CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 195 
able market value. Said board shall employ a road foreman who shall have charge 
of said outfit and equipment and work the convicts of such counties on the public 
roads thereof. Said board shall meet annually to elect officers and transact other 
business, and at such other times as may be necessary, and may adopt rules and regu- 
lations for the management and discipline of said convicts, including such punish- 
ment as may be deemed right and proper for violations thereof. Said board may 
appoint a road engineer, if it shall deem advisable, the cost thereof to be borne equally 
by the counties. The road foreman shall work said convicts an equal length of time 
in each county each year, and shall notify the county judge of each county at least 
30 days in advance when he will be in his county, and submit an estimate of supplies 
that will be needed for said convict gang while at work therein, and the said county 
judge shall furnish such supplies. The convicts shall be worked on the roads des- 
ignated by the county judge. The county court shall pay the salary of the foreman 
and any other paid employees with said convicts while working in that county. Per- 
sons imprisoned for nonpayment of a fine and costs may be so worked until same are 
paid and shall be allowed on same for each day they shall so work 75 cents. Prisoners 
from cities and towns may also be worked, and prisoners may be hired from other 
counties. If any prisoner shall escape, or attempt to escape, the time for which he 
was liable to work shall be doubled. No convict shall be worked over 10 hours per 
day, and when discharged shall be given $1 in money and, if he has worked six months, 
a $10 suit of clothes. White convicts shall not be required to sleep or eat with negroes, 
and females shall not be worked on roads. Felony convicts sentenced to penitentiary 
for five years may be so worked . Persons held in default of bail, may, at their election, 
be so worked and shall receive 75 cents per day for labor so performed, to be credited 
on fine and costs if convicted. Work may be discontinued by said board by a majority 
vote at any annual meeting. (Acts 1913, No. 306.) 
Convict road district. — At the July term of the county court each year the county 
judges in any two or more contiguous counties may enter into an agreement for the 
formation of a road and convict district. There may be worked on the roads of such 
district all prisoners convicted of misdemeanor in justice's courts and whose fines 
are not paid, and prisoners convicted in the circuit court for misdemeanor or felony. 
The county courts shall provide for the care and maintenance of all prisoners while 
working in their respective counties, including guards, wardens, clothing, medical 
attention, equipment, supplies, stockades, camps, etc., and may pay for same out of 
any money appropriated for roads and bridges. Prisoners shall not be worked more 
than 10 hours per day, and such labor shall be valued at 75 cents per day. Males 
and females and whites and blacks shall be kept separate. Any convict whose con- 
duct is exemplary and services good for six months shall be entitled to a commutation 
of one month; for one year, two months; for two years, five months; for three years, 
six months; and for four years, the prisoner sentenced for five years shall be discharged. 
Prisoners serving two years or more shall on discharge be furnished by the sheriff 
with $2.50 in money and $12.50 worth of clothing. The county judge, the county 
clerk, and the sheriff of each county shall constitute a board to prescribe and enforce 
rules governing work, care, location, and punishment of such convicts. Persons held 
in default of bail may, at their election, be worked as other convicts and credited with 
75 cents each day they shall work. (Acts 1909, No. 207.) 
Road improvement district. — Provision may be made in any highway charter (for 
road improvement district) for working male convicts of any county on the roads 
thereof. Every charter providing for so working convicts shall also provide for the 
appointment of overseers, guards, physicians, and other necessary officers and em- 
ployees. The cost of feeding, clothing, housing, and superintending such convicts 
shall be charged to the particular district or county where they are worked in pro- 
portion to the time they may be used therein. (Acts 1913, No. 302.) 
California. 
State. — State prison authorities may use State prisoners in preparing road and 
bridge-building materials. (Acts 1901, ch. CXII, being S. 1588 of Penal Code, and 
Acts of 1911, ch. 56.) 
The department of engineering may employ State convicts in the construction 
and maintenance of the State highway system provided for by the "State Highway 
Act," approved March 22, 1909, and in the construction and maintenance of any 
other State roads. Upon requisition of said department, the State board of prison 
directors shall send to the designated place, and at the appointed time, the number 
of convicts desired. Said department of engineering shall designate and supervise 
all road work done, but said board of prison directors shall retain full jurisdiction over 
the discipline and control of such convicts. The expense of transportation, guarding, 
