This photograph shows a group of incarcerated men performing agricultural labor on a Texas prison farm. In Huntsville and Walker County, the Texas State Penitentiary became firmly tied to agricultural production, with prisoners cultivating and harvesting cotton that generated profit for the state. Images like this illustrate how incarceration became crucial to economic productivity during the Reconstruction and New South periods. | Source: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-plantation-prisons-history-forced-labor-tdcj-farms-convict-leasing/Download Original File
