TO ESTABLISH A HOSPITAL FOR DEFECTIVE JANUARY 6, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. GRAHAM, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7410] The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill H. R. 7410, after hearing (serial 1) and consideration, reports the same favorably and recommends that the bill do pass. This bill is one of a series of five bills which the Attorney General has recommended to Congress in order to cope with the serious problem that is confronting the Department of Justice owing to the large increase in the number of Federal prisoners and the consequent overcrowding of existing institutions. In his communication to Hon. George S. Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, dated November 25, 1929, recommending the enactment of this legislation, the Attorney General says: So many of the inmates of our prisons are defective mentally and physically that they demand special treatment if they are to be released without the mental and physical handicaps which so often induce them to commit crime. Furthermore, the Government hospital for the criminally insane is overcrowded. These conditions make it necessary for us to ask Congress for authority to establish a hospital for the care and treatment of such cases. Attached to his letter the Attorney General submitted a memorandum which sets forth an analysis of the bill which is submitted herewith and made a part of this report. BILL TO ESTABLISH A HOSPITAL FOR DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS A special hospital is needed for the care and treatment of the relatively large percentage of the prison population which is defective mentally or physically. It is well recognized that very often the cause of crime is some mental or physical handicap which must be removed if the man or woman who gets into prison is to be improved by his confinement. It is generally assumed that about 6 per cent of the whole population is so defective mentally that they ought to be segregated. HR-71-2-VOL 1-56 To house and care for even this percentage of the prison population would require an institution built to accommodate about 600 patients. In addition to the mental defectives, a large number of the inmates of correctional institutions are afflicted with diseases which demand special treatment. These include tuberculosis cases, advanced venereal cases, senility, and other types of chronic, degenerative, or incurable diseases. Those mental cases which are so apparent they can be recognized by the regular prison officials are now sent to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington. Less apparent cases of mental instability and those who are suffering from disease are retained at the prison and treated in the prison hospital. The Government Hospital for the Insane, in the District of Columbia, is badly overcrowded. The criminally insane ward is particularly congested and can not house any more insane convicts. Moreover, the cost of transporting insane convicts from all over the country is high. It is for these reasons that a medical center for prison cases should be established somewhere in the central part of the United States. The bill as drafted is substantially the same as the ones authorizing two new correctional institutions. It has, however, one section which provides a board of examiners to pass on all cases to be sent to the hospital for defective delinquents. The reason for this provision was the feeling that no person, even though he is in prison, ought to be stigmatized as insane except by formal proceedings of a qualified board. Moreover, it was felt some such board was desirable to make certain that only cases really demanding special treatment would be transferred to the hospital for defective delinquents. The bill also has a section which makes it the duty of the prison officials to see that no person who is suffering from a mental disease is turned loose upon the public without first trying to get the particular State concerned to take him in charge. At present, if the officials believe a convict whose sentence has expired is still insane, they continue to hold him unless his release is sought by one of his friends through legal process. In such cases they have no alternative but to release him as their jurisdiction ended with the expiration of the sentence. The proposed provision would authorize a definite procedure for handling such cases. The bill received the unanimous approval of the committee, and it is urged that it be speedily enacted into law. O EMPLOYMENT OF FEDERAL PRISONERS JANUARY 6, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. GRAHAM, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7412] The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill H. R. 7412, after hearing (serial 1) and consideration, reports the same favorably with an amendment and recommends that the bill as amended do pass. The amendment is as follows: Page 2, lines 1 and 2, strike out the words "and do the proper officials of the several States or political subdivisions thereof." This amendment was adopted by the committee at the suggestion of the American Federation of Labor and has been acquiesced in by the Department of Justice. This bill is one of a series of five bills recommended by the Attorney General in order to meet the serious problems which are confronting the department in handling the increased number of Federal prisoners. Due to lack of facilities an appalling number of our Federal prisoners are compelled to remain in idleness or semiidleness. Idleness is equal to crime. No man should be sentenced to idleness. From every viewpoint, humanitarian, social, and economic, prisoners should be given some occupation. This committee has endeavored to provide facilities for the employment of Federal prisoners and the bill here recommended is in principle the same as the legislation enacted in the Sixty-eighth Congress on the recommendation of the joint congressional committee to determine employment of Federal prisoners which provided facilities for the manufacture of shoes, brooms, and brushes at Leavenworth, Kans. Unemployment presents one of the most serious problems in Federal prisons. Touching on this subject there is quoted herewith from the report of the superintendent of Federal and penal correctional institutions for 1929 (at p. 90) the following: (b) Unemployment.-With a considerable yearly increase in the population of the five major institutions and with no corresponding expansion of means of employment, the condition of unemployment is becoming steadily worse. At Chillicothe and McNeil Island the employment of prisoners on new construction has prevented the situation from becoming critical. At Alderson it has become during the fiscal year a problem of primary importance. At Atlanta one major industry employs an average of about 20 per cent of the population, and at Leavenworth the two major industries employ less than 15 per cent of the population. These industries are expanding steadily, but at neither Atlanta nor Leavenworth can the conditions of unemployment be met without additional industries. At both of these penitentiaries a large percentage of the population must spend their time in semi-idleness. In his communication addressed to Hon. George S. Graham, chairman of the committee, on November 25, 1929, recommending the enactment of this bill, the Attorney General says: To make it possible for the department to alleviate the appalling amount of idleness among the inmates of our prisons without competing either with outside labor or private business, we are asking for authority to establish shops and factories for the manufacture of supplies and materials needed by the United States Government. The Attorney General also submitted a memorandum with his communication which sets forth an analysis of the bill which is printed herewith for the information of Congress. PRISON INDUSTRIES BILL The purpose of the bill