Arizona Starts Using Prisoners on Chain Gangs
Arizona has become the second state to reinstate the chain gang, putting shackled prisoners to work Monday whacking roadside weeds or breaking rocks.
Many prisoners said they resented having to work the chain gang detail, and prisoners’ rights advocate Donna Hamm, armed with a bullhorn and video camera, ridiculed the program from a highway shoulder. But one prisoner due for release this summer said the rock-pile work “might do me a little bit of good.’
A crew of 26 minimum- and medium-security prisoners in lockup because of behavior-related problems wielded hoes, sickles and rakes on weeds and grass along U.S. 191. On prison grounds, another 20 inmates used sledgehammers to break up concrete for erosion and flood control projects.
Each was shackled by a two-foot lightweight steel chain padlocked to leather ankle restraints. The men were not chained together.
On May 3, Alabama became the first state to reinstate use of chain gangs in several decades. An inmate lawsuit has been filed.
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