THE CONVICT LEASE SYSTEM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3023, 28 November 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CONVICT LEASE SYSTEM.

IT.s WiiliM.m: in Till: STATKS 'I'm: Vali- l,e ; _ r i-dature ot' tfnnesse has ju-t ;n I in xi-.j--i.in for thf purpose ot 1 li.in ; iii!e.,:i-i ler.it inn tli ■ .j•i ■- -; i in of in-ill,tyiii'/ tin' '■ '[anion lea-diiif sv.-teui. Tliai. tie-latter stands in need d' verv radical ivfor.ni i* notorious. I'lnier the e\i-t i !a-,v> of Tenile-ie, ( Jenl-. i-l, an 1 of ipiite a number of I ill' Southern M !tea convict is njiisiiWcil .-is a puHi" slavo, and is hired out, to the highest bidder, in or'br that hi* hire may reimburse the e .-a to vvliie.lv the eominivuily has been subjeel' d ot. his account. " Die justification ollered for this method of dealing with iho criminal classes is that the respective commonwealths are nimble t» benr Ihe • •.* pense of a state prison system. While this may serve to explain Ihe onuses vvliieli have led to the method of leasing out convicts, it certainly does not in any wav excuse or palliate the terrible abus" to vvliieli the practise has jiiven rise. I'he persons who hire the e.onvicts are mostly railroad and lumber conlriictors who lease them by the year, and whose main object, of course, is to yet the largest amount of workout of tlicm at the least possible cost, The terrible,liardshipsaud cruelty >o which the unfortunate conviuts are subjected by their lessees are almost beyond description, and tlio horrors of a Southern convict camp in the Unighted States outstrips anything of the kind in Russia's penal colonies of Siberia itid Saghnlien. As the camps aro mostly located in remote districts, fur distant from any city, the inspection on the part of the State is merely nominal, and the convicts are absolutely at the mcvey of ihe greedy, "sweating contractor nnl bis brutal myrmidons. There are no walls to the oamp, but merely a dead line iruurded by men with loaded rifles who shoot down without any warning anyone who is seen crossing it. Flogg'ng, too, is catried on, and is administrated with truly Moscovite severity to tli-j male and female convicts alike by ihocampMiperinteudeuts or "bo.-ses," The sanitary and meal condition of then: convict camps defies description. The female convict camps are bjssed entirely by men. 'l'lie •treatment of convicts in the Southern and Weitern States of this country constitutes a very dark blot upon American civilisation, and whenever I hear people here inveighing atrainst the abominations of ltus-ia's penal system 1 am tompled to quote that particular poition of Scripture which refers to the mote in thy neighbour's eye ami the beam in thine own. It will scarcely he believed that a race of dogs are especially trained and bred here, for the sole purpose of hunting men and women wli-i have succeeded in traversing the death line wilh their lives, and in effecting their escape into the woods and swamps. The dogs in question aro not, as is generally believed, bloodhounds, the deeendanls of several packs that, vvera imported trom Ki'.gland in the early part, of the century by Virginian gentlemen for the pu/'poso ot' tracing run away slaves. They are small anil slender, with keo" limbs and I >ng e ir.". They never, under any circujn^tam-.

follow any but thn human trail, When they overtake a run-away they do not. attack ti 10 unfortunate wi'ctch, butmere!y run round in a circle, keeping up an nicesHiiut ami deep-toned ljuyiny that tells tin; pursuing guards that tin' clia.se is ended Tlio scent of the-e dugs is wonderful. I; tlio ground is damp and tin; ntin isphere moist they em follow a trial ten or twelve hours old novel' makinir a mist ike unless thn fugitive takes to water, and follow it for a great distance. The line.-.l and most famous piick of man-hunting dogs is at. tlio Pratt en ilniiii'.i, near II riningham. Alalmmi, win re the s-'rvicc-of seme -1,010 convicts arc utilised l>y tho companies working tho mines, I may add the pains which tlio lessees of convicts devote to tho recapture of runaways sreduo to the fact that they are obliged to pay a heavy ponulty to the state for every prisoner whojmakes good hisorhcr'escape. The lessees are not, however, held re-. Hponsible in any way for tho death of their unfortunate hireling*. The result of this state of things is ovbious, and a well-directed riile bullet sent crashing into the convict's skull an he orshe crosses tho death lino of the camp is found by the lessees to be cheaper and in every wa\ preferable to, a long stern chase witli tho docs.—American correspondent Manchester Examiner,