The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-05-08
PRISONERS IN
NORTHER PRI ONS.
A Subject of State Interest.

Senator Vance has introduced a Bill
Tread and referred to the Judiciary
committee) of which the following is
the gist
"Whereas. many persons heretofore
convicted of crimes and mlsdcmeanors
in the United States courts. IN the
South. have been sentenced to lmprls-
onment in prisons situated in extreme
Northern attitudes in consequence OF
which rome nave died, and many have
suffered serious impairment of health {:
therefore.
Be it enacted. etc, mat
all persons hereafter convicted by any
ourts of the United States. shall be
confined in the prisons of the States
wherein they shall be convicted. Fro
vided that the States shall provide for
such use of their jails and penltentla-
ries."
We have been requested to furnish
any information we possess pertinent
to the Bill, and as it is a measure having
a material. as well as a humanitarian,
interest for our people, we give our
answer through these columns. And
first as to the material point Of view.
1t will readily occur to the reader that,
here in North Carolina particularly,
with an increasing demand for convict
labor only partially met, the services
of the numerous gangs of prisoners
shipped s~emi-annually from the three
Federal courts, to make shoes and
chairs for Albany spectators, would
add largely to the progress Of our State
works of Internal Improvement.
At present, the United States
Circuit, and the District Courts for
Eastern and Western Carolina, are
rather a burden than a benefit to our
people !; necessitating great hardships
and harrassments without any direct
recompense, save the supposed moral
restraint Of furnishing law-breaking.
And even this amounts to less than we
could wish, owing to the fact that
many Federal laws are 80 unfair, parti-
IAN, and needlessly rigorous, that mems
sympathies involuntarily go with the
convicted, however guilty. As is we'll
known every term of the Court held at
Raleigh, Wilmington, Statesville,
Asheville, or Newbern, requires the at
tendance of from one to three hundred
persons, of all classes-but mainly far
mers, who are forced from there crops,
or other avocations at the busiest ca
sons land often the whole list of ac-
cused, witnesses, counsel and friends,
are obliged to attend three or
Iour courts before being dismissed y
all of which tends to disarrange do
nestle affairs, decrease the prosperity,
and damage the welfare of the State
generally. A large part Of this ex-
pense and harrassment may not be
avoided, but there would be at least a
partial return if the laoor of the con-
victed parties could be used at home
instead Of going to enrich those who
curse US while they fatten on us.
We think Gov. Vance would have
gained strength for his bill by making
it apply to Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and the Gulf States, only.
Its general application will arouse
against it an host of contractors and
lobbyists, who are suited by the pres
ent Federal arrangements. Possibly
the Senator had in mind the saving of
hundreds of thousands of dollars that
would accrue from his bill. 1t now
costs $3.50 to transfer a single prisoner
from Arizona, or New Mexico, to the
nearest Federal prison. Three prison
ers require 81, 500 /!
The expense of transferring a squad
f or,oror, from, Ra1oinh nr NiIm,pn
ton to Albany usually amounts to two
or three hundred dollars, as each gang
of four prisoners will require at least
that number of guards, and attendants.
Attorney General Pierpoint warmly al
vocated a reform in these abuses in his
official report for 1875, but nothing has
been done.
Albany ~Penitentiary asis we'll known.
is the most profitable penitentiary,
financially, in the world j; it may not
he so we'll known that the greater Dor
ton of this success is due to the labor
of Southern Prisoners. This celebrated
human treadmill is not a Estates
Prison." nor a Federal Penit entiary."
as many persons suppose. 1t is simply
the county Jail Of Albany county, New
York. When the people of Albany, in
1S49, found the new canal acting as a
sluice tn pour tramps and scamps into
their city Prison, they decided to
utilize these able bodied Migrants by
making them build a mammoth prison
for their W safe-keeping. Gen.
Amos f'ilsbury, a born keeper of con
victs, was placed in charge, and speeds
ly won wide reputation for severity
and-success But the institution ana
not begin fairly to pay expenses until
1862, when the d feat of bully Pope
within arms-length of Washington