New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-27
PRISON DISCIPLINE.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
THE CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS, AND
GRADED PRISONS RECOMMENDED.
The following is the substance of report
on Prison Discipline in the United States, which will
be presented to-day at the first annual meeting OF the
National Prison Association:
From the best data obtanabe the whole prison pOpu-
aton OF the country may be estimated as ranging from
in July 10000 February. OF this number 5000
are probably confined in State prisons while 1900 are
held under sentence houses OF correction warehouses;
district penentiaries and jails and 5000 are awatng
trial held witnesses. All grades OF crminaity
represented and the problem that occurs Is 10 ADAPT
the best system TO the almost infinite variety OF cireu
which present themselves in country as he,e
rogeneous To do this requires. prlnclpaly,
Se eoGn d The mehoSs empoyed at
ent in the state Prisons three The old congregae
system; the cOngregae, or Auburn or silent sSs
tenn and the separate or Pennsylvania system. The
Auburn system generally prevails except In Pennsyl
state Prisons and in many of the il-managed county
prisons and the consequences are that they are turned
Victed unfortunately mingled-eyen the sexes In
instances-without employment without books, OF
vices and crimes which bad treatment superinduces
The city prisons, station houses, and lockups, which
are in similar condition They are the holes where
petty official fraud and abuse hide and coquette with
nonstrou vice. they the workshops OF detectives,
where felony is compounded and IMMUNITY Is manuiac-
tured order and II is time that the work of exposing
and purifying them should be begun. few OF the
county as and most Of the houses of correction work
houses and houses of industry are conducted on the
new congregate, Auburn system, with notifications
TO the character OF the prison officials In this class
OF prisons however the greatest improvements III penal
and reformatory discipline have recently been made,
and the laws amended so as TO allow longer sen,
fences petty criminals, these establishments would
show more gratifying results in every respect than
obtained in the state prsons AZ the present time
the prisons in this grade are sesupporting and
THESE persons which receive criminals of the worst
kind ana ahot 1 Ths Class includes Observation-Disclosures of
the most diverse description, containing in in
STANCES 900 cOnyicts and In others less than So At
most of these establishments the parents employed
within the walls but i'll some OF the southern states the
conyics have been employed on railroads at some dis
lance from prison This mode OF employment would
prove advantageous were II adopted as III ireland, IN
prisoners until they should be prepared for their final
discharge At present the number OF State prison
vcts decreasing in the North Eastern States but III
creasng rapidly in the South and the West The aver
age number of prisoners in the state prisons II estimated
at 1900 and with the exception of about 200 in Phade
Although in nearly all the States provision Is made for
shortening the sentence Of the prisoner for good be-
havOr no opportunity is given for classification and
education is greatly neglected Several OF the state
prisons self-sustainng, and even return a
small revenue The revenue derived from tine labor OF
cOnvicts Is not OF much Importance compared Win the
iudiciOus treatment, but II is proper to note that prisons
of moderate size readily be made self sustaining
while larger cannot. At the same time all the lniu
of prison OF less than 800 cODycts are more favor
able to the reformation Of its inmates than the influences
OF establishments like Sing Sing 1t would therefore be
better for a state TO build new prison when its con-
vcts exceed 500 in number than TO enlarge old prisons,
unless method of conditional pardOns, by which the
increase ia numbers might be regulated, should be
adopted.
II the duty of prison in the United States
TO adopt the main features OF the Irish system without
delay. Every state needs an Inspector or commission
Of Inspectors having access to and supervision over
prisons OF all grades Such Inspectors would report 10
the Legislature the actual defects and necessities OF the
prison system of each state They could obtain com
such changes would correct the standing abuses
of the present system.