TROUBLES OF THE TEXAS PRISON SYSTEM
By Tom Finty, Jr.
[This is the second and concluding article by Mr. Finty. The first article appeared in the December, 1913, Delinquent. Mr. Finty’s two articles are an especially interesting statement.]
In the foregoing I have attempted to outline the situation of the Texas prison system, to show how a burden of loss and debt has followed marked financial prosperity, and to indicate why the public is puzzled over the situation. I shall now endeavor to outline the causes of this condition, my statement being based not merely upon the conclusions of the investigating committee of 1913, but also largely upon the testimony taken by the committee, which testimony I heard and reported. This statement necessarily will include something of a review of provisions of the prison reform act of 1910, of criticisms of the same, and of the revisions which the Legislature recently tried to make.
When the prison reform act of 1910 took effect on January 20, 1911, and Governor Colquitt appointed his prison commissioners, the system was clear of debt except as to a small sum in current bills for supplies just received and on hand. There was also outstanding $100,000 of bonds secured by a direct lien on the Texas State Railroad. These bonds are still outstanding, and they are not taken into account in any of the statements hereinafter made.
The prison population when the new law took effect was 3,578. Of this number 1,046 were hired out; 831 were working on share farms (a modification of the hiring-out system), and 1,701 were employed upon State account, 586 of these within or near the walls, and 1,115 upon the State farms.
The acreage cultivated on the State farms was 18,097; on share farms 25,363, and on contract farms 18,680; total 62,140.
The prison population on September 30, 1913, was 3,926, all of which force is employed on State account, 733 of the prisoners being in or near Rusk and Huntsville prisons and 2,965 on State plantations. These plantations now include certain rented lands, adjoining the lands owned by the State. The prison population is classified as follows: White 1,244, blacks 1,919, mulattoes 335, Mexicans 405 and Indians 3. The number includes 92 females, 7 of them white, and 85 black.
The acreage cultivated by the 2,965 prisoners on State farms in 1913 was 36,993, as compared with 62,140 acres cultivated by 2,807 persons at the time the new law took effect.
The reports of the prison commissioners and of chartered accountants show that in the two years next following the date the act of 1910 took effect the prison system’s losses from operation were $722,773.41; that debts aggregating $1,528,458.04 accrued, and that $310,000 appropriated from the public treasury had been expended.