The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-11
Georgia's Conyicts.

w 0UIlbSuty. Wnll6 MT. Il. IL. Sht1-
brick, the assistant keeper of the Georgia
penltentiary, was hard at work at the capitol
representative offTHE CONSTITUTION dropped
in.
"Letme see-how many people are in the
penitentiary, anyhow"
THE total number of convicts in the peni-
Tertiary on the. LIST of August, 1888, was
1861
"Whopee! Don't that show big increase
in the last few years?"
mot bit of it. Three years and half
ago, when came into this office, there were
1858 convlets in the penitentiary. In about
month the number will be smaller than now,
because the discharges will exceed the recep-
tions."
"How many are in for life p"
'The total number under sentence for life
foots up 203'
For what crimes ?'
"Well, there are ITO in for murder, 23 for ar
son, for riot and 2 for bestiality."
"What seems to be the most popular crime
with the wicked people?"
Burglary. There are $40 convicts in the
penltentiary for that crime. That is a trifle
over 81 per cent of the whole number of the
inmates of the penitentiary."
'How many are in for larceny 2"
'The total number in the penitentiary for
larceny, in all OF its forms, is 256. That in
cludes horse stealing, larceny from the home,
person. etc. But there are only IA convicts in
the penltentiary for larceny after trust. That
OF trusts than many people might Think
go on please-anything Interestingly"
'Ihere are ia cOnvicts in the penitentiary
for the crime ofrape. or assault to rape, and
there are 200 IN for assault with intent to muir
der.
"Of the total number of convicts in the pen
itentiary Cos are confined for crimes against
the person, such as murder, assault to murder,
etc., and 958 are in custody for crimes against
property, such as burglary, larceny, etc."
va 1no
eyes, few. There are only seven cases for
Kidnapping"
care there any counties in Georgia which
are not represented in the penitentiary?"
"Yes-there are five counties which have
not single convict in the pententiary"
'Name them, quick"
Murray, Towns, johnson, Catoosa and Col
quit"
"Hurrah for that quintette''
"Ihen there are nine counties which have
only one convict each in the penitentiary
They are Schley, Fayette, Glascock, Haber-
sham, Heard. Miller, Charlton, Dawson and
Echols."
'That's record to be proud Of Which is
the leading convict county in Georgia.
Chatham has the largest number of con-
victs in the penitentiary. She has 1863, and is
closely followed by Fulton, which has 1885,
Then there is big skip to Muscogee from
which there are 30. Bibb comes next with
81. Richmond has only &c. Floyd 81, and SO
on to the end of the chapter"
THAT showing contains food for thought
don't it?"
st certainly does. 1t indicates that the
criminal element is concentrated in the larger
cities Just think of it. Six counties furnish
40 convicts to the penitentiary."
"How about criminals doing so again after
having been discharged?"
"Ah, I'm glad you asked that question, and
it gives me great pleasure to say that after
close investigation an estimate has been made
which, while not absolutely accurate aDDroxi-
mates the truth. That estimate shows that
only about per cent of the convicts in the
Georgia pe@itentiary are serving the second or
more sentences. That is to say, about that
per cent Of the turned out conyicts are re-
turned"