inebriety, they have violated the laws of their country. After some years of confinement, by which they have expiated the offence, they return to the circle of former acquaintanceship, and to their welcoming homes, not degraded and vitiated by intercourse with the vilest felons, but prepared to enjoy those friends and homes with a zest that will fortify them against future temptations to transgress." The warden of the new Penitentiary, in the District of Columbia, Isaac Clarke, Esq., says, "Of the number discharged the last year, two are known to have become respected and esteemed members of a Christian church; and there is good reason to hope that others have come to a knowledge of their lost estate, and now rely, with Christian hope and confidence, upon a Savior's merits. That every case of professed reform is not genuine, there is good reason to know; but that many of them are, is attested by a refusal to return to the society of old accomplices, and a changed life and conversation." USE OF SURPLUS EARNINGS IN PENITENTIARIES. The legislature of Connecticut, at its last session, passed a resolution authorizing the directors of the State Prison to pay $9000 of the surplus earnings of that institution, $1000 to each county, as a bonus, to encourage the counties to build County Prisons on the plan of that at Hartford, when they should obtain satisfactory evidence of its being done. The directors say, in their report just published, that they have personally visited the Jails in Hartford, New London, and New Haven, and found that these buildings are constructed according to the terms specified in the resolution. "We have accordingly authorized the warden to pay the treasurer of each of these counties the sum of $1000. This money has been paid. The same officer has moreover deposited with the treasurer of the state the sum of $5000 to meet the appropriation made by the general assembly, whenever the other counties comply with the condition of the resolution referred to above." This is not all. The warden has expended $5000 of surplus earnings, the last year, in most valuable and important improvements of the State Prison itself; particularly in the improvement of the shops and cells. Moreover, he has $14,529 40 on hand, in notes and book accounts, and $2263 22 in cash. The whole amount of surplus earnings, above all expenses, since the Prison went into operation, is $72,203 02. The warden now proposes to the government to pay from their surplus earnings, if the legislature will sanction it, from $3000 to $5000 a year for 10 years, for the purpose of building an Asylum for the Insane Poor. Number of Prisoners at Com- Number of Prisoners at Close. STATISTICS OF FIFTEEN PENITENTIARIES, FROM REPORTS OF 1840 AND 1841. Increase of Prisoners. Diminution of Prisoners. Number discharged. Number pardoned. Number recommitted. Number dead. Per Cent. of Deaths. Number who became lunatic. Number of Lunatics. Expenses above Earnings. 221 8 18. 31 in 53 1 14 1 in 23 11 in 58 17 1 in 50 21 in 79 5 12 21 in 92 . 21 in 160 1 5 $179 43 19 unknown 3,239 26 6,345 83 15 Penitentiaries, 4115 4306 166 76 904 175 69 17 104 The warden says, "This result has not been produced by a discharge from Pris on, of any of the sick or infirm through the interposition of executive clemency." It does not appear from the official report how many of this number had been in this Prison since it was rebuilt on the Pennsylvania plan. The physician says, "Some have been pardoned, on account of the inroads made upon health by the system here adopted," i. e., the Pennsylvania system, "who have died soon after they left the Prison." The physician says, more than half the whole number of lunatics became so last year. Not including salary of officer, paid from the state treasury. The inspectors and physician agree in saying that the instances of mental disorder have been about half those of the previous year. The previous year they were 26. As nearly as we could ascertain, not less than $15,000 above earnings. ▲ One other was killed. 43 14,844 0263,638 53 From this table it appears, that the whole number of prisoners, in 15 Penitentiaries, at the commencement of the year, was 4,115 Number of prisoners at the close of the year, Increase in one year, Diminution of this increase for the Indiana Peniten tiary, .. Positive increase in 14 Penitentiaries, Number discharged by expiration of sentence, 66 pardoned,.. recommitted, (returns imperfect,) escaped, (from 9 Penitentiaries, 0,) dead, (of whom 22 from new Penitentiary in Philadelphia,). Proportion of deaths in Prisons on the Auburn plan, Number of lunatics, (of whom 25§ are in the two 4,306 *166 99 +67 .904 175 69 17 $104 1 in 45 1 in 23 43 $14,844 02 Expenses above earnings in the new Penitentiary in The improvement of County Prisons is a subject of more importance than is generally supposed. The number of County Prisons in the United States is not far from 420. The number of persons annually confined in the County Prisons of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, is about 10,000; in the cities of Albany and Troy, about 2700; in the Prisons of the state of New York, about 18,000; in all the County Prisons in the land, probably not less than 75,000. Not that so great a number are in the County Prisons at one and the same time, but are committed to them annually. Important practical questions arise on these facts. *This number should be diminished 99, the number in the Indiana Penitentiary at the close of the year, because the number at the commencement is not stated. This rate of increase would require 44 years to double the number of prisoners, while the population doubles in 23 years. If the mortality had been as great in the other Penitentiaries as in that in Philadelphia, it would have been 