Talk:Chain gang

Slavery

Why the big section on slavery? In the U.S. for example, chain-gang is far from slavery, requiring, among other things: conviction of a serious crime, the option of a jury trial, access to legal counsel and appeals, definite periods of confinement, Constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment, etc... The obvious reasons for blurring the line by introducing and even explicitly stating that chain ganging is slavery is to thereby attach an equal stigma to chain-gangs as is attached with slavery.

More importantly, slavery is legal for prisoners. Read the 14th amendment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.122.63.142 (talk) 15:34, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I think you mean the 13th amendment not the 14th, but your right that the amendment does say "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" twfowler (talk) 14:59, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Blatant and irrelevant P.O.V. advancement. Very good example of a very bad article which has been "hijacked" to portray a POV. Please keep it to the FACTS! Thank You,

~Keith Chambers

Chain gangs are arguably a form of slavery- but so is any unpaid or compulsory labour performed by a prisoner. There are international conventions against prisoners being made to work for no pay - these are not observed by China! But to say that chain gangs are a way of preserving African servitude is ridiculous. Chain gangs are (were) made up of prisoners, not Africans.JohnC (talk) 20:49, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Having reviewed the history (I did not write the original version), I agree it had a POV problem, but the association between chain gangs and slavery is almost universal among historians. this view, for example, is not at all controversial historically. I'll try to clean up the article and make it more informative. Ken 08:45, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

In the deep south (Alabama/Mississippi/Arkansas) before the civil rights movement (and to a lesser-extent, up until present day), it historically didn't take much for a Black man to get convicted of a trivial crime and sentenced to hard time. This typically included chain-gang time. Look at Jim Crow laws and other attempts to subjugate African Americans; chain gangs are---in many cases---more of the same. In this context, it is understandable, and even essential, that the link to slavery be acknowledged. Safety Cap 15:32, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I still have problems with the initial two paragraphs. The language seems to advance a position rather than stating documented historical fact or quotes of opinions. Wuapinmon 13:20, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

The article still is pretty biased. The Maricopa County, Arizona chain gangs are voluntary, not mandatory, and inmates choose to do them to get outside and to be able to do some work. I altered part of the article to reflect this. I also excised a major portion that had nothing to do with chain gangs and instead was a biased diatribe against conditions inside the Maricopa County jail.

Nothing Biased about it. Tent City is Shameful--up to 116 degrees in the summer; tents just get a small room-type air-conditioner. Down to 14 degrees last winter; Arpaio just gives out extra blankets. Food is same-- Sandwich 3 times a day. I'm not molly-coddling prisoners; but they deserve civil treatment. Plus, too many get arrested in AZ ("law and order c**p); many are soon released, anyway. To not arrest who's not obviously guilty is more sensible and saves expense--that could be put into building a Real Jail extension. Chain gangs are NOT VOLUNTARY! Unless, of course, you just want to stay Inside....70.176.118.196 (talk) 16:31, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

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A chain gang of convicts going to work near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Dated 1842.For other uses, see Chain gang (disambiguation). A chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging labor, such as chipping stone, often along a highway or railbed. This system existed primarily in the United States, and by 1955, had been phased out of use nationwide. However, some states reintroduced the chain gang system beginning in the 1990s, and nations other than the U.S. have used it in the past.

Contents [hide] 1 Synonyms and disambiguation 2 History of chain gangs 3 Reintroduction and criticisms 4 Culture 4.1 Motion pictures 4.2 Music 4.3 Dance 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Synonyms and disambiguation A single ankle shackle with a short length of chain attached to a heavy ball is known as a ball and chain and was meant to limit prisoner movement and impede escape.

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

A group of prisoners working outside prison walls under close supervision, but without chains, is a work gang. Their distinctive attire (stripewear or orange vests or jumpsuits) serves the purpose of displaying their punishment to the public, as well as making them easily identifiable if they attempt to escape. Whatever deterrent effect that may have on potential criminals, the lack of actual chains makes a modern work gang much safer than a traditional chain gang.

