Book excerpt: Excerpt from History of the Albany Penitentiary It will be observed that the statistics given, date from November, 1, 1848, the time when the building was surrendered, by the commissioners appointed by the legislature for its erection, to the joint authorities of the city and county. This was unavoidable; for though there had been received, from April, 1846, to that time, eight hundred and thirty-one convicts, who, as fast as cells could be constructed, were confined therein, yet they were not engaged in remunerative work, nor was the Penitentiary recognized as in exist ence. Then it went into operation with one hundred and thirty-three prisoners under the oversight of regularly appointed Inspectors. And from that time it has exerted a wide spread and healthful influence. May it always continue to do so. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.