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North Carolina Penitentiary
Annual Report of the Board of Directors and of the Superintendent of the State's Prison, for the Year Ending December 31, 1894
Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, State Printer; Presses of Edwards & Broughton, 1895.

Summary

The 1894 State Prison annual report, prepared by the board of directors and Superintendent Augustus Leazar, provides financial data, including farm production statistics, prison inventories, and reasons for budget deficits. In the report, the authors request a special appropriation of $15,000 to help balance the prison's budget until 1896. (By 1896 Leazer had succeeded in making the prison self-sufficient for the first time in its history.) The report also notes information about inmates, such as reasons for conviction, lengths of sentences, and diseases. Leazer was a progressive public servant and educator, and he recommends juvenile inmates be separated from adult prisoners and speaks optimistically of their potential. He also includes a report from the prison warden, who writes of the prisoners' good behavior, advocates removing children from the general prison population, and briefly summarizes prison operations. Prison inmates were sent to the outside farms and camps to work. These included Caledonia Farm, Northampton Farm and Dike, Halifax Farm, Castle Hayne Farm and Mine, Great Falls Canal, and Rocky Mount Camp. Statements about each of these locations note production, inventory, and inmate information individually. The report also includes a list of prison employees and concludes with tables listing supply inventories.

Monique Prince

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