Part 6

(_e_) To establish rules and regulations for the keeping of records and accounts by all such institutions, showing the labor performed by the inmates thereof, the value of the products thereof, and the wages paid to inmates, or their dependents, or both.

SECTION 11. All wages paid to the inmates of institutions within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Delinquency owned, or managed and controlled by the Commonwealth, etc., shall be paid out of the committee’s manufacturing fund upon the order of the warden, superintendent, or other proper officer of the institution in, or in connection with, which the labor shall have been performed.

SECTION 12. The Prison Labor Commission created by the act approved the first day of June one thousand nine hundred and fifteen, ... is hereby abolished, and shall cease to exist, thirty days after the chairman of the committee on delinquency shall have notified the Prison Labor Commission in writing that the Committee on Delinquency has been duly organized as provided in this act. Within such period of thirty days the Prison Labor Commission shall transfer and set over to the Committee on Delinquency all books, papers, and records, and all moneys and evidence of debt, in its possession, and the Auditor General is hereby authorized and directed to draw a warrant on the State Treasurer for the payment to the Committee on Delinquency of the unexpended balance of any appropriation made for the use of the Prison Labor Commission.

SECTION 13. For the purpose of inspecting any institution within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Delinquency, such committee, the Commissioner of Delinquency, and any director, expert, agent, or employee, deputized by the Commissioner of Delinquency for the purpose, shall have free access to the grounds, buildings, and all books, papers, and records of such institution, and all persons, connected with any such institution, are hereby directed and required to give such information and to afford such facilities for inspection as the person making such inspection may require....

SECTION 14. ...

Should any institution within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Delinquency which is not owned, or managed and controlled by the Commonwealth, etc., fail to obey such rules and regulations, or make such report, such institution shall not be entitled to receive any financial assistance from the Commonwealth, and it shall be unlawful for the Auditor General, after having received notice in writing from the Committee on Delinquency that any such institution has failed to obey such rules or regulations, or to make such report, to issue a warrant for the payment of any money appropriated to such institution so long as such institution shall continue to refuse to obey such rules and regulations, or to make such report.

SECTION 15. All salaries, compensation, and expenses, payable under this act, except wages for labor performed by inmates shall be paid by the State Treasurer on the warrant of the Auditor General.

SECTION 16. To carry out the purposes of this act the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, ($200,000), or such part thereof as shall be necessary is hereby appropriated to the Committee on Delinquency.

SECTION 17. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

STATE INDUSTRIAL FARMS ACT.[2]

SECTION 1. _Be it enacted, etc._, That this act shall be known and may be cited as “The State Industrial Farms Act of one thousand nine hundred and nineteen.”

SECTION 2. There are hereby established four state industrial farms for the first, second, third, and fourth districts respectively.

SECTION 3. The first district shall comprise the counties of Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and York; and the state industrial farm therein located shall be known as the “Southeastern Industrial Farm.”

The second district shall comprise the counties of Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Wayne, and Wyoming; and the state industrial farm therein located shall be known as the “Northeastern Industrial Farm.”

The third district shall comprise the counties of Armstrong, Butler, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Venango, and Warren; and the state industrial farm therein located shall be known as the “Northwestern Industrial Farm.”

The fourth district shall comprise the counties of Adams, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Cumberland, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland; and the state industrial farm therein located shall be known as the “Southwestern Industrial Farm.”

SECTION 4. Upon the approval of this act a board of managers for each district shall be appointed by the Governor. Each board shall consist of either five or seven reputable citizens, one or two of whom shall be women. The members of such boards shall serve without compensation, but all of their expenses actually and necessarily incurred shall be paid by the State Treasurer on the warrant of the Auditor General, which shall be issued upon the order of the board, countersigned by the secretary of the Committee of Delinquency of this Commonwealth. The members of the various boards shall serve for a term of five years and their successors for the same period. The Governor may remove any of the managers for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty, and in case of a vacancy for any cause shall fill such vacancy by appointment for the unexpired term.

