I was just wondering if prison convicts were ever given the arduous task of breaking rocks with sledge hammers? If so, what was the purpose of breaking those rocks? Also, did convicted felons ever make license plates, as seen in old movies and cartoons?
License plates, yes. It was considered a good use of their time that didn’t compete with other workers (as Mad Magazine said, “Help stamp out license plates! Do a stretch in prison.”
Convicts were often used for building roads, which included breaking rocks for gravel. The movie I was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) was based on the life of Robert Elliot Burns, who did work on a Georgia chain gang and reported his conditions. IIRC correctly, the State of Georgia – who protested the movie – never said that they didn’t use chain gangs, but objected because they felt they were an effective method of punishment – in effect, not denying the practice.
Thanks Chuck!
Several states, including California, still use prisoners for the manufacture of license plates.
Nelson Mandella was made to break rocks.
And for other things.
They still make license plates in many states. As well as other products for use in public buildings. There are laws about prisoners making products that move in interstate commerce but prisoners can generally make goods that are bought solely by the government. NY State, for example, has Corcraft which makes any number of products for use by the state’s government, public colleges, courtrooms, and correctional facilities.
In the South they used to have a saying: “Bad boys make good roads.”
The idea that work has an inherent reformatory power is an idea that emerged at the same time as, and together with, the American penal system. The idea that prisoners should work to reduce the cost of their incarceration, or at least do a good for society (as in training guide dogs) has wide appeal in the present day.
I believe that one of the major laws being circumvented here is the Federal Minimum Wage.
Obligatory song link: “In the Gravel Yard.” …makin’ little rocks out of big rocks all day…
Do New Hampshire prisons share this policy? It seems a little cruel and unusual to have NH inmates continually embossing the state motto “Live free or die” onto license plates day in and day out, all the while attached to their ball and chain…
Inmate labor was used to build San Quentin Prison in California in the 1850s. Inmates labored during the day on the prison and slept on a ship anchored in the bay at night.
Minimum wage laws presumably do not apply to prison jobs. BTW, does anyone know if these work assignments are non-voluntary–i.e. can a prisoner refuse a work assignment? Along these lines, are convicted felons still convicted to so many years’ “hard labor”, as one hears or reads in old accounts? I know this is explicitly permitted by the Thirteenth Amendment, but one doesn’t hear it in contemporary stories whether fictional or otherwise.
Given the security considerations, I wouldn’t be surprised if there tended to be far fewer prison jobs available than prisoners to fill them. Perhaps Qadgop could say something about that?
Well, I guess we all have our purposes in life.
Also, Bobby Fuller:
Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun.
I fought the law and the law won.
In the stockade in Melbourne, prisoners used to work overtime to shorten their term. Sentanced to 2 years hard labor (breaking rocks for roads), you could serve your time at 60 hours * 104 weeks, or 70 hours * 89 weeks.
Prisoners refusing work assignments would have done punishment + extra time, but I suppose they would have got out eventually.
In a documentary from the 1960s about boot camp in the United States Marine Corps, they show a short sequence about a unit which was called motivational platoon or disciplinary platoon (or something to that effect). In the clip, you can see recruits standing in a row and breaking rocks with pickaxes.
Take a look at this aerial photo. It’s an old quarry belonging to a now disused prison in the middle of Stockholm.
They don’t directly apply (AFAIK), but prisoners who make goods for interstate commerce generally have to be paid the prevailing wage for that type of work.
It’s not for the prisoners’ benefit. It’s to protect businesses from having to compete against captive slave labor.
Prisoners cannot refuse a job assignment. They are not only required to do their regular job but if I told a prisoner he had to mop a floor or something like that, he had to do it. The only acceptable grounds for refusal is if a prisoner has a medical permit saying he is unable to do that particular job.
One result of this is you end up with what we call “six men on a broom” - you have more prisoners than you have actual work so you end up dividing jobs up among several people. You might have a prisoner whose “job” is to empty out the wastebaskets twice a day.
Industrial jobs like making license plates or furniture or clothing are some of the most popular jobs. They’re usually the highest paid jobs so the prisoners working them have more money.
Here’s the film (sequence starts at 13:42):
(The film is actually from 1973).