The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-22

miserable, Anticipated cells. There were
five hundred and seyenty-eight conyicts
sent to our penitenuiary last year. For
varied reasons the terms of many are
shortened every year, while many are
pardoned outright. They get rid of them
for every possible reason. Epidemics
have from time to time spread havoc in
the prison, aggravated by their crowded
condition, and the lack of decent facilities
for nursing and looking after the sick.
Yet we have to-day more than sixteen
hundred State conylcts, and their num-
Der is steadily growing. In the last year
they have earned their maintenance. and
more than
FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
PROFIT
to the State besides. Let this surplus,
supplemented by the labor of the convicts
as far as possible, be used for the build
ing of the new prison, and no additional
burden need be laid upon the tax. payers
OF the State
During the last session of the Legisla-
turess it was stated that to properly en-
large and equip the penitentiary adequate
TO its require mentS upon the present re-
stricted site, would cost the State some
thing like two hundred thousand dollars.
Ten thousand dollars of this amount
would provide the necessary facilities and
equip the present prison suited to the
needs of six to eight hundred inmates,
the number originally intended to be con-
fined there. The balance of that sum of
money would be ample to purchase site,
and erect new prison capable OF accom-.
modating eight hundred to thousand
prisoners. Other States similarly stu
ated have adopted the doubts systems of
prisons to their financial benefit, and to
the improvement of the health and morals
OF the convicts as well.
The penitentiary at Richmond is central
to the eastern part of the State, but is
not economically located for the State as
whole. A new and better plant can be
built in the western part of the State for
what it woulG cost to tear down and en-
large the buildings upon the present site
and make them adequate to the needs of
the number now confined there.
WHY LOCATE A NEW STATE PRISON
AT ROANOKE,
Because by reason OF it's situation and
railroad facilities, it is as convenient and
central to the western portion of the State
as Richmond is TO the eastern. On the
north, east, south and west of Roanoke
near the railroad lines are several excel
lent sites. Such II location in or near the
limits OF the city, with one of the large
farms adjoining, would combine the adj
vantages of both the present prison at
Richmond and the State convict farm in
Gocchland county.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES TO
THE STATE FROM TWO PRISONS?
/. BY dividing our convicts, the eXpen-
diture of II relatively small sum of money
would relieve the crowded, unhealthy un-
sanitary condition of the present prison,
ana equip. it properly and IN Keeping
with the needs.
:. The saving in cost of transportation
of co"victs from the western half of the
State to Roanoke would amount to sew
eral thousand dollars per yeal.
3. The saving to the State in the NIT
ter of maintenance alone would more than
justify the cost Of Il secco nd prison. The
cost of feeding, guarding and clothing the
convicts ut Richmond last year vas S57..
81 fer each convict. The same expense
for those at the farm was $12. 10, showing
a.diiference in cost of $3.50 per convict.
The advantages Of n farm and peniten-
tiary located together in or near bust
ness center like Roanoke are obvious.
The necessity for extra buildings, extra
guards, extra medical attention, ETC.,
would he largely done away with. A
large per cent of those unsuited for work
in the shops could be employed advantage
ously Oh the farm. the latter materially
reducing the cost of living for the farmer.
Under such system with the advan-
tages of the.present arrang ,ments at Rich
mond and the State farm combined in one
location and under one management. it
is II conservative estimate to say that there
would result to the State saving of half
the difference IN cost of maintenance as
shown above, namely Scare 1-2 for each
convict This for eight hundred convicts
would save the State yearly more than
eighteen thousand dollars. Add to this
the cheapened cost of transportation Of
convicts from the western half of the
State to Roanoke prison, OF at least two
thousand dollars yearly, and we have an
actual annual saving to the State of over
twenty thousand dollars in these TWO
items, this of itself n splendid return oil
the outlay.
WHAT MATERIAL ADVANTAGE
WOULD ALL THIS BE TO ROA
MCKEE
1t would afford regular employment mt
good salaries for II hundred or more men
as keepers, guards, shop foreInen. ETC.;
it would give an impetus to the building
and renting of houses; 1t would bring adj
ditional trade to her wholesale and retail
it would put In circulation u