提 要：明清州县监狱由地方行政长官控制，州县长官称为“有狱官”。州县监狱设施简陋，社会治安及诉讼多的州县，往往关押人犯很多，以数量有限制的官、吏、卒等对囚犯实施管理，往往捉襟见肘，乃至力不从心，因此在囚犯中任命牢头协助管理囚犯，是州县监狱管理狱囚的无奈选择。牢头为恶，在明清时期是世人皆知的问题，他们在监狱中恃强凌弱、动用私刑，操其他狱囚生死于股掌之间。也有一些州县官，采取措施制止牢头在狱中对其他囚犯动用私刑，并能将囚犯组织起来，对监狱实施有效管理。不过，明清时期的牢头和私刑问题并没有得到有效遏制。

关键词：州县监狱 牢头 私刑 管狱官 禁卒

Title: The Jail Tyrants of the Local Prisons during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Author:Bai Hua, Professor, Law School, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

Abstract:During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the prefecture and county jails under the jurisdiction of the local magistracies were usually not well equipped in terms of facilities and personnels. When the number of the prisoners increased to certain level, the administration of the jails usually became stressful. In this case, the administrators of the prisons might trust some prisoners to help to supervise the other prisoners. Eventually, these special prisoners became the tyrants in the prisons. They could bully, torture, even cause death of the other prisoners. Those magistracies who could make use of some prisoners to help while not to fell into the trouble of jail tyrants would turn out to be effective prison administrators.

Key words: local jails prison tyrant torture jail warden turnkey