New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-01-04

Sing Sing il the only Prison where females are re-
ceved and the average expense o. "r,hv 81 Won.
consideration whether II would not be proper ~ 70
change she law 10 provide thai females eonv'ceu ~
crimes involving imprisonment Tor bret Perioos s9ouu
be sept to the PenteDtiares, instead OF tue o'a.o
P,sop Whether this is or is done, there - an oo'
vious prophety in providing TOR Keeping the eNepSe'
and receipts OF the Female Prison by themselves.
The disproportionate cost OF Maintaining Tue pr son
at Dame mora 10 Clinton County, shows that ,ts orr
gnal design and location there was an error. was
constructed under the expectation that convict aooi
could be pIoftsbly employed III the mining o, orc au
the manufacture of iron this hue been almost the
only branch of manufacture pursued there. Expert
renee has shown that It Is Impossible 70 exei!e SUM
Gent competition among contractors 10 ms puslossS
procure ast price for convict LABOR, aud that tne h
bar itself is # necessity hard, repulsve ana uiosruc
tive TO the convict and not rcmuoerrtve TO the state
TIE ONLY possible remedies 10 remove or abandon
the prison or to introduce more productive Dr'nesoi
Manufacture Deeming the former course entirely IN.
expedepi the Commissioners appointed under inc act
of Aur IS 1859 70 pr, vide additional accommoda-
lions for convcts contjstng Of the Governor leutea
ut-Goyernor and ContrOier), unanimously decided
afiey mature consideration and careful examination Oh
the several prsOns TO enlarge CLINTON prison ny the
extension of the present building as to give LOO new
seis, This enlargement Is now ariy completed, ana
~ll about Sl3UO0. IL enables the STATE 10 INTRO
euce other branches cf business, while continuing dur
pg the existence Of tie preent contracts the mnui9c
uie Of iron. Contracts have already been made Tor
Il EMPLOYMENT in other brsI ches Of manufacture OF
1 al
| sou. II wac hoped that il would be unnecessary to
provide further prison accommodations at present bnt
HE copsauily increasing number Of convicts now rem
ders nece,tary that both OF the other prlrons
should he enlarged, new prison constructed wthn
a shOrt time.
Under The act of April I8, 1852 about 50 acres Of
the farm connected with the prison at Sing Sing have
been sold Tor the of S34, 233 III which sun has
been paid into the Treasury but by the law authoH-
ing the sale il be used only for buildings and i'm
prOvenents that prison. That portion of the Farm
through which the Croton aqnedu' passes was by re-
quesi OF the Aqutduct Boad, Withheld from saie that
tone arrangen ent might be made in reference to IT.
| The Asylum for Insane C0nvlcts al Aubutn IL now
substantial, comp leted and ill full operation. FIFTY.
Dne patisns hay. been received during the year a.
six discharged. The expenses for the year eniing
Oct. 81. 1859, were 81, $50 IS, of which 1894 Al
were for buildings pairs ard miscellaneous tie not
likely 10 occur agsir Tie Asylum ba. room for OF
| inmates The establishment of separate Institution
for insane eOnvics IL 10 certain extent au expert
ment but there to believe IL will prove suc-
cestful. TIE excellence and completeness oil the AZ
commoda,ios make the support OF is inmates source
| Of considerably Increased expense. o
Tie Con mi, sui,ers named IN the act OF Apri' IL,
| 1883 10 tette Tue account Of Jacob d. k'ngslaDd
against the Clinton Prison ne 10 enier upon The duties
asjged hem, suppOsng tart ne claim as vi nature
| and amount to readily ~ iabted. They as well ID
IL sgtnl and Warden OF H.. !rison were surprs,dto
find that claim presented for SlO3o which IN
,olved matters OF evidence and detail that coui bo De
properly examined i'll the brief period then allowed oy
| law. Under these circumstances, the agent ana
Warden acting under the advie OF the Attorney -Gel
eIa very properly revoked the suomSrIon entered into
for HE seth OF the claims. Alter this, Que OF the
COMM. siUbtrs declined TO meet with hls cole igues
Ar the law expressly required that all the Comms-
eione 70 should meet there was no power IN the re-
n,aiDg tw To bct The two, however, awarded that
the SIa'e should Jay Mr.. kingslano $?',259 OIL De-
leve the award Is both excessive and uvad, and that
the Who'll. matter should lie again passed upon by the
Legislature.
