The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-05-04
STAIR REDUCES Cost
OF STATE i PRISONERS

IA
veal. TWine plant raised from loss 7
profit column. y.
During the year ending June sc
1920, it cost the taxpayers of the stat,
over $4,000 per month to keep a per
son in the state penitentiary, compar
ed to $24.28 per month during th'
current year, tor less than one-fourtl
the cost under the old administration
Comparing the cost to the Taxpayer
for operating the state penitentiar,
during the year ending June 30,1920
amounting to $177, 1888, and the es
timated cost for the current year
i s59, ,74O.69, it appears that there ha:
/ been a saving Of SILT, ,593.14, during
this year and in addition the ayeragt
attendance during the current year K
date is sixty more inmates than tht
average attendance during the veal
ending June 80, 1920. ..@ IN. !
Recognizing the services. rendered
the inmates Of the North Dakota State
Penitentiary and the taxpayers Of the
! state, l.. L. Stair has been appointed
to succeed himself as warden Of the
state penitentiary by the board of ad-
ministration. gr-
Record for Efficiency -.
Mr.. Stairs record as warden during
the past two years has shown a decid-
ed Improvement over previous admin
istrations in many ways. During the
wear ending June 80, 1920, the cost of
maintaining the state penitentiary to
the taxpayer was $177,333.83 or ST.
222.29 per capita based on the aver
age attendance of 145 inmates, or in
other words, it. cost the taxpayer over
$100 per month to keep a prisoner In
the state penitentiary. i
Mr.. Stair Immediately set out to in
.vestigate this high per capita cost
and commenced to make corrections in
management under various depart
ments, regardless of favoritism or po-
litical influences. -. H..
A fair sample to illustrate the cost
of maintenance under the old system
is the per capita cost during the pre-
vious year for the various classified
tions under the new book system in
stalled at the organization of the
board of administration. This shows
that there had been expended for meat
lard and fish 19,622.8O, or $135.33,
per inmate per year for this one item
alone. This lis for meat purchased and
does not incluoe the amount that was
raised and butchered at the peniten-
tiary farm. Other items that We're
found excessive were cost of other
groceries, cost of fuel and many 9TH
er items which Mr.. Stair Immediately
set about to reduce. Pa.
Cut Expense $4,000 First Year
During the first year of Mr.. Stairs
administration he was able to reduce
these expenditures over 100000
and increase the efficiency of the
twine plant to show a large profit
instead of an operating loss. During
the current fiscal year, which ends
June 80, 1922, it is apparent that he
will reduce the cost about $500 per
inmate, over the showing made by his
predecessors. ,s~
Mr.. Stair believes that if the state
penitentiary can be kept out of poll
tics, and with the necessary legisla-
ton enabling them to obtain equip
ment for profitably employing all the
inmates, it will be matter of a short
time until the state penitentiary will
not only be on self supporting basis,
but will be an asset to the taxpay-
ers, instead of q liability. * =:
= No Illiterates in Prison
+ In addition to the reduction in ex-
pense to the taxpayers, the condition
of the inmates has been greatly inn
proved. Among other things, it has
been claimed that the North Dakota
penitentiary is the only institution of
its kind in the United States which
has no illiterates. The school system
installed by the present management
has taught all the inmates Of the
institution to read and write. 4.
During the past two years under
Mr.. Stairs management there have
been nine escapes from the state PEN
itentiary, which is the lowest during
any two year period. During the year
ending June 80, 1920, there were nine
escapes in one year and previous TO
that time escapes ranged as high as
fourteen in one month. The records. of
the institution show that in July, 1916,
fourteen inmates escaped from the
state penitentiary at one time.
ss$y ~ + 5. 2&