COKVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 123 



PERSONAL CLEANLINESS. 



When a number of persons are thrown constantly into contact 

 with one another, as they are in camp Hfe, personal cleanliness and 

 good sanitary habits are especially necessary for the preservation of 

 health. 



BATHING. 



A weekly or semi-weekly bath is insisted upon at practically all 

 camps, and is not infrequently considered by the prisoners the 

 greatest hardship which has to be endured. In a few cases the 

 prisoners are not required to bathe at stated intervals, but are allowed 

 to foUow their own inclinations in this respect. This arrangement 

 is unsatisfactory and often results in scuffles among the prisoners, 

 accompanied by more or less ill f eehng, because of the forcible bathing 

 by his comrades of some prisoner who has become obnoxious through 

 personal neglect. 



Many camps are provided with shower baths, some of which are 

 supphed with hot and cold water. The heating systems are attached 

 to the kitchen range at the smaller camps, and to specially con- 

 structed hot-water heaters at some of the larger camps. When such 

 facihties are provided the men are encouraged to bathe daily, but are 

 required to bathe once or twice a week. Certain large camps in the 

 South are equipped with excellent shower-bath systems and require 

 that daily baths be taken by all the convicts. Individual towels and 

 an abundance of soap are furnished. Other camps, while not insist- 

 ing upon the daily bath, require each man to bathe his feet before 

 going to bed, an excellent rule to be estabhshed. 



The shower bath is especially well adapted for the use of convict 

 camps. A simple and easily handled apparatus wiU suffice, and but 

 little water and time are necessary for the bath. The transmission 

 of disease which may occur with the ase of a tub is impossible with 

 the shower bath, and the tonic effect of the cold water is of great bene- 

 fit. The popularity of the shower baths was much greater at those 

 camps where the water was heated, but whenever warm water is 

 used it always should be followed by water as cold as can be borne, 

 and it is well that the men should become accustomed gradually to 

 cold water, at least in the summer. It should be remembered, how- 

 ever, that the shock of a cold bath is severe and that it is dangerous 

 for men who have heart trouble or diseased blood vessels. 



At camps where shower baths are not provided, water for bathing 

 purposes is usually heated in large iron kettles suspended over wood 

 fires out of doors. The heated water then is transferred to wooden 

 wash tubs or galvanizod-iron pails and carried to the nearest place 

 wliich affords protection. At other camps the water is heated on the 

 kitchen stoves or in metul waslitubs placed on open fires. 



