For nearly a century after the Civil War, the State of Georgia treated its convicted felons harshly, first leasing them to private companies and later working them on county roads. Working the convicts relentlessly under sometimes brutal conditions, the authorities abandoned reformation and exploited cheap labor. Brooklyn-born Burns returned from World War I a misfit veteran. Reduced to desperation and robbery, he was arrested in 1922 and sentenced to six to ten years on the Georgia chain gang. After suffering torturous treatment and escaping, Burns wrote his story in 1931.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
BURNS FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON,
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This review is from: I Am a Fugitive from the Georgia Chain Gang! (Hardcover)
There is no doubt that Burns' most pressing reason for writing his book was to garner sympathy for himself. And for the most part, the book is well written and accomplishes the job of setting forth the harsh reality of life on a chain gang. There are a few spots in the book where, in my opinion, the author's words do not have the "ring of truth", but over all you will come away with the obvious conclusion that definite prison reform was needed in a drastic way. The institution of the chain gang was really nothing more than legalized slavery--only much harsher. In defense of the brutal chain gang system of Georgia, I simply say that every person in that time was aware of the harsh punishment that was meted out in the south and elsewhere; people knew that if they committed a crime, then there was the possibility of being consigned to a chain gang. So even though a person cannot help but to sympathize with Burns' experiences, it has to be said that ultimately he gambled and he lost.
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