The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-09
PRISON FIGURES ARE ENCOURAGING. Total Number on January 1
 Was 109,311 WAS LITTLE CHANGE Increase, However, Is Shown in the Number of Insane-Analysis of
 Figures Made by
 Dr. Hill
WAS LITTLE CHANGE
By SIDNEY EsPEY


 cial reformers that the number of criminals is increasing each year in the United States, is made in the report of Dr. J. A. Hill, chief statistician for
 revision and results in the census bu- reau. The figures in the report, which has just been made public, seem to jus tify the claims of the reformers, but the explanation of them by Dr. Hill proves the fallacy of their contention. The preliminary count of the prison population included the inmates of the United States penitentiaries, state pr!- sons, county jails, almshouses and in stitutions for the insane and feble-
 minded According to this preliminary count the prison population on Jan | uary 1, 1910 was 109,311. OfNhis num- Der 2625 were United States prisoners confined in the penitentiaries at At 1anta, Ga, Fort Leayenworth, Kan.
 and McNeil Island Wash. When one stops to think of the 90,000,O00 people that live In the United States and that | only one hundred thousand are in pri son, it is an evidence of the firp grip | that the respect for law has upon the American people.
 
 son during 1910 were 462,53O, and the number of prisoners discharged during | the year on account of expiration of | sentence, pardons, or death was 456,- l 996. The number of violations of the law in which the offender had been | sentenced to prison is exceedingly
 small, considering the population. Only one person in every 1S0,000 committed 1 some breach of the felony laws. The last previous census of prisoners was taken June 30, 1904, and at that l time the prison population was 81,772 and the admissions and commitments during that year 149,691. One taking
 a nasty glance at the two reports will | imm ediately say that the reformers are l justified in their statements, for the | figures of this years report are much 1 larger than in the report of 1904. The l two reports, however cannot be com pared because of 1910 enumerat ton in- cuded cases of Imprisonment for the non-payment of fines imposed by the | courts, while the census in 1904 did not | include such cases Accordingly the
 marked increase in the prison popula- | tion, and more especially in the num- Der of commitments does not show an | increase in crime, but is largely &C., | counted for by the difference in the scope of the two censuses. Taking this | into consideration, there is very little difference in the number of prisoners | and an increase would be trivial Later the census bureau will be able
 to separate from the 1910 figures the cases of Imprisonment for non-pay- I ment, of fines and thereby obtained | figure which will be fairly comparable with the enumeration of six years ago. l The larger number of admissions re- | ported as compared with the population | on February l, is indicative of the fact l that a larger proportion of the commit ments are for short terms and minor | offenses. In the final census report | the prisoners will be classified with l reference to the offense for which they
 were sentenced, and the term of the l sentence
 | A slight decrease in the number of l Juvenile delinquents is shown in the l 1910 report over the report of 1904. In | 1910 in the reform schools and insti-
 tutions of that class there were 22,9O9 | inma tes. In the same institutions in | 1904 there were 23,034.
 | Of the convicts 93.5 per cent are males | and 56O1 or 65 per cent are females. In | the penal institutions 70,069 of the con victs are males, and 470l are females. While Sl,722 were in the institution in 1904 | only 51,172 of them were engaged at productive labor. Of the remainder, 21 ,403 l were engaged in prison duties, such as | cooking, washing, cleaning and other do-
 
 sick or invalid. and 10,6S6 were idle be- cause no work was provided for them, or l because they were purposely kept in com l fnement without labor. The total value | of the goods produced by convict labor was 35,276,2O5. This sum represents the | market value, that is the amount for which the goxfs were sold, or when used in the institutions in which they were produced, the estimated amount for which f tha 1iob l | The number of paupers in amshouses on January 1, 1910, was S3,944. The num-
 Der admitted during the year was 106,- 457 and the number discharged or dying | 100S5S. In 1904 the pauper population was | S1. .764 at the beginning of the year. The | admissions during the year were S1,412 and the discharges or deaths T.SS6. One of the most striking features of the report is the large Increase in the
 number of cases of insanity among pris- oners Tn the last few years insanity has been the plea for almost every crime 1 that has been committed. Many feign | insanity and are committed to insane asylums. Since the famous trial of liar | ry Thaw, who shot and killed Stanford White in Madison Square Garden, tenn porary insanity has become the loophole 1 by which many have sought to avoid the penalties of the law. Some are adjudged | l insane and are sent to an asylum for | the criminal insane, and are afterward de- | | clared sane and allowed to go free. In | 1904 the number of inmates in insane asylums was 150151. In 1910 this num-
 Der had increased to 1S,12S. an increase of 22. 6 per cent for the six years. The num- Der of commitments to insane asylums | during 1904 was 49,622. In 1910 there were 59,62S commitments. This represents an increase of 2O.2 per cent. There is much needed revision of the criminal laws regarding insanity. In nearly every important. case either the prisoner during his infancy or early life has shown signs of insanity or some one in the family three or four generations back had been confined in an asylum. In- institutions for the feeble minded there were in 1904 14,347 inmates. This number has grown to 20,199 in l91O The number of commitments in- creased from 2599 in 1904 to 3S4S in 1910. It can readily be seen from the re- port that during the six years since
 the last criminal census, there has been very little change in. the number or criminals except in the case of the insane. The loud cries of reform heard on every side are not justified. It IS exceedingly doubtful if the laws of any other nation in the world are so gen orally obeyed as in the United States
 The prophecy made by reformers that
 the, couMtry was fast losing its fair
 name and was sinking into a race of