CONVICT LABOil FOR KOAD WORK. 

 LEASE SYSTEM. 



Under this system the State disposes of its convicts to private 

 lessees, who agree to become responsible for guarding, clothing, feed- 

 ing, transporting, and giving medical attention to the convicts under 

 rules specified by the State. The lessees provide steady employment 

 for the convicts and pay to the State an agreed amount, the State 

 providing for adequate inspection to insure enforcement of its rules. 

 This system, formerly widely practiced, has been abandoned in all 

 States except Florida, and exists there in only a modified form. It 

 is therefore tmnecessary to set forth its intrinsic defects. 



CONTRACT SYSTEM. 



Under this system the State sells the labor of the convicts, but does 

 not relinquish its care or control. As generally practiced, the State 

 maintains an mstitution and guards, feeds, clothes, and houses the 

 convicts, and provides medical attention, while the contractor sup- 

 plies the raw material, superintends the work, and pays a stipulated 

 amount per capita for the labor. This system is now practiced in 

 whole or in part by the following 18 States: Alabama, Connecticut, 

 Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska,^ 

 New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, 

 Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 



The contract system is an advance over the lease system, as the 

 contractor assumes the responsibility for profit and loss, the State 

 is assured a definite income, and the interests of the prisoners are 

 safeguarded by the prison officials. There is, however, a tendency to 

 conflict of interests and responsibility between the representatives of 

 the contractor and of the State. In addition, a most powerful objec- 

 tion to the contract system is advanced by organized labor and by 

 manufacturers, to the effect that its product comes into direct com- 

 petition with the product of free labor. 



PIECE-PRICE SYSTEM. 



This system differs from the contract system only in the manner 

 of pa>Tnont for and supervision of the work. The contractor, 

 instead of paying for the labor of the convicts, pays an agreed amount 

 for each piece or article manufactured. Usually under this system 

 the vStatc supervises the work, but this is sometimes done by tlie 

 contractor. Under the former plan the prison officials must possess 

 ability to manage the industrial as well as the penal features of the 

 work. At present this system is practiced in whole or in part in 

 Alabama, Connecticut, New Jersey, ^ and Rhode Island. 



' The contract system is now being discarded in Nebraska in favor of llio Htatn-employinciit \>\an, and 

 experiments are being made witii roa^l and farm worl<. 



« The piece-price system was aliolishwl in New Jersey liy act of tlio logi.slatun', iu llil I , Imt no fund was 

 providwl for any other system, hence it is still in force on a day-to-day hasis. 



