The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-10
Two Federal Prisons Nodded.


The attorney general in his annual report
makes quite number Of recommendations.
some of which are pretty certain TO com
mand good deal of attention from con-
gress. One of the most important of them
is that congress shall provide peniteltiary
and reformatory institution for United
States convicts. There is now no federal
penitentiary, and these convicts are distrib-
uted among such states as win receive
them in their prisons. OF course the gov
eminent has to pay for the support of its
convicts, and the amount appropriated for
this purpose would be sufficient tor the
maintenance of an excellent penitentiary
and reformatory institution.
There ought to be two federal prisons,
one in the north and the other in the south.
At present all the southern convicts are
sent to northern prisons 1t is cruel to
send them there, because they are not accus-
toned TO the climate, and, no doubt. great
many of them die from diseases with which
they would never be afflicted if they were
imprisoned in the south. Mr.. Jones, when
he was in the Senate from Florida, intro
duced bill into that body providing for q
federal prison in the south. and he sup
ported it with an eloquent speech. He said
that the sending of southern convicts to
northern prisons was infiicting upon them
a cruel and unusual observation-disclosures
thing that the law did not contemplate
Since the internal revenue laws have been
in operation a great many citizens of the
south have been convicted of the illicit dis
tilling of whisky. Numbers of them at the
time of their conviction we're greatly weak
ened by confinement in jails, and were not
in physical condition to Withstand the
cold climate Of the north. The consequence
has been that the percentage of those who
have died is very large Had Mr.. Jones
remained in the Senate he would have
made every exertiOn to secure the passage
of his southern prison bin. If congress
considers the recommendation relative to
federal prison it should do so with the under
standing that there should be two prisons,
one in the north and the other in the south.
If the Attorney Generals recommends
tion should be acted upon favorably, it is
probable that the prison reform movement
would receive more attention than at pres
ent. An effort would be made to have the
buildings both for the penitentiary and the
reformatory institution constructed upon
the most approved prison reform principles,
and to have both institutions conducted
with the view, not only of Furnishing the
convicts for their crimes, but also of pre-
pairing them TO be good and useful citizens
at the expiration of their terms.
The proper method of dealing with con-
vicrs has not yet been decided upon. In the
south they are very generally employed in
mines, on plantations, and in the construc-
ton of railroads, the states leasing them to
contractors. In the north they are kept in
prisons, and are employed in various kinds
of manufacturing. The working men of
the country, however, object to competing
with convict labor, and their objection has
already had considerable influence in pol
itics. Whether it will have sufficient force
to prevent the employment of convicts as
they are now employed is a question that
time alone can answer.
But whatever is to be the outcome of the
question growing out of the workingmen's
objection To the employment Of convict
labor, it is quite certain that peaitentiaries
for convicts will be needed. Although ac-
commodations for all the federal convicts
may be found in the prisons of states will
ing to receive such convicts, yet the gov
eminent ought to have its own prisons, and
they should be model institutions of their
kind-institutions in which experiments
should be made with the view of determin-
ing the best methods of dealing VITA con-
vlcts. The government should lead in
prison reforms with the expectation of in
huencing the states in the same direction.