By an amendment to the Penitentiary Act, passed in the Session of 1877, the report of the Inspector of Penitentiaries was made to extend over the financial instead of the calendar year, and consequently there are no statistics yet published later than June. 1877. All the Penitentiaries were well administered, and all had to contend with the same trouble, lack of remunerative employment for the convicts.

The staff at St. Vincent de Paul has been thoroughly re-organized, and is now fairly efficient, and there is a marked improvement in the conduct of the Convicts. A stone barn was built for the housing of the products of the farm. A number of acres of the quarry farm cleared and drained; brick and lime burned in large quantities, and stone cut for a new extension of the building. Discipline was strictly maintained, and most satisfactory tranquility and security prevailed. Severe punishment was only once found necessary. The prisoners employed In the workshops generally like their work, and the permission to learn a trade is found an incentive to good conduct. The school is well conducted, and the library in good demand. The health of the prisoners was very good, and no deaths took place The expenditure for six months was $28,761, being an average of $133,32 for each Convict. The value of the prisoners' work is estimated at $15,521,60. Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Chaplains bear testimony to the general good conduct of the Convicts. The schoolmaster reports the daily attendance at school as good, and the results satisfactory.