The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-01-01
STATE PRISON DIRECTORS
SALIENT FEATURES or THEIR IN
NU1L REPORT.
The Work of the Year Reviewed and vari.

! Gus Specific Recommendation Made.
! Hartford, Dec, S1.--The annual report
of the directors of the Connecticut
state prison, together with the reports.
of Warden Woodbridge and Chaplain
Hall, has been submitted to Governor
Coffin. The directors review the work
and progress at the institution during
the past year and make the following
specicitic recommendations:
Section 3,343 of the general statutes
provides that the warden may, with
the consent of the directors, employ
the prisoners, not exceeding ten at
time, outside the prison walls" This
limitation, adopted many years ago
when the institution was comparatively
small, is i'll adapted to existing con-
ditions; and at certain seasons of the
year, particularly when farming opera
tions are being conducted ten men are
most insufficient to perform the neces-
sary work of the prison.
The absence of any facilities for the
proper care and confinement of insane
convicts is a serious deft in the ad-
ministrative equipment of the institu-
ton. In his annual message to the
/ general assembly in 1878 Governor
| Richard d. Hubbard urged that ade-
quate provision for the detention OF
and treatment of the criminal insane at
Wetherstield be made, and recon-
mendation passed from time to time be
repeated and emphasized by governors
and board of prison directors. The
present practice of transferring to the
Connecticut hospital for the insane at
Middletown all convicts who are Off
cially pronounced insane is pregnant
with Objectionable features and it nat
urally tends to induce certain class
of designing prisoners to felgn insan-
ity with the hope of being sent to
| MiddletoWn, where they think the rig
ors of penal discipline may be relaxed
and where they perchanCe suspect that
opportunity for escape may be less rare
and barren.
An insane ward would afford oppor-
tunity for the treatment of incipient
insanity and would be an efficient aid
to prison management
More accommodations are absolutely
essential in order to give proper scope
to the system of grading which has
been introduced in the prison. The
tiers of cells which were erected at the
west wing the past year were con-
structed with a view to having two
supplementary tiers superimposed upon
them, and a moderate appropriation
will render it possible to double the
| cell room in this part of the prison.
At the time of writing this report the
| grading system has been in operation
long enough to justify the directors in
giving it unqualified endorsement. 1t
supplies the convicts with stimulating
motives to good conduct and equips
them with inducements to re-
putable habits of thought and Of ac-
ton. The attractive privileges to
which first grade convicts are entitled
are worth striving to get and to retain,
and they furnish environment which
tends permanently to strengthen their
! The principle of parole is the logical
| handmade of the grading system, and
the directors express the confident be-
lief that its adoption would benefit the
state, promote the highest interests of
the convicts and operate as an effective
aid to prison government. The parole
policy implies that d, prisoner whose
conduct has been meritorious' and who
gives a reasonable hope of becoming a
useful and self-respecting citizen may,
prior to the expiration of his term of
imprisonment, be released under pre-
scribed conditions. 1t signifies that
while at liberty he is still under the le-
gal guardianship of the authorities and
that if he violates any of the conditions
under which he Is released he may,
without trial, be returned to the prison
and be required to serve out the re-
mainder of his uneXpired term 1t in
wolves the official recognition of manly
efforts and honest endeavors on the
part of the convict and it teaches him
that his own interest can be best adj
Vanced by loyalty to the prison admin
istration, by a cheerful obedience to
the rules, industry by the repression of
anti-social tendencies, and by the cult
walton of those habits and qualities
which in the outside world are deemed
essential elements to good citizenship.
| While in prison he is supplied with in
centlVeS 10 exemplary conduct III OF
der to get released, and while out he is
equipped with motives to good behavior
in order not to get back to prison for
violating the restrictions under which
his liberty was granted.
Under the parole system the transfer
of the convict from confinement to con-
ditional freedom is preceded by proper
preparation.
The directors therefore urge that
they be authorized, under such condi-
tons and restrictions as they may
prescribe, and the governor approve, is
sue a parole to any prisoner, except
such as are serving sentences for life
or are known to have suffered a previ-
Gus conviction for a felony; that no
convict shall be eligible to parole who
has not served at least one half of the
full term for which he was sentenced:
that while upon parole any convict
shall remain in the legal custody of and
control of the directors and that if he
violates any of the conditions govern
ing his release the directors shall be
empowered to have him returned to
prison to complete his sentence.