End of the Convict Lease System
![Acts and resolutions of the General Assembly of the state of Georgia. 1908 [volume 1]](/images/162/full/!800,800/0/default.jpg)
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Misdemeanor camp investigator report. The investigator, Phill G. Byrd, provides details of conditions in each Georgia convict camp. He describes life in the camps as “bondage worse than slavery” and recommends reform and regulation in the camps, p. 28, 1897.
Courtesy of University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library, Georgia Government Publications.
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Illustration depicting Georgia's legislation to abolish the convict lease system. “Legislature Rings Death Knell for Convict Leasing,” Atlanta Georgian and News, Sept. 19, 1908, p. 1.
Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
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1908 Bill from the Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly that abolished the lease system.
Courtesy of University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library, Georgia Legislative Documents.
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Photograph of prisoners leaving the Chattahoochee Brick Co. after the lease system is abolished. “Exodus of Convicts at the Chattahoochee Camp,” Atlanta Georgian and News, April 1, 1909, p. 1.
Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
Following the state's investigation of prison camps in 1897, the Georgia State Prison Farm in Milledgeville was built in 1899 to house female, juvenile, and infirm prisoners. Governor Hoke Smith and the Georgia General Assembly abolished the convict lease system in 1908. For private businesses, the economic repercussions were severe. Without access to cheap labor, many brick and mining companies collapsed, and iron and coal production suffered major financial blows. The same bill that stipulated the end of the lease system, however, outlined a new system of forced carceral labor: the state-run chain gang.