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Private charitable organizations have been formed during the year as follows: the Denver Emergency Hospital Association; the Denver Day Nursery; the Denver Maternity Hospital; the Sacred Heart Orphanage by the Sisters of St. Francis, in Pueblo; the Cherry-tree Home Orphanage, upon the Salvation Army farm colony at Amity, Prowers County.

The Denver Maternity Hospital Association includes in its purposes the care of women and treatment of their diseases; but assistance is given to worthy poor and instruction regarding the care of young children, domestic hygiene, and sanitation. A training school for nurses is to be included in the work.

The question of the treatment of tuberculosis and the care of patients suffering with this disease is continually agitated in this state; and small sanatoriums are being established at different points, one of the most interesting of which is a ranch sanatorium near Colorado Springs.

An interesting phase of work in this state at this time is the strong effort that is making in the larger communities regarding truancy and the treatment of juvenile delinquents under arrest. The judges of the county courts have adopted the general policy of probation to all first offenders, requiring weekly, semi-weekly, or monthly reports in person, accompanied by parents, and a showing from the public school-teachers of regular attendance at school. Truant officers are employed in nearly all our large cities, who work in conjunction with The the judges; and a personal consideration is given to each case. result so far shows an increased and improved public sentiment, with remarkable percentages in public school attendance.

The state penitentiary at Cañon City has at present a population of 580. The prisoners are sentenced under the indeterminate sentence plan, carrying maximum and minimum terms fixed by the Paroles are granted upon completion of the court in each case. minimum term under rules and regulations adopted by the governor, who signs all paroles. The result of two years' trial of the indeterminate sentence plan with parole has proved very satisfactory, and here is little opposition to this method by the public or the courts. In fact, a number of the courts are going further, and are suspending sentences without authority of law; but in such cases the courts are upheld by public sentiment.

The State Reformatory at Buena Vista has an average population

of one hundred, committed under the straight indeterminate sentence plan without minimum terms. Unfortunately, too many habitual criminals are sentenced to the Reformatory by the courts of this

state.

The vicious, including tramps, roving criminals, and the violators of city ordinances, are committed under vagrancy acts to short terms without labor, and are urged to "move on " at the earliest possible moment. A large proportion of our criminals incarcerated in jails. and prisons are not residents of the state, but belong to the roving class.

Juveniles are committed for truancy as well as for offences against the laws to the State Industrial School at Golden and to the State Industrial School for Girls at Morrison, upon indeterminate sentences. There are in custody at this time 200 boys and 60 girls.

County homes (almshouses) are established in only a few of the counties of this state, and in a number of cases these homes are primarily hospitals for the indigent sick. The State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home has a population of 135; and there are about 300, average number, of aged and infirm cared for in county homes in the state. Outdoor relief is given as a temporary expedient, and individual cases are cared for by boarding in private families.

Destitute children are committed under the laws to the State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children, whence they are placed in private families under state supervision. The temporary home has an average population of 75.

The Children's Home Society seeks out destitute children not brought before the county officials, and places them in homes. There are several private orphanages in the city of Denver, and one in each of four other towns, where children are temporarily housed and cared for, although but little placing-out is done from private orphanages.

Private hospitals exist in the principal centres of population, where charity cases are cared for; and a number of counties have established in recent years county hospitals. Teller County is just completing a model county hospital in Cripple Creek, which will serve in the dual capacity of hospital and infirmary for the aged.

All the blind and deaf are cared for and educated at the State School for Deaf and Blind at Colorado Springs, the present population being 154.

Several attempts have been made to secure a census of the feebleminded children of Colorado, with meagre results, not over 100 having been reported in the state. A private school for the training of the feeble-minded is in operation in Pueblo, under the advice and counsel of the State Board of Charities and Correction; and a number of dependent children are being trained there at the expense of the counties from which they were sent, under the new act providing for private training of feeble-minded at county expense.

No increased accommodations have been secured at the State Hospital for Insane at Pueblo, which holds a steady population of 500 without overcrowding. Patients committed by the courts who cannot be received at the state hospital are cared for temporarily in a private hospital in Pueblo at county expense, an average of 75 patients being thus cared for. Arapahoe County has a detention hospital for the insane, recently completed, having a population of 150 patients. Insane patients are not permitted to remain in jails, and only a few are allowed to remain in county homes pending commitment to the state hospital.

