Is the Alabama prison system's return to the chain gang unfair to blacks?

From: Jet | Date: September 18, 1995| Author: | Copyright information

African American political leaders believe that chain gangs are a return to times when only African American prisoners were placed in chains. Black prison inmates today far outnumber white inmates. Supporters of chain gangs counter that they are a crime deterrent and save money for the state.

In a highly controversial move that has been widely criticized by some and praised by others, the state of Alabama recently reinstated chain gangs.

Not since the 1960s have prisoners been chained, shackled at the legs and made to perform acts of hard labor like pounding rocks with sledgehammers ...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

Back on the chain gang Amid fanfare and complaints, Alabama puts shackled prisoners to work
; ...caps stenciled "chain gang," along a busy...the men on the chain gangs moved out, in...to reinstitute chain gangs was actually made...use of women on chain gangs. Chain gang members are drawn...been assigned to chain gangs, he said, ...
PRISON CHAIN GANGS' PROGRESS ARRESTED ACROSS THE SOUTH.(News/National/International)
; ...Roemer accentuated chain gangs with a tough TV...evidence that the chain gang commercial backfired...exclusively, a chain gang campaign for three...who thought that chain gangs would be used as...men were put on chain gangs, Jones said he...no women on any ...
Weak links threaten chain gangs Revived prison work program facing voter disapproval, inmates' legal action
; ...Roemer accentuated chain gangs with a tough TV...evidence that the chain gang commercial backfired...exclusively, a chain gang campaign for three...who felt that chain gangs would be used as...men were put on chain gangs, Jones said he...no women on any ...
Long-Abandoned Chain Gang Lives Again in Alabama
; ...Ala. The rattle of the chain gang returned to the South...emblazoned with the words "CHAIN GANG" were led from prison...ubiquitous in the South, chain gangs largely disappeared around...said the return of the chain gang marks the new reality...more and more prisoners." ...
CHAIN GANGS ARE BIG VOTE GETTERS, BUT SAFETY AND COST ARE PROBLEMS
; ...shackling inmates to chain gangs is a popular notion...Correction to start chain gangs. If approval by the...Florida in resurrecting chain gangs in its state prison...the first time since chain gangs fell out of favor...safety concerns of chain gangs? So ...
ZONE: THE WORLD'S ONLY CHAIN GANG FOR WOMEN; In baking desert heat, shackled ankle to ankle, fed for less than 60p a day, dressed in humiliating stripes and surrounded by rattle snakes and tarantulas. Welcome to..(Features)
; ...ankle has a padlocked chain around it and I'm shackled...baseball cap with the words Chain Gang stamped across the front...life on he world's only chain gang for women. In fact, their...spend only one day on the chain gang, the guest of Joe Arpaio...Most of the time the ...
Show Time; It's the Sound of the Men Working on the Chain Gang. Oooh. Aaaah.
; ...convict on the new chain gang. There is something...and returned chain gangs to the landscape...When the first chain gangs went to work...That is the old chain gang. The new chain gang is a very different...sent to the chain gangs were ...
ROMER UNSURE ABOUT MEN OR WOMEN ON CHAIN GANGS.(Local)
; ...putting women on Colorado chain gangs. In fact, he isn't sure about men on chain gangs either. Romer made...creating one 15-man chain gang of hard-core inmates...should be put to work on chain gangs, too. And when a prison...bill provides for one chain ...
Chain gang makes comeback
; ...There hasn't been a chain gang in Ohio for over...the 1950s, prison chain gangs in the United States...prisoner abuse. But chain gangs are making a comeback...s first modern chain gang in the late 1990s...Vickers drove past chain gangs on the ...
Chained to the past. (Alabama brings back prison chain gangs)(American Survey)
; ...white outfits marked Chain Gang , delighted passing motorists...camera last week. The chain gang, not seen in America...the truth is that the chain gang is not what it used to be. This is Chain Gang Lite. The chains themselves...is enough to keep the chain ...