Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1915-01-20
RETRENCH SAYS BOYLE
Continued From Page Two)

Tor additional cell room. II NOT a
complete change in the name of
quartering all prisoners.
In line with the modern theory
mat our penal institutions should
nave their first and most import
ant object the reformation of those
confined within them, Nevada must
ultimately provide for the classified.
ton and for the proper sanitary hous-
Ing Of her prisoners.
Our present equipment requires
mat two or o prisoners be con-
nned in a cell. The cells themselves
as well as the general surroundings
are not designed with any idea of
sanitation, and despite the best ef-
forts of the prison management
proper classification is impossible.
h warden in his report, to which
you are referred, calls. attention to
the immediate demand for addition
al cell room, 1 am personally OF the
opinion hat the state is confronted
with "a crying need for a modern
prison, either at the present site or
preferably at the prison farm which
ultimately should employ a large
percentage of our ~convicts and it is
my belief that no more patchwork
additions to present plant are to be
recommended, and that whatever is
done now must be designed to dove
tail into the general scheme OF such
a modern penitentiary as the state
must ultimately construct.
The large irregular quarry-yard of
the present plant is difficult and ex-
pensive to guard as compared with
the cost of guarding a rectangular
wall-enclosed yard, and the total alb
sence of scientific design in the prison
buildings results in the necessary en-
ployment of a larger inside force than
is usual in such institutions. In fact,
taking the Utah State Prison "a model
institution MS a basis of comparison,
a modern p"enitentiary can be conduc-
ted at a saving in guard expense
alone which will amount annually to
Il sum equivalent to 6 per cent in
terest on $4,000.
| do not advocate a large appropri-
alton for new construction at this
time, but ii is my belief that a definite
building program should be adopted,
looking to the ultimate construction
of a proper ~penitentiary, and that our
%convicts not otherwise employed
should be put to work at once in get
ting out and preparing the stone nee
essary for the new structure. A
nominal appropriation for supervis-
ion will thus enable the state to keep
its convicts employed beneRcially on
this work for the next two years.
Attention is called to that portion
of the warden's report which refers
TO roa work. This may have
resulted in part from poor manage
ment the cost item alone is not the
only argument against the system as
applied to Nevada conditions. We
have only a limited number of con-
"AS " NC "othSu w q
guard on public highways where they
are subjected to unusual temptations
TO escape. We have thousands Of
miles of road needing attention in
of the benefits growing of the
use of the prison road-gang between
communities entitled to enjoy them
appears TO me a hopeless task. A
prison labor at the same rate and
cost as the highways already con.
structed in this manner, would take
about one hundred and twenty years
to complete and would cost upward
of three and one-half million dollars.
1t is not contended that the work
would actually proceed on such a
project as 1t has proceeded on the
experimental roads thus far con-
structed. but the figures given are il
Eliminating.
The prison farm is rapidly being
brought to a condition where it will
NOltl lNl 6Clg W IhC ouppOlI vi
the institution. Experimentation with
various crops to discover the type Of
culture which will employ the most
men, while producing the greatest
commercial yield, should be provided
for. The great amount OF hard labor
at the disposal of the state on this
farm should make it possible to uti-
lie some intensive form of cultiva-
ton which would bring handsome re-
turns.
The State Engineer and Water Law.
Nevada in 1903 enacted an irTiga-
ton code providing for the expedi-
tious determination of the priorities
and extents OF the various rights to
the use Of the waters from her nat
uTal esourccs. The original law, which
was in harmony with the principles
of water appropriation and regula-
ton adopted by the state at the out.
set, was found, after several years.
experience, to be too general in It's