The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-16
GROSS MISMANAGEMENT
OF CONVICT SYSTEM IN
JOHNSTON'S ADMINISTRATION
Report of Special Legislative Committee DscOSeS Bad Con-
ditOn of Acknowledgment Violation of Law--Chairman
Brooks Thinks Report Not Strong Enough.

!
who are incarcerated in our State pris-
| ons.
| 1t is stated that the thirty convicts
| now at No 4 are practically all TRUSTEES
| though many Of them were sentenced for
the most actrocious crimes. >.
| On visiting the walls your commit
| tee found a squad of about twenty-seven
| convicts out at work on the farm, one
in small black smith shop ready to
! work and seven men at work in small
shoe shop. The rest of the two hundred
| and five men. except the cooks, were idle;
| but many of these were unWell or broken
| down from the mines, and had been sent
| to the walls" to recuperate. Perhaps
one hundred and fifty of these :convicts
are strong enough to engage in some
| light work within the walls" 1t was
| suggested to the committee that this
| would not be profitable to the State since
| such inside work as these men are capa-
able of performing must be in the ma
| ture CT a trade, and by the time man
| learned enough at any trade to DC o,
| any profit to the State. his term would
| expire; and, therefore, the scheme Is
imprac ticable.
| 1t occurs to the committee that If you
release a man from two, four or more
years enforced prison idleness without
| any means of support, you nave mace
| him a criminal from necessity. Instead
of the man being reformed, his criminal
tendencies have Seen confirmed by ASSOC
citation; and years of enforced idleness
| have rend cred him absolutely unnt tor
1
| On the other hcnd, if all these semi
| inyalids are taught a trade-some light
| work that may be done within the walls,
| the State will not lose by 1t now ana
| those convicts made criminals by environ
| ment or necessity will be released at the
expiration of their respective sentences
| with the means of making an nonesl
support. In this manner the penitentlary
| may be made to some extent at least d
practical reformatory.
The evidence shows that enough shoes
could be easily made in the walls to
| supply the other prisons, but instead of
| requiring this to be done, the President
of the Board has bought large bills of
| shoes each year
With so much idle labor at the walls
| your committee was impressed with the
| fact that without any expense Ito the
State everything about the premises
might have been kept scrupuously clean.
| But the bedding in the wards smells
musty and does not give evidence of fire.
quent summing and washing. The venti-
| lation is not the best.
In the hospital especially-the place
| above all others which should have been
| clean-there was a foul smell and much
| filth. Some of the bed clothing was very
unclean.
Your committee visited Pratt Mines,
| and a subcommittee visited Coalburg
| LoEgvicw and West Calera.
| So far as could be ascertained. the
| treatment of convicts at Pratt Mines and
| Coalburg has been humane. Inspections
| have been made frequently. but the In
spectors have not always insisted on
| seeing every prisoner in person. This
should be required of them. Sufficient
| food and clothing has been provided. Hot
| and cold baths are furnished. and well
ventilated wards The tasks required of
the convicts do not seem to have been
| too severe. There have been some in
stances of brutal treatment. but 1t is ex-
ceedingy difficult to get any satisfactory
evidence on this point.
Forty-fve convicts are employed at
Longview by J. b. Adams in the manu-
| facture of lime and work incident thereto.
| 1t seems that proper cleanliness in regard
| to clothing and bedding is not observed
| here. nor are the bathing regulations
what they should be- Many of the con-
victs employed here state that their
| strength and health is sufficient and that
they would like to be transferred to the
mines. School facilities and religious lit
| erature are wanting at this place.
At West Caera about nineteen of the
conyicts formerly employed at the now
abandoned Dogwood mines are engaged
in the manufacture of lime and lumber.
The sanitary regulations and prison ac-
commodations here are wholly inadequate
for the proper care of the conv1cts. 1t Is
respectfully recommended that this camp
be Immediately broken up, and proper
steps taken to have these men transferred
to some better camp or prison.
Instances of brutality at the State pris-
ons are due to the character OF guard
now and then and not to the system.
There was considerable complaint of
fighting among the convicts in the mines.
There seems to he no remedy for this
save a more rigid surveillance and per-
haps heavier penalty for this infraCtion
of the rules. Since convicts are often
inundated they will not make a report
double penalty ought to attach to any
abuse of a convict because of a report
he may have made. 1t seems that new
convcts when sent to the mines are
placed under the leadership of ap old
convict miner. The squad leader is not
supposed to exercise any authority over
his fellow conVicts but as matter of
fact he not infrequenty takes advantage
of his opportunity to abuse the men I'M
der him in the mines. The attention of
the contractors should be called to this
fact, and they should be required to take
steps to prevent its occurrence in the fu-
ture.
The method of bookkeeping has been
wholly inadequate to the needs of the sys-
TEN. The accounts of No. A. the Walls"
and Speigner have been so jumbled to-
gether as regards the credit side of the
account at any rate that it is impossible
to learn the financial status of any one
prison. For this reason it cannot be as
certained what any one of these institu-
lions has PAID or cost the State. If they
have not paid it is practically impossible
to learn the cause of the loss
Examiner Purifoy stated in his official
report to the Governor on about Decem-
Der l. 1900, that no books were kept at No
4. The committee Supposed tnat the place
was run on a cash basis and all accounts
kept in the general office, but they found
at No. what purportcd to be a day-book
of some character. 1t had been badly
mutilated, many of the pages having been
cut out as If by knife. In it had been
kept the number of hogs killed. an ac~
count of the meat and other produce,
etc Nothing definite could be learned in
regard to the matter.
At the walls" books were kept after
fashion. Warden Perkins had a day
book or ledger of his own which was re-
markable for the absence of certain i'm
portant dates Of entry. The books kept
in the office there are not the most accu-
rate and do not contain a full account of
the products of the farm amount of
meat raised and slaughtered, etc. as they
should.
The books at SpeSner show little more
than such transactions III which cash was
received or paid out; No account has
been kept of any produce or other State
property sent from Speigner to any other
State prison. From the books at this place
it is impossible to tell what became Of
the cotton produced here. The books in
the general office show sales of cotton
but it cannot be ascertained from said
books upon which farm it was produced.
Your committee recommends that each
prison be required to keep an accurate set
of books and that the respective Wardens
be held responsible for their care. Each
prison should not only keep an account of
what it consumes, put of what it pro
duces. If the walls sends cotton to
Speigner the department should give the
walls" credit for the amount and
charge the same to Speignar. If meat
goes from No. to the walls it should
IN like manner be credited and charged
and not sent haphazard as 1t is at pres
ent.
In othar words the accounts of all these