The Washington bee., 1899-05-06

| erS are Cnlefly leased OUT, 1or open dii
work, TO contractors or bidders, who
pay their labor, so much head. to
| the state or county, and then become
absolute masters of such prisoners;
so that the taxpayer is entirely re-
! lieved from the burden OF criminals,
who actually become source OF large
revenue to the state and to indlvld-
uals This may, at first sight, seem to
be a great advance upon the general
Fsystems Of the North and of Europe,
! which are 50 costly to the community.
| But la reality the lease system pro-
duces the most terrible Sutter1ngs and
fatalities to many thousands annually.
REVIVAL OF SLAVERY.
1t is practically, revival Of slavery,
and on very extensive scale. In
Florida, public sales of convicts (most
of whom are negroes) occasionally
take place, when they are sold by auc-
tion to the highest bidder for various
periods, up to four years. Usually the
sentences in the South Ton Colored
people, even for minor offences, such
ds stealing eggs, are for very long
periods.
There are several classes of leased
convicts. Firstly, those under the
| immediate supervision of the state, In
camps, or farms, corresponding some
what to British convict establishments
These, though open to grave objection
are comparatively free from the gross
est evils, and have, of late years, un-
dergone considerable Improvement
in several of the states. Secondly,
there are the county camps, which are
worse. And, lastly, and worst OF all,
there are the numerous gangs tarmed
out 10 private sub contractors, or bid
ders, who, in many cases, sweat
their victims to death by excessive
labor, wretched food. brutal violence
and the groSsest neglect of sanitary re-
quirements And of course, religious
and moral obligations are utterly
ignored in most instances.
In the best prisons of the Northern
States, as in New York (at Elmira,)
Massachusetts, tat Concord Junction
and Snerborne,) Illinois. tat Joliet and
Pontiac Ohio. tat Columbus,) Min
nessota, tat Stillwater,) and in Penn
sylvania, Michigan. Rhode Island
and other states, the reformation of
tempted, and often successfully
achieved. But in southern camps and
chain gangs it is the very reverse.
"INFERNos"
The "cantains" employed by the
Sub-Contractors are often of the class
depicted in "Legree" in Uncle
Toms Cabin" Their conduct to
the female convict is indescribable.
A large number of illegitimate births
take place in these camps. The
wretched children born in them are,
in some instances, permanently re-
tanned as slaves. And the breeding
of such has become an avowed pur-
pose, at lease in one state. Woe to
the women or girls who are sent to
such camps! Their life is, and must
be an inferno. Men and women fire.
quently run away and are then chased
with bloodhnunds and guns; those
killed being sometimes registered as
Escaped"
The colored population furnishes
about nine tenth of the southern con-
victs, and it is reliably stated that a
considerable portion of them are
either quite innocent or are punished
by long sentences for the most trifling
offences, and frequently, on merely
trumpup charges. 1t is to the inter
est of the local officials and Contrac-
tors that the number of ConvfCtS
should be as large as possible and
their detention as prolonged as it
can be made.
CHILDREN IN THE CHAIN GANGS
A very sao feature in these chain !
gangs is the number of young children
sent to them. A leading phlanthropist
of Baltimore, Mr. G.. s. Griffith, pres |
ident of the Maryland Society for the |
Protection of Children, was panied to
find in the gangs SO many children
In one of the better class of chain
persons, including three women and
I boy of II years Cf age. And he says:
These men women and boys, all
sleep under a tent 70 by 24 feet" This
prOmiSCuouS and most demoraliZIng
association of the various ages and
sexes, by day and night, is the usual
feature of the private camps, and
sometimes, even of the state eStab-
llSDIlSlltS.
Judge Chandler Of Georgia, says:
"My experience is that when boy is
sent to the chain gang, he is ruined"
Judge Berry of Atlanta, savs:-"I have
seen too many cases where boys have
been ruined by being sent to the chain
gangs" Then what must they be for
girls?
BRUTAL CAPTAINS.
Fearful brutalities are perpetrated
by these captains" in the lonely, re
mote places where many of the gangs
are located, as in forests and mines.
Sometimes Convicts have been fayed
alive! On one prisoners corpse forty
injury were found He had been
literally beaten to pieces. Another
had been disgustngly dismembered
by kicks, and there was a great hole
gaping in his side. A young white girl
OF seventeen years, after being repeat
edly outraged by the officers of the
camp, fled to the woods. She was
overtaken by bloodhounds, her
clothes stripped off. and she was then
fogged in the presence of jeering
men. Another poor girl, similar treat
q l.