SECTION 5. The board of managers of each district is hereby authorized by a majority vote to select a suitable site for the state industrial farm of the district. Such site shall be within the district, and shall either be chosen from lands donated to the Commonwealth for the purpose or purchased by the board with moneys appropriated or donated for the purpose; _Provided_, That any such site shall not contain more than two thousand (2,000) acres. The title to land donated or purchased as herein provided shall be taken and held in the name of “The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” and shall be examined and approved by the Attorney General prior to the acceptance or purchase of the land. In the selection of a site the board of managers shall take into consideration the objects and purposes of the institution, the accessibility of any proposed site to the counties included in the district, and all or as many as practicable of the following enumerated advantages and resources. The land selected and purchased shall be of varied topography with natural resources and advantages for many forms of husbandry, fruit growing, and stockraising; for brick-making, and for the preparation of all other road and paving material; and shall have good railroad drainage, sewage, and water facilities. Waste land or land requiring drainage may be selected if deemed susceptible of profitable cultivation after its improvement.

SECTION 6. All buildings constructed in pursuance of this act shall be plain and inexpensive in character and the labor in constructing such buildings, improvements and facilities shall be supplied by persons committed to the state industrial farm or confined in State or county penal, reformatory, or correctional institutions so far as found practicable.

The board of managers shall procure all necessary materials; erect and equip such buildings; employ such skilled labor as cannot be furnished by the persons committed to their respective industrial farms or by persons confined in State, or county penal, reformatory or correctional institutions and provide all proper facilities for their use and for the practical use of the institution.

When the board of managers of any State industrial farm shall have made all preliminary arrangements for the construction of the buildings and equipment therein, they shall notify the Governor who shall issue a proclamation announcing such fact, and thereafter prisoners having more than thirty days to serve shall be transferred to such State industrial farm from any jail or workhouse in that district on the order of the Governor.

SECTION 7. The boards of inspectors of the State penitentiaries, and of the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, upon the request of a board of managers of a State industrial farm, are hereby authorized to transfer to such State industrial farm from their respective institutions any prisoners of special or mechanical ability therein who may be found in the judgment of such board and the board of managers of such State industrial farm suitable for the purpose, and provide transportation and proper guards for such prisoners and while such prisoners remain at such State industrial farm they shall be subject to the orders of the inspectors of the institution from which they were transferred as to their return, and in all other respect, except as to discipline and government. While at such State industrial farm they shall be under the control, discipline, and government, and subject to the orders, of the board of managers of such State industrial farm and its executive officers.

The expense of transporting and transferring prisoners used in the construction of buildings and equipment to and from any State industrial farm shall be paid by the State Treasurer upon the warrant of the Auditor General out of any moneys appropriated for the establishment of such State industrial farm. The Auditor General shall issue warrants for such purpose upon the order of the executive officers of the board of managers of such State industrial farm.

The maintenance of such prisoners as are transferred from a State penitentiary or reformatory shall be paid by the institution from which they are transferred, but the cost of such maintenance in excess of the average per capita cost of maintaining prisoners at the institution from which such prisoners shall have been transferred shall be refunded to any such institution out of any moneys appropriated for the establishment of the State industrial farm.

SECTION 8. When any State industrial farm shall have been established and ready for operation, a superintendent and matron and such other officers as may be deemed necessary shall be appointed by the proper board of managers. Any persons so appointed shall hold their offices respectively during the pleasure of the board of managers. The compensation of all such persons shall be fixed by the board of managers.

SECTION 9. When in any district the arrangements for the reception of inmates shall have been completed, the Court of quarter sessions of every county embraced in such district shall transfer from the county prisons and jails respectively to the State industrial farm of the district all persons who shall have been sentenced to any of said county prisons and jails for any crime, misdemeanor or felony, murder and voluntary manslaughter excepted, or who shall have been committed to any of such county prisons and jails for non-payment of any fine or penalty, or for non-payment of costs, or for default in complying with any order of court entered in any prosecution for desertion or non-support, and any other persons legally confined in any of said county jails or prisons except persons confined awaiting trial or detained as witnesses; _Provided_, That any person whose term will expire within thirty days shall not be transferred.

Thereafter, when any person is convicted in any of the said courts of any offense, crime, misdemeanor, or felony, murder and voluntary manslaughter excepted, the punishment of which is or may hereafter be imprisonment in any county jail or prison, the said court shall, if sentence of imprisonment for thirty days or more be imposed upon such person, commit such person to the State industrial farm of the district in which said court may have jurisdiction. If sentence of imprisonment for more than ten but less than thirty days be imposed, the court may in its discretion commit such person to the State industrial farm for the district.

