Fourteen other counties are considering the proposition with intent to begin operations in the spring of 1918.
Montgomery County pays a wage of 65 cents per day.
Berks County estimates that the prison has saved $900 the first season.
Fayette County. Men work on roads and farms. Wages daily, 25 cents. It is estimated that the county saves many thousand dollars annually by working the convicts on the roads.
Some further details of what has been accomplished in the way of producing supplies for the prisons may be found in the Report of the Wardens’ meeting at Glen Mills.
About half of the counties of the State have a prison population per diem of fifteen or less, possibly the majority of these detained for trial; hence, the farming proposition has little interest for them.
This law will be extremely beneficial to the prisons wherever it is properly applied. Calculate, if you please, what the labor of ten men on any well managed farm will produce. Nothing whatever is said in the law as to the distribution of the produce. The crop may be divided on some equitable basis with the poor authorities. It may all go to the prison on some terms to be agreed upon. What cannot be used at the time may be canned for use in the winter. We suppose in some cases the surplus may be sold, or exchanged for other necessities of the institution.
The law at least may be commended for brevity and for the absence of any restraining features. Credit must be given to the State Board of Charities for proposing and at once securing the passage of this economic measure. The law is to be in force during the continuance of the present war.
We trust the law will be amended so that the prisoners may be allowed to work on land leased or donated for such purpose. There are some large counties where there is no land available for this laudable purpose. The bill introduced by Mr. Walker of Philadelphia contained such a provision and also a clause explicitly stating that the surplus of products may be sold at the best prices obtainable.
Commission To Propose a Revised System of Prison Management.