We are enclosing you, herewith, the original letter that we received yesterday from one of your citizens, concerning the prison system in your state. We have a number of other similar letters.

There undoubtedly is some mis-management somewhere. I saw in Colorado 100 men working 75 miles from the prison with one guard, and Warden Tynan told me that they very seldon had a man that attempted to escape. I saw a similar situation in Illinois and I might say also in the state of New York.

The men in charge of your road camps undoubtedly are not very good managers of men. I know of another road camp where 21 life time men worked on the road and they go to and from their work escorted by one guard. If the overseers get into the confidence of the men by kindness, they will have no need for brutality and seldom have an escape. In Southern Illinois the prisoners are mostly colored and some of them are life time men that work on the road.

I am sure, however, with your big heart that you will find a way to handle this vexatious problem.