The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-01-19
TIE COUNTY

Inc StGte 5OarC Oh CnalllleS anu
Corrections in its annual report, at
pages 1910, exposes the a~bsurdity
of the claim that it is cheaper to
work the public roads with convict
labor than with free labor. At the
top of page 1873 it is shown that it
costs. in Charleston County, n dol
lar each day for the subsistence,
guarding and miscellaneous expenses,
of working a convict where the num-
Der of convicts in the gang is -.
Where the number is 81 the expenses
are figured at siXty-one cents per
day.
But these figures taken alone, are
misleading as the report will show.
The expenses are figured on a basis
of three hundred and sixty-fve days
in the yea and no allowances are
made for Sundays, lost time, for
sickness, nor for the many days of
bad weather, when the convicts are
idle, but when expenses continue to
run on. Continuing along this line,
the report says:
Overhead Charges Constant.
"Another element to be taken into
consideration in trying to arrive at
chain gang costs is the time lost
from work on account of sickness,
bad weather, Sundays, etc. The
overhead expense, of course, goes on
Just the same. In Charleston u
ty the average number of days work
ed was "a per cent, the average
number of men at work was SO per
cent. In Charleston city 10 per
cent. of the men were constantly idle
on account of sickness in 1913, and
rs per cent. in 1914. The average
number of days actually worked was
not stated, but it could not have been
more than sc per cent, because there
are only that many working days IN
the year. In S~partanburg during
the two years of 1914 and 1915 the
sentences of all ~convicts on the city
chain gang totaled 1910 days, but
during this period 1888 days-l9
per cent. were lost or account OF
sickness, rain, and Sundays. These
figures would indicate that about ~
per cent. of the sentence is lost.
Therefore, the actual per capita cost
for maintenance must be increased
by rs per cent. to arrive at the real
cost of a convict's daily work.
An examination of the two tables
discussed above liable XVI, giving
figures as to guarding on % gangs,
and the table on page 1881 Indicate,
though they do not prove, the follow
ing generalizations:
(a) That the average chain gang
in South Carolina has &c to % con-
victs, of whom 6 to 8 are "trusties."
(b) That it employs 4 to 5 guards
whose average monthly salaries are
$500 to $4,000 for foreman and
$4,000 for others.
(c) That in such a gang of II
convicts the guarding cost is about
1921 a day a man and the feeding
cost about SO.21 to 1924 The
other maintenance costs are probably
80 per cent. of the combined expen-
ses for feeding and guarding, bring
ing the figures up to $0.55 or 5000
a man a day. If this be increased
by rs per cent. for lost time, as
above indicated, we shall arrive at
SOTO to SO.75 as a probably fair es-
innate of the county's daily expense
for each convict on chain gangs of
26 to 20 men.
(d) That the larger the gang the
lower the per capita cost. An an
alysis was made of all the Charleston
city chain gang figures for two years.
It showed that, after dcdrcting the
average number of sick prisoners
from TIC average rer diem popula-
ton and assuming that the remain
ing rrmhcr worked 21% d>T& . year,
the &C. cc . prisoner in 1913 for a
GANG OF - wo@ %1.fGT2. AL in 1914
= I - :. ,.... Ct rec Ti>1@