The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-02-07
PENITENHIARY REPORT.
What Shall Be Done With the
Penitentiary Convlcts.
The Question Ably Discussed oV
Superintendent Goree with
Suggestions and Recon-
mendatlons.

The regular biennial report OF the penn
tentiaries is out and Is very interesting
publication, giving, as it does, oompre,
hepsjye review of the management anu
operations of the state prisons lor Ine
mast two years. From the report the
following is taken and it is the expression
of Major Goree, who ranks among Vne
very best and most experienced prison
managers in the United States:
He asks the question, what snail DC
done with the convicts?" and then pro-
ceeds to answer it as follows, though we
can only publish the salient points IN mis-
answer:
"The popular idea seems to be to con
| fine the convicts within the walls OF the
penitentiarles in order to prevent comPe'
tition with honest labor, and the late dem'
ocratic convention adoption declaration
favoring the confinement within the Walls
and demanding of the legislature to pro,
vide additional penitentiarles to the enc
that they may be so confined. l have al
ways contended that the working of con-
victs outside the walls is an evil, because
of the mortality and escapes attendant on
the system. For this reason prisons
should be provided, and all the oonVicts
confined therein that can be made self
sustaining.
"There will undoubtedly be something
done by the next legislature in the way OF
legislation on this subject and there are
many phases of the question which should
be carefully considered. If it is deter
mined to confne them all within the walls,
shall it be done at once or gradually! 1t
must be taken into consideration that we
now have cell accommodations at the two
prisons for 1000 convicts only, when we
have nearly 5000 convicts on hand, with
net increase yearly of $50; and that even
now, if we were to fill the prisons to their
full capacity, it would be impossible to
find EN- ployment to render them self-sup-
porting.
at has been the experience of nearly
all prism managers that not exceeding
600 convicts should be confined in one
prison; and that to build and furnish a
prison and shops for this number, with
appliances for their employment, will re-
quire an expenditure of from $3.50 to 81, 600
per convict, or at least 100000 for each
prison. To confiue, then, the prison pop
ulation wou'd require at least two, if not
three additional penitentiaries, and by the
time they were built and equipped, with
the present rate of increase, there would
be a population for still another. OF
course, consideration will be had as to how
the money shall be raised to build with.
sit occurs to me that if any additional
penitentiaries are built, that it should be
done with convict labor, only making
sufficient appropriation for the sup
port of the labor, the purchase OF material
and the employment of such skilled labor
as may be necessary. This cannot be
done in one and probably not in two or
more years. In the meantime what shall
be done with the labor that cannot be util.
lied in the present penitentiaries, or can
not be employed in building new Ones?
"There is very large class of convict;
in Texas, as In many other states, who art
totally unfit for skilled labor, and cannot
be profitably employed in the walls, ant
If their labor is to be remunerative, out
side employment will be necessity. L
this fact be recognized, then it should bt
determined how and at what they should
be employed. If worked on farms, shall
the conVicts be contracted es now, or wi
the state purchase farms and work then
on public account? Both these plans have
Jheir advocates, and much can be said OF
each side. To purchase suitable farms tt
work all this class of labor would require
a very heavy expenditure of money. L
does not pay any one to work poor land
and if farms be purchased, the quality O.
land should be good. Not much exceeding
one hundred convicts can be economically
worked from one prison house, and fol-
this number of hands there should be 6
tract of land of about 1000 acres, which
would cost $40 per acre; and by the time
she place was properly stocked, prison
mouse built, mules purchased, ETC., the
plant would cost $4,000, or for ten farms
for one thousand convicts, 100000.
SHOULD the policy prevail of the state
purchasing farms, it should be done grad
ually, and let the proceeds of the farms
already bought go towards the purchase
of additional farms from time to time.
Gould suitable provision be maze for
the present number of convicts, and the
increase is the sams in the next ten
years as in the past ten years, at the end
of that time we would have a surplus OF
1000 to provide for, and the same troubles
would arise as now. But cannot the mum.
Der of convicts be reducedY I think re.
lief caa be found in two ways: First-By
providing reformatories for youthful Of
tenders. Secondly reducing the mum.
Der of felonies. The latter course was
pursued few years ago, and had it not