The suburban citizen., 1902-10-18

IL lut COulnclu OAalCHi w ipANnopl
7. A. Holmes, and will be Of interest TO
hose interested in the good roads
movement
Portable prisons on wheels are novel
lies which arc now in use in several
ocalities. These movable jails appear
solve the problem of preventing the
scape of convicts employed at gr at
distances from their prison proper. In
exterior appearances they are freight
.ar bodies provided with barred win
lows and mounted upon wagon trucks.
As the road improvement progresses
hey are drawn forward by horses and
collected in some convenient grove or
,pen field, selected as the temporary
,rison camp Morning and evening the
.onvicts are marched along the road
rom and to their quarters. To facil-
tate their being safely guarded
Turing the night without too great risk
and expense, each prisoner, when he
,oes to bed, has either one foot or one
hand manacled loosely TO a chain or
:od from which he can I've easily re-
eased the following morning
Tiers of hunks inside comprise the
sleeping quarters. These are easily
md cheaply made comfortable Ample
ientilation Is afforded In summer and
Turing the cold months there is a stove
Il each car.
One of these portable prisons, which
AN be dsjointed and transported In
ections, is in use on the public roads Of
North Carolina. One Of these movable
ails can be heightened to accommo-
late fifty cOnvicts. It's sides and ends
Ire of boards bolted together in sec
ions. The roof, OF corrugated iron, is
llso in sections. Large tents are used
II States.
Women prisoners do rhe cooking and
washing of some migratory camps.
This work Is usually done, however,
by trusty male conyicts, 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-
eicts who show a desire 10 escape.
While these encumbrances make it I'M
possible for prisoner to run rapidly,
hey 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 q matter of fact, however, the
annual escapes amount to less than
/ .wo men out Of each hundred. Almost
300 counties, representing ten States,
employ conVict labor upon their roads
| This furnishes an army Of 1877 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 onc.halG cents more
day. Hence he Is n cheaper article
/ .Oiling upon the roads than languishng
u a cell or jail yard. All told, the cost
IF convict labor in these States ranges
from one-thrd TO one-half that of hired
tabor employed in the same work.
The Southern States employing con
rict road builders are Florida. Georgia
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi
North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten
lessec, Texas and Virginia In the
Two Carolinas and Georgia such a per.
lection of systems is reached that large
amps ere operated at cost of only
twenty to thirty cents per convict per
lay. Provisions are purchased for the
prison camps at wholesale at competi
i've rates the convicts do their own
cooking and washing. Owing 20 the
usually good sanitation Of the camps
and the benefits OF exercise to the prls'
oners. 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 then
! ,rimes, and after adding TO It's financial
burdens by lncurring expense for their
capture, conviction and punishment,
are put in a position to benefit that
| community. Having served an appren-
.iceship in the handling of road build.
ing machinery the convict leaves
prison with a training which ables
him to earn better living than he
probably made before.
Only prisoners convicted OF misde.
neanors can be assigned to work on
he public roads of Virginia, West Vir.
yinia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Geor-
gia. The terms Of such convicts do
lot usually exceed one year. In Ala
5ama all able bodied male prisoners
whose terms do not exceed two years.
nay be sent to the roads. In South
Carolina the limit is tlvc years and in
North Carolina ten
An experiment is now being made in
some Southern counties in the employ
nent on the roads of captured, but un-
convicted prisoners. unable to give
oail. II the prisoner be acquitted at his
rial he is paid for bis services. If con
Victed, his period Of labor on the roads
s deducted from his form