Chain gangs
Chain gangs are a historical correctional practice involving the chaining together of prisoners for manual labor, typically outside of prison walls. This practice originated in the Southern United States shortly after the Civil War, as a response to the economic challenges following the loss of slave labor. To maintain productivity, a lease system was developed, allowing prison labor to be sold to businesses, with many prisoners working on plantations and infrastructure projects. The use of chains became common due to the high number of escape attempts from these work gangs. Though the lease system was abolished by 1951, the practice of utilizing prisoners for manual labor persisted in various forms, with a small resurgence of chain gangs occurring in the mid-1990s, primarily in some southern and western states.
The motivations for this revival included a tougher stance on crime and a focus on keeping prisoners active. However, chain gangs have faced criticism for their efficiency, perceived lack of deterrence, and potential violation of prisoners' rights. By the early 2020s, the practice had mostly faded, with the exception of a volunteer program in Maricopa County, Arizona. The topic remains contentious, eliciting a variety of opinions on its efficacy and ethical implications.
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Chain gangs
Chaining prisoners together is a correctional strategy that has been used when transporting inmates out of a prison for the purpose of performing manual labor. Members are chained together in groups while wearing distinct uniforms identifying them as prisoners. Although the chaining of prisoners provides extra safeguards against prisoner escapes, its popularity may have as much to do with its perceived punitive nature as its deterrent effect.
The origin of chain gangs in the United States is generally traced to the South in the period immediately after the Civil War. With the economy in disarray and adjusting to the loss of slave labor, it became increasingly crucial for the prison and jail systems to be self-providing and to not impede the recovering economic structure. Thus, a lease system developed by which prisoners’ labor was offered to businesses. The prisoners often worked on plantations in the southern states, and the leasing idea then spread to a number of western states. The use of chains for work-lease prisoners developed because of the frequency of escape attempts by members of work gangs. Thus, the term “chain gang” was developed for prisoners working on plantations, railroads, highways, and for those who performed other kinds of manual labor.
The lease system had been abolished in all states by 1951, but use of prisoners for manual labor in the South continued for many years afterward until it was finally discontinued. During the mid-1990’s, however, chain gangs began to make a small comeback in a few southern and western states. However, the practice was discontinued in almost all cases after a few years. Several attempts have been made to use the chain gang concept in various forms in the 2000s and the 2010s, but these attempts were exclusively on the local level and almost none were long lasting. The only instance in which a form of chain gang was still in use as of the early 2020s was in Maricopa County, Arizona, where inmates were able to volunteer to take part in an “inmate labor detail.”
Although the original purpose of chain gangs was largely economic, their renewed use was influenced by a number of other rationales. Included in these justifications were an increased desire to get tough on prisoners, the revival of shaming as a correctional strategy, and a desire to keep prisoners active and avoid the problems associated with idle time.
Much national and international attention has followed the return of chain gangs. Critics claim that chain gangs are inefficient and that their use lacks deterrence value and violates prisoners’ protections from cruel and unusual punishment.
Bibliography
Anderson, J., Laronstine Dyson, and Willie Brooks, Jr. “Alabama Prison Chain Gangs: Reverting to Archaic Punishment to Reduce Crime and Discipline Offenders.” Western Journal of Black Studies 24 (2000): 9-15.
Burley, L. “History Repeats Itself in the Resurrection of Prisoner Chain Gangs.” Law and Inequality 15 (1997): 129-130.
Colvin, M. Penitentiaries, Reformatories, and Chain Gangs: Social Theory and the History of Punishment in the Nineteenth Century. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Dodge, T. “State Convict Road Gangs in Alabama.” The Alabama Review 53 (2000): 243-270.
O'Connor, Meg. “'Nation's Only Female Chain Gang' Apparently Disbanded.” Phoenix New Times, 2 May 2019, www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/nations-only-female-chain-gang-boasts-the-mcso-website-11279199. Accessed 24 June 2024.
Reynolds, M. “Back on the Chain Gang.” Corrections Today 58 (1996): 183.