Narrowing down interest in prison nutrition

Paul Lucko article on TEXAS COMMITTEE ON PRISONS AND PRISON LABOR. The Texas Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor, a prison-reform organization that operated during the 1920s, was founded by a group of political activists from the Joint Legislative Council, or "Petticoat Lobby" of Texas politics. The Texas CPPL succeeded in reorganizing the administration of the state prison system and actually controlled prison management from 1927 to 1930.

The Texas CPPL enthusiastically served as a state chapter for the National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor, headquartered in New York City.

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Frustrated with a pattern of prisoner abuses, official misconduct, waste, inefficiency, and inadequate state legislative responses to prison issues, the Texas CPPL hoped to secure a permanent solution to Texas prison problems.

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The state legislature permitted the Texas CPPL to conduct a scientific survey of the prison system in 1923. Because the legislature refused to fund the study, the CPPL raised money through national CPPL assistance, support from the Laura Spellman and Rockefeller foundations, and a statewide donation drive

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The national CPPL, along with the United States Department of Agriculture, the Texas State Medical Association (now the Texas Medical Associationq), the Texas State Dental Society, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, and faculty members from Texas colleges and universities offered technical assistance to the survey.

The Texas CPPL reported the results of the survey of the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville and the various prison farms in the eastern and coastal regions of the state in 1924. "Texas needs new methods of dealing with her prisoners . . . [and] new methods of training them," the report concluded.

The investigation revealed that the majority of prisoners suffered from mental and physical deficiencies and had not completed primary school. The CPPL denounced the prison system for its failure to rehabilitate prisoners through literacy or industrial training and criticized economic losses and poor management as well as the location of most farms in low-lying areas susceptible to flooding, disease, and noxious weeds.

Stressing the importance of preparing prisoners for their eventual return to free society, the CPPL report suggested adoption of progressive penological practices such as scientific classification of prisoners according to age and reformation potential, educational and recreational programs, improved medical care, and an end to corporal punishment.

The report recommended replacing the three-member Board of Prison Commissioners with a nine-member board of directors who would select an expert manager. The report's most controversial proposal called for sale of all existing prison properties and the construction of a central penal colony near Austin. The Texas CPPL achieved its greatest success in 1926 by sponsoring an amendment to the Texas Constitution that reorganized the governing body of the Texas prison system. CPPL members campaigned vigorously for voter ratification by providing speakers and writers for civic associations, writing articles and editorials for state newspapers, preparing announcements for ministers to deliver to congregations, and printing materials for radio stations and motion-picture theaters. The legislature enacted the CPPL management plan in 1927 by dissolving the Board of Prison Commissioners and establishing the Texas Prison Board.

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Between 1927 and 1930 the CPPL-led Texas Prison Board expanded prisoner educational and recreational activities, discharged employees who mistreated prisoners, and attempted to improve prisoner nutrition. Facing opposition from veteran prison workers who believed the reformers oversympathized with criminals, CPPL lobbyists continued to urge prison relocation and modernization.

However, despite efforts by the CPPL and Moody, the legislature refused to centralize the prison system. With the legislature's final defeat of the CPPL relocation plan in March 1930, Texas CPPL influence upon the state prison diminished. Baker, Cohen, and Scott had left the board by that time, and Speer left before the end of 1930. During the 1930s board members amenable to more traditional penal policies dominated prison management, although recreational and educational programs started by the reformers remained. The CPPL reduced formal operations shortly after the Texas Prison Board was established in 1927, as the reformers decided to work through the board and the governor's office. By 1930 the CPPL had virtually disappeared. Although the committee failed to transform the character of Texas penology, the administrative structure it designed remains intact today as the Texas Board of Corrections.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Emma L. M. Jackson, Petticoat Politics: Political Activism among Texas Women in the 1920's (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1980). Jane Y. McCallum Papers, Austin History Center. A Summary of the Texas Prison Survey (Austin?: Texas Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor, 1924). Charlotte A. Teagle, History of Welfare Activities of the Texas Prison Board (Huntsville, Texas: Texas Prison Board, 1941).