The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-16
E. H. DILLON & co.

in bad company It would be so if he remained within the prison walls. There are also compensations incident to outdoor labor. Every laborer in the open air has a company that nev- CT fails him, that of nature. To see the sun, the blue sky, the fields ana the woods has something in it which elevates and vivifies the soul. Con- fined within four walls, forced to la bor mechanically in gloomy work shop, a convict may almost forget that he is a man. He will not forget It laboring in the pure air abound him, with the clear vaule of heaven above his head.
 Third, it is, I think, true, that con- vict working in the open air within stockade would be more exposed than in jail to abuse and tyranny on the part of those who have him in charge The prison turnkey would not dare to be brutal in the presence of a large number of witnesses, even though con- victs, and yet might permit himself to insult or beat convict if he were left with him and only two or three others on a farm, where the laborers are necessarily at times more or less scattered. A simple remedy of course is to employ none but humane guards, and only men employed by the state and responsible to the state. l should be far from advocating the contract system for outside farm la bor.t
 ..Fourth, it is true that the convict would have more chance of escape If he were set to work outside the pr1s- on walls He has already made one step towards liberty. see no inn propriety, however, in dressing him in prison garb, for stripes would be a serious obstacle to his escape.
 Fifth, undoubtedly the occupation of convicts in the sopen air would put them in a position of competition with other kind of prison labor. Such labor is necessary. To shut up. men with out giving them occupation renders them insane, or shOrtens their lives. On the other hand, it would be un- just to the state, if it were not to make them, so far as 1t reasonably can, earn their bread while suffering the penalty for their crime.
 ''It would not be proper. of course, in Sorder to benefit criminals or to ben eft itself, that the state should com promise ozFruin the work of honest men by unreasonable competition. But it is more easy to avoid this com petition when you employ csonvicts in outdoor work than in teaching them while confined in jail to exercise a trade. Goods made by prison labor have generally a local market and may bring down the price on similar goods in the same market, but if they are set to work on a farm, products of the earth find a market every where. The field of the modern farm is the world. It costs no more to ship a barrel of flour from Minneapolis 10 Liverpool than to haul it on a dray from the mill in Minneapolis to the house of the consumer in the suburbs Of course, also, many of the products of such agricultural labor would be consumed by the convicts themselves.
 Passing from reasons against to reasons for this mode of employing convicts. Notice, first, that the sys- tenn permits the application of an ad- mitted principle; namely the work of each prisoner ought to be adapted to his capacity. Unless he desired it. a shoemaker, for example, should not be placed as field worker on a farm He would be more useful and find himself happier, perhaps in ply ing his Own trade, even though he were shut up within four walls. Ev- erybody likes to do best what he can do well. But the great mass of con- victs have no trade. They have been accustomed to live from day to day. Work on roads and other public inn provements, 'or farming. suits them best. It is less irksome.
 Second, permission to engage in outdoor work might be treated as a privilege, giving only to prisoners who conduct themselves. Other things be- ing equal, everybody in normal health, if he is forced to work under the or ders and for the benefit of another, would like better to do it out of doors than in jail. Italy in her penal code has made provisions of this sort, and allows outdoor work only to convlcts who are approaching the expiration of their term of Imprisonment, and who have a good prison record.
 ''Third, outdoor labor benefits. the state by giving worth and value to it's territory. The more good roads the better off is the community. The more good farms, the better off is the town in which they lie.
 Fourth, the health of the convicts would certainly be improved by em- pfoyment in the open air. There are regenerating forces of nature ever at work to purify the free air from all contagion and destroy all morbid germs. These forces are almost en- tirely secluded from prisons. There, notwithstanding all practical measures of cleanliness, will be centers of in lection, from which diseases will ra- diate particularly tuberculosis, to which, indeed. prison life is especially favorable. There are few jails in Connecticut which have not an evil odor peculiar to such places-what we call the jail smell.
 Fifth, outdoor labor pays better than labor in jail. The conditions for it are more natural. Men work harder, and with more cheerfulness. Moreover, as the public has the ben eft of highways and the duty of main taining them, every days work on the roads furnished by the convicts is. an object of economy to the state, allow ing it to dispense with wages other wise due to the road worker, who might be employed for the job. He, it is true, loses. thus the chance to do what the prisoner is made to do: but after all governments were not made for the purpose of procuring work for their citizens.
 Sixth, most civilized nations put young delinquents on farms. We do but almost all the objections to em- p.toying grown men in outdoor labor, though in less degree, to employing boys. The most serious of all dan gers, that of bad company, certainly exists. No human being is more gross and cynical than @the bad boy and there is no grown man who can as surely and as rapidly as he dissemin- ate the contagiOn of his vice among his comrades.
 "Penologists are generally hgreed that to a certain extent, outdoor la permitted in Connecticut under our present law, as we administer them. The trusties are largely thus employ ed in our jails, and some of Our state