Evening star., 1930-05-23
Government Work, Formerly
Handled Locally, to Go
to Reformatory.
OCCOQUAN WORK HOUSE
PIECES TO BE INCLUDED
Innovation Is Part Of Institutions
Industrial Rehabilitation Activity,
Offering Wages to Prisoners.

Final details for the establishment of
laundry service at the Districts re-
formatory at Lorton, Va, which will
take over the Federal Governments
laundry work July /, were discussed to-
day at conference between the Com
missioners and George S. Wilson, di-
rector of public welfare.
The reformatory laundry. which is to
become a part of the institutions IN
dustrial rehabilitation activities will
supplant the Government hotel laun-
dry, which Is to be abandoned July /,
Congress having failed to appropriate
FUNDS Tor its continuance. This laun-
dry does work for 80 different Federal
departments and agencies in Washing
ton and handles on an average of ap-
proximately 2,600, 900 towels a year in
addition to nearly 10000 pieces Of mis-
cellaneous articles. The value of its
work is estimated at 5000 q year.
Aside from the Federal Governments
work, plans have been made for the re-
formatory laundry to take over the
work OF municipal government agencies
which Is now done under private con-
tract. The Districts annual laundry
bill amounts to approximately $4,000.
viii Handle Occoquan Work.
The laundry also will handle the work
OF the reformatory and the work house
at Occoquan, which averages about l.
800, 900 pieces q year. These instity-
tions never have had modern laundry
facilities, the clothing of the prisoners
and other articles being washed in i'm
provised tubs and dried on the lawns of
the institutions. In rainy weather the
drying OF the laundry constituted q
problem.
The laundry service for the Federal
Government will be operated on the
same system used by the Government
Hotel laundry. Fleets of small trucks
will gather the articles to be laun-
dered each day from the various build
ings and take them to the Ninth Street
Wharf and transfer them to a five-ton
truck of the van type. and take them
to Lorton.
Arrangements have not been COM
pleted for handling the laundry of the
District government, since 1t Is not
contemplated to take over this work
until about October /. In the mean
time. 1t is proposed to have the Dis
trict's laundry handled under private
contract, as has been done in the past.
The Government will pay the reforma-
of a price list which has been worked
out by Capt. M. M. Barnard, superin-
tendent of penal institutions of the Dis
trict, and j. E. C. Bischoff, Superin-
tendent of industries of these inStitu-
tions, who is supervising the work of es-
tablishing the laundry at Lorton. The
price list, 1t was said, is virtually the
same as that of the Government laun-
dry. The Commissioners have been
asked to approve this list.
Rapid strides are being made In the
erection of a building at Lorton 70
house the laundry. The building viii
cost about $4,000 and the equipment
$4,000. All of the equipment in the
Government laundry, with the excep-
ton of several obsolete machines, will
be turned over to the Lorton laundry.
New equipment has been ordered to
supplement- this machinery in order for
the laundry to handle the large VOL
ume OF work.
Building TO Be Ready June Is.
Present indications are that the
building will be ready for occupancy
June Is The new equipment is sched-
uled to be delivered by that date and
prison officials hope to have it in oper-
alton by July /, the date fixed for the
laundry to take over the Government
work.
The receipts from operation of the
laundry will go into a revolving or
working capital fund which has been
created as a result of the industrial ac-
tivities undertaken at Lorton in recent
years. With this fund 1t is planned to
extend the industrial activities and pay
the prisoners pecuniary wage.
According to present plans all wash
ing and fiat work will be done at the
reformatory laundry at Lorton. The
starch and finished work will be handled
by the women's department in the
workhouse at Occoquan. Women also
will be given the work Of repairing torn
articles