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OED has one entry concerning "gang" as a reference to prisoners.<br>
<br>
gang n.1 II.<br>
<blockquote type="cite">9. b. A company of slaves or prisoners.<br>
<br>
<div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid3196652">
<div class="quotation" id="eid3196653"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid159616690">1790 <span class="smallCaps">E. Burke</span>
<em><span class="sourcePopup">Refl. Revol. in France</span></em>
52</span> A gang of Maroon slaves, suddenly broke loose
from the house of bondage.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid3196665"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid159616696">1832 <span class="smallCaps">H.
Martineau</span> <em><span class="sourcePopup">Demerara</span></em>
i. 7</span> The second gang consisted of young boys and
girls.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid3196673"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid159616702">1883 <span class="smallCaps">'Ouida'</span>
<em><span class="sourcePopup">Wanda</span></em> I. 13</span>
Now and then a gang of such captives would go by on foot and
chained.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
However, this is the most general sense that simply means "group",
even if, in this case, it happens to be a group of prisoners.<br>
<br>
On the other hand, consider the following example from new meat (n.,
under new adj. and n.):<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"> <span class="lemma" id="eid34708500">new
meat</span> <span class="ps">n.</span> <em>U.S.</em> <em>slang</em>
<span id="eid34708506"><em>(a) </em>newly arrived inmates,
students, etc.;</span> <span id="eid34708507"><em>(b) </em><em>Mil.</em>
replacement troops; (also as a count noun) a new replacement.<br>
<br>
</span>
<div class="frame">
<div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid34708509">
<div class="quotation" id="eid34708510"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid227673455">1938 <span class="smallCaps">‘Jelly
Roll Morton’</span> in A. Lomax <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Mister Jelly Roll</span></em>
(1950) 109</span> When the inmates on the gang saw us,
they hollered ‘New meat in the market!’ Then they jumped on
us and took our money and cigarettes.</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Normally, in discourse about, for example, members of a street gang,
the expression would have been "in the gang". Here, however, it is
"on the gang". Is it just a different form of expression? Or is this
an example of idiomatic use for prisoners in general?<br>
<br>
I believe, it is the latter and it goes back quite some time
(perhaps HDAS will back me up). Consider the following from AHN:<br>
<br>
The Macon Telegraph. February 5, 1902<br>
Wife Wants Husband Pardoned from Gang. p. 2/3<br>
<blockquote type="cite">A petition is being circulated by Mrs.
Pullen asking that her husband A. A. Pullen, be pardoned by the
governor, or rather that his sentence be commuted after six months
of service on the gang.</blockquote>
<br>
The expression seems to be more general than just describing inmates
on a chain-gang, although it is undoubtedly related to the
condition.<br>
<br>
Columbus [Ga.] Ledger. December 10, 1922<br>
Number Pleas in Superior Court. Young West Virginian, Former Solder,
Given Twelve Months for Taking a U-Drive-It Car. p. 5/3<br>
<blockquote type="cite">J. W. Willis, a negro, was given six month
on the gang for stabbing a negro woman, three months to serve and
three months discharged on payment of $50.<br>
John T. Roberts was permitted to pay a fine of $25 for speeding;
E. J. Thomas was permitted to pay a fine of $25 for haing a small
of liquor and Michael O'Neal, for having liquor, was ordered to
serve on the gang until Christmas eve or pay a fine of $25.<br>
Pleas were heard and penalties imposed late Friday afternoon in
the following cases:<br>
H. M. Davis, drunk on public highway, $25; Johnnie Mingo, drunk,
one month or $25; L. E. Brown, having liquor, 20 days in jail,
suspended. Will Jackson alias John Greer, larceny after trust,
three months on the chaingang; Henry Byrd, having liquor, one
month or $40 sespended until February 1 and E. S. Pinchard,
speeding, $25.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Note that both "on the gang" and "on the chaingang" are mentioned as
