Chain gang

For other uses, seeChain gang (disambiguation).

Chain gang street sweepers, Washington, D. C. 1909

Female convicts inDar es Salaamchained together by their necks, c. 1890–1927

Achain gangorroad gangis a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form ofpunishment.Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land.The system was notably used in theconvict eraofAustraliaand in theSouthern United States.By 1955 it had largely been phased out in the U.S., withGeorgiaamong the last states to abandon the practice.Clallam County, Washington, U.S. still refers to its inmate litter crew as the "Chain Gang."North Carolinacontinued to use chain gangs into the 1970s.Chain gangs were reintroduced by a few states during the "get tough on crime"1990s: In 1995,Alabamawas the first state to revive them. The experiment ended after about one year in all states exceptArizona,where inMaricopa Countyinmates can still volunteer for a chain gang to earn credit toward ahigh school diplomaor avoid disciplinary lockdowns for rule infractions.

Synonyms and disambiguation

A single ankleshacklewith a short length of chain attached to a heavy ball is known asaball and chain.It limited prisoner movement and impeded escape.

Two ankle shackles attached to each other by a short length of chain are known as ahobbleor asleg irons.These could be chained to a much longer chain with several other prisoners, creating a work crew known as achain gang.The walk required to avoid tripping while in leg irons is known as theconvict shuffle.

Parchman Farmchain gang, 1911

A group of prisoners working outside prison walls under close supervision, but without chains, is awork gang.Their distinctive attire (stripe wear or orange vests orjumpsuits) and shaven heads served the purpose of displaying their punishment to the public, as well as making them identifiable if they attempted to escape. However, the public was often brutal, swearing at convicts and even throwing things at them.

The use of chains could be hazardous. Some of the chains used in the Georgia system in the first half of the twentieth century weighed 20 pounds (9 kg). Some prisoners suffered fromshackle sores—ulcers where the iron ground against their skin. Gangrene and other infections were serious risks. Falls could imperil several individuals at once.

Modern prisoners are sometimes put intohandcuffsor wristmanacles(similar to handcuffs, but with a longer length of chain) and leg irons, with both sets of manacles (wrist and ankle) being chained to abelly chain.This form of restraint is most often used on prisoners expected to be violent, or prisoners appearing in a setting where they may be near the public (a courthouse) or have an opportunity to flee (being transferred from a prison to a court). Although prisoners in these restraints are sometimes chained to one another during transport or other movement, this is not a chain gang—although reporters may refer to it as such—because the restraints make any kind of manual work impossible.

Purpose

1894 illustration of chain gang performing manual labor

Various claims as to the purpose of chain gangs have been offered. These include:

• punishment
• societal restitution for the cost of housing, feeding, and guarding the inmates. The money earned by work performed goes to offset prison expenses by providing a large workforce at no cost for government projects, and at minimalconvict leasingcost for private businesses
• a way of perpetuating African-American servitude after theThirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitutionended slavery outside of the context of punishment for a crime.
• reducing inmates' idleness
• to serve as a deterrent to crime
• to satisfy the needs of politicians to appear "tough on crime"
• to accomplish undesirable and difficult tasks

History

Australia

Illustration of a chain gang of 21 convicts inHobart,Tasmania,in 1833, alongside six uniformed soldiers and a well-dressed man who is possibly a magistrate.

In theAustralian penal colonies,chain gangs were also referred to as "iron gangs". They were used as a punishment for convicts who reoffended after beingtransported.Iron gangs were frequently employed on the construction of roads in remote areas where escape was a possibility, such as on theGreat North RoadfromSydneyto theHunter Valleyandthe roadfrom Sydney toBathurstover theBlue Mountains.The leg irons were installed by blacksmiths using hotrivets,and then attached to a single "gang chain" to allow for control by an overseer.The irons and chains could weigh as much as 4.5 kilograms (9.9 lb) or more.Some of the convicts on iron gangs were as young as 11 years old.

