The National tribune., 1902-08-07
CONVICTS AS ROADBUILDERS.
The South is Using Them Very succe ssfully
for That Purpose

The South is Using Them Very succe ssfully
for That Purpose.
Director Martin Dodge, of the National
Office of Public Road Inquiries, believes
| III putting prisoners ut work i'll roadbuild-
ing. Special Agent j. \. Holmes, of that
| ONCE, has just completed u thorough in
vestigation of the system adopted by u
| dozen of the Southern States.
Portable prisons on wheels are novelties
which Agent Holmes discovered upon the
| roads near Nashville, Tenn. These NOV
ing Jaiis appear to solve the problem of
preventing the escape of conyicts employed
at great distances from their prison
proper. ln exterior appearances they are
freight car bodies provided with barred
windows and mounted upon wagon trucks.
As the road improvement progresses they
are drawn forward by horses and collect
ed Ill 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 facilitate 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 closely to a 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 venti-
lation is afforded in Summer, and during
the cold months there is a stove in each
car.
One Of these portable prisons, which
| can be disjointed and transported in sec
tions, is in use on the public roads of
North Carolina. One of these movable
jails can be heightened to accommodate
30 convicts. Its sides and ends are of
boards bolted together in sections. The
roof, of corrugated iron, is also in Sec
trons. Large tents are used in other
States.
Women prisoners do the cooking and
washing of some of these migratory prison
camps. This work is usually done, how
ever, by trusty male conyicts, ald in some
cases it is performed by hired labor. The
younger prisoners are usually assigned
to such tasks as the carrying of water or
the running of errands.
A ball and chain are attached to con-
victs who show desire to escape. While
these encumbrances make it impossible for
a prisoner to run rapidly, they do not Sc
riously hamper his movements during the
regular road work.
Critics of the convict system of road
building say that it offers too many op-
pOrtunities for the escape of prisoners.
Agent Holmes says, however, that the
annual escapes amount to less than two
men out of each 100.
About 800 Counties, representing 10
States, employ convict labor upon their
roads. This furnishes an army of 4,377
road builders, each of whom costs his
State 1914 cents a day. Were he left
in the County Jail he would cost 1 y
cents more a day. Hence he is a cheaper
article toiling upon the roads than Ian
gushing 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
hired labor employed in the same work
The Southern States employing convict
road-builders are Florida, Georgia, Ken
lima, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
and Virginia. In the two Carolinas and
Georgia such a perfection of system is
reached that large camps are operated at
a cost of only 20 to 30 cents per convict
a day. Provisions are purchased for the
prison camps at wholesale and competi-
tive rates; the convicts do their own cook
good sanitation of the camps and the ben
efits of exercise to the prisoners the cost
of medical attention is almost nothing
Another virtue Of the system is that the
prisoners, after injuring their community
by the commission of their crimes and
after adding to its financial burdens by
mourning expense for their capture, con-
puiilSuHltHt, are put III al DU-
sition to benefit that community. Hav-
ing served an apprenticeship in the hand
ling of road-building machinery the con-
vict leaves prison with training which
enables him to earn a better living than
he probably made before.
Only prisoners convicted of misdemean-
ors can be assigned to work on the pub
lie roads of Virginia, West Virginia. Ken
tucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Texas, Florida and Georgia. The terms
of such convicts do not usually exceed one
year. In Alabama 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; in North
Carolina 10.
An experiment now being made in some
Southern Counties is the employment on
the roads of captured but unconvicted
prisoners unable to give bail. If the pris-
oner be acquitted at his trial he is paid
for his services. If convicted, his period
Of labor ON the road 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 convicts quarry and crush
stone for use in permanent road building.
rbo -, kol 80 = L. ~