Prisoners' status in road construction "honor camps" of the State of Washington: provision, sanitary conditions, leisure and daily routine (1913-1917)

Based on previously unused historical sources, the article examines the insufficiently studied problem of prisoners' status in road construction camps functioning in the State of Washington from 1913 to 1917 on the basis of a new penal model called "honor system". The significance of this research is stipulated by the poor extent of prior investigation as well as the necessity of exploring foreign experience of regulation of prisoners' labor at infrastructure construction with the view of potential application of its elements in the penal system of the Russian Federation. According to the article, settlement of the road issue was one of the most important political problems in the State of Washington in the early 1900s. The reasons for prisoners' labor employment at the road construction (in particular, high cost of free labor and narrow labor market in the State of Washington before the First World War) are revealed. It is mentioned that the employment of prisoners' labor in the state road construction was performed in two steps based on different penal models. Organization of prisoners' accommodation, leisure and labor activities at the first step (1907-1911) was realized in accordance with a conservative model characterized by the use of guards to control prisoners, detention of prisoners in special camps surrounded by stockade and watch towers as well as employment of repressive forms of control (physical punishment, solitary confinement cells, moral pressure, etc.) for maintaining discipline and labor mobilization. In 1913 there was a turn from the conservative penal model to the "honor system" in the penal policy of the State of Washington. The article suggests that the change of the system led to a significant improvement of prisoners' daily routine, medical services and food. Absence of stockades and camp guardians gave the prisoners more leisure opportunities and provided them with a possibility to leave the camp territory and communicate with local population. In their free time prisoners had an opportunity to read books and play various games, including baseball. Besides they were allowed to hunt and fish. The influence of granted privileges on the prisoners' status was controversial. On the one hand, they led to faster socialization of prisoners and were important for the formation of their personal savings. On the other hand, the possibility of free exit from the camp provoked numerous breaks and violations of discipline. The article concludes that the cancellation of the "honor system" in 1917 was caused mainly by social and economic changes in the state at the beginning of the First World War: intensification of industrial construction, growing immigration rate and decreasing cost of road construction labor. Given the expansion of labor market in the State of Washington, prisoners lost their advantageous status as cheap labor force and as a result ceased to be employed by government at road construction.

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