The next General Assembly for the State will meet on the first Wednesday in November. I have been Elected to represent the County of DeKalb. I feel a very deep interest in improving our Penitentiary System, which is now being conducted under a contract to private parties at an annual hire of about $12 ea. The treatment of these poor people is as varied as the character of their overseers, & I earnestly desire to correct it by proposing a better system. Under our system over 9 per cent of the Convicts die annually. This is horrible & in fact I regard it a nothing better than Capital punishment with slow torture added. Please send me the last annual report of your Principal Keeper & request that he accompany it with a clear & brief synopsis of the law possessing the punishment of penitentiary Convicts.

Your compliance with this request will greatly oblige,