Chain gangs were groups of convicted criminals who were shackled together while performing forced labor, primarily in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The practice was linked to pre-Civil War Southern slavery practices and was used as a deterrent to crime. Inmates were leased to corporations or local governments, and the state received employment fees or salaries. The practice was abolished in the 1910s, but some states continued it as state agencies. The chain gang system was criticized for being cruel and unusual punishment, and attempts to reintroduce it in the late 20th century were abandoned due to public outcry and lawsuits. The chain gang has appeared frequently in popular culture.
A chain gang is a group of criminals convicted of a work detail, usually outside their place of detention. Chain bands were primarily used in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To prevent individual prisoners from escaping, the entire group was shackled by handcuffs around their ankles, wrists, or neck. Chain gangs in America were mostly eliminated in the 1919s. Several sources connect chain gangs with pre-Civil War Southern slavery practices.
Convict labor has been used throughout history. The chain gang, however, is most often associated with the American South. Popular belief holds that chain gangs were intended as a deterrent to crime, because potential offenders would be “scared out of their wits” at the sight of forced labour.
States like Texas hired inmates to corporations or local governments, and employment fees or salaries were paid to the state, not the convict. Inmates will work on privately owned farms or on public works projects such as road construction. This process was called “lease of convicts” and lasted well into the 20th century. After inmate leasing was repealed by prison reform, states sometimes took over the farms and continued the practice as state agencies.
Non-fiction works such as Michael King’s book “Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire” demonstrate a link between chain gangs and slavery. After the Civil War, there was a backlash against freed blacks by many white Southerners. In some cases, black farm laborers were only allowed to work on Southern farms if they signed labor contracts. If they broke these contracts, they could have been jailed and put in chains. Working farms were often located on former slave plantations, and convicts working in chain gangs were overwhelmingly African American.
In the 1920s, a white convict named Robert Elliott Burns escaped from a Georgia chain gang and wrote a book about the brutal conditions he endured there. The book was made into a successful film, “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”. The book and film sparked strong public sentiment against the chain gang system, and are often credited with helping to eradicate the practice.
In the late 20th century, Southern states such as Alabama sought to reintroduce chain gangs. These plans were soon abandoned after public outcry and lawsuits questioning the practice under the Eighth Amendment, which outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments.” Prisoners who attempt manual labor while chained can suffer lacerations, falls and injuries. Chain bands were still used in many places around the world into the early 21st century, most often in developing countries.
The chain gang has appeared frequently in popular culture. Sam Cooke’s song “Chain Gang” was released in 1960 and has since been covered by many other artists. The Pretenders released “Back on the Chain Gang” in 1982. Characters were sentenced to gang chains in the films “Brother Where Art Thou,” “Sullivan’s Travels” and “Blazing Saddles,” among others.
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