The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-01-25
state Prisons ms Free Public supply



stores.
The very atmosphere of lsrgo prison
seems TO ottrnct fraud. Ono of the most
serious difficulties in the management of an
extensive establishment for the confinement
of convicted criminals is to guard ngninst the
corruption of tho Officials In whose charge
1t is placed. The law, in probably oil the
States, throws every check which has been
thought nccdful about tho offices of authority
upon which rests the greatest responsibility in
the case but to-day, Notwithstanding all the
restrictions which Legislators can provide, it
Is probable that there are very few large
penal institutions in the whole land where
official corruption does not exist.
The latest example Of this Is the Missouri
State Ponitontiary md not long ngo an in
vest cation into the condition of the Indiana
State Prison revealed the existence of out
rOgcous abuses there. comprising both frauds
md bad treatment of tho inmates In Mis-.
souri,, however, tho evil is in the form of
rlundcring the State; md, immoral as il il,
it lacks the element of inhumanity which the
Indiana disclosures have brought TO light.
The Missouri Penitcntiary is at Jefferson
City, the capital Of tho State Connected
with the prison is u storehouse of supplies
for the consumption Of the convicts. Here
aro kept large quantities Of family groceries,
wood, coal oil, flour, and horse feed aud
large supplies of fresh beef for the prison arc
received here daily. The legal regulations
forbid the officers of tho Penitontiary from
obtaining any Of their supplies from this
source. The investigations of the State Com
mission, however, clearly show that during
1858 not only the warden. the deputy war
den, the comnissary. and the factor Of the
prison obtained ,heir family supplies from
the prison, but so also did the Governor Of
the State and there is no evidence that
these supplies were ever weighed or meas
urcd, or that hty pere Ger pnid fer They
comprised beef, hay, corn, chops, coal oil,
fuel, sugar, coffee, and molasscs all taken
from the prison storehouse.
But this is not the worst. The notorious
express robber, Reno, WAS ia 1868 impris.
oncd in this Ponitentiary. A plan was NJ
rangcd-not alone by the keepers who form
in all large prisons the worst paid and most
unreliable class Of officers, but among the
deputy wardens az wcli-to effect the release
of this scouudrcl. He was TO pay $1,000 to
secure his escape and the villanous officials
proposed TO put him in harrel under some
pork chops, and thus get him carried outside
the prison walls and there, hHsing oJtoiRed
h. moasy, Mey had arranged Ma. he Iould
b. oiihcr rfc0ptDrcd or ktltd. The evidence
docs not show why the plan was not carried
out
OF course, men such ia theso did not scru-
rlo to cheat tho State in other ways than
merely ny directly stealing its property
Convicts, who appeared on the prison rolls
Ms invaiids and unfit To work, were takon
out TO farms belonging 10 tho officers, where
uivy .s~i",~i H. ths cultivation Of largo
crops-such as one of thirty thousand cab
logcs ii being said TO bo d" beneficial to the
health of tho convicts 10 take them ont
sometimes" Tho crops thus raised were nE
torwarj sold TO the state for the use of the
Pentcniiary. la somcwlia; similar way
convict labor APPEARS 10 have boon employed
on q contract to pave the streets of jefferson,
tho contractor paying nothing to the State
for the laborcrs, but demanding from the
city payment for the performance Of tho woik.
In how many other States Is the condition
Of the larger prisons similnr TO tia, D., N,
portrayed?