The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1909-04-09

welfare Of the cORvieie ~ provided for copy o. ne
ess contract and conditions VIII De ssf cot lh full b
special message
TIE following & quoted from Tie contract
ut further cogenanied and aed that te State may
~ any time during tbe e Of this contract Or prior 70
te time actual performance % the same e entered upon
Oh January let 1870 withdraw from said contract s
female pris0neru invalid male prisoners and euch prs
oners who from any cause may Be deemed unable to per
form reasonable manual labor and from the time Of the
withdrawal Of said women and male prisoners, the said
Florida Pine Company agree and bind themselves to pay
fifteen be51 per cent additional on the said $zoLoO per
CAPITA for the prisoners remaining in their custody under
this contract Said additional fifteen per cent to be
paid from the date Of the withdrawal Of the said female
and nFm male prisoners above described" It viii be OBJ
served that in the event the Legislature proper to
allow the withdrawal from the lease Of the women and
invalid men, the other prisoners will be leased for 82S4
apiece
Florida IL the only State which leases such class
Of prisoners It Is therefore recommended that suitable
legislation be enacted TO carry these provisions into
effect and that the Board Of Commissioners OF State In
stltu0ns be authorized to purchase suitable tract OF
land to be used az Penentiary for such class Of con
vlcts and that suitable amount Of money shall be set
aside for such purposes out Of the proceeds Of said lease
This would become a nucleus for a future Pententiary
Owing to the scarcity OF labor and the demand for labor
IN our State the employment Of convets in tuFpentne
farms and In phosphate mines In which they are usually
employed does not conflict with free labor
In orr warm climate large bodies Of criminals could
not be we'll kept IN enclosure, without serious der
msnt to their health In lease system there are really
thiFtyodd pententiaFes During the year 1908 there
were handled 1756 prisoners OF which sevenyVe were
white During 1908 there twenysx deaths twenty
being natural deaths; 1925 per 1000 This was remark
ably low death rate when IL considered that 10 many OF
the convc are diseased before entering the camps In
the Registration Area Of the United States including the
New England States New York, New Jersey, Delaware
and the District Of Columbia shown by the United
States Census for 1900 there IT'S deaths to the
1000.
Some have thought that Il would be well to use the
cOnvcts In building roads, II s not considered advisable
from sanitary point 20 employ Ongerm cOnvcts in the
uecesary temporary camps used In the construction OF
roads
From an economical point, II would not be advisable.
AbebOded convctS such as would be used roads, are
now leased at SS234 year. Add to this the cost Of
temporary camps the cost Of guards and the food and the
cost Of management sanitation medicine and other Incl
6entas However, much Of the money resulting from
the lease Of the cOnycts the Legislature may deem
proper could be used for roads, The shOFterm county
ccnVics could be advantageouSy employed on the roads
Eo road work. many Of the States use tents for sheterng
short.term cOnvicts.