Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-01-07
and the propriety of establishing one is re-
specially urged upon your attention.


and the propriety of establishing one is re-
specially urged upon your attention.
- PENIrENTI<RL a a
The administration of mo Penftentiary
during Che year shows atff1eiency quite
equal, II not superior, to any that has been
Witnessed for many yeafs, and in one re-
spect-thattof economy-theresultlis Pc
culiarly gratifying one. The receipts for
the labor Of.prisoners have exceeded the
expenses of the prison by the sum OF thir-
teen thousand dollars. This result, the
Directors rcp0rh Is not produced by charg-
iifg the State with labor Performed for II,
or by any charges or credits for which
money has not been paid orreceiyed; but
it is a balance of cash receipts over cash
expenditures. It has been secured by a
strict attention to economy in all depart
ments, and rigid saving of the waste
which is apt tn become large in so large an
Institution. This fact is most significantly
shown in the average cost per convict for
amount this Year to Sol 81 against an
average of $S7 90 for three years before.
The Directors are further able to say that.
salthOugh the expenses have been so ma
terially diminished, every department has
been as, well maintained as in any former
year" They very properly give the chief
credit for this result to the Warden and
his principal assistants, but it could, of
course, be brought about only by a jealous
cooperation in the public service of all
concerned, from the Directors themselves
downward. 5ss9 iaeil5t" '.-7.-' - ''@
Your candid consideration is invited to
the reasons assigned by the Directors why
a minimum, price. for convict labor should
not be established by law. The accounts
of the prison demonstrate that since the
passage OF the existing statute on that
fharo hoe haon nloo fo he
State of two thousand dollars. per month
by reason Of the non-employm of con-
victs for whose labor responsible bids had
been made before the law took effect. ]
believe the reasoning of, the report on
this subject to be, sound, and recommend
herepealOf the statute referred to. The
true mode of enhancing the price of labor
in the prison is to perfect the discipline
and management of the Institution SO that
the labor itself will be more valuable and
reliable, and leave it to the zeal of honora-
BILE and competent Directors and officers to
procure the highest market price tori
No legislation can remove the necessity of
having honest men in charge of SO impor-
tant an institution or of confiding in their
s!5ei
-tEI Il A NEW PRISON.
The number Of conyicts in the Peniten-
tiary has averaged one thousand; twelve
hundred and ninety zone having been in it
during the year, and one thousand and one
remaining there at the, date of the, report
IG is manifest that it will not do to put of
any. longer the task of providing for the
increase of convicts, hich keeps pace with
our increase OF population. Such thought
as have been able to give the subject has
convinced me that the increase of prison
room ought to be made by building an in
termediate prison, taking grade between
the Reform Farm and the present Peniten-
tiary, where thorough effort may be
made to test the value of really reforma-
tory system upon the younger men and
less hardened class of criminals convicted
Of first otfenses by the Courts.
BOARD OF STATE CHARITIES.
This topic, amongst others, has been care
fully examined by the Board of State Char
tiles, and their report will be found to con-
tain lucid and interesting discussion of it.
think their conclusions are sound, and
that they will make proper and safe basis
for legislation. This Board has, besides,
made careful examination of the condition
of our county jails and infirmaries. and the
facts disclosed are startling evidence how
easily abuses grow up in the most enlight-
ened communities, where there is no reg
ular or efficient mode of making the public
with the true condition of insti-
tutions at their very doors. l recommend
the printing of an extra number of copies
of their report, believing that the full de-
tails contained in it should be widely known
and that the knowledge would arouse a
public sentiment which would most eff
GENTLY second such legislation as the sub
hands. Iwould also recommend that the
Board be made more efficient, by providing
a permanent secretary for them, whose
whole time might be devoted to continuin G
and extending theinyestigations they have
80 well begun.
q ATTORNEY GENERALS REPORT.
The reforms needed in the organization
and administration of the local cor
rectional institutions, naturally lead
co the consideration of reforms in
the criminal law. The Attorney
General, in his report, urges the import
ance of codificarion of the crimes act,
practice of criminal procedure, SO that
they may be freed from cilmbrous techni-
calities, which are too often found to i'm
pede instead of furthering the cause of
substantial justice. Much labor was be-
slowed upon the perfection of bills for the
above mentioned purpose at the last ses-
sion of the Legislature, but they had not
been finally acted upon at the adjourn
ment. An act was, however, passed
dCCuoCu PClSOuo W bCotiiy
upon their own trials for crimes
Although this measure was supported ny
most respectable a authorities upon the
bench as well as in the Legislature, my
observation of its practical workings as
they have been revealed to me in my eX-
of applications for pardon, con-
pels me to believe that the change is. upon
the whole, an unfortunate one. When a
prisoner has the right to testify in his own
~ f,sl do .c NJ 70
be taken as confession of guilt. When
to the knowledge of this fact is added the
to invent a plausible theory to
account for circumstances proven in evil
dence, in the hope of escaping punishment
few criminals will be found who
will not add perjury to the crime already
The possibility that in some
rare exceptional cases, innocent persons
may be the victims of circumstances
which only their own testimony could
explain, does not, as l think, over
balance the injury done. to the general ad-
of justice when perjury be-
comes regular and expected part of a
judicial trial, and the detestation of the
crime is greatly lessened by its frequency
My examination of the cases OF prisoners
sent to the Penitentiary during the past
year satisfies me that [ am not eXaggera-
ting the real evils which result. Another
old principle of our law that no man shall
be forced to criminate himself. He does
this when his omission to testify is taken
for admission of guilt. If this principle is
1 should prefer to adopt the
French system of interrogating- prisoners
blythe Court, as avoiding at least the great
tendency to voluntary perjury. | am con-
therefore, to recommend the re-
peal of the law. 3sfEs 35es'la is lss7't,E Eaff-
The increased number of prisoners in the
has made the duty of investi-
eating applications for pardon more bur-
densome during the past year than is COM
mon. In a large class of cases occurring
after the close of the war, the
sentences were more severe than had been
usual before, owing to the necessity felt by
the judiciary to check the apparent ten
dency to crimes of violence. In a consid-
cradle number OF these cases the judges