CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 55 
guns and revolvers, the ratio of the number of guards to the number 
of convicts varying from 1 to 8 to 1 to 15. In all except Virginia the 
guards also act as foremen in charge of the road work; in the latter 
State they are given no authority over the work of the convicts, but 
confine their attention to the guarding of the prisoners, and the dis- 
tance which they are required to maintain between themselves and 
the prisoners to prevent surprise or attack renders them practically 
valueless as foremen. Convicts who are regarded as particularly 
dangerous or likely to escape are shackled during the day with leg 
chains of various forms intended to limit the stride and prevent 
running; and occasional instances of the use of the ball and chain ? 
principally as a punishment for attempted escape, are still to be 
found. As a rule, all convicts, regardless of character, are clad in 
striped uniforms, though Georgia has adopted a plan by which they 
are divided into three grades, according to conduct and character^ 
and prisoners of the first two grades are no longer required to wear 
stripes. In Virginia jail prisoners employed on the roads by the 
State highway commission are dressed in brown. For securing and 
housing the convicts at night steel or wooden cages on wheels are 
extensively employed in all the States except Virginia, but tents and 
cheaply constructed shacks also are used, and permanent stockades 
are provided in a few counties. In Virginia the camp structures are 
practically uniform in character, and consist of light shelters con- 
structed with metal roofs and canvas sides. In these latter structures 
and in the tents and shacks of other States, the convicts are generally 
secured by means of their individual leg chains to a long continuous 
chain, the two ends of which are locked, and in addition to these 
measures one or more night guards, armed in the same manner as the 
day guards, are usually provided. It is the common practice to em- 
ploy the prisoners on the roads throughout the daylight hours, all hands 
being marched to the work in squads under armed guard as early as 
practicable after sunrise and returned to camp in the same manner 
just before dark. But little opportunity for recreation is provided, 
though a few sergeants, superintendents, or wardens, as the overseers 
are variously called, permit indulgence in outdoor games on Saturday 
afternoons and Sundays. Invariably, however, convicts are kept 
within the camp limits at all times except while at work and the gen- 
eral practice is to keep them ' ' on the chain" or in their cages on Sun- 
days and holidays. Privileges are limited to the infrequent reception 
of visiting relatives, the writing of occasional letters, and the issuance 
of the weekly ration of tobacco. As a general rule, all prisoners are 
accorded the same treatment, though in all camps a few prisoners of 
the better sort, those with short terms, those who are bound to the 
neighborhood of the camp by family ties, or those who for any 
reason are unlikely to attempt to escape, are appointed as ' ' trusties. " 
