Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-19
The PenitentIarr Report.

treatment and disposal OF conVlcts Is
quite as humane and judicious as those
of other States.
The committee report that they visited
all the camps and found the convicts
engaged in farm labor, railroad building
and mining. In all the camps the
separation of the sexes is effected and
the criminals are supplied with good
food, though complaint is made by the
criminals in some instances of an in
sufficient allowance. In several camps
there Is a defective water supply, which
interferes with cleanliness. Complaint
Is made of severe corporal punishment,
though, where it is excessive. the parties
inhicting it are discharged. The con-
victs also complain of long hours OF
labor, alleging that they are compelled
to make twelve and fourteen hours daily
and have little rest. Medical attendance
is had at the camps usually twice a
week, and the food is wholesome. gen.
orally well cooked and all the camps are
supplied with vegetable gardens. The
committee find that only two days per
month are allowed the convicts for good
behavior, whereas the act Of 1874 re-
quires that four days for each month be
allowed for good conduct.
The committee found an aggregate OF
1 ,2OS convicts employed in the camps.
They noticed cases where cruel treat
melt occurred, and where sick convicts
were compelled to work, and had sew
eral removed to the quarters. The re-
port is based on observation and the tes-
timony of prisoners themselves, and,
while admitting abuses, it rebukes the
mawkish sentimentslity that is ever
prating of the convict's hard lot, and
which recently, by its unbridled excuses.
assailed the gO1d name of the State.
The committee conclude, as the result
of their observation. that the system
needs a central authority to supervise all
persons, companies and corporations,
holding the convicts of the State under
lease or otherwise, with power to frame
suitable regulations for the government
and control of said cOnvicts, and that an
officer of the State should be at each
camp to stand between the convict and
the lessee and to enforce the rules of the
central authority. They further con-
clude that in the system, as at present
constituted, there is nothing that tends
to the reformation of the criminal.
To meet and remedy existing evils in
the system, they report a bill for the
better inspection, management and con
troll of the convicts of the State. A
perusal of the bill satisfies us that the
proposed measure is likely to accom-
plish little more than the multiplication
of the parts of the system without add
ing to the simplicity or efficiency of its
workings. Cruelty is practiced by the
guards employed by the lessees. but how
it will be sensibly diminished by the
employment of wardens under the
authority of board of control the bill
does not make manifest.
The creation of such a board, which,
to be effective, would have to be sup
piled with large force of subordinates,
would entail an expense upon the State
not justified by the character of the evils
complained of. The cases of cruelty
adverted to by the committee, and we
cannot see that the committee has kept
back anything or sought to shield any
one, are such as would arise in the best
regulated institutions. While many con-
victs may be amiable, dOclle, industri-
GUS and possessed of other cOmmendable
virtues, the average criminal needs dis
cipline, and not unfrequently severe
punishment. A committee of the Legis-
lature and the grand inquests of the
counties where the camps are located,
could master the requirements of the
situation quite as effectually as high
salaried commission with an army of
deputies, who would have to go to the
Legislature for their authority and vim
dicatiOn.
1t is time that our criminal classes
were taught that the primary object OF
punishment is the prevention of crime.
To the shiftless proletariat turned loose
upon the State by the great social up
heayal the jail has long since lost its ter.
rors, since to the average vagabond it
is haven of refuge. The people have
a right to compensation at the hands of
convicis for the harm and expense their
misdeeds entail upon society. Confine
ment within stone walls, where useful
trades may be taught the criminals. has
much to commend it, but it warrants
complaints from orderly, law-abidiDg
mechanics far more just than the mawk-
ish chidings and reproaches that are
heaped on the present convict system of
Georgia.
1t would be we'll if the gangs could be
concentrated on some great State work,
such as draining Okeefenokee swamp or
some commensurate public enterprise.
The convicts could be kept under a
central supervision, and abuses, if not
eradicated, could be largely diminished.
But as the great bulk of our convicts
must be employed in diversified labor,
we can see nothing better than our pres
ent system so controlled, without COM
plicating it further, as to warrant the
correction of serious abuses, if such
really exist, a fact which the commit
tees report nowhere discloses. What
ever is done, we trust the day is far
distant when pseudo philanthropy will
be permitted to put premium on crime
by smoothing the path of the criminal
after leaving the dock.
Soil Burning Out.
H. .I,ot,f frr-0 ,,,orfIr