County Jail Prisoners Put to Work on Roads
Walla Walla commissioners order inmates to break rock and repair Mill Creek road under chain-gang supervision.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It was a disgusted trio of prisoners that filed out of the county jail this morning and with a ball and chain securely fastened to their ankles were compelled to walk for three miles and spend the day breaking rock and repairing the Mill Creek road east of the city. The board of commissioners decided that unemployed prisoners confined in the county jail for various offenses be set to work on the county roads, and an order to that effect was handed to Sheriff Painter. As there are only three prisoners available at present, they were marched out and up through Main Street to the scene of work about three miles up the creek. Instead of a warm dinner, the men were compelled to eat a cold snack. The men will be worked on county roads within reasonable marching distance from the jail until unseasonable weather sets in.
“With a ball and chain securely fastened to their ankles were compelled to 'hoof' it for three miles.”
This reflects the stark carceral policies of the turn of the century where local governments leveraged inmate labor for public infrastructure. Today, the conversation has shifted toward the ethics and economic impacts of prison labor, though the practice remains a sensitive point in civic management.
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