Which report was received, adopted, and the Committee discharged.

Dr. Wright then offered the following resolutions, which were adopted: Resolved, That the thanks of this Association be tendered to the Hon. C. C. Cole. President, and Rev. P. P. Ingalls, General Agent, for the faithful manner in which they have performed their duties.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Orphans' Home Association be and are hereby tendered to the Executive Committee, for the faithful manner in which they have performed their duties.

The Secretaries were then directed to have a report of the proceedings of the annual meeting published in pamphlet 1orm, and to include therein the report of the legislative joint visiting committee, and also such of the proceedings of the "State Trustees" as shall be thought proper.

On motion, the Association adjourned until the next annual meeting.

OF

THE WARDEN

OF THE

IOWA PENITENTIARY,

TO THE

GOVERNOR

AND

TWELFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

DES MOINES:

F. W. PALMER, STATE PRINTER.

WARDEN'S REPORT.

WARDEN'S OFFICE, IOWA STATE PENITENTIARY,
FORT MADISON, November 1, 1867.

To His Excellency, Governor William M. Stone, and the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have the honor to submit herewith my biennial report of the operations of this Prison, together with statements showing the present and prospective wants of the Institution.

It is familiar to all the intelligent citizens of the State, that the Penitentiary at Fort Madison, has grown from small proportions and capacity, to be quite a considerable establishment. When I entered upon my duties as Warden, April 1, 1866, there were in the prison one hundred and four (104) convicts. There are now one hundred and sixty (160). As the State increases in population and greatness, crime also unhappily increases, and though it does not increase so rapidly, yet it is certain that with a population of a million souls, Iowa must have more extensive preparations for the keeping and conduct of criminals than was necessary before that greatness had been achieved. The following statistics, showing the number of convicts in the Penitentiary for several years past, are interesting:

The decreased number, during the years of the late war of the

rebellion, is a remarkable fact. It might seem to demonstrate the correctness of that theory maintained by many writers for the public press, that the extraordinary patriotic excitement of the times extended to the lowest stratum of society, and at least for the time being, elevated the depraved, and induced them to engage in honest pursuits. The nation, however, having returned to peace, and the State having acquired a new impetus of general growth and prosperity, one of the results must be an increase of crime. In other States official documents show that the increased number of prisoners in penitentiaries is in rate proportionate to augmented population. There are, doubtless, reasons why this rate should not be maintained in Iowa-as the absence of great cities, the comparative ease with which men may obtain an honest livelihood, the open nature of a large part of the country, unfavorable to the immediate concealment of some kinds of crimes, &c. but there is no reason for supposing that the number of prisoners in the Penitentiary will not continue to increase.

It is safe to assume that before the close of the present biennial term, the number of prisoners in this Institution will be two hundred and twenty. The capacity of the Institution being now fully employed, every cell but one being occupied, the necessity for more cells is apparent. The confinement of more than one prisoner in a cell will be done only as the last resort of absolute necessity. Its effect upon prison discipline has been everywhere demonstrated to be bad, and only bad.

The present cell-room building of the prison could be extended to the eastern wall of the Penitentiary, and, using the walls already in being, and building one of one hundred and twenty feet in length, another of forty-two feet in length, a building could be had giving, with the cells in three tiers, a capacity of one hundred and fifty-six (156) cells, as many additional as will be likely to be required for several years. The cost of this is estimated at about $35,000. I respectfully submit that an appropriation for this purpose by the Legislature at a very early day is urgently needed.

FINANCES.

The financial statement by the efficient clerk of the Penitentiary, Mr. Charles Hilles, is appended to this report. An exami