The Juvenile Court in Porto Rico has three means at its disposal for taking care of children that fall under its jurisdiction. It may send them to the Reform School at Mayaguez, in case they are boys. (There is no Reform School for girls in the Island.) It may also send them to one of the two charity schools in existence, or it may place them under the supervision of a friend or relative who must respond to the probation officer for their good conduct. The Reform School at Mayaguez will accommodate only 100 inmates, and as these are usually required to complete a rather long term of years in the institution, the number of vacancies occurring in the school each year is very small. The charity schools, both for boys and girls, are also overcrowded, and there is very little chance of the Juvenile Court being able to send any of its cases to either of these institutions. As a result, special wards have been prepared in the Insular penitentiary, and the most serious cases are assigned to these wards until such a time as there is a possibility of their being placed in the Reform School. An attempt is made to give the inmates of these special wards industrial work and some academic instruction, and they are kept absolutely separate from adult prisoners. Of the 164 cases mentioned, the following disposition was made of the children: 34 were sent to correctional institutions (most of these were sent to the special wards in the penitentiary), 38 were placed under the care of their mothers, 24 were placed under the care of their fathers, 9 were placed under the care of both parents, 8 under the care of friends, 12 under the care of guardians, 17 under the care of relatives, and 6 were sent to the charity schools.