The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1845-02-07

Of Tennessee and Keniutky. we nigh, ha
? gard some safe dnalosical deductions. fu
shils, the penl,cniIares above enumerated
have been profitable, those al Philadelphia,
P,t,sburg, Baltimore, Washington City,
and in Michigan, have not paid expenses
the differences ranging from $4,000 TO
$Is,379, annually. Viewing this sui j"cl
IN MS most un!asorable aspect, us TO the
question Of ECONOMY, and granting that a
penitcniiary would he an annual charge 10
the State Of $40 900 (Which sum is much
: above the average annual charge OF The
five peuitcn,iarirs above enuInero,ed) We
will now eiQuirc whether this would not he
) the cheaper plan of punishment, 10 say
! nothing OF It's rr!nrmatory tendencies.
: From the few aud imperfect returns
made 10 the Executive department, under
! the Act Of Is35 80, The committee have
! been able 10 co'late some facts "hich may
be useful IN this connection, as enabling
them TO arrive at conclusions, not altogeth-
er corlcciural. Returns from thirty five
! counties show that the number Of prosecu
lions for the year prior 10 June l, $40, for
crimes and mlsdemeanors, was one tbous
and three hundred and fifty eight. Ol
this uunber. sevcn,y.ninc were crimes Of
varions grades from petit larceny TO mur
der, of which there we're thirty.two con.
vic,lons, twenty .one acgultta5, and twenty
Two not tried. I'VE will here remark en-
paSSnnt, tina, these returns also show, that
IN these thirty five counties, there were
two hundred aud forty nine lunalics and i'd
iots.) Taking ii for granted that the re-
naming thirty five counties would have fur.
nished an equal calender Of crime, we have
for tina, year. two thousand seven hundred
and sixteen State prosocutions-on hund.
red and fifty eight Of which would be in
cluded in a penltcn.iary code. Of this num-
Der, sixty four were convictions, ioriy.two
were acquttas, and forty! -four unttled.-
From our own observations of criminal tri-
ais, NAV we no, conclude that OF these for
ty-fuur acquials, many escaped conviction
on account Of the severity OF the punish
ment and the humanity Of thcJary These
returns further show that in ten counties,
the sums paid for the prosecution Of nsol
vent criminals and their maintenance 10
i Ill, Cor the year $50, amounted to the sum
1 Of S4ll0 81, which is an average for each
county, Of Sill 10. We may assume that
half Of Ibis sum was incurred in the prose.
cutlon of Stale Prison offences, and that rs
lairaverace for each county. From these
data then we have the sum Of : 900 90
annually expended in the State Of North
Carolina, for the prosecution and maiUten.
ance, in jnll, of nsolvent criminals, charg.
ed with the commission OF penltenilary of.
fences. Assuming, then, that pcniten,a.
~ would be public charge Of 1000 90
annually (Which II probable would noy be-
i, would be a saving Of excuse in the ad
mins,ra,ion Of The criminal law.
As 10 the cost Of construction the com.
miuee do not possess sufficient Information
to enable them to make any estimate which
they can confidently recommend as being
correct. / necessarily depends upon the ex
tent Of the work, and is usually estimated
by the cell. Penllentlaries built upon the
Auburn system are generally preferred for
their cheapness, as well as their internal ar.
Engagement and superior d scipliue. The
buildings and ground Of the Mhiue Peniten
tiafy cost $50, 600 90, while the Auburn
cost over 5000, GOO o0--thc number Of cells
not known.
The cost Of the Cherry Hi Penltcntia
~, al Philadelphia, was = CAS- 90 per cell.
/ The Pntshur' penitentiury 97S 90
/ " Char!cs,own Mass. do 2s6 90
" Sjug Sing, n. Y, do 200 90
Fl" bakersfield, CT. do 80 90
" Baltimore, Md, do li6 90 ="
From these facts we may conclude with
some certainty that the cost Of such build
iug in this State would not c-cced $500 per
cell, and would probably fall much short 81
it. But we viii put it down at five hundred
dollars. we have shown above, The pro
hable average number Of convictions for
State Prison oIilnccS, annually, to be about
sixty four. The number Of prisoners, in
the year 1889, in the Ohio pcntcniiary
was As -In Baltimore, BPS in kentucky,
I57-in Nnshn -.ton CITY 81 in Tenncs-
see, in 1887, il vas l22. No stauStcal
Information on The various matters conSId,
cred in this report, Of later date than Is
80, are within the reach oi this committee.
Nav we 10, assume, then as basis Of cal
cuIalion, that building With tno hundred
cells would be sufficiently extensive for this
State Two hundred cells al $500 per CELL
FIXES the cost OF this work nj 500 600.
The question now comes up, Of the ways
and means. How shall the fluids be rals
cd +? We answer, hv direct taxaI'on.-
This is the source, md the only source from
which they can come, without interfering
with the arrangement Of, and dlvcrling from
its great aud patriotic purpose, our Common
School Fund. Your COMMITTEE would
mpst earnestly protest against such appro-
pria;lon OF tha, fund. Can this sun of one
hundt ed thous md dollars be raised hy taxa
ton without Distressing he people We
/ think so. The time necessary for arrang
ng the plan and constructing oil necessary
buildings, would probably he four years.
This sun, therefore, could be collected IN
/ four annual inslnmcnts, that is to say,
@25 900 year. By the COmptrollet's and
.