Editing Echols County, Georgia (section)

==History==
On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County from a south-eastern section of [[Lowndes County, Georgia|Lowndes County]] and a south-western section [[Clinch County, Georgia|Clinch County]]. The original borders of the county were a line from the mouth of the Suwanoochee Creek directly south to the state line, then along the state line, then north to the junction of Grand Bay Creek and Mud Swamp, then up the course of Grand Bay Creek to Carter's Ford, then a direct line to where Cow's Creek enters the [[Alapaha River]], then up the creek to Griffins' Mill, then a direct line to Jack's Fort on Suwanoochee Creek, and then down Suwanoochee Creek to its mouth. With the exception of some minor adjustments of the border Echols shares with Lowndes and the loss of a thin strip to Florida following ''[[Florida v. Georgia (1855)|Florida v. Georgia]]'', the borders of Echols County has changed little since its establishment. Statenville was declared the county seat in 1859.

At the time of the 1860 census, Echols County had a [[White Americans|white]] population of 1,177, with 314 [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]], and no [[free people of color]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ajac/galee.htm|title=Lee County Georgia 1860 slaveholders and 1870 African Americans|website=sites.rootsweb.com|access-date=January 12, 2019}}</ref>

Echols County became notable as it has served as a place of [[banishment]] for many of Georgia's criminals. As the [[Georgia State Constitution]] forbids banishment beyond the borders of the state, officials instead ban the offender from 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, with Echols remaining as their only option.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-11-mn-2736-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Russ | last=Bynum | date=November 11, 2001 | title=Georgia Communities Put Criminals on First Bus Out of Town}}</ref> Few criminals have been documented as actually moving to Echols.<ref>{{cite web|last=Isaacs|first=Lindsay|url=http://americancityandcounty.com/mag/government_qarural_county_baffled/|work=American City and County|title=Q&A/Rural county baffled by judges' punishment|publisher=Penton|year=2015}}</ref> This is because almost all banished criminals choose to leave the state instead of moving to Echols County.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Yung|first=Corey Rayburn|journal=Washington Law Review|volume=85|issue=1|date=January 2007|url=http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=law_lawreview|title=Banishment by a Thousand Laws: Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders|quote = The majority opinion in Collett did not address the fact that any of the defendants sentenced to 158-county banishment would likely choose to live in Ware or Echols County. The result of the 158-county banishment sentences, while not technically ordering the defendants to leave the state, has been to cause such an exodus to occur.}}</ref>

Banishment, including 158-county banishment, has repeatedly been upheld by Georgia courts. The first case when banishment was upheld was in the 1974 case ''State v Collett'', when the [[Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia Supreme Court]] upheld the banishment of a drug dealer from seven counties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leagle.com/decision/1974900232Ga668_1670.xml/STATE%20v.%20COLLETT|title=STATE v. COLLETT|access-date=December 29, 2015}}</ref> The most recent time banishment was upheld, in 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to banish David Nathan Thompson (a mentally ill man who was convicted of firing a gun into a home, although no one was injured) from all but one county in Georgia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/judge-changes-wont-lift-ga-mans-banishment|title=Judge changes but won't lift Ga. man's banishment|publisher=Associated Press|last=Brumback|first=Kate|access-date=December 29, 2015|archive-date=December 17, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141217142441/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/judge-changes-wont-lift-ga-mans-banishment|url-status=dead}}</ref>