Remembering Suwannee: Convict leasing system, Part 5

Eric Musgrove Contributor This week, we will continue looking at some of the more interesting stories in the book "American Siberia" by J. C. Powell, captain of the convict camp for many years. Powell writes in his book that in the post-Reconstruction era, the administration of state law was rather loose. He specifically points out Alachua County, which appeared to "regard the prison as a sort of clearing-house for its pauper incumbrances (sic)." He noted that while at the Sing-Sing convict camp in Suwannee County, he received from Alachua County a blind prisoner and an "idiotic one." The blind prisoner had been accused of stealing a gun, which Powell wryly noted would not have don