Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-09-15
THE JAIL WORKSHOP.
Prisoners Have a Chance to
Work,
How This Labor is Being Utilized at
the Present Time.

thing to excite a great deal Of
curiosity as one passes the county
Jail on Court street is the incessant
racket within, which would set one to
wondering if it We're the intona,ion OF
treadmill in its monotonous ROUNDS.
were it not irregular and noisier
All this hubbub is occasioned by
prisoners at work making mattress
buttons. The process is a very simple
one and yet affords the pIisone-
great opportunity for good exercise,
chance to earn his tobacco money and,
at the same time, is source of income
to the county. Few people know just
how this is managed to make this q
mutual benefit
1t is like this: the room in the north
east corner of the prison, on the sec
ond floor is leased from the county by
j. F. Horn, the Portland contractor,
ard is utilized exclusively for this pur
pose The room is some 50X15 feet in
dimensions. On the north side of the
room is arranged a long bench which
reaches nearly the whole length of the
room. Behind this the prisoners work.
| For each man there is a steel die set
in the bench which is used for cutting
| out the buttons. These are made in
two shapes, a clover-ledf pattern and
| a circular shape with .scalloped edges.
The manner in which these men do
| the work is very simple, as was before
stated. All sorts of scraps of kid are
placed along the bench in large guam
titles and very handy for each man.
| These the prisoners pick over as they
| use them and place one or more at a
| 10 etc in thp
bench and hold them with their LEFT
hand, while with their right they take
| a maliet. which is very heavy. and
strike down upon the die very viSor-
ously. This cuts the button properly
and it is now exactly as is used by the
manufacturers Each successive cut
| ting of buttons forces out through the
| bottom of the die the buttons pre-
viousy cut.
1t is very interesting to watch these
prisoners work. There are anywhere
! from 10 to 50 working. according to how
many pisoners there happen to he in.
| how long they are in for. what they are
| in for. whether in good health or
| whether they are willing to work. At
| the present time there are about 20
who work at this.
As would be expected among this
class there are all sorts of specimens
of Workmen. Some work diligently and
seem TO be interested in their work.
Others work along leisurely, as much
so as their keeper will allow, and seem
| to be laboring to kill time to the best
possible advantage. On the whole the
work goes on very busily and the vigor
and constancy with which they labor
accounts for the racket one hears in
passing the Jail.
Now. it will be interesting to know
| lust how this is of profit to both the
prisoners and county. To the prisoners
| there are several advantages. one oil
these is that if they don't work at this
| they have to remain in their cells the
| greater part of the time. Another ad-
| vantage is that the exercise from the
work is very invigoratinS and enables
| the prisoner to retain his health ana
strength as hardly anything else could.
The third advantage is that he is paid
one cent per pound for all the buttons
he can cut. In most cases the prison.
ers have no money when they are
placed in confinement and great
many of them work very hard for what
| they can make. Some earn as high
| as so cents per week. This Keeps them
in tobacco while they are in prison
and. in most cases gives them little
spending money. when they get out.
An advantage to the county is that
the prisoners require less looking after
when working than they would in their
cells. Then, too the county is paid
well for the rent of the room.
Mr. Horn has contracts with cum
berland county. Androscoggin county,
York county and Kennebec county, and
has the same arrangements in the
tails at Portland. Auburn and Alfred as
here. 1t is a paying arrangement for
Mr.. Horn. He obtains the scraps OF
kid from shoe factories at very mod
crate figure and. as the work at the
prisons cost but little. there is fair
margin of profit to him. For all four
of the counties where Mr.. Horn has
these contracts the plan has proven
very successful and profitable.