Montana Justice: Power, Punishment, and the Penitentiary

Since the days of the wild West, Montanans have struggled to be "tough on crime" with limited resources. During Montana's early territorial years, "criminal justice" was almost nonexistent: a few towns had inadequate and chronically overcrowded jails; occasional prisoners were sent east to the federal penitentiary in Detroit; and vigilantes summarily dealt with others suspected of crimes. In 1871, the federal government funded a penitentiary in Deer Lodge that was turned over to Montana when it achieved statehood in 1889. In this absorbing book, Keith Edgerton provides a social history of the Montana Penitentiary, with a primary focus on its early, formative years.

After statehood, Montana leased its penitentiary to contractors, who utilized cheap inmate labor to turn a profit for themselves and for the state. Warden Frank Conley became a regional political boss and amassed a personal fortune, using inmates for road construction and a variety of public and private projects. Eventually, charges of corruption led to his ouster by Governor Joseph M. Dixon and sparked a trial and heated controversy that resulted in Dixon's political downfall.

After 1921 the prison system came under full control of the state government. Although there were changes at the penitentiary during the rest of the twentieth century--and two full-scale riots in the 1950s--there was also a depressing repetition of corruption, neglect, and underfunding.

Author: Keith Edgerton
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 09/01/2004
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 9.02h x 6.12w x 0.52d
ISBN: 9780295984438

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2005 pg. 1882

About the Author

Keith Edgerton is associate professor of history at Montana State University-Billings.