IN SENATE, January 18, 1833. REPORT Of the Inspectors of the Mount-Pleasant State Pri son. To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New-York. The Inspectors of the State-Prison at Mount-Pleasant, in the county of Westchester, RESPECTFULLY REPORT: That from the thirtieth day of September, 1831, to the 30th day of September, 1832, including a period of one year, and to the time when the fiscal year terminates, Robert Wiltse, Esquire, the Agent of the prison, has received for the use thereof, (including a balance in his hands at the commencement of the year, of $3,366 46,) ... Of this sum there has been expended for the use of the prison, during the same period,... $72,301 16 68,051 83 Leaving a balance in the hands of the Agent, on the 30th September, 1832, applicable to the wants of the prison, of.... $4,249 33 All of which is more particularly detailed in a statement which accompanies this report, marked A, shewing from what sources the money has been received, and to what uses applied. year The receipts from the earnings of the convicts during the have amounted to $38,767.70; a sum much less than the labor was worth, and much less than it would have been had the Agent been free from the old and unfavorable contracts, which were made from the supposed necessity that existed of forcing the work [Senate, No. 27.] 1 made here into market. Those contracts are principally fulfilled. The greater part of the work which has been done in the stone shops, during the year, has been upon these contracts. This difficulty is now overcome, and contracts have been made which it is supposed will be sufficient to occupy the labor of the convicts for a great part of the current year, at a fair price for their labor. Another serious injury to the fiscal concerns of the prison arose from the prevalence of the spasmodic cholera among the convicts. It is confidently believed that the actual loss to the funds of the prison, arising from the loss of labor, will not be less than one-sixth of the receipts from that source. Although that disease continued only about fifty days, still the state of alarm, the looseness of discipline which it produced, the time to recover from its effects and restoration of discipline, altogether is believed to have equalled two months ordinary labor of the convicts. The actual additional expense to the institution, produced in consequence of this disease, amounted to $1,404.79, as will appear from the annexed paper marked A. Since the last annual report one hundred and twenty convicts have, by order of his Excellency Governor Throop, been removed from this prison to the State-Prison at Auburn, sixty in the fall of 1831, and sixty in May, 1832. The removal of this last number was at the time attended with much inconvenience, and rendered a failure in the fulfilment of contracts for the supply of rubblestone inevitable; contracts had been made upon the supposition that all the convicts were to be employed at labor about the prison. The removal of sixty able bodied men could not fail to produce disappointment, both to the Agent and those persons who had contracted for the work to be prepared by the convicts. This was not all the inconvenience sustained by such removal: in addition to the loss of labor of the convicts, the expense of their removal was about $900.00, which was defrayed in part by the funds intended for the support of this prison; and the residue now remains a charge against them: as the law now stands, the expense of removal, including that of the officers and guards who attended the convicts during the journey, is a charge upon the prison. In addition to this expense each conviet had a suit of clothes, which was furnished by the Agent of this prison; each suit worth about four dollars. Work has been done by the convicts upon the stone for the Capitol Park, Albany, for which the agent would have charged and received about $750, from any individual, more than he is entitled to receive for this work. He is entitled to receive for this work only the expenses of the laborers, and not the worth of the labor. The paper annexed, and marked C, contains an inventory of the property and effects belonging to the Mount-Pleasant State-Prison on the 30th September, 1832. ..... 980 The number of convicts in this prison on the 30th day of September, 1831, was, From that time to the 30th September, 1832, a period of one year, there has been received, (table I,).. During the same period, 133 have been discharged by 28 have been pardoned, (table M,).......... Transferred to Auburn,.. Escaped during the cholera, Remaining in prison, September 30, 1832, 289 1,269 133 153 28 120 3 437 832 It affords us much pleasure to be able to state that the number of convicts received at this prison during the last year has been less than during the eleven preceding months by forty-nine. The difference arises undoubtedly in part from the fact that since some time in May last the fourth senate district and five counties in the fifth senate district, have been annexed to the Auburn prison district. During the months of May, June, July, August and September, 1831, the territory which has been taken from this prison district furnished to this prison twenty-five convicts, a number considerably less than the decrease of the convicts above stated. We may ardently hope, but cannot reasonably expect, that with a population rapidly increasing the number of crimes will decrease. During the year covered by this report the increase of convicts has not been in proportion to the probable increase of population; indeed, the convicts have decreased about three per cent. In the last annual report of the Inspectors of this prison, it was estimated that on the 30th September, 1832, the convicts in this prison would amount to twelve hundred. We feel great satisfaction in stating that this estimate has not been realized, and that it would not have been, had none of the convicts been taken from this prison and sent to Auburn, and had none died by cholera. The number of deaths by cholera was 103, the number sent to Auburn 120, which added to the present number would make 1055. The error in that estimate probably arose from an omission to estimate the number of discharges by expiration of sentence. The short sentences under the Revised Statutes having for the first, expired during the last year, no allowance for that circumstance was made. The discharges by the expiration of sentence during the eleven months ending 30th September, 1831, were 65, during the next twelve months the discharges from the same cause were 133; the latter exceeding the former by 68; but this would not make the estimated number in the last report. This prison contains one thousand solitary cells, and we are inclined to believe, that, for the present at least, no increase of cells will be necessary, but should the number of convicts increase beyond the number of cells, the present system of discipline which has been so distinctly marked by public approbation, could not be fully sustained without increasing the number of separate apartments so as to avoid the necessity of putting more than one convict in a cell. The annexed paper marked D, exhibits not only the number of convicts on the 30th day of September last, but the manner in which they were employed. This statement, although correct at that time, should by no means be taken as a correct statement of their employment at another time. When the severity of the weather prevents working in the quarries to advantage, the number in the different shops is increased so as to keep the convicts employed in such a manner as to make the most from their labor. From the annexed document marked B, the report of the physician to the prison, it will be perceived that at no time since the prison has been the receptacle of convicts, has the health of the establishment been as good as at the date of that report. From the same report it will be seen that 376 of the convicts took the extreme symptoms of the spasmodic cholera, and that one hundred and three of that number died. The alarm which was produced by the appearance of this disease was very great, and for a time, much apprehension was entertained as to the security of the convicts, but after the first violence of the panic had subsided, all dangers seemed to pass away. The Inspectors witnessed with great pleasure the fearless devotion of all the officers connected with the establishment, to the care of the convicts and the safety of the institution. During the extreme violence of this disease the prison was visited by his Excellency Governor Throop, in company with several medical gentlemen. His visit had a great tendency to restore confidence and dispel the fear of contagion, which had spread far into the country, and operated to cut off all communications between the persons in the village and the country, with those who were connected with the prison. This timely visit in connexion with the manner in which it was performed, without fear or apprehension, visiting the sick, examining their different cases, had a most salutary influence; no single occurrence during the continuance of that disease had so great a tendency to quiet alarm and restore confidence, as this unexpected and benevolent visit. The report of the chaplain, marked G, which accompanies this report, shows the moral condition of this institution. In this respect there has been a manifest improvement in the course of the last year. The assiduous attention of the chaplain to promote the temporal as well as the spiritual condition of the convicts deserves the approbation of the Inspectors, and they trust his labors will be attended with much consolation to himself, and permanent benefit to the convicts. They regret that the compensation which he receives for his services is inadequate to his deserts, and would suggest the propriety of increasing his salary to six hundred dollars a year. The persons employed in and about the prison in different capacities on the 30th of September last, were as follows: one agent, one clerk, one deputy keeper, twenty-three assistant keepers, and twenty-nine guards. The number employed seems to be justified |