The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-11-17

becoming self supporting as they can
easily be made under the sane and
sensible system of utilizing the labor
Of the men confined in them, If not
actual contributors to the state treas
ury.
Now Costs $4,000 Annually.
The state prison at Marquette Is
now costing the state about $4,000
year for maintainance, as against
$4,000 annually a few years ago. The
reformatory at Ionia is now nearly
self-sustaining, and the Jackson pri-
son is approximating that desirable
condition. All three of these insti-
tutions could be made to return a
stead of drawing on it for support, If
their boards of control were permit
ted to do what the House of Correc-
tian at Detroit is now doing-that is
to establish in these institutions the
industries which could be most prof
itably engaged I'm without reference
TO competition, and were protected in
a market for their products. The De-
troit House Of Correction turns in to
about $4,000 a year profits from the
industries conducted in that institu-
ton.
Its labor is engaged in some indus
tries that come into direct compete
ton with those established by private
capital in which free labor is employ
ed and no complaint from any source
lie rH hot DC inf
to the free labor of the state or to
the interests of the state as a whole.
With ordinarily good business saga
city exercised in the management of
the states penal institutions, and their
board of control relieved from the re-
strictions imposed on them by the
law, the prisons of Michigan could un-
questionably make an equally good
showing, and thereby materially light
en- the burden of taxation of the state.
II seems to me that the next legisla-
ture should give this problem careful
attention to the end that the labor of
our prisons may be employed to the
best advantage as producers of reven-
ne. with the primary object of making
these institutions self supporting as
quickly as possible and revenue earn
ers for the state ultimately, instead of
forcing on their arrangements a poll
Icy that is certain to make them much
more heavily burdensome to the tax
payer than they now are.
How Estate Use" System Works.
In the penitentiary at Joliet, hi
nois, where there are 1,40O men confin-
ed. the system of employing prison
labor which il is proposed to adopt in
the prisons of Michigan has been i'm
use for some years, with the result
that the Illinois penitentiary, which
could easily be made TO earn a very
handsome revenue for the state, over
and above the cost of it's maintenance.
is now costing the state over a quar-
ter of a million dollars yearly, which
comes directly out of the pockets of
its tax payers. II Is a safe predic-
ton that if the Illinois system is ad-
opted in Michigan our prisons will
soon be costing the tax payers of this
state for maintenance three or four
times what they are now dragging
prisons OF Michigan the men confined
in them are now earning a very con-
siderable amount of money for them
selves for work done beyond the tasks
assigned them. Quite a proportion of
this money is sent by the men to
their families. In the Illinois prison.
as in all others in which the same
policy is pursued, the men have no
opportunity to earn anything for
themselves.
Working under such conditions, they
are unable TO contribute anything to-
ward the support of those dependent
on them. and their toll is not sweet
ened to any degree by the sense of
reward coming to them from IL. as is
the case in the prisons OF Michigan.
II is easy to understand the hurtful
effect on the men themselves of
system such as this, not TO speak Of
the hardship 1t infiicts on the families
of the men thus deprived of any OPP
portunity of contributing anything to
their support II is obvious that under
such a system the prison becomes
merely place of punishment and con-
fnement, where nothing can be done
for the reformation OF the men.
! again desire to express 10 your
honorable board my earnest thanks
for the encouragement and support
you have given me in all that l have
sought to do as warden of this pri-
son for the welfare of the institution
and the moral and physical betterment
of the men confined in IL. feel that
much has been accomplished In the
past several years toward weaving the
men sentenced to this prison from
criminality and preparing them to be-
come good citizens when they leave
It and a large share of the credit for
this is due TO the deep and intelligent
interest you have taken in the work
committed TO you.
Very respectfully submitted.
JAMES RIrSSEII,