The journal of prison discipline and philanthropy (New series, No. 57), March, 1918Pennsylvania Prison Society
History
The journal of prison discipline and philanthropy (New series, No. 57), March, 1918
Pennsylvania Prison Society
Charities -- Periodicals; Prisons -- Periodicals
A sufficient amount of provisions is supplied and care is taken in
the preparation of the food. What is surprising, when we take into
consideration the greater cost of food, is that the cost per diem for
each prisoner in 1916 was 11 cents as against 12.3 cents the year
before.
All the inmates are kept at work. The industries are carpet weaving and
chair-caning. They paid for materials $3,431 and received $5,387.
The authorities are willing to allow some of the men to work on farms
but there is no county farm, or land belonging to the county, which is
available. Grade raised to 77 per cent.
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
Here there are about 180 prisoners, say, 150 able-bodied persons,
detained in idleness, from a few days to a year with no duties except
in the line of domestic service. The bakery, the kitchen, the serving
and the work of sweeping and scrubbing give nearly 25 per cent. of them
some employment, and the good warden by a system of rotation endeavors
to give all their turn at being useful. But what an appalling waste of
labor!
There is no available land belonging to the county on which they might
raise supplies for the institution. Dauphin County needs a prison farm.
Formerly the warden received 25 cents per day for each prisoner whom
he maintained. Now the cost is 13.5 cents per day and the menu is far
superior to what was formerly dispensed under the fee system. The meat
ration is one-half pound daily, which is regarded as too much for
unemployed men. They bake their own bread.
Strange to state, notwithstanding the lack of employment, none are
paroled. In this respect, the county is very much in the rear of the
procession.
As a rule, letters ought to be inspected before delivery.
Of the 168 hours in the week, the men may spend four hours in the
open air. Conditions are not as they should be and cannot be improved
materially till the question of employment is solved.
DELAWARE COUNTY.
The county prison is fortunate in having a warden who does not slumber
on his job. If the laws of the State restrict employment in some lines,
this warden gets busy in some other lines. It is vexatious to him to
see able-bodied men dawdling about with nothing to do. He gives them
all the open air possible. On occasion they may play games in their
limited enclosure. Recently he has constructed a special building in
which the looms are installed. No longer do they work in their cells,
where they were obliged to live, eat and sleep in lint-laden air. The
men assist in making improvements, and somehow there is something doing
in the line of repairs or improvements every minute.
At the personal request of the warden, the Court had liberated some
selected men to work on the poor farm, and the result had been
exceedingly satisfactory. They raised much of the vegetables for their
own use, and what they could not eat at the time they canned for future
use. They bake their own bread.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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