In the California State Prison entitled to be discharged by the Governor, in 187-, under the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled an Act to confer further powers upon the Governor of this State in relation to the pardon of criminals, approved April 4th, 1864," approved March 7th, 1868. n Commuted by Governor William Irwin, March 5th, 1877, to five and one-half years; date of discharge, January 1st, 1880. q Commuted by Governor William Irwin, May 30th, 1876, to eight years; date of discharge, December 21st, 1880. • Commuted by Governor William Irwin, May 30th, 1876, to seven and one half years; date of discharge, August 6th, 1879. * Commuted by Governor William Irwin, May 30th, 1876, to twenty-five years; date of discharge, September 18th, 1891. Peter Chrismas Joseph Fisher.. Boots Racino Gonzales Lucas Alviso-3,511. Luis Delahay-6,378- H. St. Clair-5,334 Isador Pardillo-7,262. Ah Ting-7,375 Meatroy-4,716 Che Lon-7,384. Jeremiah Calahan-6,890 Ah Sam-7,205 O. H. Downs-7,281 Ah Chung-5.734. Ah Hen-6,492. John Riley-7,360. John Williams-5,980 February, 24, 1876. April 28, 1876. April 16, 1876. April 18, 1876. May 7, 1877. May 6, 1877 June 21, 1877. 0 1877-78. THE PROPOSED BRANCH PRISON. To the Honorable Senate of the State of California: Mr. PRESIDENT: The subject of completing the Branch Prison at Folsom is one to which the committee has given a good deal of attention, and, after examining the matter in the light of all the information we have been able to gather, we feel compelled to report against any further appropriation, for the following reasons: While a Prison already established and in working order, with all the necessary appointments, work-shops, store-rooms, offices, hospital, quarters for guards, machinery, etc., could be enlarged at comparative light cost, yet the erection of a new Prison is an expensive undertaking at best. The State Penitentiary of Illinois, located on an open plain, directly over an almost inexhaustable quarry of the finest building stone, easily worked, cost the State over a million dollars. The Prison of Kansas, with the same advantages of materials close at hand, cost a million and a half; and the wall of the Eastern Penitentiary of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, built before the war, when labor and material were very much lower than they are now, cost two hundred thousand dollars. The estimated expense of building other Prisons in different States is in similar proportion. If the work of building a Branch Prison at Folsom should be resumed, it would result in renewals for appropriations from time to time, that would amount in the end to at least a million of dollars. Then, when completed, a full set of officers and guards would be required to govern and control it, and as the nature of the country immediately surrounding the Prison site is such that successful pursuit of an escaping prisoner would be almost impossible, an unusual number of guards would be required, thus adding greatly to the current expenses, and that with hardly any corresponding decrease of such expenses at the San Quentin Prison, which would still require about as many guards as are now required. In regard to the business of quarrying or dressing stone with Prison labor, very erroneous ideas may be said to prevail. It is pursued as a branch of industry in but very few Prisons, and in those only as an incidental thing, either resorted to for the purpose of keeping at work men for whom no other employment can be found, or one engaged in to a greater or less extent (always limited) just as the demands of the market from time to time will justify. The extensive use now made of iron and artificial stone for building and other purposes, for which the products of the quarries were once exclusively resorted to, has greatly lessened the demand for granite; and in the basalt quarries of Sonoma, Napa, and Marin Counties it has met a rival for street paving purposes with which it will, in all probability, not long be able to compete. The basalt stone is growing in favor as a paving material, being regarded as superior to granite for that purpose, besides being considerably cheaper. In this connection we have overwhelming testimony in support of the superiority of the basalt paving blocks, as compared with Folsom granite. From information gathered from those who have made the matter a study for years, there is good reason to believe that granite will be dispensed with entirely as a paving material in the near future, on account of its inferiority to basalt and the increasing demand for wooden pavement-the latter being found to be more durable-and that it is more comfortable to man and beast than granite is a fact not disputed by any one, as has been demonstrated in the Cities of London, Liverpool, New York and San Francisco. D. T. Pope, Civil Engineer, of Liverpool, demonstrated long ago, in the streets of London and Liverpool, that sound wood, on the end grain, would wear much longer than the hardest granite. The following is an extract from his report to the Scottish Society of Arts at Glasgow: "It seems indeed strange that such incompressible and durable substance as granite should be more subject to wear with the same amount of traffic than wood, with the fiber presented to the pressure and percussion. The former, however, when acted on by