Women's Clubs Urge Prison Farm
As Haven For Jobless Ex-Convicts
Boise, Oct. 2.— OP)— Will Idaho's
485-acre state prison farm become
a haven for unemployed former convicts?
The Idaho State Federation of Women's clubs recently recommended
that this be done.
They will urge their proposal before the 24th session of the Idaho
legislature which convenes next January.
"Our organization felt," said Mrs.
Roland Hodgins of Moscow, federation president, "that something must
be done for men who are released
from the state's penal institution,
bearing the stigma that makes an
ex-convict as one apart from the rest
of society."
The Eagle island prison farm is
located 12 miles west of Boise, surrounded by the murky waters of the
Boise river/
It was purchased during the administration of Gov. H. C. Baldridge
for $73,000 from E. G. Gallet, then
state treasurer, in 1926, and since
that time the state has spent $30,000
in improvements on the island. Of
its 485 acres, approximately 225 are
available for agriculture.
The land is worked at present by
25 minor offense convicts under the
supervision of E. H. Kirkpatrick and
two guards.
The inmates grow grain, of which
6,000 bushels was sacked this year;
keep 70 milk cows to supply the
prison dairy products; raise hogs,
poultry and a large part of the fresh
beef for the institution.
The inmates canned 5,000 gallons
of fresh fruits, beans, peas, tomatoes and other vegetables this year
for prison use.
The island's buildings are two
residences for the guards; a billet j
for the convicts; barns, corrals and
dairy barns.
Ira J. Taylor, warden, now on
furlough, said that since the island
had been used as a farm it has paid
an annual dividend to the state's
general fund*