The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-12
aThe Convict Lease System of the SOUTH"
To the Editor of the Press:


~The Convict Lease System of the south.'
To the Editor of the Press:
Prior to 1866 when the right of fran
chise was conferred upon the freedmen of
the South, no one realized the possibility
of a system other than slavery by which
the colored people in the South might be
held under restraint. Old southern
records show that before the war there
were prison buildings in which to confine
both white and black violaters of the law.
Refractory slaves were sent to the stock
AIDES for the purpose of demolishing what
manhood they showed when their masters
attempted to punish them The lease sys-
tenn of managing State convicts was first
instituted by Georgia in 1869, as matter
of experiment and through ill-sighted
economy to raise money for State pur-
poses. Previous to that time, walled
prisons under state control were used.
The prison buildings having been de-
stroyed during the Civil war, the people
claimed to be too poor to rebuild at once
and hence Georgia adopted the method
of leasing out prisoners for term of two
years. The first year this law was enact.
ed in Georgia there were $50 conyicts to
be hired. Within two years the number
had doubled. In the first years the lease
was not satisfactory except to the lessees.
The authorities of Georgia were urged
to extend the lease for two years longer
on the ground that the cost of getting the
machinery in working order had been
too great to realize any profit for the
State the first years of experiment. under
the new law. The request was granted
and the lease extended.
Georgia, the Empire State of the South,
took the initiative in instituting the iniqui
tous method of dealing with her prisoners
as she generally does in setting the exam
pie in most movements affecting the
South.
AS the convict lease system proved in a
measure to be success in Georgia, dur
ing the past thirty years. almost every
state that once owned slaves has adopted
it and now the Southern States have and
have had absolute sway in torturing pris-
oners from the colored race, as they had
in degrading these people under the
banful regime of slavery.
What is ''this Convict Lease System ?'
1t is a law common to the South. When
people convicted for crime and sent to the
penitentiary in that section, instead of
attempting to reform them as are sup
posed to be the modern methods of deal
1 with "a Ia II, 9TH re he
civilized world, the Southern States go in
for making money out of their convicts,
and SO they lease them out to the highest
bidders, who are engaged in grading rail
roads, and in mining coal and iron and
performing other public works for which
free labor at the North would receive
anywhere from 1.50 to $500 per day.
Convict labor is even used in the South
in cleaning the streets and repairing
them.
1t is nothing to go into southern city
and see anywhere from so to 25D criminals
chained together marching to and from
work under the guard of men carrying
Winchester rifles ready to shoot them
down at any minute, should they become
unruly or attempt to escape. Thousands
of wretched victims have been thrown
into the penitentiaries in the South and
leased out to the highest bidder, whose
only object was mercenary and who were
influenced by no consideration of human
ity. In the southern prisons are numbers
of men and women, many of whom were
sentenced for long periods Immediately
following the downfall of the Confeder-
acy, when the crtlel convict lease system
was first instituted Hence these wretch
ed mortals have never enjoyed the
precious gift of freedom. At the instance
of Mrs. Spooner of Bosto n, a most faith
full worker along the lines of prison re-
forms, an investigating committee was
appointed during the past year, to look
into the now existing conditions of affairs
in southern prisons. The investigation
revealed the fact that the most barbarous
conditions prevail among the prisoners in
that section. When convicts are carried
to work on farms, or in mining camps or
foundries and other public works, men
and women are herded together in small
huts at night, having for their bed, straw
from southern pine, placed on boards
which furnish the only protection between
the miserable prisoner and the ground,
whether wet or dry. In many cases the
straw has worn sleek from long USE
Some of the camps were found to be damp
and without ventilation. In the report
of this same committee, it was stated that
on a warm day in early spring, in the
South, when one with heavy clothes on,
could go comfortably without an overcoat
LII OtCl Oil llC NOuiO lCCl Cllll1Otl W IT,
main in mining camp any length of
time without an overcoat on. In these
camps, convicts sleep all night. In the
same report mention is made as to the
punishment inflicted upon prisonders.
The lash is applied, in many cases, more
freely than it was during slavery. AS a
result of the commingling of men and
woman in the huts at night, infants are
in the southern prisons today In case
of rain during the day when conyicts are
at work, they are driven into the huts at
night and made to retire in their wet
clothes. The food is very poor and clothes
scant. In some of the mining camps and
foundries the punishment is terrible.
There are instances where the convicts
are without a doctor when sick and al
though the State may provide chaplain,
they are oftener without than with one.
The women are whipped and treated just
the same as the men and for like offences,
viz, fighting and neglecting their work.
1t is intensely pathetic to even read re-
port and learn of the fortunes inflicted
upon convicts in southern prisons 1t
seems impossible that such barbarities
should be allowed to exist in a Christian