Raleigh, June 13—No prisoner under the control of supervision of the state prison has been whipped in nearly three years, Superintendent George Ros Pou declared in a statement point out that the state system has no authority to supervise in any way county jails and chain gangs. The statement, which was prompted by the accounts of the beating to death of a negro convict in an Edgecombe chain gang and the charges of the Gaston county grand jury against a camp in that county had the following to say:
“Immediately after my appointment as superintendent of the state prison and its farms and camps, Gov. Cameron Morrison requested that I make every effort to abolish the use of the lash as a means of discipline. After a thorough study of state prison conditions in this and many other states, the governor and prison board adopted my recommendations abolishing corporal punishment.
“It is very necessary to maintain discipline and prisoners should be made to work. A large percentage of prisoners are lazy and shiftless. Otherwise, they would not be in prison. It is therefore necessary to have certain forms of punishment to force a certain class of prisoners to be respectful to officials and perform their duties.
“I find solitary confinement on bread and water a very effective means to bring about desired effect. This form of punishment is used in the United States army and navy, in the Federal prisons and in many state prisons. I, personally, have always been opposed to corporal punishment, yet I believe the law permitting corporal punishment should remain in force. The fact that corporal punishment can legally be resorted to has a good moral effect upon a certain class of prisoner.. . . . “
From page 5 of the Danbury Report, Wednesday, June 17, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068291/1925-06-17/ed-1/seq-5/ -=-
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