They were located on Stokes Store Road near where the fire station is today, in Strouds, and at the corner of Lee King and Dames Ferry Road. Between 1868 and 1908, the state leased to private companies the labor of men and women who had been convicted of a state offence. During the governorship of Hoke Smith in the early 20th century, the state legislature ended this system and placed state convicts in county camps such as those in Monroe County, where they worked on the roads. These “chain gang camps” ended with the prison reforms of the Ellis Arnall administration during World War II.