USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
355
SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
nations. Burke says of this great philanthropist: " He visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect manuscripts, but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the dimensions of mis- ery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten; to attend the neglected; to visit the forsaken, and to compare the distress of all men in all countries." What a glorious cause he served ! Yet it must be confessed that for the general good of the nations, the setting in motion of the human- itarian and philanthropic views of Howard has brought nothing but bad fruit. The benefits have all been on the side of the criminal. The agitation once having been started, the subject being so full of tenderness and even grandeur, naturally enlisted the most eloquent divines and statesmen. So that fifty years ago the excitement seemed to have culminated. Commis- sions were almost everywhere raised to investigate the subject of prison reform. Commissioners were sent here from foreign countries, and our own greatest men of all classes set to work in investigating, writing, and speaking upon the subject. And this was natural, as long as the people were inter- ested, for eloquence always selects man's wrongs, misfortunes, and abuses, as the best themes for riotous declamation. As long as this excitement kept up to fever heat, crime increased in the country. Finally a lull came in the agitation, and with it a lagging of the increasing current of crime. In 1872 the eloquence, and the charity, and the sentimentality of the United States again broke out with intense violence upon the subject. They seemed to be and they were, determined to reform the prisoner, and prevent the commis- sion of crime. All the nations of Christendom were seized with a spasm of intense brotherly love for the poor unfortunate criminal. They met in Lon- don in 1872, and their great divines and statesmen made speeches and wrote essays. Then, again, they met last year in Stockholm, and did it all over again, in the most fervent manner. All over the United States we have founded prison associations for the relief of the criminal, and we have held State and Federal Congresses for the same purpose, and what has it amounted to? It has made prison life easier-it has made it easy. It has made crime, as a career, quite respectable in the eyes of very many. It has more than doubled the criminal element of the Christian nations in the short space of seven years. It has more than trebled the number of convicts in some of our American States within that time. It has increased our number of con- victs from sixteen thousand to about thirty-five thousand, and gives us over sixty thousand criminals in the United States. The convict should be protected in all his rights as a convict, but it should never be forgotten for one moment that he has forfeited every other right, and he should never be permitted to forget those things. If there is ever to be any deterrent
356
HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
effect in the imprisonment of the convict it will be when the outside world looks upon him with loathing and with horror, and when the convict lives a life of humility and obedience, recognizing fully his loss, and that of the State, by his crime and imprisonment.
In concluding this part of my report I beg leave to summarize the fore- going. I would- 0
First, Give to each prisoner absolute seclusion of nights.
Second, Would confine him to his cell alone for at least a short time upon his arrival at the prison, and would authorize his separate confinement at any time thereafter, in the discretion of the management, subject only to a reasonable restriction as to length of time.
Third, Would make him work when possible.
Fourth, Would give him free intercourse with the good, whether reformed prisoners or outsiders, but would prohibit general visitation as at present practiced.
Fifth, Would encourage the "trusty " system by the constant advance- ment of good and reliable prisoners, and would carry it to the full extent, in rare and important cases, of allowing prisoners to leave the prison and visit their friends and relations.
Sixth, Would have as near silence as possible in marching, in the dining- room, and in the workshops; but prisoners should at all times be allowed to make known their grievances.
Seventh, Would continue the " Goodwin " or good "Copper " bill.
Eighth, Would advise the Legislature to devise some plan for the equali- zation of sentences.
Ninth, Would use the pardoning power ten times to where it is now used once; would not use it absolutely, but conditionally. The Governor may impose any condition he pleases; he may confine one man to the limits of a particular town; another to a particular township; another to a county, or to a farm, or he' may send him out of the State or the United States, or he may pardon him upon condition that he pay a sum of money for the sup- port of the prison, or that he furnish beef for the prison for a given time.
There are at least one hundred prisoners here who ought, in my judg- ment, to be pardoned, and there are at least two hundred more serving excessive, unheard of, and inhuman sentences. Then, again, there are at least two hundred prisoners here, under short sentences, who should either have been sent for life or long terms.