The use of iron gangs in theColony of New South Waleswas expanded by GovernorRalph Darlingas part of his infrastructure program. Their tasks included "breaking rocks, clearing trees, constructing stone culverts and bridges".In 1828, the colony's chief surveyorEdmund Lockyerdirected that each iron gang could contain up to 60 men, supervised by one main overseer and three assistants. The iron gangs "received the worst and least trustworthy characters, together with the strictest security measures". Better-behaved convicts still worked in gangs but were unshackled.Convicts who escaped from iron gangs were described as "bolters" and became some of the firstbushrangers.

United States

A chain gang in the southern US, 1903

The introduction of chain gangs into the United States began after theAmerican Civil War.The southern states needed finances and public works to be performed. Prisoners were a free way for these works to be achieved.

The use of chain gangs for prison labor was the preferred method of punishment in some southern states like Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Abuses in chain gangs led to reform and to their general elimination by 1955. There were still chain gangs in the South in December 1955.

Chain gangs experienced a resurgence when Alabama began to use them again in 1995; they still existed in 1997.

Reintroduction

Several jurisdictions in the United States have re-introduced prison labor. In 1995Sheriff Joe Arpaioreintroduced chain gangs inArizona.

A year after reintroducing the chain gang in 1995, Alabama was forced to again abandon the practice pending a lawsuit from theSouthern Poverty Law Center,among other organizations. The SPLC's attorneyJ. Richard Cohensaid, "they realized that chaining them together was inefficient; that it was unsafe". Alabama Prison Commissioner Ron Jones was fired in 1996 for trying to put female prisoners on chain gangs.However, as late as 2000, Jones had proposed reintroducing the chain gang.

Chain gang of juvenile convicts in the US, 2006

Chain gang of juvenile convicts in the US, 1903

In 2011,Tim Hudak,former leader of theProgressive Conservative Party of OntarioinCanada,campaigned on introducingpenal labourin the province, referred to by many as chain gangs.He lost seats to the provincial Liberals which formed another majority government in the subsequent general election.

According to their own policies,Britain First(a British far-right political organization) want to re-introduce chain gangs "to provide labour for national public works". This is part of their aim to turn prisons from "cosy holiday camps" into "a place of hard labour".

In 2013, Brevard County Jail inSharpes, Floridareintroduced chain gangs as a deterrent on crime in a pilot project. Ex-convictLarry Lawton,critical of this move, said "Chain gangs send a bad message about our county", adding "I don't think people want to come to this county as a tourist or a beach person and see people in chains." Instead he proposed a better use of law enforcement resources would be to combatdrug addictionbecause he says it is a "contributing factor" to criminal activity.

See also

• Bucket brigade
• Penal labour
• Work song
• I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang

Further reading

• Burns, Robert E.I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!University of Georgia Press; Brown Thrasher Ed edition (October 1997; original copyright, late 1920s).
• Childs, Dennis.Slaves of the State: Black Incarceration from the Chain Gang to the Penitentiary.Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
• Colvin, Mark.Penitentiaries, Reformatories, and Chain Gangs:Social Theory and the History of Punishment in Nineteenth-Century America.Palgrave Macmillan (2000).ISBN0-312-22128-2.
• Curtin, Mary Ellen.Black Prisoners and Their World: Alabama, 1865–1900.University of Virginia Press (2000).
• Foucault, Michel.Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.Vintage Books (1979).ISBN0-394-72767-3.
• Lichtenstein, Alex.Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South.Verso (1995).ISBN1-85984-086-8.
• Mancini, Matthew J.One Dies, Get Another: Convict Leasing in the American South, 1866–1928.University of South Carolina Press (1996).ISBN1-57003-083-9.
• Oshinsky, David M.Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice.(1997).ISBN0-684-83095-7.

External links

• Movie of chain gang in Charleston, South Carolina; circa 1904
• The Labour of Doing Time