Chain Gangs

Front: In 1894 the S.C. legislature passed an act requiring all male prisoners sentenced to less than two years to serve their term performing hard labor on public roads. The law promised to improve rural S.C. roads, but many of those sentenced to hard labor had committed petty crimes and most were African American. A 1920 report found that the Allendale chain gang suffered poor and unsanitary conditions. Some inmates at the Allendale Jail served on road gangs well into the 20th century. Reverse: In 1919 the S.C. General Assembly issued $100,000 in bonds to fund construction of a jail and courthouse in the newly established Allendale County. Both were designed by Atlanta-based architect G. Lloyd Preacher, a Fairfax, S.C. native and graduate of Clemson College. The courthouse and jail were completed in 1922. The jail, which once stood here, housed not only prisoners, but also the jailer and jail administrator. The Allendale Co. Jail remained in use until 1971.