Official Force .- As will be seen by reference to the Clerk's table, giv- ing list and rank of officers, we have been compelled to make an increase of five in the guard force. This was made necessary by the increased number of prisoners, and the extra hazard of working a large gang of men on the hills some distance from the prison. We found it absolutely necessary to employ a competent book-keeper as Assistant Commissary, or Commissary's
357
SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Clerk, and also to appoint a Moral Instructor. Of the force in general too much cannot be said in their praise for watchfulness and uniform fidelity to their trusts. The officers, one and all, have been true and devoted, and are entitled to the highest commendation for their fidelity to the service.
The Brick-Yard .- The making of brick has not been carried on this season, and never can be again, unless land is purchased in the neighbor- hood from which the requisite quality of clay can be obtained. Since my last report we have made about six million five hundred thousand brick, to which should be added two million on hand at the end of the burning season of 1877, making eight million five hundred thousand. The cost of the two burning seasons, 1877 and 1878, have to be taken together from July 1, 1877, making a total, mostly for fuel, of twenty-four thousand four hundred and one dollars and twenty-five cents, as may be seen by reference to Table Fifteen. By reference to Table Thirteen, it will be seen that the income from the sale of brick amounted to eighteen thousand one hundred and one dollars and sixteen cents. There are yet owing to the State several uncol- lected balances for the sale of brick, all of which I hope to collect before my term of office expires. It will be impossible to give anything more than an approximate estimate of the brick used here in the various buildings and other improvements. Relying upon the best method of computation, it being impossible, the way the buildings and improvements were made, to keep an exact account, I estimate the number of brick used at four million. We have on hand about one million five hundred thousand, perhaps more. The balance have been sold, mostly for seven dollars per thousand; some, however, at seven dollars and twenty-five cents per thousand.
Buildings and Other Improvements .-- That a full and complete under- standing may be had on the subject, the Clerk has retabulated that part of our last report coming under the head of "Building Fund Expenditures." To this we place, in tabulated form, our expenditures for other buildings since constructed. The recapitulation, marked "Table One," of buildings, shows that we have expended two hundred and twelve thousand five hun- dred and nine dollars and twenty-five cents for all buildings, and what they are. "Table Two," of buildings, specifies in detail the expenditures. From these tables it will be seen that we have used twelve thousand five hundred and six dollars and twenty-five cents from the General Fund for these absolutely necessary buildings. Since the last report we have put up a cell-building, containing two hundred and four iron cells, at a cost of forty-one thousand two hundred and nineteen dollars and ninety-three cents. The items of cost will be found specified in "Table Two," above mentioned. We have also erected a building for library, school-room and chapel, two shop- rooms, kitchen and dining-room, all in one, at a cost of ten thousand four hundred and twelve dollars and ninety-two cents. The part of the building
358
HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
used as a dining-room is about three hundred feet long, forty feet wide, and one story high. The other part of the building used for kitchen, shop- rooms, chapel, library, and school-room, is about eighty feet long, forty feet wide, and three stories high. We have also erected a building for a clerk's office and store-room, at a cost of four thousand five hundred and eighty-two dollars and seventy-four cents, which is two stories high, and about forty feet square. We have also erected a drying-house next to the boiler-build- ing, forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and one story high; also an addition to the boiler-house for the storage of fuel, about thirty feet square, and one story high; also a small building one story high, thirty by twenty feet, at the lower door of the north shop, for the use of heavy machines. The cost of these last buildings have gone into the "General Improvement Account," as there was but little new material, other than brick, lime, and sand, used in their construction. In addition to these improvements, the hill in front of the commissary department, and looking down towards the front gate from the guns, has been cut down, and a heavy brick wall has been erected at the foot, and a terrace wall on top of the hill. This Summer we have built, or rather excavated, a large reservoir on the top of the hill, north of the Prison. It is about two hundred feet above or higher than the lower floor of the shop buildings, and will hold about three million gallons of water. The excavation and cutting down of the hill required the removal of about one million seven hundred thousand cubic yards of earth and rock-mostly soft