Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-01-26
MILEAGE GRAFT CHARGED
suPT. MORGAN SAYS STATE is
CHEATED OF THOUSANDS.
Large Percentage Of Commitments to
House Of Correction from Large
Towns for Revenue onIy-Remedy
for Abuse Recommended.

The committee appointed to invesu-
gate state Institutions completed its
work for the present at the house OF
correction at Rutland, Friday noon, Jan
10, and the members left for theii
homes. They will return In n few weeks
and continue the Investigation. Tht
principal witnesses WERE Supt. ID. l.
Morgan and A. Il. Cudworth OF South
Londonderry. and II. Il. Pier or ia
maica. directors of the house of cor
rection.
Supt Morgan gave sensational testi-
mony relative to the manner In which
| the state is mulcted OF thousands oil
dollars annually as the result OF mile
age graft" He said that II Is general i
ly believed that a large percentage oil
the men brought to the house OF cor
rection are committed mainly for the
money there Is In II for the officers con-
Quoting them to Rutland, This is es-
pecially true In regard to the larger
towns. those which were mentioned be-
ing Burlington. st. Adams. Bellows
| Falls. Montpelier and Barre.
In some instances. Mr.. Morgan testi-
| fled. tradesman out of work goes into
a town and instead of begging from
house to house for something to eat
applies to the town for lodging. He
Is at once jailed for vagrancy and In
few hours finds himself in the house
of correction He had done nothing to
warrant such treatment but the OFF,
GERS arrest him because of the graft.
and the public knows nothing of the
matter.
I one instance of six young men look
/ ing for work was cited. They were
unsuccessful in New Hampshire ana
| boarded a freight train for Vermont,
| but before they could get of after ar
irving in this state some officer saw
his chance and ran them in" for six
months.
| Mr., Morgan recommended that the
state legislature enact a law that would
provide for the placing of a salaried
officer at the house of correction to
make trips to the iails in all parts OF
the state and bring real offenders" to
! the prison This would do away with
( the sentencing of men for the bene-
| fit of the officer" Under such condi-
lions the superintendent believed that
the number of inmates would be below
/ $50. Besides this there would be fewer
short-term men which means that
those who were sentenced would be
of more use In the marble shops.
| Ii was brought out in the testimony
! that the women prisoners have pract-
cally no exercise although their SEN
fences on the average are longer than
those of the men. Their work Is almost
entirely inside the Jail This was not
in accord with what the committee de-
sired and il was stated that a yard
should be provided where the women
might exercise every day. There is one
case now where a prisoner serving her
fourth sentence is suffering from the
first stages of consumption due to close
confinement.
Mr. Morgan said he was satisfied that
there were no immoral actions at the
institution. He found one such case
existing when he took charge of the
institution in 1898 but 1t was stopped
Immediately
The testimony of the directors was
to the effect that the crowded condi-
ton should he relieved. They thought
that before any money was expended
by the state To enlarge the jail II would
be advisable TO try some means of les
SEEMING the number of prisoners.
If these failed 1t would be time to
provide larger quarters for the crimi-
nails During the past few years the
increase Of criminals in the state
prisons has exceeded the increase in
the population by large percentage.
The commitments to the house Of
correction for the year 1905 We're as fol-
lows.