sentences.<br>
<br>
Charlotte Daily Observer. December 13, 1903<br>
Before the Recorder. Two Colored Hoboes Get 60 Days Each on the Gang
-- Will Agers Bound Over for Larceny. p. 8/2
<blockquote type="cite">In the city police court yesterday morning,
Robert Williams and Joe McDaniels, the two negro hoboes from
Columbus, Ga., and Columbia, S.C., who had been arrested the
previous night in the stables at the Mecklenburg fair grounds,
faced two charges--vagrancy and trespass. There was no difficulty
in proving both of the charges, and Recorder Shannonhouse
sentenced each of the defendants to a term of 30 days on the gang
in either case, making a total of 60 days for each of the colored
sons of rest.<br>
Will Agers, the negro who had been arrested for stealing whiskey
bottles from Mr. D. M. Abernethy's saloon, on East Trade street,
was found guilty and was bound over to the next criminal term of
the Superior Court, being sent to jail, in default of a bond of
$25.</blockquote>
<br>
What was that that we were debating earlier about hobos??<br>
<br>
The State [SC]. December 4, 1900<br>
Pardoned to Die. p. 4/6<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Governor McSweeney has granted a full pardon
to Lorsey Hill, who was convicted in Edgefield county of larceny
and sentenced to two years on the chain gang. The pardon was
recommended by the solicitor and the county officials, who certify
that the prisoner is in a dying condition. He has already served
eight months on the gang. The pardon is granted simply that the
prisoner may die "out of prison."</blockquote>
<br>
The Columbus [Ga.] Enquirer-Sun. February 24, 1889<br>
The Mayor's Court. p. 3/3<br>
<blockquote type="cite">John Odom and Bob Herring were up on a drunk
and disorderly charge. Odom was fined $2.50 and costs or ten days
on the gang. The charge against Herring was dismissed.</blockquote>
<br>
Little Rock Daily Republican. March 18, 1873<br>
Criminal Items. The "City of Roses" Assuming Metropolitan Airs -- A
Lively Day with the "Vags" and Petit Thieves. p. 4/6<br>
<blockquote type="cite"> Yesterday morning seventeen motley-colored
vagrants of all nationalities, ages and sizes were arraigned
before "the terror," Judge Triplett, and that accommodating
official, with that suavity of manner for which he is noted,
assigned each the usual twenty-five dollars or thirty days on the
gang. They went to the gang.</blockquote>
<br>
There is no other meaning in the OED--nothing that corresponds to a
sentence (of labor on a chain gang). And there is no expression "on
the gang". Of all on-line dictionaries, only the upload of Webster's
1913 edition has "chain-gang" as one of the meanings for "gang".<br>
<br>
Also note that all references above are from the South. The
following is an exception.<br>
<br>
[San Francisco] [Daily] Evening Bulletin. May 17, 1869<br>
A Gang of Desperadoes Arrested. p. 3/6<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Emmons has the reputation of being a very
bad man, having been arrested many times in Placer and El Dorado
counties, but always escaping conviction because Chinamen were not
allowed to testify. He kept a house for a long time on the "Hill,"
at Folsom, which was frequented by the very worst class of men.<br>
It is to be hoped that the officers have the "dead wood" on the
gang this time, and that they will not escape for the want of
white evidence. Emmons will be returned here, if he does, to
answer to the charge of carrying concealed weapons. </blockquote>
<br>
<br>
The following one sounds a bit different. There is no reference to
incarceration, but there is a mention of "on the gang system".<br>
<br>
The Daily Picayune. September 2, 1873<br>
"Sugar Planter"--"M" and "D". p. 2/5<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
What does he mean by bringing immigrants to the State to supply
the place of the present farm laborers ? Does he mean to bring
white men to work by the months on plantations, in place of
negroes ? This must be the meaning. That proposition is entirely
untenable. White people will not work by the month on the gang
system on sugar plantations.</blockquote>
<br>
Perhaps "the gang system" is simply a version of "shifts" (RHUD:
gang, n. 4. a group of persons working together; squad; shift: <i>a
gang of laborers.</i>)<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
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