rock. Table Four, of Clerk's report, will show the amount expended on this important work up to the 1st of July, 1879, to be but one hundred and thirty dollars. The expenditures since that date will properly go into the report of my successor. But I may state that up to the 1st of October, 1879, the whole sum paid out amounted to five thousand and seventy-five dollars and five cents. The whole cost of the work (it is now completed, but all the bills are not in), will be about nine thousand dollars, besides the brick used. The number of brick used in its construction was about one million one. hundred thousand; the quantity of cement, one thousand eight hundred barrels, and over all a heavy coating of asphaltum, so that it is as well and strongly lined as possible. I estimate the number of bricks used in all these improvements at about four million. We have been engaged for the last seven months in sinking an artesian well, and have it down now, at this writing (October 31st), to a depth of seven hundred and fifty-five feet. Our contract with the well-borers was to pay them six dollars per foot. We can only express a hope that we may strike water; if so, it would almost repay any outlay. Up to July 1, 1879, this work had cost two thousand and thirty-seven dollars and one cent. With our present storage capacity for water, and with the piping and other appliances we have for fighting fire. we may feel perfectly safe from that destroying element in the future. That is, we may if we keep a full supply of water on hand. The Marin County
359
SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Water Company have furnished us, as indicated by their meter, something- over eighty thousand gallons per day. For the excess over eighty thousand gallons per day they claim compensation, their bill amounting to nearly two thousand dollars for the two years ending July 1st, 1879. A majority. of the Board of Directors, they alone having authority to audit bills, have felt disinclined to allow anything for the excess, so the matter still remains unsettled. The company measure all the water sent here into our reservoir, through their meter, and charge it to us. They, however, have very many small customers for water, to whom they sell, fixing their own price and col- lecting as they please. These customers take the water from our reservoir, through our pipes, and in quantities to suit themselves.
I have been at all times willing to pay the excess whenever I could know its quantity after deducting the amount drawn off by the company's cus- tomers. As this is an impossibility, or nearly so, I would suggest some other arrangement be made, satisfactory to both parties if possible. Whilst I have been willing at all times to make an effort to come to some under- standing upon the question, my associates on the Board have been unwilling- to do anything more for the Water Company than we are now doing. I would advise that the Water Company be required to use the small reser- voir on the hill for their other customers, and that in the future they be not. allowed to take water from ours, as we will henceforth draw from the new reservoir alone. It was gross official neglect, and a great misfortune, that made it necessary for the State to pay one thousand dollars per month for water for use at a public institution located in the country. The Prison should not be at the mercy of any company; should not be in a position to suffer from the caprice or avarice of anybody, but should have water attached to the place as a part of the State's property.
Financial Statement .- For a complete financial statement I refer to the report of the Clerk.
. Table One-Monthly cash receipts. Total $940,790.30.
Table Two-Monthly disbursements. Total $940,186.29.
These sums are doubled in this way, as will hereafter appear: Money or warrants received are charged as receipts; when deposited in bank it is credited as disbursements; when drawn out it is again charged as " cash received," and when paid out is again credited as disbursements; so that. the sum appears twice as great as it actually is.
Table Three-Shows the sources of all receipts, and the amount.
Table Four-Shows for what purpose money was disbursed, and the sum to each item in the list of expenditures. Reference is respectfully made to the note at the foot of this table. It has been a custom to allow the officers
NOTE .- These tables have been found too voluminous for production in these pages, besides they are not absolutely necessary as aids to the reader.
360
HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
five dollars per week in lieu of their board. Many who have families avail themselves of this privilege. Many guards and employes fail to draw their pay regularly from the pay-roll; in such cases the sums are carried to a separate ledger account.
Table Fire-Is a recapitulation of cash transactions from July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1879, inclusive.
On hand at the date first above given, $1,068.37; received from all sources, $940,789.30; total, $9+1,857.67; disbursed, $940,186.29; amount on hand on the 1st July, 1879, $1,671.38.
Table Six-Gives monthly the sums received for merchandise sold, with the aggregate, $44,252.34.
Table Seven-Gives the assets and liabilities at the end of each month.
