There are different systems of prison management
in the United States. In all state-prisons the con-
tract system prevails, with some half dozen exceptions ;
some are under state management, and some mixed.
Several states show earnings amounting to more than
expenses. In North Carolina the average cost of
maintahiing prisoners per capita in 1875 was about $90,
while in Oregon it was over $300, and in Nevada
nearly $400.
In the average number of prisoners San Quentin with 900 or thereabouts, stands sixth. Sing Sing, in New York with 1300 being first, Auburn, New York, and Joliet, Illinois, with a few less, being second and third. Nevada can scarcely boast of lOO, while the average of Oregon is but little more.
The prison managers of 1877 complain that Chi- nese cheap labor is ruining the penitentiary ! The law permits convicts to be hired out at the rate of fifty cents a day. At twenty-five cents a day con- tractors could employ them, but not at more than this, as otherwise Chhiese labor is preferable. There is a state prison at Folsom. More facilities are re- quired either at San Quentin, Folsom, or elsewhere.
The prison tract at San Quentin comprises 130 acres. The situation is extremely favorable ; the soil first recommended it, being good clay for bricks. The prison itself covers a square of six acres, enclosed by a wall now twenty-five feet high. Outside are a number of buildings for offices, stables, and outhouses, with a few garden patches. The warden's villa lies on an elevation near by. Inside the wall are three cell buildings of several stories, parallel to one another, and twenty feet apart. Two are of brick 124 by 23 feet, and erected in 1864 at a cost of $60,000 each. There was $200,000 appropriated by the legislature of 1876 for new buildings, and a four-story brick structure 50 by 400 feet was the result.
With the exception of the lower story of the store building, which is divided into seven large rooms,
