Question

Which system of inmate labor turned control of inmates over to non-correctional personnel?

Answer 1

Convict lease system, which was popular in the South essentially leased convicts to large agricultural operations. This system led to many forms of abuse of workers who had lost their rights as a result of being convicted of a felony, whether guilty or not. This was particularly true for African Americans in the late-nineteenth century. One of the most notorious of these operations was Parchman Farm in Mississippi, which literally utilized thousands of black convicts for various unpaid tasks.