page_title: Convict lease
hierarchical_section_title: Convict lease
caption_attribution_description: English: A southern chain gangFrançais&#160;: Les membres d'un chain gang dans le sud des États-Unis, entre 1900 et 1906.
context_page_description: Convict leasing was a form of forced labor used by prisons in the Southern United States. Under the system, prisons leased prisoners out as free workers to corporations, business owners, and plantation owners. Basically, the prisons were selling prisoners like slaves, except that they were not sold forever.
  This system made a lot of money for prisons and the contractors. The contractors got workers who they did not have to pay, and who they could treat however they wanted. The prisons got payments from the contractors. Also, they no longer had to pay for food, clothing, or housing for the prisoners who they leased out; the contractors did.
  In 1898, for example, about 73% of Alabama's entire yearly state revenue came from convict leasing. For this reason, convict leasing lasted almost 100 years in the South.
context_section_description: Convict leasing was a form of forced labor used by prisons in the Southern United States. ("Convict" is a rude word for "prisoner"; leasing is like renting something.) Under the system, prisons leased prisoners out as free workers to corporations, business owners, and plantation owners. Basically, the prisons were selling prisoners like slaves, except that they were not sold forever.
  This system made a lot of money for prisons and the contractors. The contractors got workers who they did not have to pay, and who they could treat however they wanted. The prisons got payments from the contractors. Also, they no longer had to pay for food, clothing, or housing for the prisoners who they leased out; the contractors did.
  In 1898, for example, about 73% of Alabama's entire yearly state revenue came from convict leasing. For this reason, convict leasing lasted almost 100 years in the South.
caption: Young prisoners leased to cut timber in Florida, around 1900
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