The Topeka state journal., 1902-05-19
Report Of Federal Prisoners and
Their Former Vocation.
There Are 9O6 Convicts in TT.
Leavenworth Institution.
ARE MOSTLY FARMERS.
The List Does Not Include a
Single Lawyer.
Larger Proportion Could Both
Read and Write.


Leavenworth May 19-The report Of
the United States attorney general con-
tains some interesting details concern
ing the federal prisoners. The total
number in custody at the date Of report
was 5000. The government, has not suf-
ficient quarters for SO large number and
accordingly So6 are confined in the United
States penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth,
81 at Mcneil Island, Wash. and the re-
naming 2,-27 in various state institu-
tions, where their maintenance is pro-
yided for from the United States treas
ury.
During the last fiscal year $50 persons
We're sentenced to imprisonment for vio-
latlons OF the laws, !, 1853 OF whom we're
born in this country and only 1sl for
elgn born. The crimes for which these
men We're convicted numbered forty
Prominent among these offenses are VIC
lations OF the postal and revenue laws
The popular idea that illiteracy is re-
sponstble for most of the crimes committed
read and write, while 81 only could read,
and 457 could neither read nor write.
The single men outnumbered the mar
ried men by 160. How large a portion Of
the crimes committed by these prisoners
may be judged from the statement thai
945 or nearly 5S per cent Of the perpetra-
tors, We're under 80 Years Of age. 2o5
We're received under %, 63l between e
and 30, 36S between 50 and 40, 24l between
40 and so, and only 135 over 80. Fifteen
hundred Of these sentenced mad never
before been imprisoned
The largest federal prison is that at
The theory that hard work is good for
mans health appears to be borne out
by the fact that the percentage Of days
prisoners confined in the penitent1ary at
Fort Leavenworth Was only All
The report of the record clerk OF the
Kansas institution in reference to tbs
former occupation of the prisoners dis
the total sos prisoners 442, or nearly 80
per cent, stated that their former oecupa-
ton had been farming. Seventy-six
claimed to have been laborers, 30 eowboys,
20 teamsters. 1s cooks and l9 BARRIERS.
In other words 75 per cent Of the prls-
oners had followed the six callings re-
ferred to- the remaining Is per cent being
variously distributed among sixty-ffve
other vocations. The list includes ona
/ teacher, one banlzer,two druggists, one cleo
trician, one gambler, one telegraph oper-
two photographers four merchants. Iour
one commercial traveller This list does not
include a single lawyer.
The report OF the chaplain for the
Leavenworth penatentiary during the
same year, shows that Of Sl7 prisoners
interviewed 1872 claimed to have been
! total abstainers, 153 to have been addict
/ ed to the use of strong drink, and 30
admitted that they We're Incorporate. Two
/ been reared in Christian homes, and only
i As that had not had the advantage of
! Christian training.
The prisoners in the Leavenworth
prison are engaged in building a new stone
! prison which win be model of its kind.
| When it is considered that very few of
these men have had any experience, the
| construction by them of so large a build
| ing is remarkable. They have nearly fin
! ished the interior-cel houses. boiler
house and laundry building-and have
built up about 1.75o feet of the prison wall
at an average height from the foundation
i of twenty-five feet Of stone seven feet
thick and fourteen feet of brick four
inches thick. Besides this, there is q
farm operated by the institution, which
had last year under cultivation by the
/ prisoners 69S acres, the estimated value
/ Of the yield from which was S15sS45.