Northwest history. Women's clubs.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: Boise; Idaho; Idaho Federation of Women's clubs; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; United States > Women's societies and clubs > 20th century; Eagle Island; Pacific; Penal; Roland; Warden
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/82552

Women's clubs urge prison farm as haven for jobless ex-convicts 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*