308 State Papers and Addresses

Maryland Penitentiary—The average population for this institution during
the past year has been 1, 150. About one-half are employed in the maintenance
of the institution and in the various State Use Shops, which includes Shoe,
Printing, Auto Tag, Sewing, Woodwork and Brush, Metal, Mattress and Up-
holstery, and Knitting Departments, and a Machine Shop.

Total value of the products sold to other State Agencies in 1940 was
$254, 000. 00, with 353 inmates employed in this work. The physical plant of the
institution has been considerably improved. In an effort to employ a larger
number of prisoners the officials are studying possibilities for the establishment
of additional State Use Shops.

PAROLE AND PROBATION

New legislation was enacted by your body in 1939, materially strengthen-
ing the machinery for the handling of cases of parole. This system has been
operating satisfactorily under the administration of Herman M. Moser, the
Director.

It would seem obvious that the State has everything to gain by an effi-
ciently operated parole system, because if inmates of our penal institutions can
be reclaimed and restored to society as worthwhile citizens, incalculable good
will result to those individuals and their families. In addition, the more that
can be liberated, with safety and without jeopardizing the welfare of society,
the less the State will have to pay for the incarceration of its prisoners.

In Maryland, 67. 1% of the male prisoners committed during 1938 on serious
charges had previously been incarcerated; and, according to the last available
data from the Federal Bureau of Census, Maryland imprisons 481 individuals
per 100, 000 of population. The general average for the Country is 144 cases
per 100, 000. There are, then, three times as many commitments to prison in
Maryland, in proportion to the population, as the average for the Country at
large.

Parole is a system of conditional release for prison inmates, under which
post-custodial authority is exercised by the State. It does not absolve the
offender of remaining punishment, the convict being. permitted merely to leave
the prison by privilege and not as a matter of right. It is the method of
discriminate release from penal institutions, which experience has shown to be
the most effective. The use of parole to bridge the transition period from the
regulated, supervised life of the prison to the freedom of the community is
sound, common sense. Parole is not to be confused with leniency, but on the
contrary, it must be regarded as a valuable additional protection to the public
safety.

The 1939 Act likewise provided that the Parole Officers of the Division of
Parole and Probation "shall whenever feasible" be available to the Judges of
the County Courts to make investigations and supervise persons released under
suspended sentences. Another forward step taken under the 1939 Act was to
provide that all inmates should thereafter be automatically considered for
release on parole, without the necessity of their making applications or having
applications made for them.