The use of chains could be extremely hazardous. Some of the chains used in the Georgia system in the first half of the twentieth century weighed twenty pounds. Some prisoners suffered from shackle 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 into handcuffs or wrist manacles (similar to handcuffs, but with a longer length of chain) and leg irons, with both sets of manacles (wrist and ankle) being chained to a belly 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 work impossible. Prisoners restrained this way may have their hands chained so close to the waist that they cannot use a pen, or touch their own faces; they cannot work.

[edit] History of chain gangs Some claim that the putative purpose of a chain gang has been punitive. Others note that it is fair to expect criminals who cost society great expense in housing them, feeding them and keeping them from endangering the public to return some work or service in exchange for those expenditures on their behalf. Some claim that the chain gang system was a way of perpetuating African-American slavery after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ended slavery except for persons convicted of crimes, by providing a large workforce at no cost for government projects, and at minimal convict leasing cost for private businesses. Others note that both blacks and whites were put on chain gangs and that criminals should work not only to defray the public expenditures made on their behalf but also as a form of correction. Others find that putting inmates to work is preferable to leaving them idle in cells. Still others note that those who protest against prison conditions complain on the one hand that it is cruel or unproductive to leave inmates confined in cells, yet they also complain about prisoners being put to work whether in chain gangs or otherwise.

Some claim that the display of chain gangs in public was to serve as a deterrent to crime as well as satisfy the needs of politicians to appear "tough on crime." The last of the first wave of chain gangs in the United States was shut down in 1955.[citation needed] The second wave of chain gangs began when some counties and states restored chain gangs in the 1990s.

[edit] Reintroduction and criticisms Some jurisdictions, such as Alabama and Arizona, have re-introduced the chain gang. In recent years, Maricopa County, Arizona, which is the county that covers Phoenix, Arizona, and its controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio, has drawn attention from human rights groups for its use of chain gangs for both men and women. Arizona's modern chain gangs, rather than chipping rocks or other non-productive tasks, often do real work of economic benefit to a correctional department. Opponents note that the gangs often work outside in oppressive desert heat; others note that participation in Maricopa County's chain gangs is voluntary, not mandatory, and that everyone else who does outdoor work there must do so in heat as well.

A year after reintroducing the chain gang in 1995, Alabama was forced to again abandon the practice pending a lawsuit from, among other organizations, the Southern Poverty Law Center. "They realized that chaining them together was inefficient; that it was unsafe," said attorney Richard Cohen of the organization. However, as late as 2000, Alabama Prison Commissioner, Ron Jones has again proposed reintroducing the chain gang. Like historical chain gangs, their reintroduced cousins have been compared to slavery in academic circles.[1]

[edit] Culture

[edit] Motion pictures I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was an award-winning movie released in 1932, which depicted the degrading and inhumane treatment on chain gangs in the post-World War I era. O Brother, Where Art Thou? featured chain gangs. Cool Hand Luke American Chain Gang is a 1999 is documentary about male and female inmates in the recently revived prison chain gangs. Life - Starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence and features them working on a chain gang. The Last Hard Men - The beginning scene features James Coburn escaping from a chain gang. The Green Mile - This acclaimed film features brief opening shots of a chain gang during the 1930s. The Longest Yard Robin Hood (Disney)

[edit] Music Legendary soul singer Sam Cooke recorded a hit song in the 1960's called Chain Gang (also covered by Otis Redding). Back on the Chain Gang is a popular song from the Pretenders album Learning to Crawl. Work Song written by Oscar Brown, Jr, Nat Adderley and recorded by Nina Simone on the albums Forbidden Fruit (1961) and High Priestess of Soul (1967). It tells the story of someone sentenced to 5 years on a chain gang. Chain Gang was written and performed by Johnny Cash. Danish noise rock n roll duo The Raveonettes recorded an album entitled Chain Gang of Love in 2002.

