6 BULLETIN 583, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
additional safeguard at least one armed night guard is placed on duty 
in each camp. 
The convicts are under constant supervision all day of guards 
armed with shotguns and revolvers, the number of guards usually 
approximating about one-tenth of the number of convicts. With 
these measures in force the number of escapes from the various county 
gangs represents from 1 to 3 per cent of the number of convicts 
employed. 
Few privileges are accorded, a small weekly allowance of tobacco, 
and permission to conduct a restricted correspondence with relatives 
and friends being the most notable. 
Punishment is inflicted by withdrawing the privileges and by 
whipping. Corporal punishment may be administered only by the 
warden or deputy warden; not over 10 lashes may be given, and it is 
unlawful to apply the lash to the naked skin. A record of each case 
of punishment is required by the prison commission, but in spite of 
all these regulations there is no doubt that the strap is used with 
cruelty in many cases. 
The hours of labor are from sunrise to sunset, with one hour for 
rest and dinner from November to February, inclusive, one and one- 
half hours in March, April, September and October, and two hours 
in May, Junie, July and August. 
The best of the camps of the State are conducted with some degree’ 
of economy and efficiency, but in a majority much of the saving 
possible by the use of convict labor is dissipated by wasteful manage- 
ment, and much of the road work performed by the convicts is of the 
simplest character, consisting of unsystematic patching and repair 
of earth, sand-clay, and top-soil roads, which experience has demon- 
strated can not be done economically by. convicts. 
The conditions existing in Fulton County at the time of the inaugu- 
ration of the experimental camp were representative of the best in 
the State. The county chain gang numbered about 550 prisoners. 
These were quartered in seven permanent camps in various sections 
of the county, and one portable cage camp. The latter had a popu- 
lation of 20 men and was known as the ‘‘honor” camp. Its inmates 
were chosen from the other camps of the county as a mark of honor 
for good behavior, but in no other sense was it an honor camp. The 
men were locked securely in the cages at night and were worked 
under armed guards during the day. However, when the experi- 
mental camp was opened 17 of its first inmates were assigned to it 
from this camp and it was known thereafter as the ‘‘portable”’ camp. 
All camps and convicts in the county are under the care of a 
warden and there is a deputy warden in charge of each camp. The 
road work, however, is done under the direction of the county super- 
intendent of public works, and all surveys and strictly engineering 
work are done by the county engineer. 
