Hard Labor and Hard Time: Florida's "Sunshine Prison" and Chain Gangs

409 Pages·2012·3.383 MB·English

by  Vivien M.L. Miller

Hard Labor and Hard Time
Florida’s “Sunshine Prison” and Chain Gangs
Vivien M. L. Miller
John David Smith, Series Editor
University Press of Florida
Gainesville | Tallahassee | Tampa | Boca Raton
Pensacola | Orlando | Miami | Jacksonville | Ft. Myers | Sarasota
Hard Labor and Hard Time
New Perspectives on the History of the South
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
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Hard Labor and Hard Time
Florida’s “Sunshine Prison” and Chain Gangs
Vivien M. L. Miller
John David Smith, Series Editor
University Press of Florida
Gainesville | Tallahassee | Tampa | Boca Raton
Pensacola | Orlando | Miami | Jacksonville | Ft. Myers | Sarasota
Copyright 2012 by Vivien M. L. Miller
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America. This book is printed on Glatfelter Natures Book, a paper
certified under the standards of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC). It is a recycled stock
that contains 30 percent post-consumer waste and is acid-free.
17 16 15 14 13 12 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Vivien M. L.
Hard labor and hard time : Florida’s “Sunshine Prison” and chain gangs / Vivien M. L. Miller.
p. cm. — (New perspectives on the history of the South)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-3985-5 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8130-3985-1 (alk. paper)
1. Prisons—Florida—History—20th century. 2. Correctional institutions—Florida—History—
20th century. 3. Punishment—Florida—History—20th century. I. Title.
II. Series: New perspectives on the history of the South.
HV9475.F6M56 2012
365'.975909041—dc23 2012009909
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida,
comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Inter-
national University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University
of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
ConTenTs
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Building the “Best Prison in the South” 19
2. Good Roads, Bad Men, and the Ugliest of Conditions 46
3. Cruel and Usual Punishments 72
4. The Rise of the Sunshine Prison 106
5. Chapman and the Big House 133
6. Florida’s Hard Road during the Depression and War Years 159
7. Continuity and Change at Raiford 188
8. Prison Health Care 218
9. Life in the Big House 240
10. Riot and Disorder at the Rock 268
Conclusion 288
Notes 293
Bibliography 369
Index 389
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iLLusTraTions
Chart 1. Florida State Prison committals, 1917–1956 12
Figures (96 to 105)
1. The Florida State Prison at Raiford, Union County, 1920s
2. Laborers plowing prison fields, 1927
3. State Road Department chain gang, 1925
4. Inmate laborer, prison tag plant, 1928
5. Raiford prison guard, 1927
6. Prison personnel, 1927
7. Exercise yard at the Florida State Prison, Raiford, 1933
8. Women prisoners at the Florida State Prison, Raiford, 1933
9. Florida State Prison superintendent Leonard F. Chapman
10. Punishment by barrel restraint, 1932
11. A sweatbox, c. 1957–58
12. Cell inspections at Florida State Prison, 1951
Tables
1. Numbers of incoming prisoners, 1915–20 31
2. State road camps, January 1, 1921 56
3. Official calculations of days and hours “lost” by state prisoners engaged
in strikes and work slowdowns, 1924–26 83
4. State Road Department management of prison camps 172
5. “Vices admitted” by arriving inmates, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1952 259
6. Florida state prison population by race and sex, December 31, 1953 271
7. Florida state prison system: prisoner allocations on December 31, 1954
271
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aCknowLedgmenTs
This book has taken an astonishingly long time—eleven years—to complete,
something which is increasingly difficult to justify in the UK now. However,
they have been rather eventful years, both personally and professionally. A
huge debt of gratitude must go first to Meredith Morris-Babb, now direc-
tor of the University Press of Florida, for keeping faith in the project and
for her certainty that it would eventually be completed. Earlier versions of
the book manuscript were thoroughly scrutinized by Joe Spillane and Alex
Lichtenstein. I am indebted to them for patiently reading these and for gen-
erously providing detailed and extensive feedback as well as suggestions for
much-needed improvements. The manuscript improved also as a result of
John David Smith’s discerning appraisal and editorial skills. Thanks also to
copy editor Corey Brady for his meticulous reading of and corrections to the
manuscript and to project editor Catherine-Nevil Parker for her patient work.
The remaining errors and inconsistencies are entirely mine.
This study of Florida’s penal system would have been impossible to under-
take, let alone complete, without the unstinting assistance of archivists and
librarians across Florida. In 1999, David Coles, then working at the Florida
State Archives, first alerted me to the existence of prison superintendent L. F.
Chapman’s unpublished manuscript and amazing collection of photographs,
news clippings, and scrapbooks. Since then, Boyd Murphree and Miriam
Gan-Spalding have generously and diligently found and retrieved a wide ar-
ray of archive materials during the periods when I was ensconced in the read-
ing room on the first floor of the R. A. Gray building in Tallahassee. At other
times, when I was back in the UK, they responded patiently and with amazing
efficiency—especially given the weight of their workloads—to my many e-
mail queries. They are quite simply brilliant.
Laura Baas and her colleagues at the Florida State Library on the second
floor of the R. A. Gray building also provided invaluable help in finding and