On the 23d of October last the Inspectors visited the establishment at Bellevue, to see to the condition and inquire into the treatment and the manner of employment of the State convicts there confined. The food which is furnished to these convicts is of a coarse but wholesome kind, and in quantity is sufficient to satisfy them. The clothing is also sufficient in quality and quantity. They are employed in making and mending clothes for the city convicts, the inmates of the penitentiary, and in washing. These convicts are supported at an expense of one hundred dollars each per year. The number at the time of our visit was twenty. In November, 1831, the number was 46; in November, 1832, the number was 36; in November, 1833, the number was 30, and in November, 1834, the number was 19. Shewing a diminution from year to year in the number of female convicts in this prison district. Although the number has been much reduced within a few years, it does not satisfy us that the reduction will be continued until we have no convicts of this description. From past experience we can not expect the number to become much less than it now is, the new convicts will probably about supply the places of those discharged by expiration of sentence and otherwise. So long as we have female convicts, it is believed something should be done for their moral reformation. Much less has been done by this State to promote the moral improvement of female than male convicts; indeed, nothing has been done for the former. When a female is convicted, she is confined in the same room with other convicts of her sex; no regard is paid to the nature of the crime, her age, the circumstances under which it was committed, or the character of those with whom she is associated by her confinement: convicts of all colours and of all degrees of crime are kept in one room, without the restraints of salutary discipline. This mode of punishment becomes a school in which vice and immorality are encouraged by the precept and example of the most worthless and depraved, and virtue and morality denounced as limiting the indulgence of their vicious propensities. The place in which they are confined forbids the introduction of a system of discipline similar to that which has been used with so much success with the male convicts. If any effort is to be made to reclaim the unfortunate and vicious female convicts, it can not be done without a suitable building for their reception and confinement. We have no such building under our control; and by the contract with the corporation of New-York, for keeping the female convicts, we have no direction of their employment, nor in the selection of those who have the immediate charge of them. That a serious effort should be made to effect a moral reform in this class of convicts we do not hesitate to recommend. For this purpose a suitable building should be erected, the necessary rules and regulations for its government adopted, and proper persons selected to superintend the conduct and employment of its inmates. In our last annual report we recommended the erection of a prison for female convicts, to be located on the State farm at SingSing, in the vicinity of the State Prison at that place, to which the female convicts from the Mount-Pleasant prison district should be sent. To that report we would refer for the reason for locating such a prison at Mount-Pleasant. We again repeat the recommendation; and do so with the confident belief that if direction is given for the erection of a prison for female convicts, it can be built without aid from the treasury. That the funds now in the hands of the agent, and probable surplus earnings of the male convicts, beyond the expense of their support and confinement, will be sufficient in a few years to defray the whole cost of such a building as would be adequate to the object intended. This, however, is upon the supposition that the convicts can be as profitably employed as they have been for a year or two past. If the prison is not visited by disease, as in 1832, and if no substantial change in their employment is directed, we fully believe that with the surplus funds of the institution, and with the labor of the convicts, such a building can be erected without the appropriation of a dollar from the treasury. We have before stated and again repeat, that the convicts at Bellevue are kept with much reluctance. The commissioners of the alms-house, with whom the contract was made, desire its termination. Should they put an end to it, and decline longer to furnish the prison apartments which the female convicts occupy, no place would then be in our power to which they could be removed and confined. How long the present arrangement may be continued is uncertain. The wants of the city may soon require the whole of the prison at Bellevue for the detention of its own prisoners and confinement of its own convicts. For the current year we have no doubt but the earnings of the convicts will defray the expenses of the establishment, and also the expense of such additional buildings, and such alteration and improvements in those already erected as may be required for the accommodation of business and the security of the prison. The paper hereto annexed, marked K, contains an inventory of the property belonging to the prison, on the 30th day of September last. The paper hereto annexed, marked L, contains a list of convicts received at the prison within the year ending September 30, 1831. The paper here to annexed, marked M, contains a list of convicts who have been discharged from prison, by reason of the expiration of sentence, within the year ending September 30th, 1834. The papers here to annexed, and numbered from 1 to 12 inclusive, contain copies of the monthly accounts of the agent of the prison, for the year ending 30th September, 1834, which have been furnished to the Inspectors of the prison. The business of quarrying marble, cutting and fitting it for use, yet continues to be a principal business carried on at the prison. The marble quarries on the State farm are much in the same condition they have been for some years past; but little change is apparent. When the mass of rock in one place is removed, or its quality ceases to be good, resort is had to other places which appear more favorable. The labor of the convicts, although often very great, soon uncovers other masses, which are quarried and fitted for sale. There is no uniform indication in the quarries; the most promising masses often turn out of little value, whilst those which present unfavorable indications often yield the best return for the labor bestowed. long There is an abundance of marble on the State farm, and so as the quality remains as it now is, and the difficulty of quarrying is not much increased beyond the expense which now attends it, we believe it should be a principal business at which the convicts may be employed. But should the quarries fail, or cease to produce such an article as will meet a ready sale in market, the convicts must be employed at some other business. The uncertain dependence upon the quarries renders it expedient to have other employment in readiness should this dependence fail. The variety of mechanical business which can be carried on advantageously seems to furnish the only mode of employing the convicts when the marble business shall be discontinued. In view of such a contingency we consider the introduction of mechanical business as well calculated to promote the permanent success of the prison in defraying its expenses. By the report of the physician it appears that the average number of prescriptions, which he makes daily for the convicts, exceeds forty. His attendance is required daily at the prison, and if any occurrence renders his attendance necessary more than once a day, his visit must be repeated. The greater part of the day is frequently devoted to this duty. When an unusual degree of sickness prevails among the convicts, almost his whole time is employed, so much so as to impair essentially his professional practice out of the prison: when that would be most profitable abroad he is usually most employed at the prison. We are perfectly satisfied with his services, and believe that for the attention and time which he bestows he is justly entitled to a better compensation than we can, in pursuance of the law, allow him. We would respectfully ask that the compensation which we are authorized to allow him may be increased: that it be fixed by law at a specific sum; or that the Inspectors be authorized to allow him an additional annual compensation, not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars beyond the sum we are now permitted to allow. The sergeant of the guard too, we think entitled to an increase of compensation. He is now entitled to no more pay than any one of the guard, whilst all the responsibility of that branch of the [Senate No. 8.] 2 |