Courts of record and courts not of record of the counties included in any such district shall hereafter commit to the State industrial farm of the district all persons who might be lawfully committed to the county jail or prison on charges of vagrancy, drunkenness, or disorderly conduct, or for default or non-payment of any costs, fine, or penalty, or for default in complying with any order of court entered in any prosecution for desertion or non-support, where in any such case the commitment will be for a period of thirty days or more. If the commitment be from ten to thirty days the committing authority may in its discretion commit any such person to the State industrial farm.

The superintendent may under the direction of the court of quarter sessions remove any inmate to the county jail for the unexpired term of his or her term of commitment, or to the poorhouse of the proper city or county, or to any hospital or lunatic asylum in such county as circumstances may require.

SECTION 10. The cost of transporting any persons committed to a State industrial farm shall be paid by the county from which the prisoner is committed, and the sheriff of the county shall receive the same mileage, and fees for prisoners committed to a State industrial farm as are now allowed by law for transporting prisoners committed to the State penitentiaries. When any prisoner is discharged from a State industrial farm the superintendent thereof shall procure for him a railroad ticket to any point to which said prisoner may desire to go not farther from such State industrial farm than the point from which he was sentenced, and it shall be the duty of the superintendent, or his duly authorized agent, to accompany the prisoner to the railroad station, deliver the ticket to the proper railroad conductor, and formally release the prisoner on the train which he takes for his destination.

SECTION 11. It shall be the purpose of every State industrial farm to employ the prisoners committed, or transferred thereto, in work on or about the buildings and farm, and in growing produce and supplies for its own use, and for the other institutions of the Commonwealth, in the preparation of road materials and in making brick, tile, paving material, and such other products or materials as may be found practicable for the use of the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision therein, and in other industries which may be approved by the board of managers of the State industrial farm and the Committee on Delinquency of this Commonwealth. Should any State industrial farm produce supplies or materials in excess of its needs and demands, or in excess of the demands of the Commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, such surplus may be sold by the Committee on Delinquency at the prevailing market price.

SECTION 12. Any State industrial farm shall make such reports and keep such accounts as are now or may hereafter be required by law, and shall in all such matters be subject to the rules and regulations established by the Committee on Delinquency.

SECTION 13. The original cost of the site and buildings of any State industrial farm, and all additions thereto, and all fixed overhead charges in conducting the institution, shall be paid by the Commonwealth out of moneys appropriated for the purpose by the General Assembly.

The cost of the care and maintenance of the inmates of such institution shall be certified monthly to the counties from which inmates shall have been committed. Such cost shall be paid by the counties in proportion to the number of days spent by the inmates committed from each county. All payments shall be on requisition of the board of managers and on warrants of the county commissioners countersigned by the county controller.

SECTION 14. (Provides for transferring prisoners from one institution to another, if deemed advisable.)

SECTION 15. All the property real and personal authorized to be held by virtue of this act shall be exempt from taxation by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof.

SECTION 16. The rules and regulations governing State industrial farms shall be uniform and shall be made by the Committee on Delinquency. They shall be general in character and the respective boards of managers of each institution may add local rules not inconsistent with the spirit and substance of the regulations adopted by the Committee on Delinquency.

SECTION 17. To carry out the purposes of this act the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), or so much thereof as shall be necessary, is hereby appropriated but not more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) shall be expended for the purchase and equipment of the State industrial farm of any district.

SECTION 18. (Repeals the Act of 1917, authorizing the establishment of nine Industrial Farms.)

AGRICULTURAL PRISON LABOR.

HARRY R. CAMPBELL.

An article prepared for the County Commissioners’ Convention, Pittsburgh, August 7, 1918.

Agricultural prison labor is strongly advocated by prison authorities and has been in general use in the penal institutions of Pennsylvania for many years. The movement for outdoor work for prisoners has grown rapidly, and as a result, the Pennsylvania legislature, at its 1917 session, extended the scope of agricultural work for prisoners, and authorized by an Act approved July 17, 1917, the employment of prisoners, undergoing sentence in county jails, on county or poor farms.

There is no greater curse than idleness. An unemployed prisoner is a future menace to society, and no effort should be spared to keep him busy--to impress upon him the dignity and necessity of work, and to make him know that he is stronger physically and better morally if he is regularly employed.

