The Nevada journal., 1859-02-11
Report of the State Prison Directors.

Report OF the state PflS0n Directors
We have this, ocument before us. II
purports to be made in compliance OF
law. BY reference to the act creating
the present Board of Directors, it will
be observed that the Report fails in
almost all the essential particulars to
meet its requirements.
The 9th section of the act of April
oath, 1858, among other things requires
that the Directors shall make full
and detailed report to the Legislature
on tic lst day of February, 1859; the
report to contain complete statement
of the number and condition of State
C convicts,'' "the number and character
of officers they may have appointed and
the monthly pay received by each, the
amount Of expenses they have incur
red and for what the amount and con-
dition Of fpersoual property belonging to
the State, connected with the State
Prison.
The Directors have submitted no de-
tailed report, they refer to a report
made to them by the Chief Warden.
The injunction to report as above re-
quired is to the Directors and not to
the Warden. The report of the Chief
Wa: den is not in detail except i'll some
particulars, in relation to the convicts.
Ini its financial department we have but
! the aggregates and scarcely a word in
| relation to the amount and condition of
the personal property belonging 10 the
State, connected with the State Prison.
! This however, is but a sin of omission
and as an example is quite inoffensive
violation Of law by the directors as dis,
closed in thir report. 1t will be remem-
! bered that Gov. Weller had charge of
the State Prison during the months Of
March and April, by authority of a
different law than the one creating the
present board; $4,000 were placed at
his disposa! to Gefray expenses. He
incurred a debt of S5,S13 O3 over the
amount appropriated. 1t appears that
the present directors paid this debt; we
ask by what authority ? We had always
supposed that the public money could
not be discussed but on appropriations
made by law. The act creating the
present board appropriates $4,000 to-
gether with the proceeds Of the convict
labor to defray the expenses incurred
by Mcm and not those incurred by Gov.
Weller or any one else. Why did not
the Governor report this Indebtedness
to the Legislature, so that legal provis-
ion could have been made for its pay
ment! There was ample time for him
to have done SO.
The laws must be executed at all
hazards" says the Governor in his
inaugural address, and the country will
remember with what deep regret tie
Governor lameuted his want Of power
to properly punish the offending deputy
sheriff of Monterey county. We submit
that the above presents Il case where
the Governor has failed on his own part
not only to comply with the law, but to
come up to his manifesto.
We had expected to have seen in the
report some solution of the problem as
to whether the expenses either in whole
or in part could be betrayed from the
proceeds of the convict labor. On this
point we have the following figures:
Expended in manufacture and sale of
Expended in Quarrying Stone......-...... S37 O9
----
Total expended............. .....-.....S37, ,06S II
Received from labor of prisoners 25S 0S
Expenditures exceeding eipts.......S1l,slO 90
The Warden's report shows that o.
S26 600 bricks were made and that g.
/ 323, 400 have been sold and used, leav-
ing Oh hand 6.502 600, that is to say, as
many as they will be able to dispose Of
during the next two years. However,
the directors demonstrate by an array
of mortal figures, that they have made
money by estimating that the value of
the labor ofthe prisoners, and stock ad-
dcd to the prison at S77,523 SO.
We are not advised as to whether the
adventurous individual who had large
quantity of warming pans manufactured
and shipped to a West India market
ever derived consolation for his failure
to make sales by calling to his aid st
disinterested" mechanics, and taking
an account of stock fixing the price by
a siberian standard OF not we however
have only to say that if he did lot that
he was not as fertile in resources as