Utilization of Prison Labor.
BY H. H. HART
(Suggestions to West Virginia)
With the tremendous demand for war supplies in addition to the ordinary demand for domestic uses; with the cessation of immigration which for 150 years has poured a steady stream of fresh laborers into the United States; and with the immediate diversion of a million men, and perhaps four or five millions, to the trade of war, we are confronted with a scarcity of labor which compels us to utilize every available worker to the limit of his reasonable capacity.
Able-bodied men, working under skilled direction and thorough system, without loss of time from drink, strikes or voluntary holidays, ought to earn more than their board and clothes. In the present state of the labor market it is possible for prisoners, under proper circumstances, to earn two dollars per day. In Vermont prisoners from the common jail are earning two dollars per day on the adjacent farms. In Windham county, Connecticut, prisoners are actually earning $2.50 per day at common labor, and at Wilmington, Delaware, short-term prisoners are earning $1.20 per day....
In those counties where the jail prisoners are not employed, we would suggest the adoption of the Vermont plan under which the jailer finds employment for individual prisoners with a nearby farmer who pays for their labor at the ordinary rate for free labor. The prisoner sleeps at the jail and has his breakfast and supper there—two good hearty meals. He goes out in the morning, carrying a dinner bucket, and returns at night. If the distance is too great the farmer sends for him by team or automobile. If the prisoner fails to make good or tries to run away, the farmer notifies the sheriff promptly, who sends a deputy sheriff after him. The reports from Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware and Wisconsin, where this plan prevails, show very few escapes. No guard is necessary, as the farmer looks after the prisoners, and thus the overhead charges are done away with.
Thomas J. Tynan, of the Colorado State Penitentiary, wrote recently as follows: “We are now doing work to the value of $2.50 per day by prisoners on the highway at a cost to the taxpayers of the State not to exceed 40 cents per day. The State could well afford to pay a little wage besides the good time allowance.”
The difference between the old system and the new system lies chiefly in the manner of dealing with the prisoners. Under the new plan an appeal is made to the prisoner’s honor and good will. After being tested within the walls, he is permitted to join a company of workers outside the wall on his promise of good work and good behavior, and on his promise not to run away. The prisoners work without chains, and the guards in many cases carry no firearms. Testimony comes from Ohio, from Oregon, from Colorado, from Wisconsin, from Connecticut and from Canada that prisoners—even low-grade prisoners and negroes—respond surprisingly to this treatment; that escapes are few, and that there is a great improvement in the industry and efficiency of the prisoners.
The incentive to the prisoners to make good is partly an increased allowance for good time; partly, in some States, a small cash wage; partly the desire of the prisoners for the freer life outside the walls, and partly a response to the confidence shown in them by their officers.
Success in employing prisoners on the roads by modern methods depends first upon finding a road manager who is interested in his men and believes in the possibility of exciting their interest and loyalty for the work. It depends, second, upon creating such living and working conditions as will keep the men fit for a good day’s work. That means good food, good cooking, comfortable sleeping quarters, opportunity for proper recreation, good laundry work and bathing facilities, and, above all, the treatment of the prisoners by their officers as reasonable human beings.
The plan of roadside camps, portable cages, chain gangs, ignorant and cruel guards armed with shotguns and discretionary power will not secure cheerful and efficient work.