On this Day, 10 March 1918 - Henry County Convict Road Force

On this day 100 years ago, the Virginia Senate approved through bill 280 funding to assist Henry County in maintaining a Convict Road Force.

As explained by Roger Christman, Sr. State Records Archivist as quoted in the Out of the Box blog, the State Convict Road Force was:

Chain gang from Wikipedia

The State Convict Road Force was created by the General Assembly in 1906 as part of the Withers-Lassiter “good roads” law that created the State Highway Commission. The Penitentiary was responsible for creating, administrating and supplying mobile convict road camps for use by the Highway Commission. The camps were manned by felons from the Penitentiary and by misdemeanants from local jails. The number and location of camps changed based upon the needs of the State Highway Commission.  Records of the State Convict Road Force are part of the recently processed Virginia Penitentiary Collection.