CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 8 minutes ago, kgg said: Interesting stuff, but begs the question what do they get now as far as learning / doing a legit trade / skill or ? kgg Since then we have built another medium security prison, it has all the vocations there, as well here in the high security prison there is still welding, carpentry, and a textiles area where they make all the clothes for the system as well as machine embroidered stuff a huge kitchen and bakery, laundry etc. At the honor farm same thing but they also tame and sell wild horses and have a fire crew that fights forest fires. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Frodo said: I roughed in the plumbing for the Travis county Correctional Complex New Kitchen. We were working over time. When we decided to knock off for the day, we found they had locked the construction gate. So we started looking for a way to get out. We found a hole in the fence, slipped threw it and walked down the road to the guard shack. We told the Guard he needed to unlock the gate so we could get the Truck out. He looked at as with a puzzled expression. Then asked, If you were locked inside how did not get out? I pointed down the fence line and said. through that big hole in the fence. LOL ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. He got on the radio and guards started coming from every where. No one had escaped but they were embarrassed as hell about a big hole in the fence. lol that's funny and I don't doubt it a bit.when I first hired on one of my jobs was to take inmates and put in the Constantine wire around the facility as it had none at all , we had a few escapes by inmates cutting the fence wire before that, after we just followed the blood trail. once a bunch of em even tried to tunnel out like in the great escape lol the old tunnel is still there. Yea folks get kinda twitchy when they find holes in the fence. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 33 minutes ago, Tugadude said: So I did a little googling on the prison and found some fascinating information. If you have the time it is worth looking up. Butch Cassidy spent some time in the Wyoming Frontier Prison back in the day, before he formed the Wild Bunch. Old Butch is a local hero villian in these parts and rode this country frequently , my family homesteaded in the little snake river valley where he came through often and all the people knew him and the wild bunch. Years ago my dad was working for the museum out there and had the fortune of getting to clean up an old Winchester rifle that had been given to a local by Butch, It was a 38 40 if I remember right and I helped him clean it up for display man that was one sweet rifle, it is still on display out there and if you are ever in this neck of the woods go to their museum you wont regret the trip.https://www.littlesnakerivermuseum.com/home Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 41 minutes ago, Ferg said: Since I am older than most of you, eighty six in January 2020, I remember a lot of those things first hand. My only connection with the Prison System was a number of years ago. One in Southern Ohio made wood Pallets. They weren't getting them out fast enough so they were looking for a small wood shop to make the parts for the pallets. The material would be supplied by a prison farm sawmill and brought to our shop. The material would be Cottonwood. Grows where it can get lots of water and is obviously dripping with moisture. Later, they decided to supply "Junk" Treated material. When still wet from treatment this stuff can rust most any metal it is aligned with. We were very close to taking it on until I checked with some shops that were using the material. Ferg Very interesting indeed. when the first state prison was built here, the wardens were usually business men of some type and would set up and fund businesses and were legally able to use inmate labor at that time and pay them very little. Our fist pen had a broom shop that made the old grass brooms . later another warden started a shirt factory. I think maybe that type of prison work was what you ran into. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM Frodo Posted December 17, 2019 CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 I have always wanted to see that part of the country. That Butch gets Around. I renovated the Telluride co. Original bank into a coffee shop what we found was kinda cool. they had a big ass bank vault in the bank and a small safe hid in the back. The REAL money was kept in the little safe and day to day proceeds kept in the big vault. Butch Cassidy was said to have robbed that bank and only got the the money from the big vault Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Frodo said: I have always wanted to see that part of the country. That Butch gets Around. I renovated the Telluride co. Original bank into a coffee shop what we found was kinda cool. they had a big ass bank vault in the bank and a small safe hid in the back. The REAL money was kept in the little safe and day to day proceeds kept in the big vault. Butch Cassidy was said to have robbed that bank and only got the the money from the big vault lol yea from all the places he is said to have been he woulda wore out a dozen horses a year and never got any robbing done. Cool story there! Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members Arturomex Posted December 17, 2019 Members Report Posted December 17, 2019 That's interesting stuff, Chuck. Appreciate you taking the time to put it out there. Some other interesting information about prison made saddle trees here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/70422-found-mcclellan-tree-maker-paper/ Regards, Arturo Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted December 17, 2019 Author CFM Report Posted December 17, 2019 33 minutes ago, Arturomex said: That's interesting stuff, Chuck. Appreciate you taking the time to put it out there. Some other interesting information about prison made saddle trees here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/70422-found-mcclellan-tree-maker-paper/ Regards, Arturo thanks! very interesting info seems the cheap labor prison workforce business was nationwide back in the day! Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
alpha2 Posted December 17, 2019 Report Posted December 17, 2019 Heck, they don't always need a hole in a fence. I delivered a couple of dental chairs to Folsom in the '70's. Brought them in with a Chevy van. The boxes were plenty big enough to lay two or three cons in each. The guards lifted the hood, which was fairly tiny, took off the hub caps, checked the glove box, mirrored under the chassis, but never looked in the boxes, either coming in or going out! They had a nice old inmate help move the boxes into the clinic. I asked a guard what he was in for, they said he murdered his family, cut up the bodies and buried them in his back yard. Nicest old grandpa kinda guy you would ever want to meet. Quote So much leather...so little time.
Moderator bruce johnson Posted December 18, 2019 Moderator Report Posted December 18, 2019 Prison work is still going strong in some areas. I sell tools to a few inmates. It is a bit of a process but can be done. Texas has a pretty big system - boots and stuff. One inmate is saving for a crank splitter for his cell. I expect he's pretty trustworthy to be allowed that. Duncan ran the saddle shop in a Colorado prison. Because their output went into interstate commerce the inmates there were required to be paid federal minimum wage. He said they were the most sought after jobs in the prison because of the pay and had minimal discipline issues. Biggest problem was if there was a lockdown your employees couldn't get to work. I'd always liked the Deer Lodge MT hitched hair work. A couple years ago we toured the old prison and went to the craft store across from the old prison. Joe Benner had told me I needed to stop there. Leatherwork, bunch of hitched hair from keyfobs and bracelets to belts. The prisoners price their own work. Half goes to a crime victims relief fund, a fourth to the craft store for overhead, and they keep a fourth when something sells. They tag the items themselves and have a little description. Some are pretty funny. One key fob had a pink heart hitched into it. The tag read "Buy this for your sweetheart. Since I've been here mine dropped me. Maybe she's your sweetheart now". I bought a belt from a guy proudly boasting "27 years experience!". We spent a couple hours in there and several hundred dollars. All the while I was piling things up I was saying to myself "Damn you, Joe Benner!". Good stuff. I saw a recent documentary on Deer Lodge. Besides the cattle setup and trades shops, they also do something interesting. Some inmates work in a phonebank and serve as fundraising telemarketers for outside groups. They make the calls and if anybody wants to donate to the group they are working for, they hand the call off to a supervisor who handles the credit card info. I hadn't thought of that before. They cant say where they are calling from. It kind of made me nicer to telemarketers now. That feller on the other end could be wearing a number and he's got nothing but time. I can spare a little time to be polite and wish him a good day. Quote Bruce Johnson Malachi 4:2 "the windshield's bigger than the mirror, somewhere west of Laramie" - Dave Stamey Vintage Refurbished And Selected New Leather Tools For Sale - www.brucejohnsonleather.com
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