Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1908-02-01
THIS W0RKHOUSE
NEEDS NO GUARDS
Remarkable Achievement
on Cleveland Farm Lands.

CLEVELAND, OHIO, Jan. 31.-(Spe-
ciaD Trying to make men out of
prisoners" is the motto of the Cleve-
land Farm Colony, where the city's
offenders are sent. At this remarka-
BILE penal colony there are no guards
to keep the prisoners from running
away, and very few have taken ad-
vantage of this liberty to run away
1t is related that discharged prisoners
often come back in the evenings to
attend the night school, or to spend
their evenings there instead of in the
saloons
The laboratory where this expert
ment is being tried out is known as
the Cleveland Farm Colony 1t is a
en-hundred-acre farm, which
lies back ten miles from the lake, high
above the surrounding country, with
an inspiring outlook which covers the
city below and Lake Erie in the dis
lance. Here is beautiful city ceme
terry. Elsewhere is a municipal tub
erculosis hospital. On the highest
point of land is the infrmary group
of buildings. In still another section
is the workhouse.
Here is a large gang of men engag
ed in grading the land and in con-
Structing roads and sewers 1t is
little startling to be told that they
are work-house prisoners. They look
like other men, it is true, for they
wear no prison garb. They are not
locked together by a ball and chain
They move about as freely as any
other men might move at that sort
of work.
AS for a guard with rife across his
knees to prevent some sudden up
rising or an attempted break for Ii
berty, there is no such person in sight.
Nor is there any stOckade Or other
enclosure to prevent the escape of the
men.
Wherever one goes upon this great
plantation of nineteen hundred acres
he comes upon men, singly or in
groups, gathering potatoes, corn, fruit,
charge of this remarkable farm,
work. They are all workhouse pris-
oners.
Dr. Harris R. Cooley, who is in
charge o fthis remarkable farm,
says:
1--WE have no guards; we have no
stockade: there is no one about the
place, so far as | know, who carries
SO much as a stick or a revolver. We
trust these men, and because we trust
them they respect the trust. They
are committed for vagrancy, for
misdemeanors, and petty offenses
that occur in large city. We used
to lock these men up in the work
house in the city. We put them at
pulling brushes, a laborious and con-
filming work. The men were weak
enough when they came to us They
were dissipated, unstrung, and for
various reasons unable to resist temp
tation We kept them in the work
house until they had worked out
their sentence, and then turned them
out in the street again. Of course they
drifted into the nearest saloon. Where
else could they go? Confinement had
weakened their will power and des-
troyed their physical health, so that
their whole nature craved stimu-
liant. Often they were less fit for work
than when they came to us, and they
were hardened by the treatment which
the city had meted out to them
Instead of furnishing these men by
exacting tasks for which they are I'M
suited, We now put them on this beau
tiful farm. They live out of doors.
They are working at something for
which they are fitted. For most of
them come from some coarse work or
other. We have work here for a gem
Grafton to come We have a splendid
quarry from which we can build miles
of roads, and lay the foundations of
our buildings. Then, too, we have
this great estate to farm. We will
supply the city hospitals, infirmary,
and other institutions with good milk,
with fresh vegetables We can also
supply the police and fire departments
with hay and grain. Even from
financial point of view this experiment
justifies itself But that is the least
important consideration. The princi-
pal thing is that we restore the pris-
oners sef-respect He grows strong
by outdoor work. He goes back to
life again able to meet the tempta-
tons which the city offers. And very
large percentage of these men never
come back. But better even than that,
we restore their respect and conf
dence in themselves For we treat
them like men, and they respond to
it,