DISCIPLINE OF PRISONS.
The President pro tem announced the special order-being Mr. Kinley's bill [S. 120] for the reorganization and government of the State Prisons, and repealing all conflicting laws, on the second reading,
Mr. ROBINSON, of Decatur, moved to strike from the bill the first section.
Mr. KINLEY said the changes in the bill were on the side of economy, humanity and moral reform, and therefore challenged careful consideration by the Senate. The fact that 800 able bodied men, furnished with coarse and simple food and shops to work in, are not self-supporting, is a sufficient argument against OUT present State Prison system. He urged the passage of page: 136[View Page 136] this bill; and, desiring that it may be made as perfect as possible, suggested that it be read by sections for the purpose of amendment before being put upon its final reading in the Senate.
Mr. JOHNSTON of Montgomery, regarded the pay of Directors, as proposed in the bill, as entirely too small; or, if it is not, then the compensation now paid is too large. He referred to inconsistencies, as he viewed them, in Mr. Kinley's remarks, and indicated his opposition to the bill.
Mr. BRADLEY would support the bill with an amendment to the 16th section, striking out the provision that the term of a recaptured convict shall be increased by the judgment of the Board of Commissioners, and inserting in lieu a provision that the convict shall be required to serve for such further time in addition to his original term as the court or jury trying the case shall determine.
Then came a recess for dinner.