Table Eight-This table makes as complete an exhibit of the matters therein specified as it would be possible to make by a tabular arrangement. On the 1st July, 1877, we had one thousand three hundred and eighteen convicts in the Prison. We now have one thousand five hundred and sixty- four, an increase of two hundred and forty-six. The average for the two years is one thousand four hundred and seventy-five. The increase for the last two years, it will be seen, is in excess of that of the two years preced- ing by thirteen. The total maintaining cost of the Prison for two years has been three hundred and ninety-one thousand nine hundred and eighty dol- lars and ninety-four cents. The average number of prisoners being one thousand four hundred and seventy-five, it will be seen that the cost of each convict per day is thirty-six cents and four mills. I add here the maintaining cost of the institution for the quarter ending September 30, 1879. This, of course, will again have to be gone over by my successor, as it will belong to a fiscal period which he will have to cover by his report. But I will doubtless be pardoned for embracing the opportunity to show, as fully as possible, the transactions here under my management :
Maintaining Cost at the California State Prison, July, 1879 .- Sub- sistence, $6,161.92; forage, $399.69; clothing, $736.08; shoes, $405.87 ; beds and bedding, $208.37; medicines, $256.72; stationery, $35.94; general use, $761.68 ; expense account, $27.55; water, $1,000; freight and telegrams, $14.41; salary, $5,130.65 ; wash-house, $65.29 ; fuel, $839.28; postage, $15.20; total, $16,058.65. Number of prisoners, July 31, 1879, 1,553; average cost per day per capita in July, 33.3 cents.
Maintaining Cost at the California State Prison, August, 1879 .- Sub- sistence, $5,962.48; forage, $367.61; clothing, $1,007.30 ; shoes, $474.39; bed and bedding, $209.60; medicines, $241.57; stationery, $32.55 ; general use, $799.19 ; expense account, $25.80; water, $1,000; salary, $5,147.95; wash-house, $55. 62; fuel, $340.05 ; postage, $12.25 ; freight and telegrams, $18.94 ; total, $15,695.30. Number of prisoners, August 31, 1879, 1,558; average cost per day per capita, in August, 32} cents.
361
SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Maintaining Cost at the California State Prison, September, 1879 .- Subsistence, $5,790.75; forage, $355.82 ; clothing, $829.36; shoes, $426.59; beds and bedding, $252.98; medicines, $260.12; stationery, $54.04 ; general use, $683.67; expense account, $14.80; water, $1,000; salary, $5,101.90; wash-house, $58. 53 ; fuel, $191.38 ; postage, $15.55 ; freight and telegrams, $31.67 ; total, $15,067.16. Number of prisoners, September 30, 1879, 1,531 ; average cost per day per capita, in September, 32.72 cents.
Recapitulation of Maintaining Cost for Quarter ending September 30, 1879 .- July, $16,058.65 ; August, $15,695.30 ; September, $15,067.16; total, $46,821.11. Average number of prisoners during the same period, 1,547 ; average cost per day per capita during the same period, 32.8 cents. Total for subsistence, $159,834. 15, divided as follows: Guards' mess, officers' mess, and warden's house, 2.783 cents; brick-yard mess, hospital mess, female mess, wash-house mess, Sundry No. 8 mess, and masons' mess, 2.217 cents; prisoners in general, 9.845 cents. Total cost for food, $159,834. 15-14.845 cents; water, $24,000-2.228 cents ; salary, $118,745.49-11.028 ; clothing, $19,772.70-1.836 cents ; general use, $19,568.85-1.817; forage, $12,920.04 -1.199 cents ; shoes, $10,277.09 -. 954 cents ; bedding, $8,031.35 -. 745 cents ; medicines, $4,919.12 -. 456 cents ; stationery, $1,170 43 -. 108 cents; expense, $1,479.67 -. 137 cents ; freight and telegrams, $736.50 -. 068 cents ; washing, $1,499.76 -. 139; fuel, $9,020.59; profit and loss, $5.20 -. 839 cents; totals, $391,980.94-36.399.
So far as mere economy is concerned, this is a very marked improvement, one upon which I congratulate the State, and also my associates, who, by their close attention to business, have enabled me to make this flattering exhibit : The maintaining cost, daily, for each prisoner for the last quarter has been 32.8 cents; for two years ending June 30, 1879, 36.4 cents; for two years ending June 30, 1877, 42.7 cents ; for two years ending June 30, 1875, 44 cents ; for two years ending June 30, 1873, 533.
