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Re: Disposal of Prison Inmate Files



The thread on prison inmate files seemed to die out a couple of weeks ago, but I have been away from the office and still wanted to add a note despite the late date.
My repository (Boise State University Library in Boise, Idaho) does not have prison inmate files, but I am familiar several research projects involving such files from the Idaho State Penitentiary that are part of the Idaho State Archives at the Idaho State Historical Society.  At least through the 1950s, they have kept all of the inmate files.  And what a treasure trove it is.  Genealogists and local historians use them.   I know of three uses by researchers doing social history investigations.  One was investigating the incarcerations for Prostitution to write a history of prostitution in Boise; another looked at all the cases of imprisonment for Abortion (either as the woman or abortion provider) to write a masters thesis; and another examined the files of all men imprisoned for the "infamous crime against nature" (sodomy)  up through the 1950s to see if they were consenting adults being prosecuted or child molesters. They also shed light on the social history of minority groups, whose histories were not recorded in the written history books of the 19th and early 20th centuries.   All these avenues of research could not have been accomplished here in Idaho had the files been sampled and most of them destroyed.   The great mass of prison records, especially in states and countries larger than Idaho must be daunting; but fortunately the full set of inmate files are preserved here.  (In theory, theinvestigators in the above cases could have consulted court records, but they are decentralized in the 44 county courthouses, and preservation of old records varies widely from county to conty.  Were it not for the centralized inmante files in the state archives, the research would have been virtually impossible. ) 

Alan Virta, Head of Special Collections
Boise State University, Albertsons Library (Boise, Idaho)

>>> Matthew.Hockey@DIA.GOVT.NZ 07/13/00 17:49 PM >>>
I am an appraisal archivist at the National Archives of New Zealand, and I
am currently developing a disposal schedule for prison inmate files.  I
would be very interested to know how other archives are dealing with these
files - in particular, whether sampling is used to select files for
retention, and if so what kind of sampling plan is followed.

If there are any current schedules covering prison inmate files, I would be
interested to see these, as well as any appraisal reports which would
explain the reasons for the sampling method used.

Please e-mail me at Matthew.Hockey@dia.govt.nz
<mailto:Matthew.Hockey@dia.govt.nz>.  Alternatively, you can write to me at
National Archives, PO Box 12 050, Wellington, New Zealand.

Thanks!

Matthew Hockey
National Archives of New Zealand
PO Box 12 050
Wellington
Ph 64 4 499 5595
Fax 64 4 495 6210
Web: http://www.archives.govt.nz

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