Taking the accounts as published, the cost of the inmates during the years 1901 to 1906 was as follows:-- -------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------- | 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906. -------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Number of | | | | | | able-bodied| | | | | | detainees | 3,702| 3,799| 3,842| 3,716| 3,645| 3,440 Number of | | | | | | infirm | | | | | | detainees | 987| 1,052| 1,172| 1,394| 1,647| 1,672 Number | | | | | | of days' | | | | | | maintenance|1,505,393|1,619,176|1,685,076|1,714,064|1,825,798|1,801,170 | | | | | | Cost of | | | | | | maintenance|1,253,029|1,367,005|1,427,771|1,508,178|1,669,169|1,689,778 | fr. | fr. | fr. | fr. | fr. | fr. Average per | | | | | | head per | | | | | | day | 83 c. | 84 c. | 85 c. | 88 c. | 91 c. | 94 c. -------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Grouping the infirm with the able-bodied, therefore, the cost ranged from 8d. to 9d. per day during these years. The cost of all inmates together, in 1905, worked out to £14 13s. 11d. per head, but the value of work done was equal to £5 7s. 5d., reducing the cost of the 3,500 able-bodied to £9 6s. 6d., or about 6d. per day. Of this, £3 7s. or 2-1/4d. per day was paid in wages. By way of comparison it may be stated that, according to the Prison Commissioners, the cost of maintenance in English local prisons, after deducting the value of work done, is £22 11s., and that in convict prisons £28, but in these amounts no charge for buildings is included. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Merxplas is the facility of escape offered to the inmates and the frequency with which this facility is used. The escapes during the ten years 1898 to 1907 were as follows:-- 1898 592 1899 565 1900 517 1901 769 1902 879 1903 1,004 1904 1,066 1905 1,243 1906 1,031 1907 919