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Saturday, June 24, 2023

Prisons, Work Camps to Substitute Feeding Just Sufficient Food to Sustain Life for Flogging, Says N.C. Governor, June 24, 1923

Prison Conditions to be Looked into by County Boards. . . Governor Morrison Asks Boards of Commissioners to Look into Situation. . . Abolish the Lash. . . Urges That Counties Do Away with the Lash—Believes That Other Means Are Better

Raleigh, June 23—Governor Morrison this afternoon issued a letter to all boards of commissioners of the hundred counties of North Carolina asking them to convene in an extraordinary session to consider the condition of the county prisoners and commending to their attention the rules adopted by the state administration.

He urged immediate abolition of the lash, saying that no European country now flogs its prisoners and that practically every state in the Union has stopped the practice, which Superintendent George Ross Pou has proved is unnecessary.

Governor Morrison thinks the extreme disciplinary measure in vogue in the state prison, that of feeding just sufficient food to sustain life, is extreme enough and will get results from the unruly. The rules of the state prison are declared to be the result of “deep study and long experiment” by Superintendent Pou, who is in the opinion of the Governor the “equal of any authority in the country on prison rules.”

Mr. Morrison says that the independent (line missing) terminate services for good prisoners and solitary confinement—not in a dark cell, however—for the bad will work wonders. He is led to call the commissioners together out of compassion for the prisoners and regard for the good name of the state. His letter in full reads as follows:

“In deep solicitude for the good name of our state, as well as compassion for all prisoners, I write to ask that your board convene at your earliest convenience in extraordinary session to consider the condition of your county prison and any prison camps used for the keep of prisoners while at work on the roads of your county.

“I beg you to consider carefully the rules for the discipline of prisoners recently adopted by the state prison board upon the succession of Hon. Geo. Ross Pou, superintendent of the state prison. I have asked him to send printed copy of the same to you at his earliest convenience.

“I believe a study of these rules will disclose that it is entirely practical to apply them in principle, although not in every detail, to the county prisoners and county camps. These rules are the result of deep study and experiment upon the part of the state prison authorities, and after consideration of the prison rules of other states and especially those of the United States government.

“I am satisfied that whipping prisoners ought to be abandoned in every county in this state at once. The custom of flogging or whipping has been abandoned by all the states of this Union, except five or six of the Southern states. It has been abandoned by almost every civilized country in the world. None of the European countries practice it any longer. I am very anxious that North Carolina should fall in line with modern and liberal thought on this subject.

“Under the rules adopted upon the suggestion of Mr. Pou by the state prison, actual experience has shown that the most violent and vicious criminal can be brought to reason. The extreme punishment is a diet sufficient only to sustain life. This, of course, is not to be done except in rare cases and extreme necessity, and then under medical supervision, but it does the work and eliminates, in my judgment, any excuse for physical violence upon any prisoner in this state.

“The counties can easily arrange for solitary confinement; but this should not be done by placing the prisoner in a dark dungeon.

“I stand ready to put on indeterminate sentences all the prisoners in your county, in order that the hope of reward for good behavior may be used to uphold the hands of the county authorities, and enable them to carry out the modern and humane prison rules and regulations which I suggest. I am satisfied that this is the basic principle upon which all prisons should be run.

“I regard Mr. Geo. Ross Pou, superintendent of the state prison, as an authority equal to the best in the country upon the subject of prison rules and regulations and discipline. I will be pleased to direct him to confer with your board in working out a proper system based on the rules adopted in the state prison and camps, if you desire his services.

“I do hope you will give this matter your very earliest and prompt attention, and let me hear from you at your earliest convenience.”

From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, June 24, 1923

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