Chain Gangs as Part of the Prison Labor Industry
Prisons have been used as the way of punishment in the United States since its beginning. Throughout the history of prisons, convicts have been used as labor. The methods of labor, the number of laborers, and the arguments for or against has constantly been changing. From the early chain gangs to the prison industries of today, prisoners have been used as labor in the United States. When people think of chain gangs, they usually think of people in white and black stripes, being forced to work in a harsh environment. This was often true. Employees, also called “leasees”, were in charge of the inmates. They often treated the inmates brutally. The name “chain gang” probably comes from the fact
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(Brownstein 179) The living conditions were often unsanitary, crowded, and poorly constructed. (Reynolds 182) These bad conditions of the past have given the chain gang an extremely bad rap. The way people view chain gangs has changed several times throughout their history in the United States. The earliest history of chain gangs holds the cause for the bad views of them. The public sees chain gangs as a racist part of the old South. The first chain gangs began in England and the northern part of the United States during the eighteenth century. (Reynolds 180) Even though chain gangs were legal in almost every state, the South seemed to be the only region using them. Some reasons for this include the bad climate of the North and the public’s thoughts against chain gangs. (Reynolds 183) Another reason why we see the South as the source of chain gangs is because it was the region that needed them the most. The South used chain gangs because after the Civil War there was a labor shortage. The labor shortage and an escalation in crime caused the South to begin leasing out convict labor. (Reynolds 180) It did not take long for convict leasing to …show more content…
Most people in prisons did not make it far in school so they do not know how to do much. Some prisoners with high IQ’s including counterfeiters, kidnappers, and drug smugglers may be alright though. (M. O. Reynolds 58) The jobs inmates do vary, but long hours seems to be common. Last year in Alabama over seven hundred medium security prisoners were forced to work ten hours a day breaking rocks and picking up trash along highways. If they are disobedient they are handcuffed to a post with their arms raised in the air. (Brownstein 179) A prisoner named Ron Humphey works an eight-hour day as a computer-systems manager and then works another four hours after dinner. (“Let the Prisoners Work” 14) This is much better than sitting around doing nothing to him. When most prisoners work they feel at least some sense of worth, which raises their spirit. For a long time prisoners have worked, but most of their labor was for the government of nonprofit agencies. This was done to prevent competition between inmates and the American public. That is why prisoners are known for producing license plates. Currently there are enough
Shaw, V. N. (1998). Productive labor: A secondary goal but primary activity. Prison Journal, (78), 186.
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of the Roman Empire. There were speeches made by Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, which references groups of men who constantly fought and disrupted Roman politics (Curry, 2013). The history of street gangs in the United States begins with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended. Though many believe the best available evidence suggests that the more serious street gangs likely did not emerge until the early part of the nineteenth century (Sante, 1991). Although our country has had their share of feared gangs like in the 1980’s with the turf war between the Bloods and Crips, back in the 17th and 18th century the Mohocks of Georgian, England were one of the most feared gangs. What draws juveniles to the gang lifestyle? Many people will say that most gang members are children from impoverished communities, single family homes where there was no father present, or maybe there is a more psychological/sociological answer? By appearance and presence most gangs cause fear, crime, and disillusionment in the communities they occupy. Throughout history joining a gang has been perceived as a life without any reward, yet by joining this lifestyle many juveniles are able to gain the needed stability and security in their lives.
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
Their are sentenced to hard labor for numerous hours in different weather conditions (Carroll & Rosenberg, 1967). At Big Pine Key Road Prison in Florida, inmates are allowed to work on a road prison to get time off of their sentence. Captain Thomas has vehicles with radios to report any escapes attempts that occur (Florida Inmates, 1983). This seems to be more effective than the monitoring of prisoners in Cool Hand Luke where they have to continue to shake a bush while they are seeking privacy. In Cool Hand Luke the correctional personnel carry (Carroll & Rosenberg, 1967). According to an article in the New York Times, it states that “Prisoners are divided into crews and trucked to their work destinations, with either a corrections officer or transportation supervisor in charge. Neither man carries a weapon” (Florida Inmates, 1983). It also discusses how many rather work the road prison because they are allowed to shorten their sentence and have a sense of being equal by neither prisoners or those in charge carrying
Prison gangs are originally formed by inmates as a way of protecting themselves from the other inmates. These gangs have turned out to be violent and thus posing a threat to security. This paper will have a look at the different gangs in prisons, their history, beliefs and missions, and the differences and similarities in these gangs.
