496 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



at the expense of their reformation, or to the injury of 

 the industrial classes. 



5. The product of convict-labor, when compared 

 with that of the entire mechanical industry of the 

 nation, is insignificant ; but its concentration upon a 

 very few branches of industry may be seriously injuri- 

 ous to the citizens engaged in those branches. 



6. The burden of the competition of convict-labor 

 should be distributed as widely and equally as possi- 

 ble. 



7. The injury to any branch of industry from prison- 

 labor may be reduced to very small proportions by the 

 greatest practicable diversity of employments in the 

 prisons. 



8. Where the contract system prevails, contracts for 

 convict-labor should be so drawn as to give the State 

 absolute control of the discipline of the prisoners, and 

 the State should prescribe all rules governing con- 

 tractors and their employees. 



9. The proper diversity of employment in the pris- 

 ons shoula be secured by limiting the number of con- 

 victs to be employed in any one industry ; such limi- 

 tation should be adequate to secure the industrial in- 

 terests of the country from serious injury, and to afford 

 the convict a reasonable certainty of employment upon 

 his release. 



The following resolution was also unani- 

 mously adopted by the committee, but was re- 

 jected by the New Jersey Commission, and 

 had not been acted upon by the Commis- 

 sion of Connecticut at tho time the report was 

 prepared : 



Resolved, Under existing circumstances, and while 

 the reformation of the prisoner is made subordinate to 

 the question of gain in our prison institutions, it is 

 not expedient to abolish the contract system ; but this 

 system, during its continuance, should be so guarded 

 and restricted by legislation as to protect the interest 

 of the State, promote the moral and industrial condi- 

 tion of the convict, and interfere as little as possible 

 with free labor. 



The committee, after describing briefly the 

 systems of discipline and reformation pursued 

 in the Penitentiaries of New York and Penn- 

 sylvania, makes the following statement con- 

 cerning Massachusetts : 



In this Commonwealth, as in most, if not all, the 

 States of the Union, the system of selling the labor of 

 prisoners for a term of years to the highest bidder 

 prevails in State and county institutions with but two 

 or three exceptions, the most notable of these being 

 the Houses of Correction at East Cambridge and New- 

 Bedford, the institutions at Deer Island, and the Re- 

 form School at Wcstborough. The House of Correc- 

 tion at South Boston is managed partly on the con- 

 tract system and partly on a modified public-account 

 system by which work is done under charge of prison 

 instructors for outside parties. Those in charge of 

 the management of our prisons have, doubtless, rea- 

 soned that self-sustaining labor is an established law 

 of nature in civilized society ; that it is as imperative 

 upon the bond as upon the free ; and that, further 

 than this, no human being will be redeemed from 

 criminal associations without the habit of patient and 

 productive industry. The adoption of the contract 

 system of handling this involuntary labor has grown 

 out of the desire for the most economical administra- 

 tion of penal institutionSj and the necessity for reliev- 

 ing prison-keepers of ordinary ability from attempting 

 to manage large manufacturing industries about which 

 they know nothing. In fact, the congregate system of 

 prison management and the contract form of labor arc 

 usually found inseparable. 



The usual method of selling the labor of convicts 

 seems to be by inviting bids by public advertisement. 

 The highest bidder, if a presumably responsible party, 



obtains the labor for a term of years; furnishes his 

 tools, machinery, and stocks, his foreman, instructors, 

 and clerks; receives his convict-laborers in a shop 



Provided by the prison ; teaches the details of the in- 

 ustry during the hours prescribed by prison rules ; 

 and makes his wares and sells them in his own way. 

 He looks to the warden for discipline and guards ; the 

 warden looks to him for the pay for labor furnished. 

 The contractor and his agent are expected to observe 

 the prison rules so far as applicable to them ; and 

 there is an implied obligation on tho part of the prison 

 authorities to maintain the discipline at such a point 

 that work will go on with but little friction or inter- 

 ruption. 



After discussing at length the advantages 

 and disadvantages of the contract system, the 

 committee came to the conclusion practically 

 that the contract system should be continued, 

 for the public-account system seems open to 

 as many objections, and idleness is out of the 

 question. It deplores the fact that so little 

 real, earnest effort is made to save or redeem 

 men from crime. It suggests, as the first step 

 toward remedying the evils, the classification 

 of prisoners, so that the influence of incorri- 

 gibles may not so powerfully militate against 

 efforts to reform accidental criminals; the sec- 

 ond step, the introduction of a greater number 

 of industries into the prisons, and the abolition 

 of the system of the subdivision of labor, so 

 that each discharged man shall be fortified by 

 the knowledge of a trade. In no other way 

 can the convict be made more easily interested 

 in his own improvement, and helped to become 

 a better citizen. It may be urged that classi- 

 fication is impossible under the present sys- 

 tem ; but legislation can devise a new system, 

 whereby the old prison at Charlestown may 

 be used for incorrigibles, and the Concord Pris- 

 on for first-offense men, or those in the opin- 

 ion of the Court worthy of special effort for 

 their salvation. In case the present system is 

 to remain as the best the wisdom of the State 

 can devise, there is one avenue open to con- 

 vict-labor which is utilized but little, viz., the 

 employment of short term, weak, and crippled 

 prisoners upon the soil. 



The report concludes as follows : 

 In conclusion, your committee would submit that, 

 under the present^ystem, the prisons of the Common- 

 wealth appear in the main well managed by those who 

 try to do the best they can with the limited opportuni- 

 ties at their disposal ; but, as a question of ultimate 

 economy, they are impressed with the belief that the 

 more complete and effective the reformatory process, 

 the less likelihood there is of the return of a prisoner 

 to his former habits ; the broader and better the in- 

 dustrial system, the more hope there is of changing 

 bad men into good men, and protecting society by^the 

 moral regeneration of those not positively vicious but 

 prone to become offensive by the lack of wholesome, 

 preventive agencies. 



The Governor and Council, in pursuance of 

 a resolve of the Legislature, made an investiga- 

 tion into the management and conduct of the 

 officials of the State Prison at Concord, and at 

 its close in August made a record of the re- 

 sults. Although there were some criticisms of 

 the methods employed and of particular acts 

 of the warden and his subordinates, the record 



