CONVICT LABOR. In all penitentiaries the work of keeping the institution in good order and carrying on the domestic arrangements is done by the prisoners. In addition, repairs and improvements, such as constructing new build ings, is often done by inmates under expert direction. This would not furnish sufficient em ployment to keep the prisoners occupied. For the sake of the convict as well as for the pe cuniary returns, it is customary to employ the prisoners in productive enterprises. In America these general systems prevail.
In the lease system the convicts are leased to contractors for a fixed sum aul period, the entire responsibility for the care and safe keeping of the oonvicts devolving upon the con tractors. This system may reduce the cost to the State, but it tends to great abuses and should be abolished. It prevails only in some of the Southern States.
The contract system exists in two forms. In the first the labor of the convicts is furnished to contractors for a fixed sum, the contractors personally directing the employment in the insti tution. The raw material and machinery are furnished by the contractor, though in some cases the State furnishes the latter. In the second form, the piece - price system, the con tractor furnishes the material and pays a stipu lated price for the finished product. The direction of the industry is in the hands of the prison officials. The advantage of this form is that it avoids the possibility of trouble coming from the presence in the institution of employers who are not directly responsible to the authori ties.
The contract system has been in general use. It has many advantages. The industry is man aged by experts who can buy and sell to better advantage than can the warden, who, presum ably. is not so well posted. Moreover, the State is not subject to loss because of gluts in the market or because of official ignorance or du plicity. It necessitates no great investment in expensive machinery. It has furnished steady employment to the prisoners and has reduced appreciably the net cost of maintenance.
There are, however, serious to the plan. When it involves the presence of outside overseers it may seriously interfere with prison discipline. From an educational standpoint the highly developed industry interferes with the training of the individual convict. This applies
with special force to the younger prisoners. Employers have condemned the system on the ground that the cheap labor gave the contractor an unfair advantage. Labor unions have objected because they felt that it had a tendency to lower wages. The objections have weight. While the total of prison labor is brit a small part of the labor of the country, the introduction of special industries may easily depress and unfairly com pete with similar local industries.
For these reasons the contract system is losing ground and is giving place to the public-ac count system. The State furnishes the plant and materials and conducts the entire business through its officials. Any profits go to the State, and any loss is borne by it. Products are sold upon the open market, or, as in New York, only such articles may be made as will be utilized in other public institutions, or in the various State departments. Under this system the individual prisoner may be employed as seems for his best interest. Generally speaking, this plan is probably the best yet proposed. It tends, however, to influence the warden to strive for financial success rather than for the upbuilding of character, and opens the way for financial scandals. It does not avoid competition with free labor. If the New York plan is adopted there should be a central body to regulate the industries in the different institutions, that there may not be a surfeit of certain articles and a scarcity of others.
Penologists now advocate manual and technical training, particularly for the younger men. They agree that this system, though more expensive, will in the end yield far larger returns to so ciety than the present industries. It might be thought that the employment of convicts in pub lic enterprises, such as road-making, would be profitable. Experience has not confirmed this view, and such employment is now considered advantageous only under peculiar local circum stances. Consult: United States Industrial Com mission Report on. Prison Labor (Washington, 1900) ; Proceedings of National Prison Associa tion (Pittsburg, 1898, 1899) ; Henderson. In troduction to Study of Dependents, Defectives, and Delinquents (Boston, 1893). See PENOLOGY; CRIMINOLOGY.