Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-12-25
New Statutes Fill
3 Federal Prisons
Swelling Ranks of Convicts
Present Problem.

Washington.-In spite of the increaS-
ing maze Of government activities that
| have sprung up since the war, Uncle
Sam is spending more money and en-
ergy every year IN the work of rehabili-
tating the lawless members of society.
Due to the increased number of fed
eral statutes passed in the last few
years, the federal prisons are becoming
an ever greater factor in the enforce
ment of the law and the administration
Of justice in the United States.
Previous to the last decade the total
number of federal prisoners was much
less than at present and a greater pro-
portion of the lawbreakers, having VIC
lated various state laws, were confined
In the state Institutions.
On June 80 of this year the total
number of federal prisoners was S,518.
This was 851 more than the number
for the previous year.
The increasing number of convicts in
the governments charge has brought
about need for corresponding extern
sion of the nations prison facilities and
also for a general Improvement in the
equipment and methods in the present
institutions.
If the plans now being worked out
are carried into effect, the United
States will have probably the most ex-
tensive and scientific prison system in
the world, according to the experts of
the Department of Justice.
= 10 Sfv.xy hoc
three federal prisons located at At
lanta, Ga. Leavenworth, Kan, and Nc
Neil island, Washington.
Prisons Are Inadequate.
During the fiscal year which ended
last June 80 it cost the government
81, 74S, 094.85 to maintain and operate
these three institutions. This was an
Increase of 100000 over the expendi-
lures of the federal prisons for the
previous fiscal year.
Yet, despite the greater expenditures
for operating these institutions, federal
prison officials claim that the three
penitentiaries are wholly inadequate
for housing the steady stream of con-
victs being turned over daily by the
courts. Last spring the crowded con-
ditions of the prisons, particularly al
Atlanta, became so acute that the SUI
perintendent of prisons appealed to the
adjacent state institutions to take over
some of the federal prisoners. BY
boarding out" groups of prisoners in
this fashion 1t was possible to find
quarters for all the federal charges
In order to relieve the situation, the
superintendent has recommended to
the attorney general that steps be
taken to procure new corrective insti-
tutions for the government.
Last spring the site was chosen and
work begun on the new penitentiary
for women now under construction at
Anderson, w. Va. This institution is
intended to be a model corrective in
stitution and will be modern in every
respect.
While the new women's prison will
solve the question of what to do with
female federal law breakers, who are
at present confined in state prisons, it
will not aid the congested situation in
the penitentiaries for men.
Prison for First Offenders.
The Department of Justice now ia
vors as a solution of the congestion
problem the construction of prison
to be filled entirely by first offenders.
The government prison experts advo-'
cate this plan, because 1t is thought
that, by keeping first offenders segre-
gated, they will be less likely to learn
the tricks of the trade from the hard
ened lawbreakers with whom they