Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-26
PROSPEROUS PRISON.
Income from Labor and Other Sources
 "A Per Cent of Expenses.

frlSOn aSSoclatlOn was sent 10 tne
 governor this week.
 i The document is signed by Ppesi-
 dent James w. Cheney. of South Man
 chester. Vice President w. O. Burr.
 Frank c. Sumner and Thomas Dud- l ley Wells, of Hartford, w. c. Rev.
 holds, of East Haddam, Edward A. Fuller, of Sufiield. and Frederick M. iSalmon. of Westfield. The main fea-
 lures of the report are as follows:- l The striking fact in connection
 with the administration of the Con-
 necticut State Prison for the fiscal
 year ending Sept 30. 1906. was the
 establishment of new record for
 revenues Earnings from productive
 labor aggregated $57,411. while re-
 ceipts from various other sources
 swelled the total income to $61.015.
 This showing representing nearly "A
 per cent, of the operating expenses of
 the institution, surpassing the income
 exhibit of any previous year. and en-
 abled the prison management, despite
 the high cost of supplies to limit to
 $22,S61 its draft upon the state l treasury.
 All the able bodied convicts were
 regularly employed Steady produc-
 tive labor, supplemented by varied
 and nutritious diet, by adequate li-
 brary facilities. by firm albeit kindly discipline and by other helpful agen- cies. Is the best scheme of reform yet invented-best for the delin- quent by supplying him with a ladder by which he may climb, rung by rung. back to proper social adjust ment, and best for the taxpayer by lifting a few hundred weight from the economic burden of crime. No effective substitute for hard and intelligent work in promoting the welfare of the convict is likely ever to be devised by the wit of man, and, on the other hand the mischief which Satan still finds for idle hands to do is nowhere else so pronounced as behind locks and bars. Employ ment does not necessarily beget moral betterment, but unemployment nec- essarily prevents it. Liklihood of re- formation ends where idleness be- gins.
 The figures of population for the year developed moderate drift tow lard expansion. Diping to mini mum of 466 and rising to a maxi mum of 50S, the census showed a daily average of 4S7. This number exceeds by i6 the average daily count for 1905, and surpasses by seven the average for the past five years, although it falls 20 short of 1899. The annual variation in the size of the penal colony follows no fixed law. but the general principal that, ether things being equal. in- dustrial depression tends to promote serious crime, and industrial prosper ity to check it. usually holds good, al though 1t occasionally suffers bruise or two.
 Including the S1 convicts who were transferred from Newgate, the number of criminals who have been sentenced to the Connecticut State Prison since the opening of the insti- tuition at Wethersfield in 1927 slight ly exceeds S.000--a checkered throng that has committed nearly every known 0ffense against property, per- son and chastity and that has repre- sented all types of delinquency from the keen brains gone askew and seek ing to play the game of life crooked ly to the dull and stupid intellects easily swept from their insecure moral moorings by gusts of passion.
 The annual number of admissions. involving a study in variation, has run from minimum of 2S In 1S47 to maximum of 263 in 1898.
 Examination of the geographical distribution of the commitments show that Fairfield county has been proportionately the most generous to the prison colony. The explanation casts no shadow of dis honor on the character of the inhabi- tants of the southwestern corner of the commonwealth. Professional criminals who make New York city their headquarters find it convenient to make predatory excursions into Fairfield county and when their plans go astray and instead of getting booty they merely get caught. their journeys are involuntarily extended to outlu. oi thOcC hO come to steal remain to serve.
 The growth of the foreign faction of names on the prison roster chal- lenges attention and invites word of comment. The percentage of con- victs born under alien flags has in- creased from g Ia 1856 to 3S in lsO6-an expansion of 14 per cent during the hurrying years of half a century.
 The infusion O: certain strains of foreign blood into the penal popula- tion has been striking, almost. and specific allusion to two or three na- tionalities Is not intended to suggest any odious comparisons. Fifty years ago no representatives of either the Slav or Latin race were found in Wethersfield: TOW they are numer- ous. lt was not until 1863 that a solitary native of Poland was sem tenced and not until twelve years later that a Russian-born offender was committed; now 2l former in- habitants of these countries are att tired in prison garb In Connecticut. The first Wethersfeid penalty in- lieted on a native of Italy dates back to 1860 and the largest number of immigrant Italians undergoing im- prisonment at one period up to 1892 was [: now the figure has sweIed to IS.
 CuriousIy the number of female eonvicts has undergone only slight variation for three-quarters of a cen-