Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-12-05

II
formation is taken from the
recent article entitled Road
Building with Convict Labor
in the Southern States" by Professor
| ]. A. Holmes, and viii be of interest to
those interested in the good roads
movement:
Portable prisons on wheels are novel
ties which are now in use in several
localities. These movable jails appear
% solve the problem of preventing the
escape of convicts employed at great
distances from their prison proper. In
exterior appearances they are freight
car bodies provided with Sarred win
lows and mounted upon wagon trucks.
AS the road improvement progresses
they are drawn forward by horses and
collected in some convenient grove or
open field. selected as the temporary
prison camp. Morning and evening the
convicts are marched along the road
from and to their quarters. To facil-
itate their being safely guarded
during the night without too great risk
and expense, each prisoner, when he
goes to bed, has either one foot or one
hand manacled loosely to chain or
rod from which he can be easily re-
leased the following morning.
Tiers of hunks inside comprise the
sleeping quarters. These are easily
and cheaply made comfortable. Ample
ventilation is afforded in summer and
during the cold months there is stove
in each car.
One of these portable prisons. which
can be disjointed and transported in
sections, is in use on the public roads of
North Carolina. One of these movable
iaiIs can be heightened to accommo-
date fifty conyicts. It's sides and ends
are of boards bolted together in sec
tons. The roof, of corrugated iron. is
also in sections. Large tents are used
in States.
Women prisoners do the cooking and
washing of some migratory camps.
This work is usually done, however
by trusty male convicts, and in some
cases it is performed by hired labor.
The younger prisoners are usually as
signed to such tasks as the carrying of
water or the running of errands
A ball and chain are attached TO con-
victs who show a desire to escape.
While these encumbrances make it inn
possible for a prisoner to run rapidly,
they do not seriously hamper his move
ments during the regular road work.
Critics of the convict system of road
building say that it offers too many
opportunities for the escape of prison
ers; as matter of fact, however the
annual escapes amount to less than
two men out of each hundred. Almost
300 counties, representing ten States,
employ convict labor upon their roads.
This furnishes an army of 4377 road
builders, each of whom costs his State
thirty-three and one-half cents a day.
Were he left in the county jail he
would cost one and One-half cents more
a day. Hence he is a cheaper article
toiling upon the roads than languishing
in a cell or jail yard. All told, the cost
of convict labor in these States ranges
from one-third to one-half that of hire
labor employed in the same work
The Southern States employi's con-
vict road builders are Florid., georgia
Kentucky. Louisiana. MISSISSIPPI
North Carolina. Sous caroilna, Zen
nessee. Texas. a-d virginia. In the
two Carolin~s and Georgia such a per
fection oSsystems is reached that large
GANGS are operated at cost of only
twenty to thirty cents per convict per
day. Provisions are purchased for the
prison camps at wholesale at competi-
tive rates; the convicts do their own
cooking and washing. Owing to the
usually good sanitation of the camps
and the benefits of exercise to the pris-
orers, the cost of medical attention is
almost nothing.
Another virtue of the system is that
the. prisoners, after injuring their com
munities by the commission of their
crimes. and after adding to its financial
burdens by incurring expense for their
capture. conviction and punishment,
are put in a position to benefit chat
community. Having served an appren-
ticeship in the handling of road build
ing machinery the convict leaves
prison with a training which enables
him to earn better living than he
probably made before.
Only prisoners convicted of misde-
meanors can be assigned to work on
the public roads of Virginia. West Vir-
ginia. Kentucky. Tennessee, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas. Florida and Geor-
gia. The terms of such convicts do
not usually exceed one year. In Ala
bama all able bodied male prisoners
whose terms do not exceed two years.
may be sent to the roads. In South
Carolina the limit is five years and in
North Carolina ten
An experiment is now being made in
some Southern counties in the employ
ment on the roads of captured. but un-
convicted prisoners, unable to give
bail. If the prisoner be acquitted at his
trial he is paid for his services. If con-
victed, his period of labor on the roads
is deducted from his term
Many convicts in the Southern States
are employed on farms, in factories or
in mines, being worked under the lease
or contract system. or in some cases
under State control
California conyicts quarry and crush
stone for use in permanent road build
ing. The cost is half what it would be
with hired labor Strong stockades
surround these qharries, also the con-
vict quarters. The percentage of es-
capes is no larger than that expert
enced in jails proper.
There are over $1,000 prisoners in
confinement within this country. Sew
enty-six thousand of these are men. 49,
600 white. There are $4,000 inmates Of
aims houses. 41,000 of whom are men.
With such a force every county in