_Penal and Charitable Institutions._--The state penal and reformatory
institutions consist of the state prison at Thomaston, the state
(reform) school for boys at South Portland, and a state industrial
school for girls at Hallowell, established in 1875 and taken over by
the state in 1899. The two schools are not places of punishment, but
reformatory schools for delinquent boys (from 8 to 16 years of age)
and girls (from 6 to 16 years), who have been committed by the courts
for violations of law, and, in the case of girls, who, by force of
circumstances or associations, are "in manifest danger of becoming
outcasts of society." The prison is in charge of a board of three
inspectors and a warden, and each of the other two institutions is in
charge of a board of trustees; the inspectors, warden, and trustees
are all appointed by the governor and council. Convicts in the prison
are usually employed in the manufacture of articles that are not
extensively made elsewhere in the state, such as carriages, harness,
furniture and brooms. The inmates of the state school for boys receive
instruction in farming, carpentry, tailoring, laundry work, and
various other trades and occupations; and the girls in the state
industrial school are trained in housework, laundering, dressmaking,
&c. Paupers are cared for chiefly by the towns and cities, those
wholly dependent being placed in almshouses and those only partially
dependent receiving aid at their homes. The charitable institutions
maintained by the state are: the military and naval orphan asylum at
Bath, the Maine institution for the blind at Portland, the Maine
school for the deaf (established in 1876, and taken over by the state
in 1897) at Portland, the Maine insane hospital at Augusta, the
Eastern Maine insane hospital at Bangor, and a school for the
feeble-minded (established in 1907) at West Pownal, each of which is
governed by trustees appointed by the governor and council, with the
exception of a part of those of the orphan asylum, who are appointed
by the corporation. Besides the strictly state institutions, there are
a number of private charitable institutions which are assisted by
state funds; among these are the eye and ear infirmary at Portland,
the Maine state sanatorium at Hebron for the treatment of
tuberculosis, and various hospitals, orphanages, &c. The national
government has a branch of the national home for disabled volunteer
soldiers at Togus, and a marine hospital at Portland.
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