[edit] Dance "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" is a modern dance piece choereographed by Donald McKayle about chain gangs.

[edit] 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 1920's). ISBN 0820319430. Autobiography on which movie of the same name was based; best-seller responsible for exposing abuses of Southern chain gang system to national readership, leading to their termination. Colvin, Mark. Penitentiaries, Reformatories, and Chain Gangs: Social Theory and the History of Punishment in Nineteenth-Century America. Palgrave Macmillan (2000). ISBN: 0312221282. Lichtenstein, Alex. Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South. Verso (1995). ISBN: 1859840868. Mancini, Matthew J. One Dies, Get Another: Convict Leasing in the American South, 1866-1928. University of South Carolina Press (1996). ISBN: 1570030839. Oshinsky, David M. Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice. (1997). ISBN: 0684830957. Curtin, Mary Ellen. Black Prisoners and Their World : Alabama, 1865-1900. University of Virginia Press (2000). ISBN: 0813919843

[edit] External links Movie of chain gang in Charleston, South Carolina; circa 1904 The Labour of Doing Time Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_gang" Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Corporal punishments | Imprisonment and detention | Penal imprisonment | Unfree labor ViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Personal toolsSign in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Village pump Recent changes Contact us Make a donation Help Search

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Clallam County, Washington, USA

I just got back from visiting Clallam County, Washington, USA, the other day, and was supprised to see chain gangs in use there. They do not work chained together, but do ware chains from their legs to their waists, and do manual labour. We saw a sign stating that a section of highway had its litter collected by chain gang members, and we were woken at our campsite by chain gang members building a mountain bike trail. It caught us rather off guard. The side of the truck they were being transported in said in large official letters "Chain Gang", however this article seems to say that the practice has been eliminated in the USA. What's going on here? --Keithonearth (talk) 17:25, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

Here's a link to their website.--Keithonearth (talk) 21:58, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Article seems to ignore usage as a valid source for a definition

the article admits that media and others refer to prisoners who are chained together, but not working, as a chain gang, yet casts it off as if it's just wrong. Language changes and is not a science, so if media is starting to refer to inmates chained together (who are not working) as a chain gang, and the article wants to mention this fact, it should be in the sense that the definition may be changing to a new usage, not that it's just wrong. Words are always defined by how they are used, and media have a special influence on the matter. Dancindazed (talk) 04:19, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

RfC

BAn RfC: Which descriptor, if any, can be added in front of Southern Poverty Law Center when referenced in other articles? has been posted at the Southern Poverty Law Center talk page. Your participation is welcomed. – MrX 16:35, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

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File:A Southern chain gang c1903-restore.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:A Southern chain gang c1903-restore.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on August 25, 2017. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2017-08-25. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 01:40, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

Picture of the day

A chain gang of young African-American convicts in the Southern United States, circa 1903. A common practice historically in the American South, prisoners would be chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Chain gangs allowed prisoners to work in public outside of penitentiaries, satisfying the need for labor on government projects, such as railroads and roads. During the decline of convict leasing, from which states generated significant revenue, chain gangs were employed to offset the costs for the housing of inmates. The practice had ceased by the 1950s, though it had a small resurgence in the 1990s in some states.Photograph: Detroit Publishing Company; restoration: Scewing

Virginia 1972

I saw a road side chain gange in southern Virginia near the North Carolina border in the summer of 1972. WhoAmIYouDoNotKnow (talk) 02:07, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

Chain gangs

When I was a correctional officer in FL in the 70s, we had a few chain gangs. While I worked graveyard shift and was rarely at the prison after sunrise, sometimes I had to show up for firearms qualification, classes, riot squad training. I could observe, from the parking lot, the chain gang being marched out to work the farm that fed the inmates. We used ankle irons, no ball, not connected to each other, and armed guards. 74.40.116.36 (talk) 21:33, 22 February 2023 (UTC)