From the NEWS of the WEIRD archive.

In September, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiled desolate Echols County, Georgia (between Valdosta and the Okeefenokee Swamp), well-known to the state’s judges because that is where they encourage lawbreakers to go when they really want them to leave the state altogether. The Georgia constitution prohibits banishing people from the state as punishment for crimes, so judges merely banish them from 158 of the state’s 159 counties, trusting that they would never voluntarily settle in Echols, anyway, and such strategy seems always to work. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9-30-01]

So THAT explains Echols County! Need to start reading the AJC.