The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-09-16
MAY ASK FOR A
NEW PRISON
Governor Says Penal lnstitu-
ton Is Too Small and Not
Up to Date.

From Thursday Advertiser)
The question as to whether or not
Oahu penitentiary should be moved
from its present site to another location
is one that viii probably come before
the next session of the Legislature.
Governor Frear suggested yesterday
that something will have to be done in
regard 10 enlarging the prison and
bringing it up to date and he said that
as long as radical changes will have
TO be made, it might be as web for
the legislature to consider the matter
of location and the possible building
of a new Jail
The Governor spent most of yester
day delving into the figures submitted
by the various heads of departments,
with view to finding out how well the
departments are keeping within their
appropriations and also to see where
he can best spend the remainder of the
100000 contingency fund.
Particular attention was paid TO the
prison and the Governor has made the
painful discovery that the increased
cost of living is being felt by the prison
officials as well as by ordinary mortals.
Prison figures are based ON the cost
per day per prisoner, and the figures
show that it costs several cents a day
more now to keep each prisoner than
it did a short time ago. The higher
price of various commodities is largely
responsible for this, but there are also
other reasons. For one, the county Jail
is now separate from the territorial
prison and consequently there are fewer
prisoners in the penitentiary than for
merly. Naturally, the prison officials
are not able to buy at as advantageous
figures as before. Besides this, more
of the prisoners have to be kept at
work in the institution as cooks, ser.
wants and SO forth, and this reduces the
earning capacity of the prison as a
whole.
Governor Frear says that the prison
is not up to date. 1t is too small for
one thing, and the arrangements are by
no means perfect. The sanitary ar
engagements are not what they should
be and the legislature will be asked
to do something to remedy this. Also,
under the present system, each of the
cells has to be locked separately. This
would prove dangerous in the event of
fire and some new system is needed.
In view of the radical changes that
need to be made and the value of the
present prison site, Governor Frear says
it might be as well for the legislature
to consider the matter of selling the
present site and moving to another To-
cation, preferably one nearer the quar-
ries where most of the prisoners now
work. As this would probably take the
Jail into a residence section, there is the
probability that any such suggestion
will meet with strong disapproval.
Contingency Fund.
Governor Frear says that fourteen of
the twenty-four months of the legisla-
tive period have now passed and so he
can Judge pretty well what demands
will be made on his contingent fund.
So he is now figuring on how best to
apply what is left of the fund. The
prison has been running behind for
some time, on account of the increased
cost of living, and a draft must be made
on the contingency fund to keep the in
stitution out of debt. There are plenty
of other calls on the fund and the ques-
ton is to find out what is most neces-
/ sary and what can be eliminated.