The Newark journal., 1913-02-07
DONAGHEY SAYS
 SOL0NS MUST ACT
DECLARES lRoN-cLAD LAWS ARE NECESSARY TO SECURE
 PRISON REFORMS.
EXISTING STATUTES BAD
Says convIets Are Leased Because Under the Present Laws Peniten-
 tlary Must Be Seif-sustalnina.

Little Rock.-In his special message to the General Assembly settting forth his reasons for granting pardons to 36O state and county eonvicts in one day recently, and submitting his rec concentrations for legislation abolish ing the convict lease system, Govern | or Bonaghey declares that anything but an iron-clad law for the admins tration of the penitentiary viii be of no protection to the state and the in- mates of the penitentiary, as under the existing laws the penitentiary must be self-sustaining and the hiring out of conyicts, when it is considered not practicable to work them directly for the state, is permitted
 The governor points out that em- ployment by the railroads for the con yicts has been considered the most profitable to the state when hiring them out, but that while the convicts work for the railroads, the latter do not hire the men from the state. A general contractor hires the conYicts from the state and the railroads hire the men from the contractor
 "The state secures a dollar a day for each able-bodied convict" the gov ernor says. "The railroads pay from s1.50 to s2 per day to the con tractor for them. Just why the rail roads will pay the contractor as much as $2 day for the conyicts when they hD to tn ( or at most s1.25 per day, is beyond my scope of knowledge. In round num- bers the state has lost $40,000 of money the contractors agreed to pay it for convict labor during the past four years. No way has been found by the legal department of the state to collect this debt"
 The conyicts do not fare so well when working on the railroads as tSey do when working on the states farm or on the public highways, the govern | or declares. Three-fourths of the cases of sickness and death originates in railroad camps, he says. The gov ernor also shows that it costs the state much more to maintain the con- victs in railroad camps than 1t does | on the farm or on the public roads.
 One of the chief reasons for con l tinuing the lease system and existing | laws" the governor says, has been 1 the excuse that there was nothing else | that could be done with the large num- | Der of convicts we have but to hire them out to contractors, and that the | penitentiary was in debt.
 At this time, however, the peniten- tiary is out of debt From the study I have made of the subject, and the information gained during the last | four years as a member of the peni- tentiary board, I am convinced that ;. satisfaction to the state and the nec- essary protection to the convicts can
 never be had under the operation of such laws and such a system as We have.
 "When the amount of labor per formed by a convict is to be judged
 by personal interest, we can easily see how he may be imposed upon in l the exaction of his tasks. On the other hand, when the state is the only party
 in interest and the only one to be satisfied, there could arise no condi- | ton under which eonvicts would be under fed, badly treated or over
 worked.
 Then because of these existing l facts and conditions, and for the pur-
 pose of creating new condition by
 which a just and iron-clad law can be | passed for the abolition of the lease | system and hereafter putting all the convicts on the public highways of
 the state and on the states farm; and
 for reducing the number now confined
 in the penitentiary so that this result
 can be brought about; and to remove
 the incentive for the formation of an
 opposing lobby to fight such plan;
 and to at the same time leave an ede- l ouate number of convicts to cultivate | the states farm, continue the clear ing of land and the improvement of
 the farm, I have selected from the list | of convicts now confined in the pent.
 tentiary and on the county farms ( | the state the names or lhree HuHuitu
 and sixty individuals, a list of whom
 have hereto attached, and all of whom
 did on the17th day of December par | don. on condition that they become | good citizens and violate no laws of | the state in the future, and the fur
 ther condition that if they again vio-
 late any laws of the state they are to
 be returned to imprisonment to serve | out the remainder of their terms with l out further process of law or expense l to the state for court trials