Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-28
THE PENITENTIARY.
Important Report by the Joint Conn
mittee of the Legislature.


The following report was presented in the
House of Representatives yesterday:
Mr.. SPEAKER-The joint committee of
the two Houses of the General Assembly,
appointed under section No. 8 of the Cover
nor's proclamation, have examined the re-
port Of the Inspectors of the Tennessee PEN
itentiary, submitted Sept. 80, 1871, in con-
nection with the books in the office of
the treasurer and book-keeper of the
penitentiary, and beg leave to submit this as
their report, showing the general manage
ment Of the prison from March 1, 1870, to
Dec. 20, 1871, embracing period of TWEEN
| ty-one months and nineteen days.
The information upon which this report
is based was acquired chiefly from the books
| in the Office of the treasurer and book-keep-
er of the penitentiarv.
The report ofthe Inspectors was defective
in this, that it failed to charge the Inspect
ors with the value and amount of finished
and unfinished work and material on hand
at the prison on the first day of March, 1870;
and the further fact that it only embraced
the transactions of the prison from March l,
| 1870, to August 81, 1871, made it abso-
lutely necessary that reference should be had
| to the books of the treasurer and book keeper.
The committee were unable to find any
| inventory of the finished and unfinished
work, and material on hand at the Prison,
March l, 1870, but we learn from the In
spectors that an inventory was made, at the
commencement of their administ ration,
and that they charged themselves upon
the books with the full amount of the in
ventory, which, as it appears upon the
hnolTo ovnnupfa tO tho sllpn of GIL Td7
and is accordingly so entered in the general
statement, herewith filed and marked Ex-
hibit A, which is made part ofthis report.
The inventory made at the termination
of the Ward & Briggs lease, on the goth day
of December, 1869, shows that there was at
that time finished and unfinished work and
material on hand at the Prison amounting
in value to the sum of $3.50, $4,000. The
then existing Board of Inspectors, VIM.
Shane, NJ. r. Murrell and Charles Robin
son, received this property from Ward 81
Briggs, and continued to superintend the
management of the Prison, from the goth
of December, 1859, to March l, 1870, pc
Rod of two months and eleven days.
The committee are unable TO determine
how the value of the finished and unfinish-
ed work and material was reduced from
S130, $4,000, as shown by the Ward & Briggs
inventory, to ST., TAI SO, as shown by the
books of the Treasurer, and bOOk-keeper Of
the penitentiary, in the short space Of time
intervening between the termination of the
lease and the appointment of the new Board
of Inspectors on the LIST of March, 1870.
The Inspectors claim that they received
the goods and charged themselves with
them at the same rate of valuation fixed in
IL, II l. - IL
only member of the preceding Board of In
spectors, Charles Robinson, who appeared
before the committee, claimed that the Board
of Inspectors, of which he was member,
turned over to their successors in Office on
the 1st Of March, 1870, as much property as
they received from Ward x Briggs. The
committee had no means Of arriving at the
merits of this controversy, as they were not
invested with power and authority to send
for persons and papers, and to administer
Oaths.
The committee would have applied to the
two House for this authority, but the ap-
preaching termination of the present session
would admit of no delay if any report was
TO be made before the adjournment, and for
this reason the committee adopted the en-
tries upon the books of the Treasurer and
bookkeeper as the basis of their report.
The claims outstanding against the prison
on the 1st of March, 1870, amounted to
Sl3 ,559.44, and the Legislature subsequent
ly made appropriations to pay these claims
by acts passed respectively upon the oath
day of June, 1870, and the 1st day of
February, 1871. See acts of 1870 and 1870
Il. Notwithstanding the fact that the
pennitentiary was a tax upon the Treasury,
as above shown, during the two months
and eleven days that it was managed by the
Board of Inspectors of 1868, yet the
value Of the property on hand appears to
have been reduced SIS, 62l.21, and this de-
felt cannot be explained by any means
within the power of the committee.
1t may be very interesting question for
another Legislature to inquire what dispo-
sitiOn has been made of this $5S, p,
which is not accounted for in any way what
ever.
From the accompanying statement fled
with this report, it will be seen that the
gross receipts of the prison from March /,
1870, to Dec. 20, 1871, amounted to s375,-
220.59.
The present liabilities of the prison amount
to the sum of S77,903.05.
The principal part of this liability is for
money borrowed from S. II. Patterson, upon
Comptrollers warrants, hypothecated 10 ac-
cordance with an act of the General As SEM
bly,, passed Feb. l, 1871.
These warrants were issued to the In
spectors as a loan, upon the part Of the
State to the prison, in consideration Of
work done on the prison walls, and were
to be used as collaterals in borrowing
money for the use of the prison.
The act required that they should he re-
deemed at the end of twelve months and
returned to the Comptroller for canCela-
ton.
The estimated value of the extension Of
the prison wa1 amounted to 500, 100 go,
and warrants to this amount were accord
ingly issued to the Inspectors, and were
by them hypothetical as collaterals with
S. II. Patterson, to secure the payment
of loan of S59, 10000, principal and in
terest.
When the present contract of lease was
entered into, there seems to have been some
misunderstanding between the Governor
and the inspectors as to the provision made
for the redemption of these warrants.
The Inspectors claim that they were to
apply the first $4,000, paid by the lessees,
to the payment of debts contracted by the
inspectors for the material and supplies
for the prison, and they did accordingly APP
ply the first Sl5, 900, SO received, to the pay
ment of debts of that character.
The Governor was however Of different
opinion, and thought that the money pad
to the Inspectors by the lessees, should have
been applied first to the redemption Of the
warrants, as it was Of the utmost impor-
lance to the State that they should not pass
| from her control at such an immense sacri-
| fee.
The Superintendent of Prisons received
| from the lessees subsequent payments to
tie amount of $38,5S2.32, which was
| placed in bank, to be used in Tedeeming
! the warrants, and the Governor negotiated
a loan of $4,000 with the Fourth National
Bank of Nashville, and by this means was
enabled to provide for the redemption of
| the warrants, which were to be redeemed
on the 26th or 9th instant, which was &C
cOrdingly done.
The lessees are still due the State ST.
| 444.04 for manufactured articles in the
hands of agents of the prison, which SHOULD
be paid into the treasury of the State, to-
| gether with any other balance that may be
in the hands of the Superintendent, after
settling all outstanding claims against the
! prison.