Convict Lease Camps: Death Rates of 40% Annually, Primarily Affecting Black Men

Convict leasing in Southern states produced documented death rates of 16-40% annually in the most dangerous camps. Men were worked in mines, turpentine camps, sawmills, and railroad construction under conditions deliberately designed to extract maximum labor. Lessor companies faced no penalty for deaths. The overwhelming majority of convicts were Black men arrested under vagrancy laws designed to produce cheap labor.