The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-14
A DEATH BLOW TO pEONAGE.
nyrTERrREATMENT ron COUNTY
PRISONERS ~ THE sOCTH.

meet NJ the N<eewt 1DNsctmswts IN Aiss
bsms--TNs STATE CeWvtcs ~ssw, sywsm
Wss pvs,sA . sueeess soA h tAkr'y
~ ne AsWpted ~ the Cssnt,es New.
Nsw ORLEANS. June IL The indictments
fund In Goose and Tsllapoosa counties.
Ala Ia the peona9e cases will hill tho pre-
vnlins tendency throughout the South
.~st 10 adopt the pconaGe system In the
ca.e NJ petty Offenders and win hiring about
the adoption Of the county farm system.
The latter system has been strongly urged
in M.ssissippi by those who favor prison
tcform, and In several counties farms
have already been established on which tho
county, prisoners arc worked. But there
has been no general law passed by tho
Legislature on the subject and In most
counties the prisoners are still leased out
giving rise to grave abuse. Of which the
Ao.called peorage Ia by no means the
worst
The old penitcntiary icase system. for
merly universal in tho Southwest, was prob
ably the most cruel and barbarous insti-
tuition that ever prevailed in this country.
and was one OF the worst relics Of recon-
s,r,iction days. The reconstruction State
Government, hsving no money to support
or maintain the penitentiaries. sold the
convicts for a long term-ten or twenty
yeare-and made q good thing OF this
elave trade.
The leseees sublet their convicts, and, OF
course, got as much money out OF them as
possible, at a cost in suffering and human
lives beyond belief. II can readily be appre-
ciated that the prisoners who were not
able bodied were of little profit to the
lessee, and IL was to his interest that they
should b. freddy escape or death.
During the entire period OF the lease
system, In spite Of the efforts to hush up
the matter, the papers Of the Southwest
we're filed with the scandals and horrors
Of the convict camps, and the first oppor-
tunity offered was seized at the expiration
of these convict leases to abolish the system
altogether, and to substitute therefor the
State convict farms. Louisiana. Mississippi
and Texas now have suoh farms in full
operation. nine in all. with nearly six thous-
and oonvicts employed on them at farm
work OF various kinds.
Tho change Is probably the most radical
ever made in the South, and the results
have been far more beneficial than the
most ardent prison reform advocates had
hoped for. 1t has reduced the mortality
three-fourths, and 1t has had good moral
effect on the oonvicts. Moreover, the
financial result has bean most satisfactory.
The States have made more money out
OF the farm labor OF the convicts than
they did OF old in selling them to slave
dealers.
The penitentiaries being now under
control OF State officials. who receive
salaries and hsvs no interest in coming
the sweat and blood Of the conviots into
,ionsx, che oruelties perpetrated of old
have almost completely disappeared and
the conviots ara - we'll treated as those
in any part Of the country: In Texas. for
instance, there y farm for the women,
particularly thcss threatened with con-
sumptiou where the labor is light and the
climate beneficial.
Tho able-bodied oonviets are kept on
largo plantations and employed almost
Louisiana and Texas and cotton in Missis-
siur:. some stock 10 raised-enough to
fl .lsh tho public institutions with beef.
IN louisiana and Mississippi. the con-
victs can he employed in the constructi e,
splendid work during the recent high
water, preventing several breaks, notably
at Arlington near Baton Rouge, and at
Sarpy. The majority Of the .convicts are
negroes. In working, therefore, in the
only the kind Of work they would be en-
They are confined. it is true, and get moth
ing for their labor; but the work Is as healthy
as that they would otherwise be engaged
in, and the hours OF labor and food are
about the same as in the case OF the average
free negro.
The Plantations are usually go situated
as to render escape difficult. The chief
convict farm in Louisiana, Angola, is on
an island in the Mississippi, which needs
The change was made from philanthro-
which followed being surprise due largely
to the advance in the price of cotton. To
equip. the State convict farms in Texas Texas,
dollars, and it was hoped that the profits
on the farming would pay interest on the
Investment.
II paid far more, and the indications are
that when the penitentiary, boards have
the convict farms operated by them, the
profits on the business will support the
public schools and the State government
It ssems strange in the light q the success
sissippi Legislature should have hesitated!
about adopting the same principle in regard
to county convicts. While the treatment
Of these prisoners Is very difernt in Mis-
sissippi from what It is in Alabama, the
vicksburg Herald, which Is good authority
on the sub ject, admits that the situation
in this State [Mississirpil admits OF equal
peonaae abuses-of the increase and per-
petuation Of the terms Of the court sentences
through prison farm rules.
.Outraees worse than slavery have been
100 commonly praotised on the negro county
prisoners Their treatment in many in
stances, BY cruel and unprincipled lessees
and through subservient and ,venal jus-
tees Of thu. peace has shamed our white
admitting the evils that have grown up
under the system Of leasing the county
prisoners, which evils are the same Is those
that prevailed among the State convicts
under the old State lease system.
1T u ono hard to reach the Hero1d de-
clarcs, shut the State Legislature can have
no tr,ier, better object than TO throw the
same safeguards around the county prison
farms that 1t has provided for the State
cohviets'
IL ia one Of the most remarkable Of abb
surdjtiea and contradictions that the state