MICHIGAN' ROADS AND FORESTS. 



CONVICT LABOR IN ILLINOIS. 



By A. N. Johnson, State Engineer. 

 The employment of convict labor in prepar- 

 ing crushed stone at the penitentiaries in Illi- 

 nois has attracted a great deal of attention and 

 is one of the most interesting features of the 

 work of the Illinois Highway Commission. The 

 problem of the employment of convicts is one 

 that has received much attention and one that 

 seems difficult of satisfactory solution. This 

 . arises from the fact that the conditions that 

 are imposed are somewhat conflicting. For 

 example, it is necessary that the employment 

 be humane, that discipline tre maintained with- 

 out undue expense and that the product of con- 

 vict labor shall not interfere with existing in- 

 dustries or with free labor. Convicts have 

 been worked successfully in many states, and 

 are today, in the manufacture of various arti- 

 cles, but 'this employment of the convicts has 

 met objections from those engaged in manu- 

 facturing a similar article, and also from free 

 labor; these objections have been particularly 

 strong in Illinois. 



As illustrating a possible solution, at least 

 in part, of this problem, an account of the use 

 of the prisoners for making crushed stone as 

 carried on at the two state prisons in Illinois 

 will be instructive. Many inquiries have been 

 received from other states in regard to the 

 details of this plan, which it is believed is one 

 of the most practical ways of employing con- 

 vict labor and at the same time is an aid to 

 road construction. In a number of states, 

 more particularly in some southern states, it 

 has been the practice to work the convicts on 

 the road itself and especially in Xorth Carolina 

 and Georgia a number of miles of road have 

 been built successfully in this way. 



There is, however, in most sections of the 

 country a natural prejudice against exposing 

 convicts on the public roads. It does not seem 

 justifiable to place the opportunity for escape 

 so alluringly before the prisoner and to im- 

 pose as a penalty on his very natural desire 

 to seize this opportunity the risk of being shot 

 by armed guards. If a sufficient number of 

 guards were provided to render the use of 

 rifles unnecessary the work would cost more 

 than if performed with free labor. 



But the employment of the convicts inside 

 the penitentiaries or within stockades, where 

 they are not exposed to public view, seems 

 both humane and practical. Under these con- 

 ditions there is no additional cost to the tax- 

 payers at large for the product of the prison- 

 ers' labor, so that whatever is produced by 

 their industry is so much gained by the com- 

 munity. Moreover, preparing the crushed 

 stone interferes, in Illinois, with no existing 

 industry as the crushed stone is, in almost 

 every instance, used in places where it would 

 not be tried unless it could be secured at the 

 specially low rates that this method of produc- 

 tion secures. In fact, it can truly be said that 

 the state, rather than interfering with an exist- 

 ing industry, is in reality creating an industry, 

 for the total amount of crushed stone, even if 

 all the convicts were employed, would at the 

 most be very small when compared to that 

 which would be necessary should any general 

 scheme of road improvement be undertaken 

 even in few localities. Neither is free labor in 

 any wise brought into unfair competition; on 

 the contrary, work for free labor is created in 

 constructing the roads which, in many in- 

 stances, would not otherwise be undertaken. 



There is also another point of view which 

 recommends this method of co-operation from 

 the fact that no locality is at any increased 

 expense for the benefits that certain communi- 

 ties, which secured the crushed stone prepared 

 in this way, may derive: nor would the ex- 

 pense to any community be less if no one re- 

 ceived the crushed rock, so that it is difficult 

 to see how a more equitable plan of co-opera- 

 tion could be devised. 



Replies to inquiries made of the prison offi- 

 cials regarding the success of this plan from 

 the standpoint of prison management, report 

 the plan to be successful. Warden Smith, of 



Private Land, San Bernardino National Forest, Timbered and Burned in 1903 Courtesy 



Forestry & Irrigation. 



tin- southern Illinois penitentiary, states that 

 the quarry work being all outdoor work is the 

 most healthful of all the work at the prison 

 except the farm work; as a result the prison- 

 ers are maintained in good health, which keeps 

 them in a more cheerful and brighter frame of 

 mind, which has the warden says a marked 

 effect upon the discipline, and he has no hesi- 

 tancy in saying that no better employment can 

 be had in our prison than the work in the 

 stone quarry department. 



