Inmates of the Idaho Penitentiary 1864-1947 - Idaho State Historical ...

INMATES OF THE IDAHO PENITENTIARY 1864-1947Three days after Pearl Harbor, James Hawkins (no. 6210) organized aletter signed by 99 inmates and sent to local newspapers. Hawkins andcompany offered their “services for National defense,” arguing “Tho inprison, we consider ourselves Americans first— and after that, as youmay. As such, we count ourselves chips from the same old block: Ourcounty, Right or Wrong, Our Country! ... May America give its waywardmen a chance to redeem themselves in this present war.”Tom Takahaski (no. 2847), who had been resident in theUnited States since 1918 and spent time in the penitentiaryin 1920-1922, was subject to investigation as an “enemyalien” one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor.W J Lamme (no. 6064) was arrested in Minnesota a fewmonths after his release from Idaho. A Minnesota attorneywrote to the penitentiary, reporting on Lamme’s recentsuicide attempt and asking whether Lamme “showed anytendency toward moroseness while he was in custody inyour State. I think it is due to the fact that he had notbeen able to escape from our jail, when captured he hadsaws in the souls of his shoes.” The attorney went on toacknowledge cheerily the stresses of wartime shortages:“Fishing in Minnesota has been good but because of tires, Ihave not been fishing every Sunday this year.”1941194219431944Clarence Kristiansen (no. 6870) was convicted of manslaughter after he drank an “undisclosed quantity of beer and hard liquor”and, en route to his duty station at the Marsing Prisoner of War Camp in an “army one half (1/2) ton reconstructed truck,” struck agroup of children on horseback. Kristiansen, a Silver- and Bronze-Star decorated veteran of Monte Casino and Anzio, was pardonedafter nine months in prison.1945James Erard (no. 7018) began accepting commissions for oil paintings from the general public.Erard, who was incarcerated for burglary for stealing bottle of perfume and a pair of drivingglasses from a hotel room, was responsible for painting a mural in the penitentiary chapel.John Allie’s (no. 6998) mother in Ohio sent him approximately $323 dollars, most in two- and five-dollar increments,between 1946 and 1950. Two months before his release in 1951, Allie’s mother sent one check for $82.19461947On his prison intake forms, Gerald Cline (no. 7113) listed his occupation as “tattoo artist” and theclerk recorded 22 tattoos on Cline’s Bertillon chart; one is clearly visible in Cline’s mug shot.The Board of Correction ceased to grants pardon without proof of innocence.In the case of David Gemmell (no. 3517), who in 1963 requested a pardon forhis 1925 incarceration so that he might pursue citizenship, the board could notbe persuaded otherwise by the “considerations of humanitarianism” put forwardby the governor.xxi