Oregon and Washington have used prison labor for various projects throughout their history.  Convicts have been working on a variety of projects from laundry to license plates to agriculture.  They also worked on convict road projects, though that only arose in the early 20^th century.  Penitentiaries hoped to relieve overcrowding in the prisons while at the same time providing employment not conflicting with free labor.  They saw the employment also as a form of reward to their better behaving prisoners.  Prisoners had marks of degradation such as stripes, chains and shaven heads done away with.  Here, they gained a certain amount of freedom.  The work, done in the public good, was also seen as reformative.