is, we think, evident that our sister States are far in advance of our own, in relieving themselves from the burthens imposed upon the community by the depredations of offenders: and the question seriously presents itself, will not the State of New-York adopt, forthwith, some efficient measures, not only to acquire the information, but to put into practice the necessary means to secure to her citizens corresponding advantages? What is profitable at Auburn, Weathersfield and Charleston prisons, from the labor of State convicts, certainly ought not to be less so at Mount-Pleasant, with all its unequalled advantages, already secured and susceptible of being secured. At the same rate of earnings realised at Weathersfield, the number of our State convicts being about 1,500 for the last year, at its lowest estimate,