ANNUAL REPORT of the Inspectors of the State Prison, for the year ending Nov. 30, 1854.

To the Honorable, the Secretary of State of the State of Michigan: The Inspectors of the State Prison transmit their Annual Report: The Report of the Agent is hereto appended, which, together with the tables embodied in this Report, will furnish a detailed account of the financial and other transactions of the Prison, during the year just closed.

The Inspectors, however, will state in general terms, that the total cash receipts from all sources, including cash on hand at the commencement of the year, amount to the sum of $29,213.55, and total disbursements to the sum of $28,732.53, leaving a cash balance in the hands of the Agent, of $481.02. The amount expended for the support and maintenance of the Prison, exclusive of building and repairs and including the pay of officers and guards, is $24,724.81, while the total income from the Prison is only $18,708.14, making excess of expenditure for this purpose, over income, $6,016.67. Last year this ex cess was $3,704.70, and the difference is mainly to be accounted for in the excessive high prices which the Agent has been obliged to pay for supplies throughout the year.

Notwithstanding, as stated in the Agent's Report, by rejecting the lowest proposals for furnishing rations and purchasing provisions at the market price, about $1,200.00 has been saved to the State, yet they have cost about four cents per day more than in any other year previous to 1853, and the cost of other supplies has advanced in nearly the same ratio.

In this connection the Inspectors would further state, that on account of the increased number of convicts, and the peculiar arrangement of the work shops, it has been found necessary to create two additional keeperships, at a salary of $400 per annum, and, as much of the labor performed by convicts on account of building and repairs, was done outside of the yard, the services of an extra keeper have been required to prevent their escape. Hence the expenditure for this purpose has exceeded by several hundred dollars, that of former years.

The contracts now existing for convict labor, will expire in the spring of 1857, and should the present high prices for Prison supplies continue, no material reduction in the excess of expenditure over income, can reasonably be expected until that time, when it is hoped better prices may be obtained for labor.

Advertisements, inviting proposals for furnishing rations the coming year, were published in October last, but as no bid could be obtained for less than fifteen and-a-half cents per day, all proposals were again rejected, and the Agent directed to purchase supplies in the market. A good stock of potatoes has already been obtained, and several contracts have been entered into for furnishing the most important articles, on terms which give good grounds to hope that the Prison will be relieved from any greater expenditure on this account, than was incurred during the year just closed.

On the 30th day of November, 1850, the number of convicts in this Prison was 131. There are now 246. Thus it will be seen that they have nearly doubled in four years; and it is expected that the number will be materially increased at the close of the various court terms now in session.

There are only 246 cells in the Prison, and should the number of convicts increase as is anticipated, it will become necessary to lodge many of them in the hall occupied by the Guards in the night time.

This would greatly endanger the safety of persons employed in that service, increase chances for escapes, and cause much inconvenience in other respects. Hence, the immediate necessity of constructing additional cells must be apparent. To complete the block already commenced, according to the plan originally adopted, will require the construction of eighty-two. This number it is confidently believed will soon be needed, and, as doubts have arisen in the minds of the Inspectors as well as the Auditor General, in regard to the authority of law, for drawing money on their certificates for the purpose of building, the Board would respectfully recommend that a special appropriation be made for this purpose.

The cells constructed during the year just closed, have cost about fifty dollars each, exclusive of convict labor employed thereon, and it is thought that the entire block may be completed at about the same

rate.

When the block of cells in the West wing of the Prison is finished, no more can be built until the East wing is erected. In view of the increasing population of our State, and the probability that crime will keep pace therewith, the necessity of early preparation for this work must be apparent.

Believing that our present statutory provisions for the punishment of persons convicted of murder, has become the settled policy of the State and seeing no good reasons why this policy should be abandoned or materially changed, the Inspectors have felt great anxiety to perfect such arrangements as would secure the full and complete execution of the law in this regard.

As stated in our last Annual Report, an act was passed by the Legislature of 1852 appropriating $5,000.00 for building a separate Prison, in which to confine this class of offenders, and authorizing the Inspectors to adopt a plan, and proceed to build thereon.

Such a Prison should be constructed with the most substantial materials, and in a manner calculated to resist all attempts to escape. The sum appropriated was deemed entirely insufficient to accomplish the purpose intended, unless a much greater number of convicts were employed on the work than could be obtained at any time during the last two years without doing great injustice to contractors, and an entire abandonment of improvements of a pressing nature. Nothing was

therefore done until last September, when a plan was adopted, and one thousand dollars of the appropriation drawn from the Treasury. The money is now being expended for 'materials, preparatory to commencing operations in the spring, when it is thought a sufficient number of convicts may be reserved for the work, to carry it forward to an early completion.

The plan is in the form of a rectangle, standing with the end to, and forming an L with the main Prison. A block of cells, numbering sixty, and three tiers in height, will occupy the central portion of the building. The cells will be six by ten feet on the floor, seven feet high, and entirely surrounded by a hall eight or ten feet wide. The whole to be lighted and ventilated in the most approved manner.

The law abolishing capital punishment in this State, took effect on the 2d day of March, 1847, since which time, a period of nearly eight years, fifteen persons have been convicted of murder, and sentenced for life to solitary confinement at hard labor in the State Prison. The arrangements of the Prison are in no way calculated for enforcing the sentence of the law in this regard, without greatly endangering the health and lives of the convicts. In all cases therefore, where it has been deemed safe, the Inspectors, prompted by feelings of humanity, and acting under a resolution adopted April 2d, 1849, by the Legislature, have from time to time directed that these convicts be taken from their cells and employed as others. Eleven of the fifteen have been so employed. While in the shops during the day time, they are secured by heavy iron shackles, and placed under the direct surveilance of competent keepers, and at night are securely locked in their cells.

The Board are aware that many good and valid objections are raised to this practice, and when suitable arrangements are made for confining this class of convicts in their cells, without subjecting them to the tortures of a lingering death, they hope to see it abolished.

The Physician reports that there have been two hundred and twelve convicts prescribed for, and two thousand one hundred and ninety-one prescriptions for the different diseases which have prevailed during the year. For a particular description of which, reference is made to his report, which is hereto appended.

The general health of the convicts has been better during the year just closed, than for several years past.