Maryland. State Board of Prison Control

Consisting of three paid members appointed by the governor, the State Board of Prison Control was established in 1916 to consolidate state authority over Maryland's penal system. The 1916 legislation abolished the managerial boards of the Maryland Penitentiary and the Maryland House of Correction, vesting the new board with "full power, authority and responsibility to manage and control the [two] institutions" (Laws of 1916, ch. 556).

The Board of Prison Control was concerned primarily with prisoner welfare. For instance, the board was required to maintain a record of all disciplinary action taken against convicts, assuring that a physician was present in all cases of corporal punishment. Also, in an effort to remove insane convicts from the prison system (considered a chronic problem), the board was empowered to summon the State Lunacy Commission to examine and pass judgment upon the sanity of any inmate.

Viewed as a supplementary reform measure, the same law eliminated the commercial use of contractual convict labor. It directed the Board of Prison Control to "supersede" the contract labor system as soon as they deemed it "expedient and proper." However, the existence of some long-term contracts delayed the board's action. The shortage of laborers during World War I, however, caused the legislature to speed the process. Coming just two days after the Wilson Administration established the War Industries Board which nationalized war-related industries including railroads, the Laws of 1918, ch. 306 and ch. 354 authorized the employment of convict labor to support the war effort. Furthermore, the Laws of 1918, res. 13 supported a similar action in Congress. The state immediately transferred prisoners from contract work to jobs which supported the war effort. Thereafter, convicts were employed by the State Roads Commission, the B&O and Pennsylvania railroads, and the U.S. Health Service at Camp (Fort) Meade.

By 1919, however, most of the wartime work agreements had vanished and the board again contracted prisoners out to private companies, but only on a short-time basis. Other convicts worked on the prison farm. Meanwhile, the board searched for an acceptable alternative to the contract labor system that would also provide prisoners with a useful skill to apply after their release. In its final year, the Board of Prison Control instituted the "State-Use System." Under the new system, the Maryland Penitentiary purchased equipment needed to manufacture shoes and automobile license plates as well as machinery with which to print state documents.

The State Government Reorganization Act abolished the State Board of Prison Control and transferred its authority and responsibility to the newly created Board of Welfare (Laws of 1922, ch. 29, art. vii, sec. 2).