CONVICT . LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 209 
the political divisions of the State at cost. Convicts from the penitentiary shall not 
be worked with those from the reformatory. The board of county commissioners, 
or trustees of a township, may apply to said board of managers for road material, 
machinery, tools, or other appliances so manufactured and needed by them, obligating 
themselves to use the same according to rules and regulations approved by the State 
highway commissioner. (Page and Adams Anno. Ohio Gen. Code, 1912.) 
State and counties. — Whenever the State highway commissioner shall desire to use 
any number of prisoners cod fined in the State penitentiary or reformatory to work 
upon the State highways, known as the inter-county or main market roads, or to 
employ such prisoners in preparing road-building materials, he shall make requisition 
upon the warden or superintendent of the institution in which such prisoners are 
confined, stating the number desired and the place where they are to be employed. 
The rules and regulations under which prisoners shall work shall be prescribed by the 
prison authorities, but the actual work done shall be under the^ control of the State 
highway commissioner or those acting under his authority. Said highway commis- 
sioner may use any money available for the construction, repair, and maintenance 
of roads, to pay the cost of transportation and discipline of such prisoners and to 
purchase tools, machinery, supplies, and road-building materials for use in connection 
with the work of such prisoners. The amount to be paid said prison authorities, if 
any, for the use of such prisoners, shall be agreed upon between them and the said State 
highway commissioner, but the amount so paid shall not exceed the cost of transpor- 
tation, maintenance, and discipline plus the amount to be credited to such prisoner 
on account of his labor upon such highways. County commissioners may make 
requisition in like manner for prisoners to work on the county highways or to manu- 
facture road materials, and receive such prisoners on the same conditions as the State 
highway commissioner. County commissioners may also make requisition upon the 
authorities in charge of any workhouse for any number of prisoners confined therein, 
or upon any jailer for any number of prisoners sentenced thereto, and same, as avail- 
able, shall be furnished upon the same conditions as above prescribed for State prison- 
ers. Prisoners sentenced for nonpayment of fines and all persons convicted of crime 
and sentenced to imprisonment in the State reformatory or penitentiary or the county 
jail or workhouse, or other penal institution, shall be subject to labor hereunder. 
Any city having a workhouse may use its prisoners on its streets or in preparing 
materials for use on such streets; and any magistrate in a city or village not having 
a workhouse may sentence prisoners convicted therein so to work. Persons confined 
in such penal, institutions because unable to give bond may, at their request, work 
upon roads and streets, or in manufacturing materials, the same as persons convicted. 
The State highway commissioner, coun ty commissioners, or proper city or village 
authorities may provide for the use of prison labor in connection with contracts let 
to private individuals for the construction, maintenance, and repair of roads and 
streets; but the discipline and legal custody of such prisoners shall remain in the 
respective institutions furnishing them. If any prisoner shall not perform his work 
satisfactorily, he shall be taken from the road force at the request of the proper au- 
thorities and another substituted. On or before September 1 each year, the State 
highway commissioner and the county commissioners shall report to the prison au- 
thorities an estimate of the amount and kind of road materials that will be needed 
the ensuing year, so that said prison authorities, if practicable, may arrange to manu- 
facture same. The State highway commissioner shall include in his annual report a 
full statement of the amount, cost, etc., of the convict labor used; and he shall require 
such reports as he may deem necessary from county commissioners and other officials 
using prison labor. Prison authorities shall, before January 1 each year, advise the 
State highway commissioner and the county commissioners of the probable number of 
prisoners that will be available for work upon roads during the year. The guards, 
if any, shall,, so far as possible, be selected from men who are competent to supervise 
the work under construction. Any prisoner attempting to escape shall lose any 
credits accrued to him on his prison term for good behavior, and the authorities having 
charge of the prison from which said prisoners are detailed may, by special regulation, 
provide for additional credit on the terms of such prisoners for good behavior. County 
commissioners may contract with the authorities in charge of any workhouse or penal 
institution of any other county or city for the use of convicts on the roads, or in the 
manufacture of road materials. The authorities of the various institutions having 
custody and control of such prisoners, and the various authorities of the State, counties, 
cities, and villages having charge of roads and streets, shall have full power and au- 
thority to do all things necessary to make the provisions hereof effective for the use 
of prison labor on the highways and streets, and the authorities having charge of said 
roads and streets shall have power to use any of the moneys provided therefor in any 
way necessary for that purpose. (Acts 1915, Senate bill No. 125, sees. 261-279.) 
