Prisoners have been employed in working on the roads of Virginia since 1906. Early in this century convicts could also be used to produce goods under contract work for private individuals and under the public account system by which the State produced goods and sold them on the open market. However, the adoption of federal legislation in 1929 which in effect barred convict-made goods from interstate commerce closed this avenue of utilization of convict labor and restricted the penal authorities to a State-use system. As a part of this system, convict labor on the roads has become an important and integral part of the penal administration in Virginia.

Nevertheless, there has been considerable opposition expressed to the use of the convicts on highway work. Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. requested the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council to study the use of convict labor on the roads of Virginia.

The Council determined to make a study of convict labor on the highways itself, with the assistance of the two State departments directly concerned. It secured information from the Department of Welfare and Institutions concerning the place of the convict road force in the overall penal system of the State and it secured from the Highway Department statistical data concerning the use of convicts in its general highway program. It consulted with representatives of both departments and held a public hearing, after due notice, to which persons known to have special interest in the subject as well as the general public were invited.

After considering the information before it as well as the views expressed to it at the public hearing and otherwise, the Council has reached the conclusion and makes the recommendation set out below.