CAPSHAW, Ala., Aug 31 (Reuter) - Alabama prisoners forced to smash rocks with sledgehammers for 10 hours a day lost their chains in the fall of 1995, but chain gangs will continue to work along the state's highways, a warden said.
Forty inmates breaking up big rocks at the Limestone Correctional Facility in northern Alabama will be fenced in and watched by armed guards in observation towers, eliminating the need for shackles, deputy warden Ralph Hooks said.
Over 100 inmates have had chain gang duty since the programme was launched in May 1995, for the first time since the 1960s. The Southern Poverty Law Centre and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference have both criticised the state policy.
"The rock breaking programme is our way of finding something meaningful for these inmates to do," Alabama's get-tough Prison Commissioner Ron Jones said earlier this month when the programme began.
The groups breaking rocks consisted of five men shackled together with leg irons and eight-foot link chain the entire time they were outside, even when using toilets.
Inmates have filed lawsuits against Jones and Alabama Gov. Bob James, saying the gangs violated their civil rights. The cases are expected to be placed into a class action lawsuit later this year.
Hooks said the state is not reducing its use of chain gangs, and other inmates picking up litter along Alabama roadways will continue to work in chains. Unshackling the Limestone inmates will free guards for other duties, he said.
Florida and Arizona also have chain gang programmes, while Wisconsin and Michigan are trying to start them.
Reut19:24 08-31-95
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