Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-01-12
ties In the special field of work In
which they are engaged.
The Old State Prison.

Inc Old state PRISON.
The state prison is old, insanitary
and i'll adapted to the care of 1920
prisoners there confined. In fact, 1t
should not be located in a thickly set
tied part of a large city, and the prop
erty should be sold and a new location
secured. The Railway reformatory
might well be taken for this purpose
and a new site for the reformatory
purchased. A portion of the prison
buildings is antiquated and unhealthy,
and the use of such buildings should
be abandoned. The prison is poorly
ventilated, and the inmates get little
sunlight, and there is no room in the
grounds for recreation, and what room
there is is insufficient for exercise. If
it is not considered feasible to change
the location of the prison at this tim
the state arsenal, which adjoins the
prison grounds, could be moved else
where, the arsenal building torn down
and the vacant land included within
the prison bounds. This would be a
great improvement, the expense of
which would be small and the result
ing benefit large.
BY an act of the legislature of 1914
1t was declared as the policy of the
state to abandon the practice of con-
tracing the labor of convicts and new
contracts were forbidden. Although
the board of prison inspectors, with the
consent of the governor. vas authorized
to extend the contracts then in force it
.v.- A. s-Ao,4.1x 81 4Ia4 mt ~ 1a nca
those contracts as soon as they termi-
mated and that employment should be
provided by the state within the prison
or on farm, quarry or road work for
all prisoners, but it has not been pos
Sible to carry out such intention and
some contracts were extended and are
still in force. This was necessary be-
cause subsequent legislatures failed to
provide sufficient funds to enable the
prison inspectors to establish other in
dustrieS. The men should not be per-
mitted to remain in idleness, and all
those now employed under prison con-
tracts cannot be put at farm or o
work for the reason that the extent of
such work is limited and also because
some prisoners are untitled for manual
labor and others cannot safely be trust
ed at outdoor work. l am not satisfied
that it is wise to discontinue the MAX
ing of prison labor contracts. The aim
of the prison authorities is to keep the
men employed, and it seems to me that
they may as well be at work under
prison contracts as at other employ
ment, provided the preparation of such
contracts is carefully supervised, their
terms made fair and equitable and a
portion of the contract price for their
labor is set aside for the men.
Support of Prison Dependents.
So long ago as 1911 the legislature
directed the board of prison inspectors
of the state prison and the commits
sioners of the Railway reformatory to
pay the dependent families of inmates
of those institutions the sum of 80
cents a day for each day such inmates
were employed at productive labor, and
later on, in 1914, the law was amend
ed so as to direct the inspectors and
commissioners to establish a wage sys-
tenn whereby the inmates who work
would, after deducting a sum for their
care and maintenance, be allowed a
small wage for the support of their
dependents or for their own benefit
after parole or discharge. 1t was not,
however. until this fiscal year that any
money was available for such purpose,
and, in my judgment, the sum is in
sufficient. The law presents rather
difficult financial problems, because the
wage system applies to all persons con
fined In these institutions, whether
they work at productive labor or are
employed in clerical or domestic work,
which produces no return in dollars.
In the state prison about 200 men are
assigned to duties within the prison,
and. while their labor is valuable and
saves the state money, it produces
nothing which can be sold or exchang-
ed. Seven or eight hundred others
are working on prison contracts, the
money from which Is paid directly
into the state treasury and is absorbed
in the state funds. OF the remaining
two or three hundred some are en-
ployed on road work, for which the
road department makes compensat1on;
others in industries established In the
prison by the state and still others at
the prison farm, the W latter classes
producing goods which the state can
sell. A wage schedule must, however,
be provided for the whole 1,200, and
it can readily be seen that If the
money earned by the work of two or
three hundred is divided among the
entire 1000 the per capita for each
must necessarily be small.
Two Acts Which Conflict.
Chapter 270 of the laws of 1916 pro
vided that a person convicted OF MUIR
der in the first degree shall be impris-
med at hard labor for life If the jury
before whom he is tried so recon-