The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 4), April, 1914Various
General
The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 4), April, 1914
Various
Prisons -- Periodicals
_More Road Work._--In June, 1912, the State of Massachusetts decided
to start a camp and employ the inmates in road construction and
reforestation work, and, accordingly, forty model prisoners were
selected from the Worcester House of Correction and sent to the State
reservation at Mt. Wachusett.
These men erected five buildings and cleared the land for a garden
patch on which, by the way, enormous quantities of vegetables were
raised this year, enough in fact to supply the camp and to some
extent, the Worcester institution, for the past winter.
There were many who at first were strongly against the establishment
of a camp on the side of the mountain, being of the opinion that the
reservation would be spoiled for the State, and particularly for the
town of Westminster, but this objection soon wore away. The measure
of success is both in work accomplished and benefit to the prisoners,
physically and mentally.
What first impresses the visitor to the camp is the total absence of
anything suggestive of confinement and of a corrective institution. The
inmates are free to wander within certain limits from the cluster of
buildings and while they are garbed in the customary gray suits worn by
other county prisoners, there is little to suggest the prisoner to the
passerby in their actions and general demeanor.
So far, twenty-two miles of road have been constructed through the
forest, at a small expense to the county, by the prisoners. A stone
crusher and a compression drill are parts of the equipment of the road
building gang, which is under the charge of the master of the camp.
Flanked on three sides by mountain slopes and by a large meadow on
the other, the camp is situated in an ideal spot. Thankful are the
prisoners for the change from indoor confinement, and in token of
appreciation they work as hard if not harder than men on the outside
who enjoy their full liberty.
Supplies are brought from the Worcester jail twice a week by auto
truck which generally takes back a load of potatoes or turnips and an
occasional term-expired prisoner. Only men who are sentenced for short
terms are sent to Westminster and therefore the camps population is
constantly changing.
Mr. Coombs, in charge of the camp, said that only three prisoners had
ever made their escape, which was an extremely simple matter, and that
this trio all returned and pleaded to be taken back into the fold.
There are no locks or bars on the dormitory shed and it is an easy
matter for a man to take “French leave” if he so desires.
Next year it is thought the State will add to the camp property by
purchasing the Bolton farm across the road, and in this way fifty more
prisoners will be accommodated.--Boston Herald.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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