Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899Various
History
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Of much more importance are the statistics of illiteracy, kept for a
term of years. Warden Hale reports in 1896 that out of 1,287
prisoners, 120 can neither read nor write, 220 can read but can not
write, and 947 can both read and write. Of course, many who are rated
in the third class read and write very poorly, and a careful
classification in terms of the public-school system is essential to
clearness. Warden Aull, at Folsom, reports that out of 905 convicts, 6
are college men, 81 are from private schools, 53 from both public and
private schools, 582 have attended public schools only, and 147 are
illiterate, while the remaining 36 call themselves "self-educated."
According to the evidence of the wardens, no full graduate of any
American university has ever been an inmate of either prison. The
so-called college men were men who had spent some time at a college of
one kind or another. So-called professors appear among the convicts,
but I have been unable to discover that any professor in an
institution of standing has been at either San Quentin or Folsom since
its establishment.
The preceding statistics of illiteracy are defective, but some
additional light can be had from the tables upon occupations. Among
905 prisoners at Folsom, 96 occupations were represented. In round
numbers, thirty-four per cent were mechanics, twenty-nine per cent
were rated as laborers, twenty per cent were in business, and seven
per cent were agriculturists. But a closer analysis of the statistics
on this point shows that nearly fifty-seven per cent of the entire
number came from the following occupations: acrobat, barber,
bar-tender, butler, cook, gardener, hackman, hostler, laborer,
laundryman, mill-hand, miner, nurse, sailor, vaquero, and "no
occupation" (22).
The classification of crimes is very complete in all prison
statistics, and usually follows the legal phraseology. Nearly all come
under three great divisions--crimes against property, crimes of anger,
and crimes which arise from a perverted sexuality. From year to year
the proportion in these great divisions varies but little. In 1894 out
of 1,287 convicts, 796 were sentenced for crimes against property, 358
of which were for burglary, 170 for grand larceny, and 39 for forgery;
there were 343 commitments for assaults and murder, 188 of which were
for murder in either the first or the second degree; lastly, there
were 85 commitments for rape and other sex crimes. This was a typical
year, and will serve to illustrate for all and at both prisons.
The terms of imprisonment are long: out of 1,300 men in one annual
report, 143 were for life, and 392 for ten years or more. Over 300
prisoners had served more than one term, and some were even serving
their eighth term. Some at Folsom have reached their twelfth term. The
ages of the prisoners have ranged from sixteen to eighty-six, but the
danger period is evidently between eighteen and forty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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