The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-02-13
Is A MODEL INSTITUTION.
THE INDIANA STATE PRISON NORTH.
Report OF the Legislative Committees In
vestiGation Last week-Everything
Found in FIrst-Class Order
Wise Recommendations

In the house Saturday afternoon Mr.. Nolan,
chairman of the committee on prison north,
submitted the report of the committees in
vestigation last week.
The report states that thorough examina-
ton was made and everything found in good
order. The committee found the prisoners
cells lighted with tallow candles, which they
procure themselves, and they recommend
that an electric light plant be placed in the
prison, not to cost over $4,000. The state
now pays $500 year for gas. and as there
is enough steam power to operate dynamos
TO light every eel. with incandescent lights it
would not only be a great saving 10 this
state, but humane act to appropriate money
for electric lights
In the school-room the committee found sew
enty-hve cOnvicts in attendance The report
states that 10 per cent. of those entering the
prison are illiterate, and the school has been a
great success. An appropriation of 500 is
recommended for improving the library The
kitchen, laundry and bathrooms were found
clean
There are some insane convicts, and the CON-
mlttee recommends that they be transferred to
one OF the insane asylums. Corporal punish
ment has been abandoned, and the dungeon,
with the usual bread and water diet is used for
refractory prisoners. The good time" act has
proven TO be good law, under which better
department is secured
The committee recommended that life con-
VETS after serving twenty-five years, should be
parOled. The people of Michigan City CON-
plain great deal of the filthy condition of the
sewer, and recommendation is made that Sl0-
600 be appropriated for a new sewer. The
committee also recommended that the salary of
the warden be increased in which recommend
alton Messrs. Reynolds and Carrick dissented.
On the question of eOnyict-cOntract the com
mlttee make the following recommendation:
As is well known, there has been no change made in
the system Of working cOnvicts. Their labor is let
out to contractors, who furnish the machinery and
power TO operate the various shops and the cOnvcts
are worked under the direction OF superintendents
and toremen in the employ of such contractors; the
manufacture OF shoes, cOOperage chairs and wooden
goods comprises the industries Of this prison. A
tour through the shops developed the fact that the
latest and most improved machinery is in in all
oil them, and everything that invention has created
ID the way OF machinery is employed 10 facilitate the
work and 70 increase the productiveness OF this
cheap labor none of these shops is il possible for
conVicts to acquire full knowledge of trade Each
man has certain machine TO operate by which only
small portion OF q finished article Is produced.
For instance. in the shoe department uppers of
the shoes are made outside of the prison and come
there ready for the SOLE and, notwithstanding that
this high degree OF progress has been reached toward
their completion, It requires more than twenty men
sole by machinery, another the heel and another
the shank; one man pegs with his machine the sole,
a second the heel, while a third man sews or pegs
the shanks and so on, until having passed through
upward of twenty hands, the shoe lacking only the
sole, when it comes into the shop, is at las. COM
pleted.
Gcient in each of their minor parts. and.
taken as a whole, it is obvious that better results
must accrue to the contractors, and higher degree
OF prOductlveneSs must be reached, than would be
the case If each man was given the material and
required 10 make a shoe. But the convict does not
share this advantage He may stand for wears at his
machine, becoming daily more proficient in his
task, and more and more valuable the contractor
but when his liberty is restored to him. and be is
Off n fha rprld n lob 81 hfr,~,f
he finds that he has been taught little while in the
rriSon that will serve him the outside in earning
his living.
In he cooper-shop the same system of piece-meal
prevails. The raw material is received here con-
verted into slaves, heads and hoops and finally into
barrels, but before reaching state of completion
large number Of men have contributed their small
shares of wOrk-nOne Of them having been taught
the whole trade Of coopering. The same may be said
course in the interest of those who purchase the la
Dor Of these cOnvics without regard TO the better
meut of the convcts themselves
Nothing can be more conducive to reformation after
the convict is released from prison than the know-
edge OF trade by which he NAV earn living. This
he does not acquire in the prisons OF Indiana True
these institutions self-sustaining, and indeed
pay surplus into the treasury of the state but the
question arises: Is this the object Of our prisons?
Would il not be better for the state and for
society If these men, instead of being compelled
70 sustain themselves, we're given opportunity TO
acquire that knowledge during their confinement
that would enable them 10 become good and useful
citizens when their liberty is restored TO them?
another Phase OF THIS NeXeQ question presents it.
SELF 1t Is conceded that the maintenance OF prisons
in Indiana under their present conditions cost the
people nothing; at least no greater amount is appro
priated from the general fund for their
than accTues 10 il IRON their earnings. But the
question has been raised ere they not maintained al
the expense OF the laborers and craftsmen outside
the walls OF these prisons with whose labor the cheap
labor OF these cOnvcts is brought into detrimental
competition Whatever is produced in prison and
put upon the market must dispiaee in that market
And by virtue OF this fact fewer men find employ
ment outside. Besides, in order to meet this con-
Wet competition, the product OF free labor must be
your committee that more money is wrung annually
from the wages of outside labor in the different crafts
represented in prison industry than is necessary 10
conduct the prisons and support the convicts in
idleness Thus, instead of the cOnvicts supporting
maintained at the expense of the tradesmen whose
labor must compete with this convict labor which is
sold at 40 or so cents per day. II is true however
that cOnvcts cannot be maintained in idenesS. SAN
itary precautions demand that their minds
and their muscles be employed. But
necessary that convict labor should be taxed to its
its capacity of sanitary laws
could be respected, and yet free labor could be
lieved in measure Of competition that is certainly
detrimental and which promises, 10 at least some
branches of industry, total ruin.
Your committee recommends that the present con-
tract system should be abolished; and that convict
labor should, under the direction of the warden be
engaged in the manufacture OF such articles tor the
various state institutions as are required By them
and which now supplied by purchase
For information regarding the contracts for labor
now in force We can do no better than 10 refer 10
the very full and comprehensive report together
with evidence compiled by the prison committee Of
the last legislature, now on file in pamphlet form, in
the state library.
In conclusion we feel il but Justice 10 Warden
Murdoch to say that under his management, the
northern Indiana prison Is model institution in al
respects. We commend that the salary of the war
den and deputy warden be reasonably increased
We examined the books and accounts of the prison
and are satisfied that they are correctly kept.
Mr.. Nolan will soon submit bill embodying
the recommendation of the committee.
After the reading of the report Mr.. Nolan
stated that Mr.. Covert had been appointed by
the last legislature, three days before adjourn
ment, chairman of a committee to investigate
the convict contract system and report 10 this
legislature although Mr.. Covert had been re-
elected and had been in his seat thirty-One
DAYS of this session, he had not reported or
said word about convict labor
Mr. Nolan read an extract from a
three-column interview of Mr.. Covert in the
Evansville Journal of April 90 1888, in which
Covert boosted what he was going to do on this
question if he was reelected to the legislature
During this exposure Mr.. Covert turned as pale
as marble and was so completely overwhelmed
that he only replied that he had had no time
but since his attention had been brought back
10 the matter he would soon report Nugent
the "dodger," expecting that Mr.. Nolan would
again get him into deep water by referring to
the LIQUOR question, made bee line for the
cloak room, where he remained until he was
satisfied that Nolan was not loaded for a
"dodger," but only for professional work
ingmen's friend"