Prison labor should be approached with a desire to help the prisoner and restore him to society cured of his criminal ailment. If the only purpose in the minds of the authorities is to make a profit for their district, they are in grave danger of reverting to the old convict labor system, which at best was only a modified form of slavery.

Agricultural prison labor offers the opportunity of a direct profit to the district, and places the prisoner in an environment peculiarly adapted to his own physical and mental betterment. I am informed that it is used with great success in several counties, including Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Berks, Lehigh, Beaver, Bucks, Cambria, Fayette and Westmoreland.

Another important measure enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature and approved July 20, 1917, requires the erection of an Industrial Farm, Workhouse and Reformatory in each of nine districts created by the Act. Each institution is to be built and managed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of one County Commissioner from each county in the district, appointed by the President Judge of the proper Court.

* * * * *

It is the purpose of the institution to keep all persons employed about the farm and buildings, in growing all kinds of farm produce, raising live stock and in manufacturing supplies for its own use, or for the use of the several counties in the district, or any public or charitable institution owned or managed by any of the district counties.

Prisoners may also be employed in the making of brick, tile, and concrete, or other road building supplies for the use of the several counties. All material manufactured shall be sold at prices fixed by the Trustees, preference being given in the sale to the counties comprising the district, and to the cities, boroughs and townships therein.

The cost of the site, buildings and additions thereto, and all fixed overhead charges are to be paid by the counties comprising the district, in ratio to their population. All moneys received from the sale of produce or manufactured articles or supplies shall be credited to the overhead expenses.

This, in brief, is a digest of the law which is designed to inaugurate agricultural prison labor on a large scale in Pennsylvania.

The Trustees were promptly appointed by the Courts of the State. The Fourth district, organized in March with the election of Mr. George W. Deeds, of Westmoreland County, as president. This board has been actively engaged in inspecting proposed sites, a number of which have been offered, but no selection has, as yet, been made.

* * * * *

Another phase of prison labor that must be taken into full consideration in the establishment of industrial farms, is the attitude of the Courts in reference to the parole law now in effect. If the Judges believe that the ends of justice are best served by paroling convicts, rather than committing them to some institution, the necessary capacity of the proposed buildings would be materially affected. In most of the counties but little has been done toward a general use of the parole law, but in a few of them the Courts are evidently giving it a trial.

The parole law is regarded with especial favor in Washington County, where the Courts have at the present time, 672 prisoners under parole. Every one of this number is employed in the county and must report monthly to the parole officer, who is also the Court’s employment agent, and who places every paroled prisoner in a job suitable to his ability and inclination.

This might be called another phase of prison labor, as industry is one of the conditions of the parole, and the labor is done by the paroled prisoners for their own profit and advancement--with freedom to enjoy their homes and pursue their own inclinations after working hours. So far has the system been carried, that the Court House, once cleaned entirely by prison labor, is now necessarily cared for by a paid force of men outside the draft age. You may better understand why the Court is going to this apparent extreme, when you know that practically every industry in Washington County is engaged in war work, and that these paroled men are placed on farms, and in mines, mills and factories, where they are helping win the war, though only a small percentage of them are American citizens and very few are native born.

About 90 per cent. of these men are faithfully complying with all the conditions of their paroles, 95 per cent. are paying in monthly installments, the fine and costs imposed upon them by the Court, and less than five per cent. are proving themselves unworthy of the confidence reposed in them.

Clearfield County has 10 paroled prisoners; Clinton, 25; Indiana 40; Lycoming, 8; Lehigh, 104; Center, 6; McKean, 47; Butler, 35; and Somerset, 64. It is doubtful if the entire number in all the other counties in the State would equal the number paroled in Washington County.

Montgomery County has taken a unique step in the employment of prison labor and uses the 80 inmates of its county jail in knitting socks, on knitting machines, for the Red Cross. Many other counties employ their prisoners, in their jails, in useful occupations.

Agricultural prison labor has been tried out in many States with gratifying success. Down in Alabama there are 325 men at work on State farms, where they raised 2300 bushels of wheat last year, which is an excellent record for a section where wheat is not supposed to grow. Convicts down there are also worked in the Alabama coal mines, and are producing 4500 tons of coal daily. Their farm prison labor is not satisfactory, but in the mines it is pronounced superior to free labor.