Self-Supporting Prisons
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300118 |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| Author | E. Stagg Whitin |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
131
Self-Supporting
Prisons
By
E.
STAGG
WHITIN,
PH.D.
Executive
Director,
National
Committee
on
Prisons
and
Prison
Labor;
President,
Associates
for
Government
Service
THE
control
over
prisons
through-
~.
out
the
United
States
is
decentral-
ized.
There
are
three
federal
prisons
under
the
Federal
Department
of
Prisons;
forty-eight
state
penal
sys-
tems,
each
with
a
different
organiza-
tion,
which
often
divides
authority
among
several
boards;
two
hundred
city
or
municipal
penal
departments;
and
approximately
twenty-five
hun-
dred
county
jails,
the
latter
having
state
supervision
in
only
ten
states.
The
1916
census
puts
the
cost
of
oper-
ating
penal
institutions
throughout
the
United
States
at
approximately
$37,451,400
per
year.
Approximately
165,000
persons
are
incarcerated,
mak-
ing
a
daily
cost
of
6.3
cents
per
capita.
England
and
France
have
centralized
their
penal
systems.
This
is
impossi-
ble
in
the
United
States
from
a
govern-
mental
point
of
view.
The
movement
for
centralization
is
tending
to
draw
the
county
penal
institutions
under
the
same
control
as
the
state
system,
but
even
this
will
have
its
limitations
where
the
county
and
city
are
one.
Unless
the
&dquo;home-rule
movement&dquo;
for
cities
is
to
be
given
up,
the
city
penal
system
will
never
become
part
of
the
state
sys-
tem.
In
turn,
as
long
as
the
state
system
of
government
in
this
country
lasts,
the
state
prison
systems
will
not
become
integral
parts
of
the
,federal
prison
system.
The
management
of
the
penal
insti-
tutions
in
twenty-five
out
of
the
forty-
eight
states
is
joined
with
that
of
the
eleemosynary
institutions.
In
the
state
and
state-aided
eleemosynary
institutions,
including
the
correctional,
there
are
520,138
people
to
be
housed
and
fed.
To
this
number
must
be
added
the
64,321
persons,
in
service
for
the
care
of
these
people,
who
are
also
housed,
fed
and
clothed.
The
term
&dquo;welfare&dquo;
is
coming
into
use
to
cover
the
combined
penal
and
eleemosynary
departments
which,
in
round
figures,
cost
$118,152,548
per
annum.
In
the
purchase
of
supplies
for
their
welfare
departments,
forty-one
states
have
a
centralized,
or
group-central-
ized,
purchasing
system.
All
the
larger
cities
have
a
central
purchasing
office.
One
hundred
and
twenty
of-
fices,
therefore,
purchase
the
supplies
for
the
welfare
departments.
It
is
estimated
that
$700,000,000
is
spent
annually
by
the
forty-eight
states
and
thirty-three
cities
for
the
purchase
of
their
supplies,
of
which
60
per
cent
is
for
the
welfare
departments.
DIFFICULTY
OF
ACCURATE
ESTIMATE
OF
PRISON
WORK
VALUE
The
cost
of
operating
these
welfare
departments
is
lessened
by
the
work
which
is
performed
by
the
wards
of
the
state.
The
value
of
this
work,
as
a
whole,
is
impossible
to
ascertain,
as
no
estimate
is
ever
made
of
the
value
of
the
labor
of
inmates
employed
in
the
running
of
institutions
or
in
repair
and
reclamation
work,
while
little
is
known
of
the
value
of
farm
products
and
sup-
plies
manufactured
by
the
institutions
for
their
own
consumption.
We
know
that
institutional
farms
aggregating
409,140
acres,
owned
and
leased,
pro-
duce
supplies
for
institutions
in
the
prison
group,
the
hospitals
for
the
in-
sane
and
the
institutions
for
the
feeble-
minded.
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