Arizona republican., 1917-09-02
THE MUDDLED AT FAIRS
 IF THE STATE PRISON
 UNDER[ATE NANACEMENT

Some time later Mr. Sims told another fellow prisoner, countryman of mine B. Marioni who was working at the superintendent residence, that he would send the money to my wife in Italy. About a year later l inquired of MT Sims about the meek and 1 re- ceived the answer that he had used the amount of the check for payment of the expenditures when occurred from my escape from prison. When I de- manded a receipt I was told by Mir. i Sims that this was unnecessary. 1 Now, Mir Anderson, l would like you would investigate the matter for me as { l am certain that there should be a record kept in your office of what be- ! came of the money.
 ] | wrote to the consul general in New 1 York about this matter and in his re- i ply he stated that he believed the money would be turned over to me at my release from prison. l am enclos- ! ing said letter from the consul.
 Whatever you can do for me will be 1 highly appreciated by me.
 Very respectfully yours,
 MT. Lee speaking of this matter said | that FGigenci without any knowledge that he knew anythi..g about the fore | i had written to Superintendent Ander- son. MT. Lee looked up this transac- tion and found that Fulgenci's account was credited in the ledger on August
 p, 1914, with $S11 and was charged the same day with $311 for expense return from escape" This sum was made up of the checa for s306 and $5
 Fulgenci had in his possession at the time he was turned over by the San
 Diego authorities.
 l Continuing regarding this transac- tion MT Lee says: There is no record | on the books transferring this amount 1 into the receipts of the prison which
 would have been the only proper way | to handle this item had it been used as
 stated by the former superintendent. 1 Payment for the expense of escapes are made by the state on claims duly eX- ecuted at the institution and there is no reason why this particular expense should have been handled differently l from any other.
 1 Touching OF the expense in connec- tion with the escape of No. 3774 we find the following claims were paid by 1 the state through MT. Sims advance account as follows:
 | August r, 1915, Detective Pub
 fishing company .......$12.25 .25 l August 2S, 1915. detective serv- n ices m Denver ............. 23.O0 l ''I cannot locate any claim covering :! the expenses of Guard Simmons in ! bringing the prisoner back from San
 Diego; but it is absolutely unreason- l able to suppose that the amount of l such expense would be anywhere in the
 neighborhood Of $311. One fourth or one third of the amount would be com paratiVely reasonable
 I At any rate the -iansactlon is ir- ] regular and more complete information | should be furnished by the officers in 1 charge of the institutions affairs at the time the transaction took place. l do not know anything about the law governing the repayment of expenses of escaped prisoners, providing they ] have a credit to their account at the time of the escape. This credit was entered on the books about four weeks ! after the return of the prisoner to the l prison so it does not seem reasonable that any such law should apply to the 1 transaction. In any event the claim for expense should have gone through the records in the regular manner, ac- , companied by proper receipts. On April 21, 1916, the state treas urer's account which represents re- 1 ceipts not otherwise classified, which [ are periodically remIrted to the state {; was extended at $2,231.73 and should : have been extended at $2,53173, an er- TOT of $500. This was corrected on ! August , of that year In the mean time all the statements sent to the board of control wee forced for the , reason that the foregoing error threw them out of balance Evidently no at tempt was made to check back the en ! tries or extensions for such a large differnce ought easily to have been To-
 cated
 Another unexplained transaction was
 discovered In the claim of Pratt
 Gilbert X Co.,, for A.ay of this year
 there are foUnd the Following items charged as toliows: 8aas
 May 23-l cream separator, in-
 cluding freight S65. 5C
 May 2SL1 lawn mower . 902
 The separator was afterward crossed out or the claim book and was paid by
 the personal check of Superintend
 Sims. Still later the lawn mower wa.
 paid for by Dr. Ransdall the prisor
 physician. Says Mir. Lee regarding thi. transaction: Though there may have
 been no wrong intent in this transac-
 ton. 1t appears rather irregular to D,
 ordering machinery or equipmen through a state institution, for person
 al use"
 From time to time the last five year.
 statements have appeared regarding
 the cost per capita of maintaing tn,
 inmates of the prison. How this cos
 was arrived at does not appear; ther,
 are centainly no figures found availabl,
 by Mir. Lee Cn which an accurate state
 ment could have been based. If ther,
 were any records that might have beer
 reliable they have passed out of ex
 istence
 As MT. Lee states in his report ;
 scientific system of accounting ant , management must be de novo. It cal
 not be said that the present manage ment is a sJccessorship; it has onl, followed in point of time the manage ment of MT. Sims. The latter did no wait for his successor Superintendent Anderson to arrive but he had departet , some days before.
 f As MT. Lee states he received no as { sistance or explanation regarding tn , fragmentary records found in the offc of the institution.