Without going into details, or making a lengthly comparative statement, showing the maintaining cost in each of the States, I will abridge this report by saying we are much below the average of American prisons in supporting cost. In fact, I have found but three penitentiaries, run under our system, which are cheaper than ours, namely : West Virginia, 315 cents; Sing Sing, 282 cents; Auburn, 31 cents.
The three New York penitentiaries, Auburn, Sing Sing and Clinton average 34 cents 9 mills ; the Clinton being at a cost of 45 cents 5 mills. I divide the daily average cost per convict as follows, which I believe to be a correct analysis of Table Eight of the Clerk's report.
Table Nine-Gives the maintaining cost per capita per month of the differ- ent items, fractions of mills left out, except in profit and loss.
Table Ten-Gives the monthly earnings, from which it will be seen that
362
HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
the total is but one hundred thousand two hundred and sixty-nine and fifty- six one-hundredths dollars.
Table Eleven-Specifies the carnings from which it will be seen that but ninety-three thousand seven hundred and thirteen and seventy one-hundredths dollars were earned by labor. This miserable showing is not to be attrib- uted in any way to want of zeal and proper exertions on the part of the directors and officers of the prison, but to the bad laws governing us in the letting of labor. For six years past the law has prohibited the letting of the labor for less than fifty cents per day. This has prevented us from hiring the men except in limited numbers. I believe we would have been able to make this a self-supporting Institution but for this unwise limitation. With this restriction, and no appropriation, or law authorizing us to work the prisoners on State account, we have been compelled to let four-fifths of them remain idle, or employ them in unproductive labor. I recommend that even now, at. this late day, the whole matter of letting prisoners for the next two years, be left to the Directors and Warden to do the best they can. I say for the next two years, for after that time, under the provisions of the new Constitution, no labor can be let out by contract, but all convicts must be worked on State account.
In view of this constitutional restriction, I would recommend that the Leg- islature make provisions by appropriations, for the working of the prisoners in the discretion of the Directors and Warden. I would do this for the reason that it may be difficult to find contractors, even if the fifty cents restriction should be removed, who would be willing to take the hazard in any mechanical enterprise with a full knowledge that they must break up their business at the end of two years.
The present contractors are the California Furniture Manufacturing Com- pany, working from one hundred to one hundred and twenty five men- Stone & Hayden, J. C. Johnson & Company, Armes & Dallam, and the Door and Sash Company, are each working a number of men, but none of them have taken contracts. I suppose they will all continue to employ a limited number of prisoners until the new Constitution turns them out. They all together work about three hundred men, the number varying according to the pleasure of the employers.
Table Twelve-Gives the income per month.
Table Thirteen-Specifies the income.
Here it will be seen that the total sum received from the State treasury is three hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars. This shows an actual cost to the State of one hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars per year, all of which might have been saved to the people, but for the reckless reform legislation which has prevented the hiring of prison labor. The sale of man- ufactured articles on this coast, other than cloth, will amount to over twenty million dollars yearly, yet this miserable policy has been adopted for fear
363
SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
that one hundred and eighty thousand dollars worth of such articles, manu- factured by convicts for their own support, would produce injurious compe- tition with the honest mechanic. If the labor could be generally distributed, or even distributed among eight or ten different kinds of manufactures, no one could possibly feel the result except the taxpayers, particularly, as we are buying and selling convict-manufactured articles from several other States. Reference is here made to the explanatory note at the foot of this table.
It will be seen that we have sold eighteen thousand one hundred and one and sixteen one-hundredths dollars worth of brick; an 1, also, seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three and fifty-two one-hundredths dollars worth of live stock. This is for the sale of hogs mostly. But for the very bad luck we have had in fattening hogs we might have sold twice or three times the number. We have tried by purchase to keep a sufficient number on hand to consume the waste material from the kitchens and dining-rooms, but by reason of the prevalence of an epidemic we have lost many hundreds; so that for several months past we have kept on hand a very few, hoping the dis- ease would eventually expend its force and die out.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.