The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-26
ARTICLE III.
By HELEN KAY.

OFF after one year in the jute mill of Quentin
a man hasn't got consumption he is at least
pretty sure to have lost his mind" This is the
statement of worker paroled from this hell
hole.
He described the prison. The jute MILL so
dusty that one can scarcely breath. There is
always an intense noise as the chuttles shoot
ing back and forth shake the old style machin-
cry. This place is reserved for those for whom
the keepers have the least use.
You are forced to turn out 100 yards of cloth
day; if you fall down on this quota you go
into solitary confinement or lose good time The
mill has yearly profit of 100000 or more
The money is supposed to go for the upkeep
of the prison. But it first goes to the director
of the State Board of Prisons, and he uses it
as he sees fit.
The men work under the hot sun for hours
on the prison farms. But when the truck is
harvested the mems table never sees any Of it,
This is reserved for the officers, guards, and
their families. Such is San Quentin, Bastille
of California.
worker, James c. Van Horn writes us on
conditions in Camp Leeds, near Kansas City:
i have bummed about quite bit in my time
and have heard great many stories about
prison camps but this Leeds has them all skinned
to a frize The food is rotten turnips The
noon diet sometimes beans and sometimes DO
tatoes. We get meat if you are lucky enough
to get hold of the garbage can before someone
else does You are supposed to work hours
There are plenty of shot guns to see that you do
work And I mean it's work, breaking rock,
or unloading coal, or digging graves paupers'
graves
He continues: Now while was working on
the farm, was working for private people dig
ging cellars. I was told the county got dollar
a day for our work that we did on the outside
for other people. All I got was a few stewed
turnips to eat.'
Other prisons have nearly the same abominable
conditions. There is the chain gang of the
South, the quarries, and the turpentine camps
where the convict workers are viciously oppressed
and exploited.
The amount paid for the labor of the prisoner
when paid at all is a mere pittance. The pay
is measly two or three cents day. The pris-
oner has no benefit He tolls all day long under
the most barbaric conditions. convict does
not have the privilege of striking. If he does
strike it means an added punishment in the
form of years, in brute force, or in diet.
Average earnings Of prisoners in forty state
penitentiaries for the fiscal year of 1928 was
about $170 per prisoner. The earnings of Colo
RADIO prisoners amouted to $47.86 for that year
according to the report of survey by the CAL
ifornia Taxpayers Association
In the Handbook of Labor Statistics of 1929
the latest available information on this subject
out of 104 pens only 81 had any compensation
whatsoever, and SO had none at all. The pris-
oner received absolutely nothing for his labor
In only one state does the prisoner receive the
free labor wage rate.
States publish records saying that wages are
paid to the prisoner. This is not true. For ex-
ample, in the West Virginia Pententiary task
is set for the prisoner to do. If he does two
tasks day he is paid for the second task. II
he does no more than days task he earns
nothing
In Tennessee on road work the convict is
handed over to the contractor and the state
retains enough of his earnings to pay for his
maintenance, and the prisoner receives one-third
OF the remainder. What happens to the two
thirds2 The counties OF this state pay nothing
whatsoever to their prisoners.