The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-03
FEWER NUTMEG CONNECTS.
Connecticut State Prison Report Shows
 Decrease of Criminals.

The annual report of the directors of the Connecticut State Prison shows a decrease in the number of convicts i'm prisoned from the figures of last year. Some shrinkage is noticeable in the in- voluntary attendance at the Wethers- field institution. The daily average population at the prison for the year ending September 30 was All. This was a decrease from the daily average of the roceding year of nine, and from the annual average for the last ten years of seventeen.
 The directors suggest that this is due to the industrial prosperity, which has resulted in more opportunities for em- ployment, and the alleged change in the attitude of the criminal courts, by which, it is asserted, the judges, in cases of optional penalties, are sending 8 larger proportion of convicted crim- inals to the county jalls than to the States rison.
 The officials say that periods of great demand for help coincide with periods of industrial prosperity, and that it has been noticeable during such eriods that there is a falling off in the num- Der of serious crimes among men, who easily find work in shops and factories.
 It is striking that the ratio of the prison census to the general state cen sus is now considerably smaller than it was seven or eight years ago. The total prison population annually is, of course, certain to expand with in creased state population, but that the ratio is sagging is comfortable fea- ture of the situation.
 The report gives the earnings of pro ductive convict labor for the year as $55,079, extra receipts from various sources swelling this total income to s5S,7S7, which is the best financial statement made during any year. The revenues were sixty-eight per cent. of the gross operating expenses of the States prison, with the result that ne- cessary drafts on the state purse for the conduct of the institution were neither large nor burdensome.
 The movement to change the present | pJ plNlll OL NOulllJ Jebilo AiAeAJ DC SCUM " receive an impetus from such an ex- cellent prison statement, The proposi- | tion is something along the line of a radical shift from the resent system so that three or four state jails, located in central positions, would take the place of the present smaller institu- tions, run by the counties.
 The finances of the State rison show that $30,71S has been left unexpended of the $S0,000 biennial appropriation by the state. This is a saving of thirty eight CT cent. of the total state grant and is the best showing yet made Were it not for the necessary expenses of the insane ward, where revenue is spent and F1ana brought i,il, i,il tthis savifs would be even greater.
 l The report states that the ratio oi life convicts still remains higher thar in most prisons in the country. There were 47S prisoners undergoing sentence at the close of the last fiscal year; ant of these f1fty-eight, or more thai twelve per cent, were serving life sen tences. The ages of these prisoner range from twenty-six to eighty-nine ,I The periods of individual confinemen among this class of life prisoners foo up to a total of 743 years, running iron a. few months to forty-six years.
 The report says that of the 473 pris oners forty-seven were under twent. years of age at the time of admission and not less than 252 were under thir ty. On the other hand, thirty-one wer over fifty years old. During the las ten years fully eight per cent. of thos committed to the institution were un der twenty, and fifty-three per cent under thirty After the age of tfiirt, the proportion of commitments dwindl, rapidly