Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-08-09
DESERTERS
Be REFORMED;
new ARMY Plan
tBy Latest Maill

LEAVENWORTH.- Beginning with
an appropriation of $643,0 five years
ago. and with only prisoners to do the
work, Lieut. Col Thomas H. Slayens,
commandant of the United States mil
itary prison, set out to build the finest
penitentiary in the United States, to
cost. when completed, almost $4,000
coo. the new penitentiary is now al
most completed. and the cost viii be
within the appropriation.
Meanwhile, however, what was de-
signed to be a penitentiary has been
turned into a feformatory Uncle
Sam for years and years has been
sending deserters and other petty
army offenders to the prison and
turning them out ex-convicts. The
drastic punishment didn't stop de-
sertions and it was a considerable
waste of good soldier material.
Now Uncle Sam is going to try a
new plan. Instead of branding men
as convicts, he is going to send them
to the reformatory, where, after a
course of instruction he is going to
give them another chance to go back
into the army and make good. 1t is
an experiment in conservation that
the army is interested in, and it is
believed the results win be vastly bet
ter than under the convict system.
Prisoners Do the Work.
Already the prison walls, power
plant, auditorium and kitchen have
been completed, and within a very
short time two of the four cell wings
will be ready for occupancy. The
foundations have been laid for the
two remaining cell wings, and work
has been started remodeling several
of the work houses of the old prison.
The labor was the easiest problem
Col. Slavens had to solve. Confined
in the prison are men from every walk
of life. Carpenters, brick masons,
plumbers, and in fact every trade is
Those who knew no
trade were given Instructions or as
signed to the duties of the common
laborer. There are now $50 men in
the prison, mostly deserters from the
army
Three hundred of them are en-
ployed on the construction proper,
while the others are assigned the
work of preparing material for the
different buildings. In addition pris-
oners operate the post terminal rail-
way. system, aid in the construction
of roads, the preservation of forests
and lands, till the soil on the prison
farms, and make clothing and shoes
for the prisoners.
Col. Slayen's first duty was to- plat
out a village to the north of the pris-
on, where the guards reside. Then
an immense stockade was built
mile north. where all materials were
made for the buildings.
Halls of Concrete Blocks.
The thick walls of. the prison are
of concrete blocks, the foundation of
which is in some places 80 feet in the
ground The celLnouses are of brick
burned in the prison kiln, concrete
blocks made by prisoners, and steel.
The walls are several feet thick. The
crushed stone was taken from the
prison quarry and crushed by prison
labor. Even ,ae usual expensive fea-
ture- OF building. the woodwork, is
costing the government but a trifle.
IlNL4. JhS tOlCot VI dCOSJ many W
them walnut, the humber for the wood
work is secured Skilled carvefs in
the mill are turning out the finest of
finished material.
The cell houses are three stories,
each containing three tiers of modern
cells. Each cell is equipped with a
toilet, cot, an electric light, and a
chair One man will be allotted to
each cell The big auditorium. with
a seating capacity of 200, will be
completed by the Fourth of July, in
time for the annual entertainment
The stage is fireproof and sufficiently