Maryland House of Correction. Board of Managers.

The Maryland House of Correction was administered by a Board of Managers from 1874-1916 (Laws of 1874, ch. 233). Although the board was authorized in 1874, it did not meet until May 1878. The original board was composed of twelve members appointed by the governor with the governor, comptroller, state treasurer, and attorney general as ex-officio members. The governor was elected board president, and played a significant role in the direction of the House of Correction thereafter.

The board exercised complete control over the institution, administering all financial and personnel matters. Its first action was overseeing the completion of the new facility. Once completed (December 1878), however, a superintendent (i.e., warden) was responsible for the prison's daily operation. The board, meanwhile, divided its responsibilities among several committees and met only once a month.

In response to the progressive reform sweeping the nation, the Board of Managers established a Special Committee to visit and investigate the "construction and methods" of penal institutions in other states. The committee's report, released in 1913, recommended the House of Correction change its focus from punishment to rehabilitation. Corporal punishment, it reported, was a "thing of the past in modern American prisons." Furthermore, the report called for the creation of "proper educational facilities" within the prison. The committee also advocated eliminating the commercial use of contractual convict labor and replacing it with work that would benefit the state.

Recognizing the need to centralize state authority over the penal system, the duties of the Maryland House of Correction Board of Managers were assumed by the newly created State Board of Prison Control (Laws of 1916, ch. 556). The Board of Managers last met in September 1916.