The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-02-24
The Tennessee Mississippi Peniten-
tiary Question.

| now Tor earnest WORK.
The Tennessee Mississippi Peniten-
tiary Question.
EDITOR CLARION: In THE DAILY
| CLARION Of the 18th inst, is a commu
nication headed, "a Letter from the
| Governor of Tennessee" which deserves
attention not alone from the favorable
| showing as to the Tennessee Peniten-
| tiary, but because it emanates from the
chief executive of our sister State of
Tennessee. The figures given in that
! communication show a net profit to the
| State of S84,9lS.0S per annum for the
years 1882 'S3 '64 and IS, (less $4,000
| loss by fire which ought not properly to
he deducted from the net profts). The
| article in question is evidently intended
to contrast the Tennessee enitentiary
with that of Mississippi, ana deduce
| therefrom an unfavorable showing for
Mississippi. Mississippi will gain, not
lose, by the contrast.
We are very glad to have it in our
power to give some information in
regard to the Penitentiary of Tennessee,
obtained from official and unofficial
sources. We have endeavOred to view
the matter calmly, and certainly without
any prejudice to Tennessee. and our
deliberate conclusion is that of all the
penitentiaries in all this Southern coun-
try. that of Tennessee should have been
the last in the catalogue selected to
compare with Mississippi or any other
Southern State, in order to make an
argument either for or against the leas.
ing system I'VE have been on the look
out for the Tennessee Penitentiary to be
dragged into the Penitentiary question
in Mississippi. In fact, we had an idea
of taking hold ourselves and helping to
pull it in, but before doing so, we began
a search for more information on the
subject, and got all we wanted. Our
deductions are drawn from statistics
that go deeper down than any contained
in the letter from the Governor of Ten
nessee.
The example Of the Tennessee Peni-
tertiary for some years after the war is
certainly not favorable to Safe control
and management, for il cost in the
neighborhood of 500, 900, per annum, to
run it; and it certainly is net favorable
to the leasing system, unless peniten
tiaries are great tub mills of private
enterprise for the ceaseless labor of the
criminal classes, or huge criminal sau
sage mills wherein the convicted wrong
doer, old or young, high or low, rich or
poor, male or female, white or colored,
innocent or guilty, repentant or repro
bate are ground up together in one
promiscuous mass to turn out the shin
ing dollars for the State and lessees.
Why, the records of the Tennessee Pen
itentiary show that more crime and
criminal negligence have been perpe
trated under the guise of enforcing the
laws of the State than were committed
by the inmates themselves The warden,
IN his report, says, that under the
present laws and customs the Tennessee
Penltentlary is school of crime instead
of being reformatory institution" He
also states that there were about 90 boys
IN the Penitentiary under Is years of
age; that no woman shonld be SEN
fenced to the Tennessee Penitentiary
until the State makes better provision
Tor their care" and had the pardOning
power L would reprieve every woman
now in the Penitentiary, and those who
may be sentenced, until the State can or
viii provide a place to keep them, in
keeping with the age in which we live"
A sad commentary.
Did any of your readers ever visit the
Tennessee coal and iron mixes, worked
by convicts-say within the past few
years? There the conyicts are forced to
do work that free labor can only be
hired to perform at a price of from two
to three dollars per day. The Tennessee
Penitentiary by the last report which
we have been able to procure, had on an
average nearly 400 convicts. Our read
ers can make the calculation for them
selves as to the worth of their labor.
Had the conyicts of the Mississippi Pen
itentiary been worked or treated as
those of the Tennessee Penitentiary, at
any time within the past eight or nine
years, all the lessees, the Superintendent,
Sergeant and every guard connected
with the concern, would have been in
dicted by the grand jury. The investi-
cation of the treatment, etc, of the con-
victs of the Tennessee Peniteutiary made
a year or two since, developed a state of
affairs in the coal and iron mines which
would put to TIE blush the deeds of the
Dake of Alya in the low countries. Pa
pers not only in Tennessee, but through
out the United States raised their voices
in condemnation of the state of affairs
existing. And if even half of the report
was true, the leasing system of Tennes-
see would be blackened all over with the
pitch of their coal mines mixed with the
blood and tears and sweat of the con-
yicts.
According to the report of 1SSl-S2,
500 convicfs were worked in these coal
mines, % in a railroad tunnel, and 665
at the prison walls; at only S1.00 day
each, the 500 worked in coal mines,
would have returned the lessees $780,
000-out of which they could well afford
to pay the State $l01. 900 for the lease
and have S49, 900 left over and S36 con-
victs without cost.
The Tennessee penitentiary has the finest
workshops south of the Ohio river within
its walls. The machinery and buildings
are valued at nearly a quarter of a million
dollars. and there is on hand nearly half a
million of finished and unfinished mate
rial Inside the walls about 100 conyicts
are employed. They work in stone. iron
M Marble, etc. Mouldings, castings, wood
work, furniture, wagons, etc., are turned
out in immense quantities, and this is the
most valuable and remunerative labor
that conyicts can be put at. Walnut lum-
Der can be purchased there almost as
cheap as pine here, and wagon timber can
be had in abundance and:at low prices.
Rich stone quarries are at the very door oil
the penitentiary, and immense coal and
| iron mines over the State, require and paw
we'll for this class of labor
In this penitentiary, out of 6S5 convicts
worked outside, 100 escaped during 1851