Convict Lease - End of The System

End of The System

Although the 20th century brought increasing opposition to the system, state politicians resisted calls for its elimination. In states where the convict lease system was used, revenues from the program generated income nearly four times the cost (372%) of the costs of prison administration. The practice was extremely profitable for the governments, as well as for those business-owners who used convict labor. Other problems accompanied convict leasing and overall, employers became more aware of the disadvantages.

While some believe the demise of the system can be attributed to exposure of the inhumane treatment suffered by the convicts, others point toward causes ranging from comprehensive legislative reform packages to political retribution or payback. Though the convict lease system, as such, disappeared, other forms of convict labor continued (and still exist today) in various forms. These other systems include plantations, industrial prisons, and the famous “chain gang”.

The convict lease system was slowly phased out in the early 20th century. The Florida governor Cary A. Hardee ended convict leasing in 1923 after national attention was brought to the case of Martin Talbert, a young man from North Dakota. Arrested for riding a freight train in Tallahassee, Talbert was convicted and fined. Although his parents sent the $25, the money disappeared in the prison. Talbert was leased to the Putnam Lumber Company in Clara, Florida. There he was flogged to death by the whipping boss, Thomas Walter Higginbotham. Coverage of Tabert's killing by the New York World newspaper in 1924 earned it the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

North Carolina, while without a system comparable to the other states, did not prohibit the practice until 1933. Alabama was the last to end the practice of official convict leasing in 1928.