Executive Order  No. 62: (1st Series) Use of prison labor in war effort

WHEREAS, the demands of total war have caused such shortages of labor and equipment as to make it desirable to employ the inmates and equipment of the penal institutions of the Commonwealth to the greatest extent possible in aid of the war effort; and

WHEREAS, the production and sale of articles and materials produced by the labor of inmates of the penal institutions of the Commonwealth to the Government of the United States for use in the prosecution of the war only was authorized by Executive Order No. 25, promulgated on June 29, 1942; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, acting through the War Production Board, has urged that the labor of inmates of said institutions and the equipment thereof be further utilized in connection with the activities of persons engaged directly or indirectly in operations essential to the war effort pursuant to contracts with the Government of the United States or any agency thereof:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, as amended by Acts of 1943, chapter 3, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, sections 2 and 3, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

Executive Order No. 25, promulgated on June 29, 1942, is hereby amended by inserting the following new paragraph before the last paragraph thereof:

The Commissioner of Correction is hereby authorized to utilize the labor of inmates in the penal institutions of the Commonwealth in operations upon articles and materials for, and in the production of articles and materials to be sold to, any person engaged in activities essential to the war effort pursuant to a contract with the Government of the United States or any agency thereof or for a subcontractor of a person so engaged, for use in the prosecution of the existing war only. The authority herein granted may be exercised by the said Commissioner to such extent as he may deem advisable and subject to such rules and regulations as he may prescribe. The said Commissioner is hereby further authorized to enter into contracts for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this paragraph.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twenty-first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-eighth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
Leverett Saltonstall