The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-09-26

in prison. The profits OF the labor OF the
convict belong to the state, the laws OF
which he has trangreSsed. The contract
system gives profits to parties not represent
| ing the state or interested or responsible.
except for monetary considerations. which
are a constant menace to the discipline of
| the prison and the reformation OF the con-
wet. Manufacturers engaged in similar in
dustries and employing free labor claim to
be njuriOuSly effected in their business by
| the operations of the contract system. The
mechanical and laburing interests are OPP
posed to the contract system on the ground
| that it tends to loss Of employment and re-
| ductiOn OF wages" In Ohio a special COM
mittee of five members of the legislature.
after investigation reports as follows: The
contract system interferes in an undue
manner with the honest industry of the
state. 1t has been the cause of Crippling
the business of many of our manufacturers;
it has been the cause of a~large percentage
of the reductions which have taken place
in the wages Of our mechanics; it has been
of no benefit to the state: as a refOrmatOry
agent it has been complete. total and
miserable failure: it has hardened more
criminals than any other cause; it has made
| total wrecks. morally. OF thousands and
| thousands who would have been reclaimed
| from the paths of vice and crime under a
! proper system of prison management. but
now who have resigned their fate to a life
of hopeless degradation: it has not a single
cOmmendable feature; its tendency is per-
niciOuS in the extreme; il enables class of
men to get rich out of the crimes committed
by others; it leaves upon the fair escutcheOn
of the state a relic of the very worst form
of human slavery; 1t is abl.orred by all and
respected by none except those, perhaps.
| hnp boz onH nf
should be tolerated no longer, but abolished
at once" The report further recommends
that. penal institutions throughout the state
be placed in charge of men who, after a
| long and rigid examination, Lave proven
themselves thoroughly competent and eff
cient. That they be placed for all time be-
| yOnd all partisan, Sectarian and political
control whatsoever. That industries of
prisons be managed by heads of institutions,
and whatever profit. if any. accrue from
convict labor. be placed in the treasury of
state having control OF Snch institution.
Many OF our eminent prison managers are
decidedly of the opinion that to allow
prisoners to participate in the profits Of
their labor as a reward for good behaviour
would not only be an incentive to reform.
but would enable them when discharged to
seek honorable employment and thus place
themselves beyond temptation to relapse
| into crime.
| This plan. wherever it has been put into
practice. has been productive of much good.
| A Joint committee of the Pennsylvania legS-
| lature reports that. contract convict labor
| has little or no effect. as carried on in that
state, on manufacturing interests OF the com
mOnWealth. a large ma jOrity of cOnvictS
being worked under public account system.
Committee is OF opinion that convict labor
is injurious to free labor when contracted
for. and is not promotive of the reformation
of the convict
The Commissioner of Labor in Michigan re-
ports that contract labor should be abolished.
| because, 1.-The contractor has no interest in
the prisoner, except in his ability to pro-
duce. The prisoner is the ward of the
state. His employment is means. not an
end and no contractors with arbitrary rules
as to time, etc., should come between the
prisoner and the state. The incentives to
labor should be, shortened terms, care for
dependents, and payment OF stipend when
discharged. We recommend abolition of
present contract system of employing con-
vcts in our state penal institutions. We
recommend as a substitute for the contract
system the employment of cOnvicts upon
the state account plan, without the use of
motive power machinery, and the granting
OF sufficient apprOpriat on by the legisla-
ture to give the substituted system effective
operation
Illinois, in favOring abolition of contract
system. recommends public account unaided
by power machinery. and says of it: 1T