Wilson Daily Times, 19 September 1911.
Incarcerated men — overwhelmingly African-American — built North Carolina’s roads.
“In 1868, North Carolina adopted a new State Constitution that provided for building a state penitentiary. Inmates began building the state’s first prison, Central Prison, in 1870 and moved into the completed castle-like structure in December 1884. In 1881, the state leased two tracts of land near Raleigh for inmates to farm. State law 379 enacted in 1885 provided for the allowance of good time as an incentive for inmate cooperation.
“As early as 1875, private employers could lease inmates as laborers. Under the lease, businesses had complete responsibility for the inmates. Many worked in rock quarries and built railways. In 1901, lawmakers changed the system to provide for contract inmate labor. Inmates worked for private employers, but prison officials retained responsibility for the inmates’ custody.
“A system of mobile camps developed that moved from worksite to worksite. By 1893, demand for labor contracts dwindled and most inmates went to work at leased farms.
“In 1901, the Good Roads Policy provided inmate labor to build the state’s roads. Horse-drawn prison cages that moved from one worksite to the next housed the inmates. In 1910, the incentive wage system began and inmates earned up to 15 cents a day, paid upon release.
“In 1925, the General Assembly enacted a law changing the state’s prison from a corporation to a department of state government. At that time, the state prison system included Central Prison, Caledonia Prison Farm, Camp Polk Prison Farm and eight road camps. Over the next eight years, six more road camps were added. By then, the facilities at these units were in deplorable condition for lack of regular maintenance and repair.
“In 1931, the General Assembly enacted the Conner bill which enabled the state to take over control of all prisons and inmates. The condition of prison facilities and the need for inmate labor led the General Assembly to consolidate the State Highway Commission and the State Prison Department. …” History of the North Carolina Corrections System, North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
In contrast to Deep South states, such as Texas, in which convict labor was leased extensively to private individuals and corporations well into the 21st century, convicts in North Carolina were overwhelmingly funneled into county and state roadwork. To be sentenced for low-level crimes in county criminal court was not to go to jail or prison, but to be sent “to the roads.”
Wilson Daily Times, 5 November 1897.
Wilson Daily Times, 11 April 1911.
Wilson Daily Times, 5 August 1921.
As succinctly stated in Stories from the Inside: Four Eras of North Carolina Prison History, “Imprisoned people built North Carolina’s roads. People incarcerated in the state’s prisons worked on railroads, farms, and factory floors, but most dug and graded roads. It was dangerous work; conditions were bad and prisoners worked ‘under the gun’ of law enforcement without adequate food or medical care.
“In 1930, North Carolina’s highway department took over its prisons. It built dozens of new prisons, including Wagram’s—each one a road labor hub. Consider that: The State’s transportation department constructed road camp prisons and oversaw forced labor of prisoners. Within a few years, most of North Carolina’s 100 counties housed a road camp prison. Until the 1990s, North Carolina had the highest number of prisons in the country.”
Wilson prison camp’s bloodhounds ran folks down all across eastern North Carolina. Wilson Daily Times, 26 October 1934.
Wilson County’s prison road camp closed in the early 1960s, but its ghost lingers at the North Carolina Department of Transportation/Wilson County Transportation Services site at 509 Ward Boulevard.
