Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-12-02
PRISON LABOR PROBLEM.
Supt. DOwning'S View Of. the Jute
Mill.
FAVORS EDUCATION OF CONVICTS.
What Can Be Done for the Unem
pIOyed Prisoners!

Superintendent Down'ngis not espec-
tally in favor of the jute-Inill building
project at the penitentiary.
'sThe idea is" said the earnest and
intelligent Off ;er, in an interview yes
terday. mot merely to make convicts
work, or to so employ them as to insure
some revenue to the state. Criminals
are sent to the prison as an in
Fiction, but their detention there should
be made reformat0ry as we'll as puni-
tive. The very worst classes, those who
commit the highest crimes against the
person are sent up, chiefly, to protect
the citizen at large, and to prevent the
making of victims by secludiug the
trespasser. But by far the greater
number of convicts in states prisons
are there for felonies which have money
and not life as the object of their TAX
ing; and for that class the state should
aud could properly provide the means
to earn an honest livelihood on enlarge
ment,a and thus perform the double func-
ton Of bettering the criminal and in
great part promoting its own future
prosperity.
"Now, if we teach prisoner some
useful trade or bandicraft, whereby he
can gain living when he becomes
again free man, We have done him
and the state some service. What is
the use, though, In spending so many
thousands of dollars in the erection of
mills 10 which the operative is going to
spend his term of years learning some-
thing which can be of no possible use
nor benefit to him? There are no jute-
mills or works in the land where such
an education could be of any possible
use; and a man doesn't need a trade
that he can only pursue inside of prison
walls. Again, it is not at all probable
that even the fertile and prolific state
of Oregon will be ready for many
long day to absorb all the product of an
ordinary plant, 80 there is just 80 much
idle or dead capital to contemplate; and
In the best light, the jute manufactures
would have to be sold so cheaply as to
preclude the possibility of an adequate
return being made for the investment"
"Would it not be a good thing. Mr..
Downing, If there were something else
to keep the men employed, now the
stove works are closed down?"
"Certainly. And do not think the
present condition will be allowed to
continue very long. The men should
not remain idle three successive days.
The old saying is very true one that
"satan still some work win find.
"For idle hands 10 do."
at is particularly applicable to prison
life, for even If the convicts are de-
barred from opportunities to plot evil,
their mental aud moral attributes will
undoubtedly suffer. Aud that reminds
me that have favored u school at the
prison to educate the prisoners capable
Of intellectual culture. If had
place could use as school room at
my command, should start right In
now. 1t would be better IL salaried
teacher could be employed, but even
wanting such an aid, think 1t posi-.
BILE to find among the prisoners, men,
well enough advanced, aud possessed
of the faculty Of imparting what they
know, to do world of good. There
are many here who can neither read
nor write; aud of these 1 am certain
some would not have been here had
they been educated TO the most rudl-
mentary degree"
At this point the superintendent was
called away, but opportunity Was offer.
ed the reporter to follow up the idle
ness topic. Since the foundry was
closed, four weeks ago, by reason of the
commercial strlngeney aud lack of de
mand for the articles manufactured, the
,onvlcts at the prison have heen neoes-
'arIly, confined 10 their cells, In which
hey spend all the weary hours, except
he intermiSsIons, forenoon and after.
loons when they are sent into the yard,
nd marcned, for half or three-quarters
4 an hour, around an oval clndeT path
bout sixty by forty feet Ia greater and
ssser dlAmeters. Even this break Ia
be terrible mouotony Of prison life Is
enled them on the rough, stormy
ays Of the wlnter. AS a necessary
,usequenoe Of the herding together Of
70 $50 or 30 couviots ln the body OF /
q prison the reins OF discipline have a
be much more lightly drawn, and e
helal rule has TO be sharp aud pitiless,
the least license would tend TO iu- /
sraDle insubordinatioD aud uproar. !