Politics and Punishment: The History of the Louisiana State Penal System (review)

Abstract

78CIVIL WAR HISTORY to make freedom a reality for the former slaves, Kolchin's analysis, as example, of blacks' attempts to establish black churches free of white control is most welcomed. Kolchin argues that black family structure and mores resembled white counterparts, a conscious imitation growing out of black awareness of the responsibility that freedom conferred and a consequent desire to do the "right" thing. Perhaps one of the most rewarding chapters is that dealing with the awakening of black political consciousness. Kolchin shows that white, northern Republicans were not alone in recognizing the importance of blacks to the Republican party in the South. Blacks, soon after they were enfranchised by the Reconstruction Act in 1867, began to take active part in party politics and became more militant and demanding as they recognized their value to the party and as white party leaders attempted to relegate them to minor elective positions. This shaky coalition controlled state politics by 1870 but disintegrated later in the decade. This book is not the definitive work, but it is an excellent beginning that this reader hopes the author will soon follow up with a fuller treatment. Catherine M. Tarrant Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Politics and Punishment: The History of the Louisiana State Penal System . By Mark T. Carleton. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971. Pp. xii, 215. $8.50.) In his study of the Louisiana state penal system from its origins in the 1830's through 1968, Professor Carleton has dug beneath the institutional surface to reveal some of the complex connections between "politics and punishment," and has found more evidence of continuities than of substantial change. His brief, well-written narrative, based mainly on legislative journals, official reports, newspapers, and other primary sources, sets forth an appalling account of corruption, brutality , shortsightedness, and thorough politicization which has characterized the Louisiana penal system for most of its history. In 1844, after nine years of state operation in Baton Rouge, the penitentiary with its convict labor and equipment was leased to a private company. From that time until 1901—except briefly in the 1850's and during the Civil War—the state abdicated responsibility for prisoners' supervision and maintenance. Profit was the aim of the lessees, and the state saved itself the trouble and expense of running the penitentiary . Before the war, the lease had involved private control of convict labor (mostly white) for manufacturing within the confines of the Baton Rouge prison. Post-war convicts (mostly black) were utilized on plantations or farmed out by the lessee for railroad construction and levee maintenance anywhere in the state. One lessee, S. L. James and BOOK REVIEWS79 Company, had charge of the state's convict population from 1869 until 1901. Black and white Republican legislators (and white Democrats) approved the lease system during Reconstruction. Bourbon Democrats ( and the remaining black legislators ) continued to support it after the return of home rule for reasons of economy and expediency. Bribery seems clearly evident. Obvious brutality and high death rates among convicts aroused some Louisianians, and a Prison Reform Association in the 1880's called for annulment of the lease. But Carleton discounts the influence of the humanitarians and concludes that the termination of the lease system finally resulted from political considerations relating to the Democrats' drive for white unity, black disfranchisement, and containment of Populism in the 1890's. In 1901 the state resumed responsibility for convicts but continued to employ them at levee camps and as agricultural labor, purchasing Angola plantation from James' estate. In tracing twentieth-century advances and setbacks, Carleton suggests that the Longite administrations had a "negative influence" on the prison system, but his evidence and his arguments are not totally convincing on this point. The 1951 heel-slashings by prisoners at Angola in protest against abuses received national attention and brought about serious attempts at reform. For the first time, substantial funds were appropriated for construction and rehabilitation, and professional penologists were placed in charge rather than políticos. But even this change did not bring lasting results. In 1962 came drastic budget cuts and retrogression . While some changes and improvements have undoubtedly occurred over time, Carleton sees a continued preference for patronage rather...