_Philadelphia_, 11_th_ _Mo._ 19, 1863.
While on this subject, it is deemed advisable to present a statement of
the plan for labor and extra work which is in operation at the County
Prison at Moyamensing; premising, however, that the penal servitude in
the County Prison is generally so much less than that in the
Penitentiary, that it is found necessary in many particulars to
accommodate the assignment of work to the _time_ of the prisoner
sentenced, as few who come into the prisons have regular occupations,
and a six months’ sentence does not allow time enough to acquire any
trade sufficiently to earn money thereby.
And it may be remarked here, that the civil war which has disturbed our
country for more than two years, has cut off one of the most important
branches of prison labor, viz., that of cotton weaving, by which
hundreds of prisoners could pay all the expense resulting from their
incarceration, and often take with them, at the termination of their
sentence, more money than they would have _saved_ from their earnings,
had they been at large, indulging in the evil habits of occasional
excessive drinking, and suffering the consequent misery of that delirium
which only the inebriate can know.
Cotton weaving, and the preparation of the yarn for the loom, which was
once so important a branch of employment, has, as we have already
stated, almost ceased to be carried on in this prison. The sound of the
shuttle is now scarcely heard where, a few years ago, the continued
rattle, in almost every cell, gave notice of profitable industry. It was
the custom of the prison, at the time to which we refer, to assign to
prisoners a certain fixed task, and to allow them a fair compensation
for over-work, so that a good and industrious weaver generally earned
for himself about twelve dollars a month. Of course, he made more for
the prison. The return of peace, and the introduction of raw cotton,
will, undoubtedly, revive the manufacturing in the prison, and enable
many, who now have but small employment, to make their time and their
punishment profitable.
The Cordwaining Department has been more active; and in that a different
system of labor and compensation prevails.
Here the prisoner is charged two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) a week
for his board, to be deducted from the compensation for work actually
performed.
The prices allowed for good work are as follows:
For sewed boots, 45 cents per pair.
For pegged boots, 30 cents per pair.
For rogans sewed, 35 cents per pair.
For rogans pegged, 28 cents per pair.
To those who purchase these articles, the price seems low; yet the
average clear profit to each prisoner is about ten dollars a month,—a
sum which, under ordinary circumstances, he would scarcely exceed, if at
full liberty, with some of those habits that attend the man who is the
candidate for, or the graduate of, a prison. Some prisoners considerably
exceed ten dollars a month: they are usually not only faster but better
workmen.
But, as many of the prisoners are without any trade, (and perhaps they
owe their imprisonment in part to a neglect of some one to give to them
a means of acquiring an honest living,) it follows that some time is
necessarily consumed in acquiring such a skill in shoemaking as may be
turned to their profit in prison, especially when the sentence is not
for a long time. But many, it is believed, have made such advance in the
art, under personal instructions, as to place them in a position to do
some part of the work of their trade, and thus by practice to perfect
themselves in a respectable occupation. Too much importance can scarcely
be attached to this result, even of a short imprisonment.
Attempts have been made to introduce some kinds of labor for the benefit
of prisoners who had short terms of incarceration, or who seemed
destitute of abilities to acquire a trade; but these efforts have not
been so successful, and, in the present absence of cotton weaving, some
of the convicts remain wholly or nearly unemployed.
In the Female Department there is no regular employment by which labor
is compensated in money. The tedium of the cell is relieved by ordinary
female work, such as making and mending the clothes of other convicts,
and providing clothes for those who seem to require some addition to
their clothing, when they leave at certain seasons. There is a
considerable demand upon the peculiar talents of these prisoners, and it
would seem that if only half the industry (with economy and temperance)
were practised out of the prison which they manifest willingly in the
cell, they would have no temptation to steal, or to covet their
neighbor’s goods, “nor anything that is their neighbor’s.” These females
are, however, not dismissed from the prison without some consideration
for their industry. They usually come in with very few clothes. They are
dismissed with at least comfortable garments; and if their home is at a
distance, means are supplied to reach it. In this matter, also, this
Society assigns special duty to its Agent; and in many cases the poor
creature who having tasted the pleasures of sound resolutions for the
future, begins to feel the terrors of inability, on her departure from
the prison, to escape the associations that led her there, is suddenly
surprised with the gratifying information that she will be aided by the
Society to leave the city, when she leaves the prison, and may abide in
the cell, or in some institution or family, till she can be safely “sent
_home_” at the Society’s expense.
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