Slavery, economics, race and convict leasing: A general and materialist history of punishment and prisons in Florida, 1840-1923

ABSTRACT

This paper employs archival data and historical analysis to trace Florida’s penal history, and to connect that history to the economic and social context of the time. Section I reviews the history of Florida’s penal system, and the use of convict labor and avoidance of imprisonment from 1840 to 1923. Section II examines theoretical assumptions that guide the analysis of Florida’s prison history undertaken in Section III. Drawing upon the insights of Rusche and Kirchheimer, Section III examines Florida’s penal history in relation to economic and social trends and issues. Of particular importance to the discussion are concepts such as race, class, and marginalization.

KEYWORDS:

• convict leasing
• Florida prison history
• materialist prison history
• punishment and social control
• race and punishment

Notes

1. Generally, throughout this manuscript we use the term “Black” as opposed to African American. There are several reasons for using the term Black rather than African American in the current study. One reason includes recent evidence on preferences for these terms among the populations to which they are applied (see discussion in Asante, Sachi and Brown, 2016). The second is the emergence of the Black Lives Matters movement several years ago, which, in its title, makes reference to “Blacks” and not to “African Americans”. Third, in addition, in the United States, February is referred to As Black History Month, not African American History month. Fourth, persons being described as “African American” may not view themselves solely in terms of their origin in Africa because not all people with dark skin colours necessarily originate from Africa – although here, one can question the term “originate,” since scientific genome studies indicate all peoples come from migrations originating in Africa at different points in history (Culotta & Gibbons, 2016). Fifth, during the period in history being described in this paper, the term “African American”, which emerged in the 1980s, was not applied to black-skinned people in the United States. Sixth, in the data archives employed as the basis for this research, the people confined in convict labour camps in the state of Florida were classified in documents by their skin colour. Several different terms were employed in those documents to classified people more generally described as Black today. These terms includes, for example, “brown,” “light brown,” “dark brown,” “light black,” “dark black,” “copper,” etc.

2. In 1 January 1869, Chattahoochee housed 9 convicts and employed 14 guards (Pratt, 1949, pp. 15-16). By June, 1869, the inmate population had risen to 42, and by 1872 to, nearly 100 “without a single cell” having been built (Proceedings 1872, p. 65).

3. Governor Reed estimated that during 1868, 100 State convicts were locked up in local jails on any given day (Proceedings 1869, p. 69).

4. Chattahoochee was originally organised as a military institution, with military leaders and guidelines, and became a civilian organisation in 1871 (Laws of Florida 1871, Ch. 1835, Sec.39:23). Following this change, prospective administrators had to provide a surety or bond (Pratt, 1949, p. 7,22, p. 33) of up to $20,000, limiting the number of potential applicants to those with financial resources.

5. In addition to these projects, beginning in 1872, the Adjutant General (Florida “Journal” 1872a), and later the Commissioner of Public Institutions leased inmates to, for example, the Jacksonville, Pensacola, Great Southern and Mobile Railroads (Pratt, 1949, p. 26).

6. While open, Chattahoochee’s operational costs averaged about $20,000 per year (Pratt, 1949, pp. 32-33), but exceeded $51,856.24 in 1871, against receipts of less than $2,724.99 (Proceedings of the Assembly 1872:6).

7. It is unclear when this change occurred, with some Archive documents indicating that 13% of State convicts had sentences less than one year.

8. The phrase “injurious to body and mind” was vague, and potentially problematic, and requires further a legal-historical analysis to untangle.

9. The roots of the convict lease system stem from the territorial period when private citizens could pay to obtain convict labour. Carper notes that “only two Negro senators, Wals and A.B.Osgood” voted against the convict labour statute statue. It is unclear if there were only two Black senators, or if, among the Black senators, only two voted against the statute.

10. In addition to cruelty, issues related to separation of the sexes remained. Until 1909, females convicts were leased, and it was up to lessees to ensure their proper treatment. Leasing of females was prohibited in 1909. Neglect of this issue probably relates to the fact that most female convicts were Black, and the general attitude in the south with regard to Blacks.

11. Tabert was arrested in Leon County, 15 December 1921 for boarding a train without a ticket, was convicted of vagrancy, and fined $25. He did not have the resources to pay the fine, and was sent to the county’s convict labour camp (Pratt, 1949, p. 105).

12. Jones later admitted his guilt. Leon County Judge, B.F. Willis was also charged in this conspiracy (Pratt, 1949, p. 109). Both were removed from office.

13. There is historical evidence of a connection between the emergence of the convict labour system and the interests of particular legislators. For example, Chattahoochee’s Warden Martin also served as Speaker of the House; J. Rawls, a State Representative in 1897, operated a convict labour camp in Alachua County (Florida House Journal 1897b, p. 941).

14. Some of the archive materials are now available on line: https://sb.flleg.gov/nxt/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm$vid=House:all

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael J. Lynch

Michael J. Lynch is professor and graduate director in the department of criminology at the University of South Florida. His research examines issues in green criminology, corporate crime and its control, radical criminology, environmental justice, race and justice, and punishment and social control.  He is the recipient of lifetime scholarship awards from the ASC division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice, and the ASC division on White Collar and Corporate Crime.

Elizabeth S. Cass

Elizabeth S. Cass is an Instructor II of Criminology and the Graduate Student Coordinator at University of South Florida. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany.  After teaching at Florida State University, she spent 18 years working as a researcher and consultant in juvenile justice for governmental, non-profit and for-profit agencies.  Dr. Cass was involved in the nationwide efforts to bring evidence- based practices to the field of juvenile justice.  Her work focuses on all aspects of juvenile justice programming from risk assessment and evidence-based treatment to process evaluation and impact assessment. She has worked with hundreds of juvenile justice workers to promote change both at the individual and organizational level.