CONNECTICUT.

CHARLES P. KELLOGG, WATERBURY, STATE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

Several matters of legislation in the fields of charity and correction were reported a year ago as pending in the legislature of 1901, which at that time had not acted upon them. Of these matters the following were passed, and became laws.

An act providing for the application of indeterminate sentences for persons sentenced to the state prison, otherwise than for life or under sentence of execution. The court imposing the sentence establishes a minimum term of not less than one year and a maximum term not longer than the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed by law as a penalty for the offence in question. After imprisonment for not less than the minimum term, release on parole may be granted by a majority of the board of directors and the warden of the prison, and absolute discharge may be given to a paroled prisoner when the board are convinced that he will lead an orderly life. As the minimum term of one year has not yet expired since the law went into effect, it is too early to note its practical operation; but it

is believed that the measure will prove very valuable in encouraging prisoners to a practical reformation.

An act was passed providing that no boy under ten years of age shall be committed to the Connecticut School for Boys except upon conviction of an offence for which the punishment is imprisonment in the state prison. This measure will prevent the commitment of very young boys to the school for slight offences, as has occurred several times in the past.

An appropriation of $25,000 was granted to the Hartford Hospital for the erection of a separate department for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Additional funds were raised for the purpose; and the new hospital, situated in a healthful location on Cedar Mountain, will be ready for use at an early date.

In regard to dependent and neglected children committed to county temporary homes, power has been given to the courts that commit the children to revoke an order of commitment at any time when it is found that the cause for which a child was committed no longer exists.

Provision was also made to compel either parent of a child committed to a county temporary home, who has sufficient pecuniary ability, to contribute such weekly sum as may be agreed upon toward the support of the child.

The limit of age until which boys may be retained under the charge of the county temporary homes was reduced from eighteen to sixteen years; and provision was made to maintain, at the expense of the state, any child transferred by a county home board of management to a private family or chartered orphan asylum.

An act was passed permitting any two adjoining towns to unite for the support of their paupers in an almshouse or other place, a broadening of the former law, which required that all paupers should be supported within the home town.

Among the more important measures relating to the criminal and dependent classes which were defeated in the legislature of 1901 were the bills providing for a system of probation for persons convicted of minor offences; for the introduction of whipping as a penalty for such offences as assaults, wife-beating, etc.; for the establishment of a state reformatory; for the employment on the public highways of prisoners convicted of jail offences; for the transfer of the cost of support of children committed to the county tempo

rary homes from the state, where it now rests, to the towns from which the children are committed; and for the commitment and support at state expense of dependent and neglected children in private orphan asylums.

The hospital for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, already mentioned, is the only new institution established during the year. The new buildings at the state prison, including the congregate dining-room, new cell block, and department for women, are now all in successful operation, and add greatly to the convenience and efficiency of the institution.

Work has been delayed upon the congregate dining-room building at the Hospital for the Insane, Middletown; but it will probably be completed before long. A substantial building for the classes in industrial training has been added at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford.

The average number of inmates present in the state prison at The jails of the eight counWethersfield during the year was 490. ties of the state contained an average of about 1,000 inmates, short term offenders and those bound over for trial. Total number of criminals, 1,490. Ratio, 1,640 to a million of population.

The average number of inmates during the year at the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden was 426. The average number in the Industrial School for Girls at Middletown was 260. Total insubordinates, 686. Ratio, 755 to a million of population.

Almshouses are maintained in 89 of the 168 towns in the state, and shelter the dependent poor of all ages, except children between four and eighteen years. Total number of inmates during the year about 3,000, besides about 350 persons cared for in private homes. for the aged. Total, 3,350. Ratio, 3,690 to a million. The total number of persons assisted by the towns with outdoor relief was about 15,000.

A temporary home is provided in each of the eight counties for the care of dependent and neglected children between the ages of four and sixteen for boys and four and eighteen for girls, until suitable family homes can be found for them. The average number in the county homes was 716. Private asylums and orphans' homes cared for about 1,200 children during the year. Total, 1,916. Ratio, 2,110 to a million.

The sick and injured poor are cared for in a number of hospitals

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