The Harrison times., 1908-12-12
IT, NEWS OF ~
! ARKANSAS |
ha-''.'''.-!a
278 Convicts Were Pardoned in
Years,

Years.
After four months of painstakinS
work, Superintendent Pitcock, with
the assistance of Chief Clerk Payne,
of the penitentiary, has practically
completed the biennial report Of the
institution for the period beginning
October 81, 1906, and ending October
81, 1908. The report is one Of the
most interesting in connection with
any department of the State govern
ment, but its preparation is very
tedious, because of the large amount
of detailed work required under the
various subdivisions, in all Of which
the greatest care and discrimination
must be observed.
The report in brief shows that for
the biennial period there have been
handled at the State penitentiary a
total of 1000 prisoners, of whom
LOOP have been received since the
period opened. The institution "be-
gan business" in October 1906, with
SAT convicts, and at the end Of the
period there were 1888, showing net
decrease of GA. Pardons have been
issued in the case of 27S prisoners,
214 have escaped, 81 have been re-
captured, three paroled, 81 transferred
to the reform school, three transferred
to the asylum for the insane, 573
have been released and 95 have died.
That, in brief, is the summary as
to the disposition of the convicts for
the two years.
A comparison of the pardon lists for
this biennial period with that Of the
preceding period shows that the for
mer contains Is names more than
the latter. For the biennial period
of 1904 to 1906 there were issued 2O3
pardons, against 27S for the period
just closed.
Of the pardons granted during the
period Just closed II were for con
victs in which the sentence was for
21 years or greater, including one
life sentence. OF course, in many in
stances, the pardons were granted
where the men had already served a
large portion Of the term. The
majority of pardons were in cases
where the offense was of minor
nature.
The records show that there is only
one Indian under sentence, he hav-
ing been convicted in Sebastian
County. At the beginning of the
biennial term the distribution Of pris-
oners as to sex, nationality, etc,
was as follows: White, 224 men,
no women, 5S5 negro men, IS negro
women. At the close Of the period
the distribution is as follows: PIP
white men, no white women, 544 me-
gro men, 26 negro women, l Indian,
There are in the Arkansas Penitenti-
ary men of the following nativity: One
Australian, one Canadian, one Dane,
one Hungarian, one Nova Scotian,
two Englishmen and three Germans.
Among the States outside Of Arkan-
sas Mississippi furnishes nativity to
the largest number of our convicts;
there being 63 who claim Mississippi
as their birthplace now doing time
under our penal laws; Tennessee has
A. and Louisiana and Texas tie for
third place with 33 each. Georgia
furnishes q, Alabama %, Arizona l.,
California 2, Illinois 8, Indiana T.
Iowa 4, Kansas 2, Kentucky 10,
Michigan /, Missouri 26, Nebraska l.,
New York 2, North Carolina 13, Ohio
2, Oklahoma 7, Pennsylvania 5, South
Carolina 10, South Dakota 2, and Vir-
ginia 4.
As to counties Sebastian heads the
list for the number convicted in her
courts, the number now held being
72. Pulaski County has credit for 60,
and jefferson is signed up for g.
Lee County has SO and Phillips Coun-
ty 33, Hampstead %, Jackson q, and
Miller and Mississippi Counties have
each sent up 23. Calhoun, Cleburne,
Faulkner Izard, Marion and Sharp
have no convicts to their credit, and
only one each is posted opposite the
names of the following counties:
Clay, Conway, Fulton, Grant, Mont
gomery, Newton, Polk, Stone and Van
Buren, Marion County has not had
a convict in the penitentiary for the
past two years.