Montana Justice

<p>Since the days of the wild West <i>Montana</i>ns have struggled to be tough on crime with limited resources. During <i>Montana</i>’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 <i>Montana</i> when it achieved statehood in 1889. In this absorbing book Keith Edgerton provides a social history of the <i>Montana</i> Penitentiary with a primary focus on its early formative years.<br/><br/>After statehood <i>Montana</i> 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.<br/><br/>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.</p>