1852 Annual Report Massachusetts State Prison

Interesting pre-Civil War pamphlet packed with all sorts of information about the convicts, costs, statistics, and general operation of the prison.

Multiple reports bound together:

• Board of Inspectors (James G. Fuller, John Gardner, Robert Cowdin)
  • “…the number of solitary cells in the old and new prison is 554…”
  • “…The crowded state of the workshops in which the convicts labor, has long been felt to be a great evil;…”
• Warden’s Report (Stephen Whitmore Jr.)
  • Crimes of those in the Prison: Adultery 3, Assault and highway robbery 2…
  • Life sentences on September 30, 1852: 21
• Chaplain’s Report (Henry E. Hempstead)
  • “…It is with great pleasure we can speak, in our present report, of increased facilities for the moral and religious instruction of the prisoners..”
• Physician’s Report (Jonathan W. Bemis)
  • “…Since October, 1851, there have been four deaths only in the prison…George Wilson, a native of Massachusetts, dies of typhus fever, aged 20 years. He had very profuse hemorrhage soon after his attack of fever…”

36 pages + covers

Covers are thin paper and delicate, missing some bits.

9 ⅜” x 5 ¾”