Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 170, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1915 — OVER 500 PRISONERS AT THE PENAL FARM [ARTICLE]

OVER 500 PRISONERS AT THE PENAL FARM

Information About Corrective Institution Established by State—Runaways Get Theirs. From The Greencastile Banner we receive some information about the state penal farm that will be of interest to all readers. At this time there are upward of 600 prisoners on the farm. The Banner states that it is not probable that there are not apt to be many more than that as now the expirations of sentence and discharges about keep pace with the new ones received. When the men are discharged they are taken to Greencastle and tickets are purchased to their home towns and the tickets given to the conductor and not to the discharged prisoner. In case any prisoner on the penal farm is recaptured he is sent to the penitentiary. Even if he is sent to the penal farm for only a limited term, say 50 or 100 days and tries to escape he will get a penitentiary sentence of from 2 to 5 years. There are more or less escapes all the time, but as photographs, Bertillian measurements and complete descriptions are made of all prisoners their chance of permanent escape is not very good. Many of the prisoners on the farm are victims of the liquor habit whose constant dissipation has led them into many delinquencies, such as failure to provide, petty stealing, cruelty to members of their families, refusal to work, public intoxication. It is probable that the penal farm will become the most common place for treating habitual drunkards.

It Ss doubtful whether the penal farm is a very desirable thing for a county and The Martinsville Republican states that Morgan county should be glad that it did not get the farm as it is becoming a great annoyance to the farmers who live in the neighborhood. As prisoners are constantly escaping the women are afraid to be left alone on the farms and there is constant danger of thieving. Furthermore, the farm is exempt from taxation and a large acreage is wihdrawn from bearing its proper proportion of taxes. That the farm will work a splendid advantage in the reform of small crime prisoners and prove a healthy place for them there is no doubt, but there are a number of reasons why the farm would not prove a desirable neighbor and The Martinsville Republican says that farm values in that section have depreciated.