The Socorro chieftain. [volume] (Socorro, N.M.) 1902-1959, 1907-07-13
PRISON MANAGEMENT
BY CAPT. TRELFORD
HAS BEEN VERY BAD
According to a Letter Written by Acting Governor
Raynolds to the Board of Penitentiary Com
missioners. Letter Cites Extravaganza
and Probable Deficit.

ACCORDING 10 lettef duuTeSSeu
by acting Governor Reynolds TO
the board of penitentiary commis-
sioners, still another feature OF
the late reform administration
lacks very much of being credit
able To an administration for
which so much political virtue
was claimed. The letter is as
follows:
Gentlemen:
In connection with the report
of Mr.. Trelford as to the finau-
cial condition of the penitentiary
on December |, 1900, your atten-
tion is called to the fact that il
is in many respects inaccurate
and misleading. For instance.
some of the totals cannot be YER
flied by summing up the items
which go to make them totals,
although they may be the result
of typographical errors. So
much cannot be said, however,
for his imputation on page 5 that
no record of accounts receivable
was made by his predecessor,
since Mr.. Trelford himself re-
ceipted for something more than
81, 100 of such accounts and al
forwards collected them.
An even more egregious blum
der, or deliberate misrepresenta-
tion, is the statement of credit
on page IL, where amongst other
items there is deducted $7l 200
on account of receipts from con-
victs' earnings. Mr.. Trelford's
own figures on pages . and 10
show that $4,000 of this amount
was a direct appropriation by
the legislature, while 81, l96 was
paid in by Mr.. Bursum, who it
seems also paid in $500 more on
April ?, 1906, before he relin-
quished the superinte ndency.
This -, 900 was not held in trust
as it should have been pending
the decision of the court, but all
of it has been spent and should
the court find that Mr.. BurSum
did not owe that sum to the ter
ritorY it will become a charge
against the penitentiary, which
institution is without funds to
meet the payment.
Much more serious, however, is
the present state of affairs, as an
examination of the official records
in the Office of the Territorial
treasurer shows that the finances
of the penitentiary are in very
unsatisfactory condition, this be-
ing true particularly with refer
ence to the maintenance fund,
1t appears that payments for this
fiscal year have been made oul
of this fund as follows:
First quarter .........SlS,OS4 ~
Second quarter O,Soo y;
June .......... 2,4S4 ?!
Total .............S S22, 4O5 o.
, Unpaid. bills on hand
more than. ...... 80, 200 w
Total .............. .S2S, 4O5 2
AS these expenditures hav
: been incurred in seven months /
= is clear that at this rate the cN
penditures for the year wOul
. aggregate $50, 600, while the az
preparation itself is but $35, 5,0OC
- and since the recent management
n of the penitentiary has spent S2S
a 900 out of this fund in seve
- months, the incoming superinter
Z dent is confronted with the prol
lem of continuing the mainter
= ance for FIVE months with les
than $1,000 available in th
a fund.
Many claims have been mad
~ through the press and otherwi:
~ as to the unusually economics
30 management of this institute
- under the superintendency
80 Mr.. Trelford, but investigate
of the records shows that the
~ claims we're not only utter
30 specious but were in no sen
10 borne out by the facts or figure
W For instance, the penitentia
ooo reports for the past years she
- that the total disbursements
% the institution were as follows
round figures: