Great Falls tribune., 1921-11-30

findings Of fact it has been careful to
conclude against the former prison nd
ministration only when q clear pre-
ponderance of the evidence SO war
rants The oral Instructions of your
exceilency that frank. courteous in-
| committee communicated 70 the former
warden. In return he invited your
committee to inspect any part OF his
| private premises at any time, stating
| that nothing would be locked against
/ us.
Your committee has freely commun-
icated with the former warden and
with his assistance many seeming ir-
regularities were satisfactorily cleared
up.
The investigation has at all times
Investigation Results.
son of prison costs and, with the ex-
ception of the condensing or eliminat-
ing of a few extensive tables Of fig
ures which are sufficiently explained in
the accompanying paragraphs, the re-
port is in full as follows:
Comparative Cost of Prisons.
From report of State Accountant
Stewart, who has spent the past five
months in making an audk OF the Mon
tana state prison affairs, it appears
that the per capita cost per day for
maintenance at the Deer Lodge prison.
during the last sixteen months of for
mer Warden Conley's administrator,
was the sum of S1.974.
During corresponding period. the
daily per capita cost for maintenance
of prisoners in the state prison of our
aeighboring state Of Washington was
The average cost per day for MAIN
tenanee of prisoners in all Of the
state prisons of the United States
during the same period was 1858.
The Minnesota state prison last year
was not only self-supporting, but the
work of the prisoners returned for
the support of their families about
$3.50 each per annum.
Years ending Nov. so,
1920 ,;o., $4ae' 70 e'9nM e9o 99
Total ..........s 46,s2s5s
Average cost for period for
sos men should have
been 80 $0O ,l1oSl
Cost above the average. :. .$1S9, ,70466
Convict Testimony.
1t is unquestionably true that the
testimony of men confined in the state
penitentiary will be given little cred
ence by the general public. The ex-
perience of your, committee has been
this:
That while some Of the men con-
fined in the penitentiary are unrei
able in their statements, yet in the
AhAy, krx~ - s,n
terest in the statements that they
make, their word appears to be as close
to the fact as that OF the average man
on the outside. Taking the depositions
during this investigation, your com
mittee has been careful to call in sew
eral prisoners from whom inquiry was
to be made, at the same time and then
to take their depositions privately so
that there was no chance of making
up q story ahead OF time and it has
been observed that under such crthm-
stances, the stories of these men agree
as closely as the stories OF men not
convicted of crime would agree.
For instance, the blacksmith was
testify us to the crops Of hay that had
been raised on the Aylesworth and
Walton Ranches in 1920, and stimuli
tuneously prisoner was called IN
from the power house, which are just
about as far apart as two places could
be on the prison grounds They agree
entirely as to what part of the crop
was hauled from the Walton ranch. to
Conley 4 McTague's dairy barn aud
as to the hauling Of hay from the
Aylesworth ranch to Conley. & Nc
Tagues dairy barn. Neither ono
knew but that the transactions were
proper. Under these safeguards it
would seem that where the story OF
one substantially corroborates the 9th.
er in a serisf of details, that full
tcers'na'a ea f.s. s'..