The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-11-06

in the Southern States" by Professor
j. A. Holmes. and will 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
to 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 barred win
dows 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 lie
goes to bed, has either n foot o. one
hand manacled loosely to 4 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 4 stove
in each cal.
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
jails can be heightened to accommo-
date fifty convicts. Its 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 OF the running of errands.
A ball and chain are attached to con-
victs who show a desire to escape.
While these encumbrances make it i'm
possible for 4 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
crs: as q 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 43T 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
q day. Hence he is a cheaper article
toilirg upon the roads than languishins
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 con-
Wet road builders arc Florida. Georgia,
Kentucky. Louisiana. Mississippi,
North Carolina. South Carolina, Ten
nesscc, Texas and Virginia. In The
two Caroliras and Georgia such a per-
lection of systems is reached that large
camps 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 W
cooking and washing. Owing to the
usually good sanitation of the camps
ard the benefits of exercise to the pris-
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 their
crimes. and after adding to its financial
burdens by mourning expense for their
capture. conviction and punishment,
are put in a position to benefit that
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 a 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 onc year. In Ala
hama 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. II The prisoner be acquitted at his
trial he is paid for his services. II con-