STATE OF MICHIGAN.

1861.

DOCUMENT NO. 6.

ANNUAL REPORT of the Inspectors of the Stato Prison, for the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 1861.

To the Honorable Secretary of State of the State of Michigan:

SIR-In conformity with the law of the State, the undersigned, Inspectors of the State Prison, beg leave to submit the following report for the year ending the 30th day of November, A. D. 1861:

A majority of them have visited the State Prison, at Jackson, monthly, the past year, in accordance with the law under which we are authorized to act, and take pleasure in saying that we have on all occasions found it clean and in most commendable order, which essentially conduces to the health, comfort and morals of the convicts, all of which we owe to the efficiency of W. L. Seaton, Esq., the Agent, and his subordi nate officers, who have all, in a commendab'e degree, contributed their united efforts in maintaining this desirable feature in all of the departments of the Institution. But especially do we attribute this good order and subordination on the part of the prisoners to the law known as the "Good Time Law," of

1861, increasing it to five days per month to all who comply with the rules and regulations of Prison discipline.

The health and sanitary condition of the Prison has been most excellent for the past year, as will be seen by the Physician's report; and to show a comparison in this respect, with other years, we have carefully prepared a table showing the averago number of convicts in Prison during the years mentioned; number of days lost by sickness in the hospital, and cost of hospital stores, from Nov. 30th, 1857, to 30th Nov., 1861, inclusive:

Cost of Hospital Stores,. $729.97 $453.34 $253.1360.CO

This great improvement in the sanitary condition of the prison is attributable, in part, to the abundant supply of excellent water produced from the artesian well in the yard, which furnishes a large supply of water for culinary and cleansing purposes about the Prison.

But the proportion of credit due Doct. Tuttle, the Physician, for his skill in treating the sick upon the homeopathy system, during two of the last years mentioned in the above table, which shows much less sickness and cost for hospital stores than is shown in former years, under the treatment of alopathic physicians, we leave the people of Michigan to judge.

We have fortunately escaped all epidemics in the Prison during the years mentioned above, until on the 31st day of October last, when we were surprised to learn from Doct. Tuttle (who associated with him other eminent physicians of the city of Jackson), that Perry S. Houghton, United States' convict from the city of Detroit, lay sick with the small pox. The Agent promptly and wisely removed the sick man to an out-of