As settling a question about which some doubt existed, and especially as giving information that must be valuable to many, and interesting to all, the report of the Chairman of the Committee on the Penitentiary is subjoined. TO THE ACTING COMMITTEE, &C. As Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Eastern State Penitentiary, I have been requested to make some inquiry into the manner of determining the value of the work done by the prisoners, and the allowance to be made to them for “over-work.” The inquiry has been made accordingly, and the following may be given as the result:— In the first place, it is an important fact, that the law of the State only directs that convicts shall be sentenced to “hard labor,” leaving the _manner_ of executing the sentence to the Inspectors and Wardens, or those having the immediate control of the Jails and Penitentiaries. There is no provision for any compensation to the prisoners for this labor; the primary, and probably the sole purposes for which it was made a part of the sentences, being to enforce it as a salutary part of the prison discipline, and also as a means of compelling the prisoners to contribute something towards the expense of their maintenance; consequently, any allowance made to them for over-work is altogether a gratuity, which they have no right to claim. In the exercise of the discretion vested in the Inspectors and Warden of the Penitentiary, they judged that the introduction of rewards to the prisoners for industry would have a salutary tendency in several directions, and they therefore allotted to each of them, a certain quantity of such kind of work as should be given him, to be performed in a day, or a month, to pay for his keep. This is sometimes called “the task,” and is so moderate, that with ordinary skill and application, it can be accomplished with ease. Such a money valuation is affixed to this work, as will admit of the Institution obtaining from their outside customers a small advance, to provide tools, working materials, &c. The prisoner is expected, at the price affixed, to earn for the Institution from twenty to twenty-five cents per day. No penalty, however, is visited on him for a failure, unless it is the result of culpable sloathfulness or insubordination. Every thing done beyond this allotted task, is credited to the prisoner as “over-work,” at the same rate affixed to the “task,” half of it for the use of the County, and the other half for his own use, to be paid to him at the expiration of his term; or portions of it, during his imprisonment, are applied, at his request, to the purchase of books, or, perhaps, a carpet for the floor of his cell, or some other little comforts beyond the prison allowance which the authorities may permit him to be supplied with,