Not so fun fact this was popularized by white sherrifs on freed slaves after the emancipation proclamation because the “free” black people couldn’t pay a fine of walking parallel to railroads, selling goods, QUITING A JOB, or whatever other stupid bullshit was pulled. So they were leased out by the state like tools and were often worked harder than when they were slaves because there was no incentive to keep them healthy as the state was charging less than a tenth of what they were “worth” as slaves. Anyway the process of settling continued and is mostly a way to reduce sentencing and cost. I hate this country 🙃