Charitable and Penal Administration

Abstract

1. Central Boards of Control-In the majority of States the charitable and penal institutions are under the management and control of separate boards, one for each institution. There is, however, a marked tendency toward the abolition of local boards and the substitution of a single central board for the control of all the institution, or for the control of those of each class. This movement began about forty years ago, although it was not until recently that its progress became marked. The indications now are that this movement will continue and that the central board system is destined to become the general method of institutional administration throughout the United States. Kansas (1873) was the first state to the vest management of its several State charitable institutions in the hands of a central board; and recently it has adotped the same system for the management of its penal institutions. New York, as early as 1877, consolidated the management of the State prisons and the hospitals for the insane criminals in a single authority-the State superintendent of prisons-in 1889 partial control of the other insane hospitals was entrusted to a commission in lunacy, and in 1902 this control was made more complete. In the latter year the office of fiscal supervisor was also created, and given an extensive control over the financial and business affairs of the charitable institutions. Wisconsin, in 1881, created a single central board of control for the management of its charitable and penal institutions. Arizona followed its example in 1895, Iowa in 1898, Washington in 1900, Minnesota in 1901, West Virginia in 1909, Ohio and North Dakota in 1911, Rhode Island in 1912, and Nebraska and New Hampshire in 1913. Arkansas and Kentucky, in 1905, each created a single board for the control of its charitable institutions, and Illinois did likewise in 1909. In 1911, California created a central