The Commissioners appointed by the Governor in
- .,.r1 The
claim of Eli Cbiuenden ANA Others known as the Az
eril ORE. bed claim have also met and acted upon the
mater submitted TO them They deaided that pqr-
State in April, 1856, for $lO0,UOO, was invalid aud
awarded that the state pay to the claimants ooo
Tie claim peteDted was for the Purcblse money with
ip,ereti or (, damages amounting To $ibo,OOJ while
tie Stale admitted considerable indebiedn' ~. Inc
award is by terms binding aid final upon AL eart'er
il bte> ed be just TO the claimants, and adv anita
geous 10 the State il sushes large caim aud
| terminates "a long protraced controversy.
| Most of tue expense of administering justice in
! criminal cases is borne by The counties within
hlch the criuie is committed AM the conviction had
but The expebte OF transporting oOnvics 10 The Stale
Prison. Of bringing bach criminals from other STATES
ON requsons and VI employ ing counsel to assst the
Deric Attorney the tl1s oi criminals, has remained
charge upon tie Treasury Of the State. The uaus-
porta,lon of convicts costs the State annually about
S5 Co., large portion OF the criminals arr convicted
at few seD,es of population AMI trade "he The eA
| pebte of transporting tben is charged equally upon
The peole OF the State. IL would DO difficult To
assign any good reason why each county should not
pay the eXIente of transporting Its own conyets AS
we'll the of airesiug aud OBTAINING them before
TRIAL II this ex ebse made TO fall upon tue coun
ties there ca be 10 doubt that il would both diminish
the apl coet and reform existing abuses. The
prsctce have adopted of ordinarily granting Ielus
IoDs OILY ut the expenre OF tue county or tue com
paiuant has uuch les-eed tue cost OF retaining fu-
piiiyts from Justice Some amendment Of the law Id
ieeded though the counties have usually been willing
| TO astume tile eXl else.
| Applications have been made TO me from time 10
the require the ate ndanoe oi the Attorney eherai
| a, crinnul trisls which have felt compelled ~
fus The duties of that officer do lot usually permit
HIN 10 attend in ,erson aud he mu. employ rome one
| in bis place. Considerable expense is thus imposed
III on tie State which properly belongs to the conutee
The power require the attendance OF The Attorney
General on important occasions should remain, but it
should lie placed under strcter limitations than at
present anu bs accompanied by the rghtt impose the
expense upon the county il is woIthy of cousdera-
| hon whether the power which the Attorney -General
pOssetses OF employing council ut the expense OF the
| s at. oCee net regu some limitation.
The ex animation OF the very numerous applications Tor
PARDON is one Of the most oDerous and embarrassing
duties of the Executive. Entertaining profu.d sense
| OF tie responsibility inn osed upons me, have Ell.
desyored TO discharge this duty understand ngy and
faithfully and have taken more than usual paIns 10
| ASCERTAIN the merits of each application but have
granted padons IN the OF two or three convcts
in whch subsequent information has satisfied me that
the ends OF Justice would have been better answered
by their continuance in prison. In no case has par
don been granted without previously communicating
with the DstricAttorney OF the county IN which the
conviction was had, and obtaining full knowledge
Of the evidence given the trial, well IN his views
Of the case, though tue necessity Of awaiting the
plies often entails great delay have, daring the
pasi Summer visited all the State PRISONS and spout
Two or three days ut each in personally aiming
cOnvicls who had previously applied Tor pardon,
amounting TO 100. To each about 10 minutes we're
devoted, which was found sufficient " enable