Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-04-09


successfully employed in many west
ern states, notably in Colorado. Ore
gon, Washington, Montana, Arizona,
and many others are about to adopt it.
The employment of prisoners on the
roads has long since passed the ex-
perimental stage. Wherever it has
been intelligently and conscientiously
tried it has been unqualihedly success
full. There have been failures. it is
true, but they have been due either to
ignorance or a lack of interest in the
matter by those who had it in charge.
The honor system has attained it's
greatest success in Colorado owing to
the ability, faith and zeal of Warden
lyman. 1t was here the idea first flow
cred. Here long term or penitentiary
prisoners only are worked. There are
no armed guards. They are placed in
camps of about fifty located anywhere
from fifty to three hundred miles from
the prison. They wear neither chains
nor stripes, and in fact the only diff
ference between these convict camps
and the ordinary construction camp
is the better discipline there being
regular hours for everything, in fact
military discipline. The convicts SIM
ply give their word of honor that they
will not escape. From the sentence
of those who obey the rules and work
industriously ten days iii every month
Is RENTED, 50 there is something for
them to work for. IF they try to es
cape and ere recaptUred, as most of
them are, they are dealt with accord
ingly. One would naturally think that
with such freedom given the conyicts
there would be many attempted es-
capes. Such however is not the fact.
During the past two years only one in
two hundred have run away; he IS in
Vara bly, recaptured and must serve
an additional sentence for the attempt.
Fifty per cent of the penitentiary
prisoners of Colorado are worked UNI
der this honor system and Warden
lyman believes that seventy-fve per
cent of the men in the ordinary pri-
son can be successfully handled in
this manner. Some time since he wrote
me that he was of the opinion that
the honor system would DE more sue
cessful with the long term men than
the short term ones. This appears
rather strange.
During 1909 and 1910 the conviets of
Colorado built fifty miles of roads.
most of them through an almost i'm
penetrable mountain fastness, cat act
ually through The solid rock, at an
expense of fifty six thousand dollars,
little more than one thousand dol
lars per mile. During 1911 and 1912
they built three hundred miles and the
warden estimates that during the next
ten years he will be able TO construct
five thousand miles of the finest roads
for less than five hundred thousand
dollars
For years MANY states in the South
have been building roads with convict
labor under the armed guard system
This system has reached its greatest
perfection in Virginia and Georgia.
Georgia is using nearly five thousand
of its state and county prisoners on
the roads.
While in Florida this winter | inves-
tigated somewhat her prison methods.
Florida has no states prison. All of
her long term conXicts are leased out
to private corporations, mostly those
engaged in the turpentine industry.
I Her county or short term prisoners
are all employed on the roads. The
courts there do not sentence men to
thirty or ninety DAYS in jail as We do
but to thirty or ninety days work ON
the roads. Most of my time was spent
at Orlando the county seat oe a large
county Orange county. Though they
have a county Jail there, it did not
have an inmate and as matter OF
fact, a woman kept or rather lived in
it. All the prisoners were away at
work on the roads.
The county convict road camp in
Florida and also III most of the South
armed guard system. Perhaps this is
necessary as all short term men are
sent here. no selection being made as
under the honor system and there nee
essarily must be some tough eharac-
ters A camp is established by build
ing a wire fence stockadc. Large port
able sheet iron wagons are run into
the stockade. At night the convicts
are locked in these wagons with two
armed guards at the entrance to the
stockade If for any reason prisoner
desires to come out during the night
he notifies the guard and is let out.
During the day time they work like
ordinary men. shoVeling, building Gull
verts, driving teams and swearing al
the mules. An armed guard like a
sentinel constantly travels around the
n simple matter to move these camps
from one place to another and the ex-
pense is trifling.
New Jersey has recently adopted a
modification of both systems, and is
successfully employing prison labor on
her roads while New York has done
something in a small way and is con-
templating the extensive employment
of prison labor in the manufacturing
of road material. New York will put
the prisoners to work making bricks
for state roads" declared Governor
Glynn at Carnegie Hall the other day,
and he further stated that brick roads
which would cost ordinarily twenty
five thousand dollars per mile to con-
struct. could be built for fifteen thous-
and dollars per mile by having the
brick manufactured by the prisoners,
thus saving ten thousand dollars per
mile to the state.
What are the labor conditions in the
larger county jails in our own state?
Bear in mind. I am speaking of the
larger tails and do not include the