The Placer herald., 1857-03-07

Committee are Of opinion the present Lessee
is an unsuitable person to entrust with the
management of penitentiary. With view
to ascertain the exact rights of the Lessee
under his contract, your Committee address
sed letter to the Hon. Attorney General of
the State, asking his opinion upon the validi
! ty of such contract. The reply of the At
torney General is herewith submitted as Ex-
bibit No. s. The opinion, it will be seen,
goes to the extent of declaring said lease
void, and that no rights are vested under it
in the Lessee.
Your Committee are not disposed to argue
the questions connected with the constitu
tionatv of the law under which the lien was
executed. Nothing, however, can be clearer
than that if the law referred to was uncon-
sttutonal, no rights could vest under it,
and any disposition the Legislature chooses
to make concerning the prison, would not
interfere with q vested right.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Board of Commissioners. by the Sd
section of the law Of 1856, were required to
make alter, amend and cause to be Observed
such rules as trey might deem proper. For
the purpose of asceraining what rules had
been made and how the Commissioners had
attended to their duties under the law, your
Committee addressed letter to the Hon.
r. NJ. Anderson, President Of the Board, con
! tanning certain inquiries. His reply is here
with submitted, marked Exhibit No. 8. BY
such communication we learn that the Com
missioners adopted the old rules in force at
| the time the commission was established
| These rules are twelve in number They re-
late exclusively to the management Of the
prisoners by the guard. The rules do not
90 to the extent of applying any remedy to
the existing evil complained Of
We are of the opinion that, if the Com
missioners had established wholesome rules,
and had attended to their enforcement, there
| would now be less to complain of The rules
are such as the Lessee himself would have
made for the management of his employees;
none of them seem to have been made to
require the Lessee to comply with the re-
quirements Of the law. The quality and
quantity of food, clothing of the prison
ers and their discipline, are not touched by
the rules. BY them, the rusty system might
have been abolished the prisoners could have
been kept in prison and other abuses could
have been corrected. In thus neglecting
clear duty, the Commissioners deserve cen
sure. They can scarcely be viewed in any
other light than as guilty of negligence
bordering on criminality. The State CON
fded TO them sacred trust. The Lessee
does not occupy his position as an officer.
He is supposed to act from pecuniary motives.
Not SO with the directors. They receive a
salary and are sworn officers of the law -
We had a right to expect OF them that they
would use the power confiled to them, and
stand between the Lessee, the prisoners and
The State and see exact justice done In
stead of a faithful discharge of their duties
they have totally disregarded the require
ments of the law-have neglected to make
ueedful rules governing the prison. when in
them was confded the only power capable
of remedying the evils complained Of and
have quietly rested, permitting the continu-
ance OF prison disci pne disgraceful alike to
the State and the parties whose duty it was
to remedy the same
ly the law, the Directors are required to
attend to the enforcement of rules establish
ed by the Commissioners. If the Commits
sioners had established strict prison disci-
enforcement of such rules, their Offices would
not have been of siueccure character. and
the salaries paid to those officers would not
have been paid in vain. But, as the matter
now stands, those officers have been of verg
little benefit to the State
Wesubmit herewith ithacommuncaion from
A. Bell, Esq, State Prison Drector marked
Exhibit No. 10, containing matter worthy
OF note, and in eItenuation of his official
conduct. We have found him ever ready to
give us any information in his power CON
cerning the prison. This remark replies also
to Mr.. Mckenzie, and all Others connected
with Tie prison.
The Committee have taken some testimony
designed to show an arrangement by which a
large amout of provision and clothing were
purchased by the State while the law under
which the lease was made was passing
the Legislature, which clothing and provi-
sions were delivered over to the Lessee and
used by him. The evidence referred to is
contained in the doposiiions of Robert Haley,
a. NJ. Hay and j. F. McCauley. The note
referred to by McCauley was drawn by EstelI
and Woods in favor Of A. NJ. Hay, witnessed
by W. B. Farwell, for $4,000, dated San
Francisco May 10Th, 1856, payable on or
before November 5h, 1896.
We were unable to come to any conclu-
sion as to the subject matter by reason of
the refusal Of Mr.. Hay to answer our ques-
tons and we merely submit the deposition.
On the l7th inst, the Governor addressed
letter to MIR. Edwards, one Of your Com
mittee, who was then in San Francisco,
which letter is herewith submitted. Mr.. Ed
wards accordingly went to the prison on The
18th, and made his examinations according
to the request Of the Governor. lie found
many of the prisoners (probably one-fourth)
in condition bordering on destitution.-
About one hundred Of them without shoes,
! audi as q nenaral lhino.. the remainder Mnro