The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-13

The regular message OF Governor t1tz-
patrick to the legislature of 1923 in
formed the body that the state peniten-
tiary near Wetumpka, on 10 acres of land
on the left bank of the Coosa, had been
completed at an outlay of SS4,sS9 for the
property and that 1t had been in use for
one year.
Trouble in the management came with
the advent of the institution. In lS4i
William l.. Yancey. the senator from
coosa county. then the, county of tn
penitentiary, and chairman of the joint
committee in charge of the institution,
reported that Achilles Bradley, the war
den, had overrun the appropriation and
had further exceeded his authority in
inflicting punishment on conyicts.
Upon this report an act was passed
forbdding the warden to contract debts
beyond the limit of the appropriations
and forbidding him to use the lash at all.
IL convicts required punishment beyond
a bread and water diet. the warden, the
physician and an inspector must con-
fer and determine the method and limit,
provided that in no cause shall whip
ping be allowed"
The institution remained a dsappoint-
ment. When Governor Winston entered
upon his second term December, 1880, he
reviewed the uninterrupted ldlluit VI tiiS
penitentiary. For six years Moore and
Jordan had been the lessees at $3.50
year. They had never paid dollar Of
the contract price. This governor at
the end of his second term cf admins
tIation and observation went so far as
to advise that the penitentiary be abol-
ished, that some other form OF PUNISH
ment be invented for the higher crimes
while for punishment of capital chimes
there should be q. return to the death
penalty
The war came and the Confederate
government manufactured artillery and
wagon harness there, with Capt. John
NJ. Martin, later distinguished citizen
of Birmingham, in charge.
Until the emancipation of the negroes
the convicts were nearly all white men.
Through the entire period of military
reconstruction of the state. money
flowed out of the state strong box to the
penitentiary, but none flowed in from the
institution. The negro element rapidly
filled the cells.
In the second term of Governor Cobb
QSs2-SD he appointed Capt. j. III. Bank
head warden. Warden Bankhead re-
ported to the inspectors the lease
system. He had been around among the
contractors to see for himself. He said;
Il found the prisons where convicts We're
confined. in most instances, totally unfit.
They were as filthy as dirt could
make them, and both prisons and prison
ers were infested with vermin. The
bedding was totally unfit for use. ]
found that convicts were excessively,
and in some instances cruelty punished;
that they were poorly fed and clothed;
that the sick were neglected, inasmuch
as no hospitals had been provided, the
sick and we'll confined in the same cells.
The system Is a disgrace to the
state, a reproach to the Christian senti-
ment and civilization of the age and
ought to be abandoned"
Governor Jones came into office eight
years after Warden Banknead's report.
Two weeks In office brought from him
special message on the penitentiary.
The message reminded the legislature
that the institution was "a device of
anxious and continuing concern to that
body as well as to the executive. Among
other details of curious interest was re-
lated the rapid increase In It's popula-
ton Six years before the women con-
victs, for example, were 26; then the
number was II.
The governor sternly rebuked the
sentiment abroad in the land favorable
to sale of the land and buildings on
the Coosa and a substitution of the lease
system for state penology. He ex-
planned that a considerable proportion
of the convicts always would be men of
feeble physical strength that no con-
tractor would willingly take. Besides the
women and boys of tender age should be
exclusively under the care of the state.
The only argument In favor of the sale of
the property was the expense of main
tanning 1t and the expense of handling
prisoners condemned to confinement
there, by the courts. prior to their arrival.
The argument was unworthy of an en-
- ~
ment The message added: 1.-THE
abandonment of the lease system is a
mere question of time. We can never
abandon 1t unless we make a beginning"
The beginning desired was an appropria-
ton of $4,000 to be expended In a pur-
chase of agricultural lands adjacent to
the 10 acres of original purchase, on
which the buildings stood. As it was. on
the north side of the wall surrounding
the yard. private land ran to within 80
feet of the wall. On the south side pri-
vate land was found only so yards from
the wall. Between the river and the 10
acre limit there was narrow belt of
privately owned land which cut the state
off from draining the 10 acres.
The governor would purchase sew
eral hundred acres of arabic land near
the penitentiary and employ in agri-
culture large part of the inmates of
the institution and thus make the be-
ginning of the abolishment of the lease
system He would expend, say $500
of the proposed $4,000 appropriation
in the purchase of machinery for the
manufacture of brooms. socks. ETC., by
the labor of the feebler class of men,
tho women and the boys.
Back of the penitentiary reforms the
message discussed the action of trial
courts by whose sentences the insti-
tuition was filled. There had grown up
a habit among justices of the peace
to condemn prisoners to hard labor for
costs that was inexcusable. Negroes
were coming into the practice of re-
venging their feuds among themselves
by the sentences of such tribunals. Re-
Gently a justice of the peace had tried
and sentenced a lunatic escaped from
the asylum.