{"product_id":"9780295800035","title":"Montana Justice: Power, Punishment, and the Penitentiary","description":"\u0026lt;P\u0026gt;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.\u0026lt;\/P\u0026gt;\u0026lt;P\u0026gt;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.\u0026lt;\/P\u0026gt;\u0026lt;P\u0026gt;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.\u0026lt;\/P\u0026gt;","brand":"University of Washington Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068853174512,"sku":"9780295800035","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780295800035_p0.jpg?v=1763683039","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780295800035","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}