REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF THE PENITENTIARY.

The Inspectors of the Penitentiary respectfully submit to the General Assembly, the following

REPORT:

The last General Assembly made a final settlement with Messrs. Gordon & Burch, the late lessees of the Penitentiary, and by joint resolution, approved on the 28th of February, 1843, directed the Secretary of State to cancel their bond to the State, on their filing their assent to the settlement.

It is not, therefore, deemed important to notice in this report, the transactions of the Penitentiary during the period between the last report of the Inspectors, and the 16th of February, 1843-the time at which Messrs. Richmond & Brown took possession of the Penitentiary, under the present lease.

On the 1st of March, 1843, the Inspectors held their first meeting under the several acts passed at the last session of the General Assembly, in relation to the Penitentiary. At this meeting, the Rev. Thomas W. Chandler, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was appointed Chaplain of the Penitentiary, for one year from that period. Mr. Chandler continued to act as Chaplain of the prison until the 1st of November, 1814, when, in consequence of his removal to a distant part of the State, he resigned his chaplaincy, and the Rev. William H. Lewis was appointed for the remainder of Mr. Chandler's term of service. The Inspectors take great pleasure in bearing testimony to the industry, zeal, and fidelity of Mr. Chandler, in the discharge of his ministerial duties. They are well convinced that his efforts have been attended with a high degree of success, and that a very favorable change in the moral and religious condition of many of the convicts has been effected through his instrumentality. The want, however, of the necessary means for the purchase of books of religious and moral instruction, has been very much regretted. The prison has been long destitute of such books, and the Inspectors have not felt themselves authorized to purchase them at the expense of the State, in the absence of any appropriation for such purpose. From the reports of the Chaplain, herewith subinitted, the General Assembly will be in possession of some useful information respecting the mode of instruction adopted by him, and will at once perceive the urgent necessity of providing the books recommended, particularly the Bible, for the use of the convicts. Without these books are furnished the convicts, the largest part of the Sabbath will be passed by them in listless idleness. Most of the States have made ample provisions for supplying their prisons with works of moral and religious instruction.

Soon after the adjournment of the last General Assembly, the Inspectors revised all the rules in force for the government and discipline of the Penitentiary. Many new rules were adopted, and others, that were found useless or inconvenient, were repealed. On the 18th of March, 1843, the rules, as revised, were formally adopted. Printed copies of these rules were given to the lessees. A copy of the same is herewith submitted.

The Inspectors have, at all times, endeavored to enforce a strict observance of these rules. That they have not been so observed, is doubtless one of the principal causes of the numerous escapes that have occurred within the period of the present lease. It is in vain that rules are prescribed by the Inspectors, unless their observance is strictly enforced by the lessees. It is not, perhaps, every act of carelessness or inattention to duty on the part of an officer of the prison, that will be deemed, within the meaning of the lease, a