228, instead of 104. § Most of them became lunatic in Prison, viz., 14 out of 25. Shall the County Prisons be schools of vice, or reform? Shall they be places of labor, or idleness? Shall they support themselves, or shall the public support them? The answer to this last question makes a difference to the country of about $1,260,000 annually. Whether this sum is earned in neat, and orderly, and silent workshops, by 75,000 inmates of County Prisons, after the model of that in the Hartford County Prison, or whether it is paid to support them in idleness, filth, obscenity, gambling, and instruction in the arts of mischief- these are the questions. What answer shall be given to them? In political economy, they are important. In the moral government of the world, how are they? In preparing the way to fulfil the dying command of Christ, "Go preach the gospel to every creature," have they any bearing? The question is answered, and the whole matter illustrated, by example, in Hartford, Conn. There the County Prison supports itself, and yielded surplus earnings of $600 last year. There the school of vice has become the place of reformation. There the gospel is preached, and there it has taken effect upon the hearts of the subordinate keeper, a master mechanic, who, of his own accord, introduced morning and evening prayers, and conducts the worship himself; and there a number of the prisoners have yielded their hearts to this heavenly influence. Moreover, this new County Prison, this good place of reformation, was built, in part, by the surplus earnings of the State Prison; and other Prisons, on the same plan, during the last year, have been built in the same manner in Norwich and New Haven, and $5000 more, from the same source, deposited in the state treasury, to extend the same system through the state; and now the warden of the State Prison offers to the legislature from $3000 to $5000 a year for 10 years, from the surplus earnings of the State Prison, to build an Asylum for Poor Lunatics. Such facts are worthy to be repeated. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise the Lord." Why not make the 75,000 convicts in County Prisons earn $1,260,000 annually, and apply it to public improvement? Why not apply the surplus earnings of State Prisons to encourage the counties to build County Prisons on the plan of that in Hartford, Conn.? To show that this plan is both important and practicable, take the case of Ohio. Its Penitentiary earned, last year, above all expenses, $26,000 43. This amount of money, offered to the different counties, $1000 to a county, for this purpose, would greatly encourage them to build County Prisons, on the plan of that in Hartford, Conn. The average cost of County Prisons, sufficiently large for the interior counties of Ohio, on this plan, would probably not exceed $6000. The importance and necessity of such a movement is apparent from the following communication: "OHIO COUNTY PRISONS. "A Letter from E. Lane to W. H. Channing and J. H. Perkins. - November 20, 1840. "GENTLEMEN : -I have endeavored to carry into execution the plan you suggested, of visiting such of the County Jails of Ohio as fell within my ride. I have examined the Prisons of twenty-three counties, and have made the inquiries relating to their management, which were permitted by the time I could command, and by my inexperience. I have preserved rough plans of these places of confinement, and notes of the several matters which fell under my observation. 'My present object is to communicate the results; for the details, at present, would be of little use. It is strange that the condition of our County Prisons has attracted so little the notice of benevolent men. Most other fields of philanthropy have been more or less explored; our Penitentiary system has been remodeled and reformed, so as nearly to meet the expectations of its friends; but our Common Jails have almost escaped the eyes of Christian charity, and the members of our faith have mostly forgotten the promises of our Master to those who visit the prisoner in Prison. Yet the number of persons in confinement is not too inconsiderable to deserve notice. In the 23 counties, it amounts to 383 persons accused of crime during the past year, and the aggregate time spent is 1301 weeks. Nor is it because there is no need of good officers; for I have been informed, that lately, in one of our principal towns, a respectable stranger, arrested for debt, was enclosed, for several days, in the same cell with an insane black woman; and I have seen the unwashed blanket, which wrapped the limbs of a prisoner, while recovering from exposure in an attempt to escape two years ago, retained in ordinary prison use, of which more than a square yard was stiffened with blood and corrupted matter; and I have heard and believe, that, not many years since, the feet of another were frozen while in confinement in his cell, in spite of his efforts to preserve them. "Since the last law relating to imprisonment for debt, the number of debtors in Jail has become very small. Our penal system does not rely much upon imprisonment as a punishment, and confinements for this purpose are not numerous. The prisoners in our County Jails are mostly untried criminals. The only demands of society upon these are for safe-keeping. They ought to be subjected to no harshness or restrictions, except those necessary to this object; and they are entitled to wholesome food, pure air, exercise, and other means for the preservation of health, and to the ordinary accommodations and conveniences which tend to mitigate the sufferings of confinement, and are not inconsistent with secure custody. "In all the counties of our state, except Hamilton and Cuyahoga, the number of prisoners rarely exceeds two or three at a time, and |