Warden Murphy, of the Joliet penitentiary, 

 states that owing to the fact that the quarry 

 is upon the prison grounds as good control. of 

 the prisoners is secured as though they were 

 confined within the prison inclosure. He re- 

 marks, however, that he does not think the 

 work would be practicable if it were necessary 

 t<> \\-ork the convicts on the public road. He 

 concludes by saying that, as conducted, the 

 work has proven to be a very good way of 

 employing the inmates of the prison. 



This plan is perhaps peculiarly adapted to 

 Illinois, owing to the distributing of road mak- 

 ing material in the state, as there are large 

 areas in which there is practically no rock and 

 little or no gravel sutiable for road- making 

 purposes. Therefore, if these materials are to 

 lie used they must be shipped in or supplied 

 from some central plant. In areas with a more 

 abundant supply of the material, the practical 

 radium to which stone could be shipped would 

 necessarily be more limited. 



In order to make a complete success of this 

 plan it is necessary to provide for the distribu- 

 tion of the crushed stone. This was done 

 through the co-operation of the railroads, who 

 made special freight rates, some of the roads 

 making slightly better concessions than others; 

 the general rate, however, being Y 2 cent a ton 

 a mile, thus making it oossible to ship 1(10 

 miles for 50 cents a ton. The Illinois Highway 

 Commission was enabled to affect this arrange- 

 ment partly through the law which gave the 

 commission authority to arrange for such rates 

 with the railroads, who were assured by the 

 attorney general of Illinois that such rates 

 could not be considered as discriminating 

 against other shippers to whom they would 

 not be liable necessarily to name similar rates. 

 In the two years in which this work has 

 been going on some difficulties have been en- 

 countered. The chief of these was inability 



during the excessive freight movement of the 

 past year to secure a sufficient number of cars 

 from the railroads, which materially reduced 

 the amount that could have been shipped. It 

 was also found that large storage facilities are 

 of convenience and practically double the capa- 

 city of the plants. This is for the reason that 

 during many times of the year when the men 

 can work in the quarries and stone can be 

 crushed, the roads are not in condition to 

 have the material used, but if the crusher can 

 be kept running and a large amount supplied 

 ahead, it will then be available when the roads 

 are in condition for it; also in case the ears 

 arc not placed on a particular day, it is not 

 necessary to stop the crusher for lack of 

 storage room. 



The crushing plants now in operation at 

 the state prisons have a combined capacity of 

 1.500 to 1,800 cubic yards per day of eight 

 hours. The Joliet plant consists of a No. T'J 

 gyratory crusher with a Xo. 4 crusher as an 

 auxiliary. Storage is provided by storage piles 

 which are filled by means of a cable way on 

 which is operated a large scoop which serves 

 to convey the stone to the storage pile and 

 also to take it thence to the cars as may be 

 required, The cars may also be loaded direct 

 from the crusher bins, which have a capacity 

 of :)() cubic yards. All of the machinery is 

 electrically driven from the prison power 

 plant. 



At the southern Illinois penitentiary at 

 Menard two separate quarries have been 

 opened. At one a No. gyratory crusher is 

 operated: at the newer plant a No. 7^ gyra- 

 tory crusher has been installed.' Storage facil- 

 ities are provided at the older quarry by a pile 

 of stone which is conveyed from the crusher 

 bv hand cars run out on a trestle. At the new 

 plant, which is on a hillside, a large reinforced 

 concrete storage bin was built so that one side 

 tile hll serves to cofine the stone which 

 is carried to the storage pile in hand cars 

 unshod out on a trestle. Railroad cars are run 

 below the bin and are filled from gates in the 

 floor of the bin; this bin has a capacity of 4.000 

 cubic yards and can be readily increased to 

 any desired amount by extending the concrete 

 construction along the hillside. The power for 

 both of the plants at the south penitentiary 

 s furnished from independent steam engines. 



During 1000, the first year of operation. 