wheels, has the particles abraded into a very minute sand, and the iron is also subjected to a diminution in proportion to the stone. On the other hand, wood, from its elasticity, yields to the pressure, and permits the weight to pass over it without any sensible injury to either the wood or the iron." It should be borne in mind that in the European cities wood is more expensive than stone, and that in New York, and other cities on the eastern side of the continent, they have no timber equal for this purpose to the redwood of California. We have heard it advanced that skilled laborers can make two hundred paving blocks each per day at the Folsom quarries, for which they can readily procure two cents apiece, making four dollars per day to the hand. But our recent visit to Folsom has led conviction to our minds that this is an error, for, on taking a survey of that locality, the evidence of thrift did not present itself which necessarily would follow if laboring men could find steady employment at four dollars per day. We are further convinced of the error of this statement, from the fact that if any similar wages could be procured in manufacturing paving blocks at Folsom the people of that locality would not want a State Prison there, as that branch of industry would be the best thing struck in California since the palmy days of forty-nine; and we would consider it an outrage on those people if the State were to establish a Branch Prison there, and by that means deprive them of so lucrative a branch of industry. It is an uncontrovertible fact that in no event can stone be taken from Folsom to San Francisco to compete with stone which can be procured at points near that city. The freight alone from Folsom to. that point would cost as much as the stone can be laid down at from other quarries; besides, it is well enough to remember that just at this time there are a great many men in the State who cannot find employment, and the competition with that class which would be created by employment of convict labor and the shipment of stone from Folsom to build a sea-wall, or for any other purpose, would be as unprofitable as it would be impolitic. It would seem to be a wiser policy, at the present time and under existing circumstances, to create new industries and give employment to the people, than to build up or foster any scheme which would be likely to have the contrary effect. But that those quarries are lying idle, notwithstanding there are railroad facilities, machinery, and all the necessary appliances for the successful prosecution of such work, convinces us that the statements made with regard to the granite blocks, and the amount that can be procured by ordinary labor, is but idle talk, without a scintilla of foundation to support it. And any move in the direction of leasing the State Prison, or any branch that may hereafter be established thereof, cannot be entertained for a moment. The unfortunate experience of the past will be a sufficient guide for the future in matters of this nature. If bought experience be the best, ours is a superior kind. The endless litigation and enormous expense resulting from a lease of the Prison at San Quentin, some years ago, to say nothing of the demoralizing effect upon the discipline of that institution, will not soon be forgotten. We would invite attention to the following calculation, which explains itself: Say three hundred convicts can make one hundred paving blocks per day each, amounting to thirty thousand, which, in a year of three hundred days, would produce nine million paving blocks that would cover three million superficial feet, calculating three blocks to the foot. Nine million blocks weigh one hundred and twenty thousand tons, reckoning seventy-five blocks to the ton. Freight on one hundred and twenty thousand tons, at three dollars per ton, amounts to three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. This amount exceeds in value the total expenditure for stone pavements, annually, in San Francisco. All the paved streets of San Francisco-stone blocks, cobble, and wooden blocks-all told, do not aggregate more than five million superficial feet, and all the square blocks (including the basalt as well as granite) which have been laid during the past four years do not aggregate two million superficial feet. Where, then, is to be found the demand for three million superficial feet in a single year? It is safe to presume that there was more street pavement done in the City of San Francisco during the last four years than the whole period of her existence prior to that time. The average for those four years being less than five hundred thousand superficial feet, brings the conclusion to our mind that there is no consumption for any thing like the quantity of blocks that even the labor of three hundred convicts would produce. On the contrary, a mathamatical calculation will prove conclusively that the labor of three hundred convicts would produce enough granite paving blocks annually to last San Francisco six years. If San Francisco were a city as large as New York, and that granite paving blocks should be the only material used in paving her streets, that even then the consumption of that material would not justify the establishment of a Branch Prison at Folsom. We find that there is no pressing need for additional cell accom |