Convict
leasing in Alabama sheds new light on the possibility of reparations
[7-18-01]
The proposal has been made that some kind of reparations should be made
for the American practice of slavery, as a way to redress in some way
past injustices and to heal present social wounds. The
213th General Assembly recommended that the subject be
studied.
A recent front-page report in the Wall Street
Journal, by Douglas A. Blackmon, offers some new perspectives on
this proposal. Gene TeSelle provides this summary:
Alabama, more than other southern states, got into
convict leasing because of industrialization in Birmingham. One of the
beneficiaries was Tennessee Coal, Iron & Rail, already in business
during the Confederate years. It was taken over by U.S. Steel in 1907,
and Judge Gary ordered the use of convict labor to be stopped. But it
wasn't. There is what locals call a "U.S. Steel cemetery" in a
deserted portion of Birmingham, which deserves further investigation.
All told, at least 40,000 state prisoners were leased
to private enterprises, mostly between 1900 and 1922; in addition, 51 of
the 67 counties leased their prisoners. During those twenty years the
state got $17 million in leases (about $250 million in today's dollars).
Companies saved labor costs, and they even got additional income by
spending less on food and lodging than what the state paid them. The
practice (legal under the 13th Amendment, which permits involuntary
servitude if one is "duly convicted" of a crime) was stopped
in 1928 on humanitarian grounds.
Of course the current version of the same thing is
found in privatized prisons and a new form of convict labor for the
benefit of corporations.
Blackmon draws a parallel with recent payments made by
German corporations. But a U.S. Steel spokesman says it is too far back
to assign any responsibility, and that it would be improper to penalize
people who have inherited assets from that long ago.
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