Ashurst-Sumners Act 1935

History

From 1929, a series of federal laws was introduced that restricted prison labor. Before that time, states were entitled to regulate their own inmate work-force. For example, many states in the early 19th century contracted inmates to local farmers and industries in exchange for money and goods under a system known as convict leasing. These women and men worked for no pay. Though initially such programs were popular with the public, they were eventually abandoned due to numerous criticisms. In particular, outside laborers who felt unable to compete with the cheap inmate labor force began to organize to end the leasing system. By 1891, a number of states to regulate the utilization of prison labor for revenue. Likewise, by 1894, prison contract labor as well as the practice of leasing inmates to private industries had largely been regulated.

In 1929, the federal government responded to pressure to end prisoner labor by introducing the Hawes Cooper Act. This act introduced some restrictions on the sale of inmate goods. However, it stopped far short of a total ban, permitting instead each state to determine whether or not it wanted to ban the sale of goods made by prison labor. It was not until 1935, with the passage of the Ashurst-Sumners Act, that Congress managed to regulate inmate-manufactured goods in some detail.

The Act

The Ashurst-Sumners Act was divided into two sections: (1) the illegal shipment of inmate-manufactured goods and (2) goods to be marketed. In the first section, the act specified:

By prohibiting the selling or transfer of inmate-made goods for profit or trade, this part of the act made it difficult for states to employ their inmates at work other than that required for institutional maintenance.

The second section of the act set up strict guidelines for how those institutions that continued to manufacture goods by inmates could dispose of their products to foreign buyers: