Show Keeping Convicts Occupied Is Chief Problem at Prison Legislative Act Banning Manufacturing at Penitentiary Increases Difficulty Editors Editor's Note This Is the ninth of a serIes of at articles on the nile nf of the thA nth t-at t nHe r Mi Mir r i wm will daily dally By Dy DyVE VE WENDELL DELL ASHTON An old sage has said that an idle mind is the devils devil's workshop and keeping the Utah state prison from becoming Lucifer's rs r's laboratory has hns been the important all problem for wardens during its existence of n near nearly ar ly Jj 80 years The situation has been Intensified moro more than ever this year when the thelast thelast last lut legislatures legislature's law forbidding manufacture manu facture and sale of prison goods went into effect It leaves only farming as asan asan asan an occupation at which to keep Inmates Inmates inmates in In- mates busy bus With its limited land at its present location the prison can I employ no more than 50 prisoners in i agricultural pursuits One of the earliest forms of prison I labor at the Utah institution was wu swinging the hammer on the famous famous' rock pile By the time the prison became a state institution in 1896 prisoners were not only breaking rocks but were were quarrying them from nearby pits pit Manufacturing farming and chores about the prison premises were other means of stifling Old Man Idleness Per Cent Working In 1897 1891 By 1897 manufacturing was going at full fuU swing and for the next ten years per cent of the prisoners were employed In some kind of work Various articles were manufactured during those years Wire beds hair cinches shoes stockings underwear carpets suits and overalls were some of the articles turned out But the prison population was Increasing Increasing In In- creasing rapidly and by 1909 the average average average aver aver- age daily population was vas as compared com corn pared to In 1896 As a result only 50 per cent of the population was employed employed em em- during 1909 and 1910 The state legislature came to the rescue in 1911 with the passing of the act ct authorizing employment of prisoners prisoners pris pris- on public highways and then for the next ten years the entire prison pris pris- on population was employed In 1922 the state road commission discontinued prison labor figuring free labor was cheaper At that time the employment em cm- dropped of off to only 40 per percent percent percent cent of the population and not since then has the prison population b been n employed in its entirety Reclamation Work Done Since 1910 prisoners have done some reclamation work at the fairgrounds fairgrounds fair fair- grounds capitol grounds at the railway railway rail rail- way yards ards during the World war war at atthe atthe th the Mt Pleasant flood in 11 wartime at atthe atthe atthe the Davis county flood in 1930 and at the Hogle Gardens in 1931 The prison overall factory was built in 1924 and operated until January January Jan Jan- uary 11 1934 In 1927 its us peak year prisoners turned out dozen overalls over over- alls dozen jumpers and dozen pairs of socks Of Ot the acres of ot land owned by bythe bythe bythe the prison 40 acres are arc under cultivation cult cult- 60 acres are pasture land and 80 acres are barren land However in 1920 the prison started the policy of leasing land for pr prison on gardens and nd pasture land Prisoners are paid a small amount for or their labor lab In territorial days they were paid in the form of tobacco and later they were remunerated in postage post age stamps In 1926 prison authorities started to issue 50 cents to each prisoner pris oner monthly Then to prisoners employed employed em em- an additional amount not exceeding ex cx- per month Trinkets Prove Profitable One of the most profitable forms of prison work vork has been trinket making Trinkets such as lariats and rings were made as early as 1896 but trinket shipping first became a abig abig big business In 1921 At that time a prisoner who had served in another penitentiary introduced the method o ot of braiding horsehair belts beHs The trinket business grew like mushrooms Prisoners ob obtained ined addresses ad- ad d d. d dresses of celebrities throughout the theland theland theland land and mailed them trinkets at big profits President Franklin D. D Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Reese velt volt at one time purchased a Utah prison trinket In 1922 a trustee fund was started and In 1930 there was wu on hand Agitation against the trinket racket increased and in 1928 the chamber of ot commerce made an investigation in in- concluding that the advantages advantages ad ad- I vantages outweighed the evils I |