A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land.[1] The system was notably used in the convict era of Australia and in the Southern United States. By 1955 it had largely been phased out in the U.S., with Georgia among the last states to abandon the practice.[2] Clallam County, Washington, U.S. still refers to its inmate litter crew as the "Chain Gang."[3] North Carolina continued to use chain gangs into the 1970s.[4][5] Chain gangs were reintroduced by a few states during the 1990s: In 1995, Alabama was the first state to revive them. The experiment ended after about one year in all states except Arizona,[6] where in Maricopa County inmates can still volunteer for a chain gang to earn credit toward a high school diploma or avoid disciplinary lockdowns for rule infractions.[7]
- ^ "Chain Gangs". Credo Reference. Archived from the original on 17 February 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
- ^ Roth, Mitchel P (2006). Prisons and prison systems. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-0-313-32856-5.
- ^ "Chain Gang | Clallam County, WA". www.clallamcountywa.gov. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
- ^ "North Carolina: Voices from the Chain Gang | States of Incarceration". Statesofincarceration.org. Archived from the original on 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
- ^ Wooten, James T. (October 23, 1971). "Prison Road Gangs Fading Fast in South". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- ^ Banks, Cyndi (2005). Punishment in America: a reference handbook. ABC-CLIO. pp. 154–156. ISBN 978-1-85109-676-3.
- ^ "Anderson Cooper 360 transcript". CNN. March 10, 2004. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2009-06-07.