166 BULLETIl^ 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



effects of food were concerned. While it was impossible, in the time 

 available, to obtain records of the loss or gain in weight of convicts 

 assigned to road camps, it was asserted very generally and emphat- 

 ically by camp physicians and superintendents, prison officials, and 

 others having an intimate knowledge of convict camps, that there 

 was, as a rule, a distinct gain in weight and a general betterment in 

 the physical condition of the men after entering the camp. Of this 

 there is scarcely a doubt, for although camp conditions may be far 

 from what they ought to be, they are in many cases better than those 

 to which the prisoners have been accustomed before their arrest, and 

 they are most assuredly far superior to those of many of the jails in 

 which men are oftentimes confined for several months before sentence 

 to the road camps. In writing of the food in the jails of one of the 

 Southern States, the State prison inspector says: 



Prisoners in the jail of are fed by the sheriffs without supervision of any kind 



whatsoever. The food usually consists of a small piece of salt side meat, about three 

 tablespoons full of beans or peas, and a "hunk" of poorly made corn bread, said bread 

 usually being made of meal and water without grease. The sheriffs are recompensed 

 by the State for feeding the prisoners as follows: From 1 to 10 prisoners, for each 

 prisoner, 60 cents per day; for more than 10 and not exceeding 20 prisoners, 50 cents 

 per day; for more than 20 and not exceeding 40 prisoners, 40 cents per day; for more 

 than 40 prisoners, 30 cents per day. In most of the jails only two meals are served 

 daily. 



I estimate (and base my figures on frequent inspections and close observations of 

 the meals served, and from reports received) that in one jail in our State the profit to 

 the sheriff is no less than |1,000 a month on his feed bill alone. This is a woeful 

 waste of the State's funds, and should be remedied by some legislative enactment. 



Surely the road camps are an improvement over this, and a gain 

 in weight after a period in jail is to be expected. 



Diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, and pellagra, which might 

 result from a one-sided or eccentric diet, were diligently sought for, 

 but were conspicuous by their absence, with the single exception of a 

 camp in South Carolina, where, in 1910, 17 cases of beriberi had oc- 

 curred, and in 1914 five cases of pellagra had developed, resulting in 

 two deaths. It was impossible to obtain from the records of this 

 camp accurate detailed information in regard to the kinds of food 

 which had been used and the amounts consumed, but it may be 

 said safely that such information, could it be accurately obtained, 

 would reveal the fact that the food actually consumed by the stricken 

 men was in some way faulty. It was said that in 1910, when beriberi 

 broke out at the camp, the diet consisted of hominy, salt pork, some 

 kind of fresh vegetable every day, corn bread and molasses, and 

 occasionally potatoes. Fresh meat usually was provided about twice 

 a week. Rice never was served. After the occurrence of the 17 

 cases of beriberi the location of the camp was changed, and the diet 

 received additions in the form of peas, beans, salt herring, canned 



