The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-24
NEW EpLEs AT THE cAMPs.
Convicts Must he Examined and "a
Certificate Must Accompany Them.


Certificate Must Accompany Them.
The recent invae ~-gations OF alleged
| abuses at the convict camps OF this coun-
| ~ have led to rather stringent regula-
tions with regard TO the punishment AM
the working OF convicts.
The new orders with regard to the pun
/ ishment Of convicts were published IN the
Morning News at the time the death Of
Joe Harris was Investigated by the coro-
ners jury.
Orders have now been issued to the ef-
feet that the county physician is to ex-
anime every prisoner sent to the camps
and is 10 send certificate with him show
ing what work he is able TO do, and 10
what extent he Is able TO work. This is
done for the purpose Of preventing COM
plants being made on the part OF priso-
ners that they are unable TO do the work
assigned them. The new orders on this
subject are as follows:
Hereafter no prisoner sentenced to
the chaln-gang in this county viii be put
to work until said prisoner has been care
fuily examined by the county physician
as to his physical conditiou. \ certificate
setting forth the results of such exami-
nation snail be made out by the county
physician and accompany the commit
ment CT the prisoner to any one Of the
gangs.
"A record Of these examinations must
be kept by the county physician in a
DooA provided for that purpose. No cap
tain OF any gang or other officer having
charge OF the chain-gang prisoners, will
assign any prisoner to work, until he re-
celVes the certificate of the county ply
slc!an He viii on the receipt Of the GER
tlncate assign the prisoner TO such labor
as he IS physically able 10 perform, as
set forth in the certificate
The captains or other officers having
charge OF prisoners, will carefully pre-
serve these certificates, and when a pris-
oner is transferred from one camp to an
other, the certificate shall accompany
him.
BY order of the chairman of commit
Tee chain-gangs. r. a. Blandford,
County Engineer.
The effect Of this order viii be that
1t will be pretty well known just what
a convict is able to do. and he will not
md 1t so easy to get outof work on the
excuse that he is physically unable to
20 IT, nor will there be any particular
uahger or his being put at work which
would be too severe a strain upon him.
regular reports are now received at
the office Of the county engineer with
regard to punishment administered to
cohVicts. The captain of each camp Is
the only officer now authorized to ad-
minister punishment, and it must be done
with the regulation strap across the bare
butt at high noon, In the presence of the
other convicts, and no more than twenty
lashes can be administered at any one
time. The convict must be examined
twenty-four hours afterward to see
whether there were any abrasions Of the
skin as the result of the punishment. A
report VIII come in something like this:
John Smith, convict at camp No. I.
was punished to-day al. noon for disobe-
dience to orders. He was given five
lashes, and was examined twenty-four
hours afterward. There were no abra>
sions Of the skin"
If the offender is obstinate, the report
may show that he was given ten or TWEEN
ty lashes, which is the limit. The new
rules so far seem to be giving general
satisfaction, and it is likely that they
VIII have a tendency to increase the camp
discipline