PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



255 



and Mansfield, Ohio, arc prisons of this kind, and? secure legislation entirely abolisl.T-.fr contract labor in 

 similar prisons are now being constructed in Minne- 1 prisons, and in New York by act ot July, 1 888, not only 

 Bota and Kansas, and are under legislative cousidera- contract labor but all other forms of labor are practi- 



tion in several other Western States. 



The distinguishing features of the Elmira system 

 are: (I) The Indeterminate sentence. ('2) Classification 

 of prisoners into three grades regulated by a sy.-trm 

 of merit and demerit marks. (3) Discharge upon pro- 

 bationary parole, under supervision. The Elmira 

 system is distinctly a new departure in prison manage- 



practi- 

 cally abolished in the penal institutions of the State. 

 Tins law entirely prohibits the use of machinery in 

 prisons, and only permits handwork in the manufac- 

 ture of clothing* and other necessary supplies for the 

 public institutions. This, possibly, may give employ- 

 ment to prisoners for a month in the year, but for the 

 remainder of the year there seems no recourse but 



incut, and is receiving large attention, not only in the idleness. In the estimation of all prison experts, not 

 United States but in other countries, and the general ] only in this country but throughout the world, there 

 adoption of its leading features now seems probable, can be nothing more injurious to the discipline of 



There is also a growing sentiment in favor of separate prisons, or to the conditions essential to the reform a- 

 prisons for women, to be entirely controlled by [ tipn of prisoners, than enforced idleness. If this 

 women. Two such prisons have been in operation for ' kind of legislation is to prevail, and become permanent, 

 several years, one at Indianapolis, Ind., and one at ' it must follow as the night the day that American 

 Sherborn, Mass. , and their advantages are so manifest j prisons will retrograde to the coqdition of the dark 

 that others are contemplated in several of the larger ages, and the progress of the last century will be 

 States. 



In the United States there are no prisons owned and 



controlled by the general government, except a few 



lost. 



That there is ground for objection to contract labor 

 most penoiogwts agree, and they greatly prefer some 



territorial jails, and the military prison at Fort Leav- other form of labor, whenever the reformation of pris- 

 enworth, Kas. Prisoners convicted of felonies under i oners is a leading object, but that productive labor of 

 federal laws are confined in such State penitentiaries aa some kind is an indispensable requisite to the proper 

 may be designated by the Attorney-* icneral of the I conduct of convict prisons of every grade is considered 



United States, under agreements with Stale authorities. 

 Of this class of prisoners 1228 were reported July 1, 

 1886, as serving out sentences in ~i^ separate prisons, 

 in 25 States, G Territories, and the District of Columbia. 

 That a great government like ours should convict its 

 citizens of violations of its laws, arid then consign 

 them to prisons in which it has no ownership, and to 

 the care of officials over whom it has no control, is not 

 creditable, and attorney-generals for several years 

 past, in their annual reports, have recommended the 

 erection of federal prisons for all prisoners of this kind. 

 Bills for this purpose have been considered by Con- 

 gress, but no act has been passed. 



The attorney-general has also recommended to 



Congress some action for the better care of federal price of labor) are not fixed by the number of laborers 

 prisoners awaiting trial, or serving sentences for misdc- or t lie producing power of any single manufacturing 

 meanors, of whom there are several thousand, who are industry, but are governed by the total number ot 



* .! i .? .1 i i-ri i- . i i- 1.1 1.1 .1. i,' p 11.1 i .,?. 



by all students of penology and by all practical prison 

 managers settled beyond all dispute. It is not likely, 

 however, that a people as intelligent as those of New 

 York, or of any other State, will submit for any long 

 period of time to the taxation necessary to maintain 

 in absolute idleness an army of criminals, and especially 

 when they discover, as they will, that no good comes 

 by it either to the laborers outside of the prison walls 

 or to prisoners inside. 



The total amount of prison labor in the United States, 

 as compared with the total amount of free labor (aa 

 shown by the report of the U. S. Commissioner of 

 Labor, for 188o), is only j'j of 1 per cent., and there- 

 fore by the economic law Which shows that wages (the 



at the present time kept in the local jails of the judi 

 cial districts where the offences were committed, and 

 are substantially outside of any federal care or super- 

 vision. 



Mitilrmmnnntx. For misdemeanants, especially, 

 there would seem to be an imperative necessity for 

 workhouse or reformatory care, for association in idle- 

 ness, as at present, with hardened criminals in county 

 jails, cannot be otherwise than demoralizing. For 

 misdemeanants generally there is now large considera- 

 tion among pcnologists on account of the apparent 

 inefficiency of existing methods for their treatment. 

 By the. term misdemeanants is meant such persons a.s 

 are convicted of offences less than felony, and are 

 usually sentenced _for short periods to jails or work- 

 houses. As these institutions are wholly under county 

 or city control they seldom receive that intelligentsuper- 

 vision or management w'.ich is essential to their highest 

 efficiency. Penologists are substantially unanimous in 



laborers and the total production of all the industries 

 of every kind in the country, it is absolutely certain 

 that the abolition or retention of prison labor cannot 

 have any tpprecuble effect upon the wages of free labor 

 or the price of its products. 



The concentration of all prison labor upon a few in- 

 dustries, doubtless, miirht affect, injuriously, industries 

 of the same kind outside, and might compel their oper- 

 atives to seek other employments on account i.f over- 

 production, as often occurs in other cases, but even 

 then there would be no perceptible influence upon the 

 general average of wages. As a matter of fact such 

 concentration li;is rarely occurred to an injurious extent, 

 and such cases could easily be corrected uy legislation. 



The total number of persons employed in prison in- 

 dustries, and the total number of free laborers in the 

 same industries outside, is shown by the following sta- 

 tistics from the census reports of 1880 : 



Form of industry. 

 Agricultural implements... 



Bulls and rivets 5,oC4 



Hoots aud shoes 134,256 



lioxes 17,400 



60,355 



the opinion that district workhouses exclusively under 

 the control of the State should be provided ibr this 

 class of prisoners, and that jails should be solely 

 places of detention for prisoners awaiting trial. 



In view of the fact that workhouse misdemeanants 

 are largely recidivists for whom short periods of con- 

 finement have no terrors, it is also advise.l that sen- 8 773 



, lilt i-ir* l>rM)ll|H UlIU orUMII s .., r> i , . i 



should be cumulative, and alter a third or fourth j Buttons 6,8'.'5 



convicti-in be made indefinite, with a maximum limit Carjietlng ...'.................'. 2i',i | -'.'i 



of five years. Chairs 10,575 



In the United States, in recent years, an obstructive Cjr and toboeoo 53,297 



interference in the management ot prisons has arisen Clothinir 

 fronth* opposition ,f ,,iit>id ;! lurx,r orgumwtioia on r^S 



aceount 01 the kuppoaeu injurious competition ot | J.'i ln iitu're 48,729 



prison labor with true labor. In a few of the Northern Hardware ir.-i'l 



Slates this influence has been MlfficMOtly powerful to Harness and sudd lory 21,446 



Total No. Total No. 

 citizens, convicts. 

 80,680 



2S4 



6,3f>8 

 55 



1,016 



1,7*6 

 29 

 304 



3,313 

 659 



1,2(11 

 821 

 157 

 946 

 215 



1,014 



No. of con- 

 victs to 100 

 citizens, 



0.7 



3.3 



4.7 



0.3 



1.5 

 20.3 



0.5 



1.4 

 31.3 



1.2 



0.8 



3.1 



0.1 



1.9 



1.2 



4.7 



