STATE OF MAINE. IN SENATE, January 16, 1844. ORDERED: That 300 copies of the Report of the Warden of the State Prison, be printed for the use of the Senate, and 50 additional copies for the use of the Warden. JERE HASKELL, Secretary. REPORT. To the Governor and Executive Council of the State of Maine. AGREEABLY to the requirements of law, the Inspectors of the Maine State Prison, submit their ANNUAL REPORT. For the full understanding of the affairs and management of the Prison, by the Legislature and the public, we have arranged the several subjects of interest under separate heads, and annexed tables showing the general situation of the several departments. Situation and employment of Convicts. The convicts are required to be constantly at work, during the day, (except while taking their dinner,) under the immediate inspection and care of an overseer, at such work as they can perform to the most advantage. The operations of the Prison are carried on by departments, as the Shoemaking, Wheelwright, Blacksmithing, &c.; by thus having several departments or shops, it gives an opportunity for such as have a trade to be usefully employed as soon as received into the Prison. In each department there is an overseer, whose duty it is to be constantly with the convicts, for the purpose of keeping them employed, to make them obey the rules of the Prison, and to instruct such as may be placed under his care, to acquire a knowledge of the trade. By the constant assistance and instruction of the overseer, a convict wholly unacquainted with the business of the department, is soon enabled to employ his time with advantage to the State, and profit to himself, as he is acquiring a knowledge of a trade that may yield him an honest support, after leaving the Prison; that may enable him to abandon the haunts of vice and misery, and become useful and respected. It is also the duty of the overseer to keep a correct account of all work done in his department, which account the clerk carries at least every week, into the general account of the Prison. By adopting this plan, it is very easily ascertained whether a department is a source of profit or loss. Food of Convicts-As many people have the impression that prisoners are not well fed, we have thought it not improper to correct such impression wherever it exists, by giving a simple statement of the food used in the Prison. The food of the convicts is simple and wholesome, and served to them in sufficient quantities. The morning and evening meals consist invariably of corn meal pudding and molasses, or corn and rye meal bread, instead of pudding, if desired by the prisoner. For dinner, the prisoners are furnished with salt beef, pork and beans, pork and peas, dry and corned fish, with a sufficient quantity of bread and potatoes, and frequently during the fall, fresh meat soups are served up for them, all the provision of the convicts is in good order, and of good quality. There has been sold from the subsistence department, during the last season, several barrels of beef, for family use, out of the same lot and precisely of the same quality that is used by the prisoners. When a convict becomes sick, his regimen is regulated by the Physician of the Prison. Clothing. The clothing of the convicts consists of coarse sattinett pantaloons and jackets, with woollen shirts in winter, and cotton ones in summer; they are furnished with woollen stockings, and thick shoes for those who work in the shops, and thick boots and mittens for those employed in the yard. Their clothes are frequently washed and always kept in good repair. Lodging. It is anything but pleasant to be obliged to record the situation of the unfortunate convict, while confined during the night, in such cells as are now in use at the Prison. They are cold, wet, poorly ventilated and so constructed as to render it almost impossible to keep them sufficiently clean to render them healthy; as there is no way of warming them, they cannot be washed during the winter without endangering the health of the |