to provide for the diversification of employment of Federal prisoners and for their training and schooling in trades and occupations is twofold: 1. To give the Attorney General broad general authority to establish industries in the Federal correctional institutions so that he may provide useful and stimulating employment for every inmate and sell the products of their labors to some Government department or establishment; and 2. To permit the Attorney General to make available the services of the inmates to other Government departments for the purpose of constructing roads and carrying on other public works. The need for some such legislation is at once apparent to all who are familiar with the existing situation. There is a large amount of idleness among our Federal prisoners. We now have productive enterprises for about 600 men in the cotton-duck mill at Atlanta and an equal number of men in the shoe factory at Leavenworth. There are no industries of any kind at McNeil Island, the Industrial Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, or the Industrial Institution for Women at Alderson, W. Va. There are now at least 6,000 able-bodied men and women in our prisons who should have employment. The baneful effects of idleness among prisoners has long been recognized by both penologists and laymen. Idleness among prisoners complicates discipline, encourages degeneracy, and breeds contempt for society. Prison employment is a vital factor in crime prevention and in the reconstruction of the criminal. If a man is kept in idleness or a semiidleness for years his mental and physical faculties so deteriorate that he is constitutionally unable to adjust himself to the competitive social system he finds when he leaves the prison. If a prisoner has nothing to occupy his time or his mind, he inevitable begins to rehearse plans for future criminal activities. We are told by the psychologists that whenever contemplated action is rehearsed a mental habit, a behavior pattern, is formed ready to take place in action at some unwary moment of temptation. Under such circumstances no conscious direction is required; the mental pattern directs the desired behavior with the swift and unconscious deftness of a wellformed habit. Thus it is that idleness actually induces recidivism and causes crime. He There are also strong economic arguments for employing the prisoner. should be required to earn the cost of his maintenance, pull his own weight, and not be permitted to live in idleness at the expense of the taxpayer. There is no interest of capital nor of labor sufficient to justify idleness in our penitentiaries, for the interest of all the people is paramount. The methods provided in the bill for employing the prisoners are approved by penologists, by free labor, and by industry. The bill contemplates the employment of the prisoners on the "State-use" principle. Under this system the Government operates the industry in its entirety, and disposes of the product to tax-supported institutions and agencies. It has nothing in common with the contract-labor system where the services of the inmates are leased or farmed out to some individual who supplies the capital, the equipment, and the supervision, and sells the prison-made goods on the open market in competition with free labor and industry. But even under the State-use system there is some competition with outside industry, as it absorbs the Government market. To reduce this competition to a minimum the prison industries must be so diversified as to make competition inconsequential. It is unfair, for instance, to the textile industry to supply all of the cotton fabrics used by the Government and none of the furniture; the shoe industry has just grounds for complaint if the whole Government market for shoes is supplied by prison industries; and none of the tinware or foundry products used by the Government are made by convict labor. Moreover, one of the prime purposes of the prison is to teach the inmates a trade or vocation which they may follow upon release. The men who are received in prison are from all walks of life, and opportunity must be afforded each group to follow the line for which he is best fitted by training and experience. Then, too, the Government market is limited, and if employment is to be found for every inmate the industries must be diverse in character and practical of installation from the standpoint of cost of equipment and buildings, availability of raw materials, and transportation of the finished products. Since prison industries must be so managed and operated that they will produce articles and commodities which are in every respect the equivalent of those produced by commercial concerns at the same or less cost, they must not be restricted or hampered by too much law or regulations. General authority must be given the managers of this business to establish industries to meet changing styles or conditions, abandon an unprofitable enterprise, or equip an existing enterprise with modern machinery. It is for these reasons that the bill gives the Attorney General broad powers to provide employment for all able-bodied prisoners. The employment of convicts on the construction of roads and other public works is generally approved. Many States utilize a large percentage of their prisoners in this manner. It serves the double purpose of giving the prisoner employment and at the same time makes possible a desirable public work. One department or agency of the Government may be compelled to forego or postpone some public work because of lack of funds to purchase the necessary labor while another department is supporting able-bodied men in idleness. The experience of the States has conclusively demonstrated that it is perfectly feasible to employ a large percentage of their prisoners outside the walls of their penal institutions. The Federal Government is building flood-control works of tremendous size, it is carrying on large reclamation and reforestation projects, and it is aiding the States in the construction of hundreds of thousands of miles of highways. Why should it not use its prisoners on this work? As prison industries are essentially business enterprises they must be provided with sufficient working capital funds to make it possible for the management to take advantage of favorable markets and buy their raw materials in such quantities as will enable them to meet competition. By consolidating the moneys already appropriated for and to the credit of the working capital funds of the existing industries sufficient funds will be available to enable the Attorney General to go forward with a diversified industrial program without asking Congress for further appropriations. Sections 5 and 6 of the proposed bill accomplish this consolidation. Eventually it may be necessary to ask for some additional appropriations, and consequently a clause has been included in the bill authorizing such appropriations as may from time to time be necessary. While most of the Government departments have willingly cooperated with the prison bureau and purchased such articles as are now made in prison industries, there is occasionally a purchasing officer who will not buy prison-made products. Section 7 of the bill makes it obligatory on the Government departments to purchase such supplies as can be made in prisons and are in accordance with the requirements of the procuring agency. The departments are adequately protected as the law specifies that the goods shall be sold at current market prices and be in compliance with Federal requirements. An incentive is needed to get the prisoners to undergo the hardships which working on the roads and on public works involves. A provision has, therefore, been included in the bill permitting the Attorney General, if he sees fit, to allow three days extra good time to such prisoners. This is in accordance with the precedent already approved by Congress in the bill permitting the employment |