There are many citizen concerns, including the premise that private prison companies lobby governments to increase punishments and penalties to fill their facilities. Mr. Geoffrey Segal writes “It is unlikely that private prison firms are going to sway policy in favor of greater incarceration when such polices are obviously already very popular with the general population” in his online article published also on The Reason on November of 2002, Mr. Segal is the director of privatization and government reform at Reason Foundation. witha B.A in political science from Arizona State University, and a Master of Public Policy from Pepperdine University. The prison system as an industry, according to Randy Gragg privately owned prisons are starting to flourish again, Mr. Gragg is the editor-in-chief of Portland monthly, he wrote the article “A High-Security, Low-Risk Investment: Private Prisons Make Crime Pay” for Harper’s magazine on August 1996 Mr. Gragg is a Harvard University graduate of the school of design, and the national art journalism fellow at Columbia University. The
One of the major problems of corrections today is the security threat group - more commonly known as the prison gang. A security threat group (STG) can be defined as any group of offenders who pose a treat to the security and physical safety of the institution. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, prison gangs focused primarily on uniting inmates for self protection and the monopolization of illegal prison activities for monetary gain (F.B.P., 1994, p. 2). STGs are mostly divided along racial lines and practiced defiance towards authority. STGs use a variety of hand signs, alphabet codes, tattoos, and different types of gang terminology. Gangs characteristically have rivals and make an alliance with other gangs. The criminal activity of S.T.G.’s does not only exist inside the confines of the prison walls, but has flowed to the outside world. “Prostitution, extortion, drug selling, gambling, loan sharking – such activities are invariably operated by prison gangs” (Gaines, Kaune, Miller, 2000, p.652). The Texas Prison System consists of eleven classified security threat groups; Texas chooses to classify a gang as a STG when they become involved in violent activity. “Prison gangs exist in the institutions of forty states and also in the federal system” (Clear and Cole, 2000, p. 260). Three main stages that the offender will experience with the S.T.G. are recruitment, the gang experience, and affiliation upon release.
3. Herivel, Tara and Paul Wright. Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money From Mass Incarceration. New York: The New Press, 2009. Print.
Western, Bruce , and Becky Pettit. "Disadvantages of America’s prison boom: Scholar’s research brief." Journalists Resource RSS. N.p., 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
The incarceration rates have been growing rapidly in the United States. This is a problem that has been ongoing for many years, has recently caught a lot of attention by well-known law enforcement departments across the United States. A piece wrote by the New York Times, Editorial Board “Why the Police Want Prison Reform” published October 22, 2015. In this article, more than 130 of the top law enforcement officers have come together to stop the prison crisis. With the reform that just passed in October more than 6,000 prisoners who have been serving time have been released. The controversial topic has been presented by the New York Times article, “Why the Police Want Prison Reform”, the author who is not listed build their credibility with
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
In the United States, there are about 500 prisoners for every 100,000 residents. So, it is no surprise that our country has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In my opinion, this statistic would be lower if the prisons were tougher, making the prisoners scared to come back. The punishments used in our country’s prisons today are far more lenient than they used to be. In this paper, I will discuss what prison should be like, the goals of prison, and the differences between two American prison models (Pennsylvania and Auburn) and their benefits and drawbacks. This paper will also explain which model was more successful and why.
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html
Second, in an environment in which the concentration is on punishment, politicians and the American public are frustrated with prisoners living in a “resort-like” facility which might include opportunities to participate in: watching cable TV, weightlifting rooms, free education, religious affiliations, and libraries. The average cost of keeping a prisoner...