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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2008 The treatment of minorities and women by southwestern courts and prisons Donna Crail-Rugotzke University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Crail-Rugotzke, Donna, "The treatment of minorities and women by southwestern courts and prisons" (2008). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2798. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/qv48-krza This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE TREATMENT OF MINORITIES AND WOMEN BY SOUTHWESTERN COURTS AND PRISONS by Donna Crail-Rugotzke Bachelor of Science, University of Wyoming 1990 Master of Arts, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 1995 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History Department of History College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2008 UMI Number: 3319138 Copyright 2008 by Crail-Rugotzke, Donna All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, If unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3319138 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Dissertation Approval The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 11 .200 8 The Dissertation prepared by Donna Crail-Rugotzke Entitled "A Threat to Society": . The Treatment of Minorities and Women By _________ Southwestern Courts and Prisons, 1890-1930 is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of _______________Doctor of Philosophy in History ____ Examination Coihmittee Chair Dean of the Graduate College Examination Committee Member Examination Corrmittee Member Graduate College Faculty R^esentative 11 ABSTRACT The Treatment of Minorities and Women by Southwestern Courts and Prisons by Donna Crail-Rugotzke Dr. Maria Requel Casas, Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of History University of Nevada, Las Vegas The purpose of this work is to examine the role of race, ethnicity, and gender in the treatment of Native American, women, and Latino defendants and inmates by Southwestern courts and prisons from 1890 to 1930. This dissertation addresses issues such as the types of trials Native Americans, women and Latinos received from Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico courts and what types of sentences they received. This study explores whether late nineteenth and early twentieth-century attitudes about gender, race, and ethnicity influenced the sentencing of prisoners. It also describes the conditions at the Nevada State Prison, New Mexico Territorial Penitentiary, the Yuma Territorial Prison, and the Arizona State Prison at Florence. Since none of these three states built a separate prison for women until the 1960s, the study provides evidence that women inmates often lived in harsh conditions compared to 111 their male counterparts. Yet prison officials and members of the outside community often did come to the aid of women inmates in expected and unexpected ways. For Native Americans, imprisonment was often deadly. However, some Native Americans, along with Latino inmates, also took advantage of the scarce opportunities available at these prisons. As was the case with women, they also received aid from prison officials and the members of the community. This work also will address the coping strategies of individual minority and female inmates. Equally important, is the role of community and prison officials in helping or hindering these inmates’ attempts to win their freedom from jail or prison. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................... iii PREFACE........................................... vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2 WOMEN IN PRISON ................... 18 CHAPTER 3 NATIVE AMERICANS AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM ........................... 43 CHAPTER 4 LATINO INMATES............................................................................................74 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 102 APPENDIX I CHAPTER 2 TABLES.................................................................. 108 APPENDIX II CHAPTER 3 TABLES .....................................................................................127 APPENDIX III CHAPTER 4 TABLES.....................................................................................150 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................190 VITA .......................................................................................................................................199 PREFACE In 1923, a Mineral County Court convicted Mary Elizabeth Phillips of grand larceny; however in a letter to Governor James Scrugham she claimed that she was framed. She also described the conditions at the Nevada State Prison. According to Phillips, she was “not getting exercise nor air enough to live another year, this [sic] horse stable that I am living here now is so hot I surely will die,” yet described the warden “as a fine man” who “does all in his power for my comfort.”^ Phillips’s case provides an example of the mixed and inconsistent treatment of inmates in the Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico prisons. While other regions of the nation embraced, to a certain extent, the reform movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, there is little evidence that Arizona, Nevada, or New Mexico governments showed as much interest in the modern penological techniques developed by eastern reformers or even those in California. Indeed, the few efforts to reform prisons in these three states came not from a larger movement or a community concerned with reform by from a few individuals who took an interest in the inmates. Often these individuals were law enforcement officials or prison officials who sympathized with the problems that some prisoners experienced. However, some civilians and politicians came to the aid of some prisoners. While most of the people who attempted to help prisoners were family members or friends, politicians and community leaders also spoke out on behalf of the inmates. ’ Mary Elizabeth Phillips to James Scrugham, June 23, 1924. Inmate Case File 2458. Nevada State Library and Archives, page 1. VI The following study is a social history of the prisons in these three states and it examines the role of race, ethnicity, and gender in the trials and convictions of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico inmates. Drawing on a variety of studies that have been written about prisons and inmates, particularly David Rothman’s The Discoverv of Asvlum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic which describes the rise of asylums including penitentiaries in America during the first half of the nineteenth century as a response to changes brought about by the Jacksonian period. In American Prisons: A Historv of Good Intentions. Blake McKelvey provides readers with a comprehensive history that describes the origins of American prisons and as well as a regional breakdown of prisons. McKelvey examines the role of different reform movements in influencing the development of the modern prison. Both this book and McKelvey's book provide the necessary background into the history of the penitentiary movement. Unlike the previous work, Anne Butler’s Gendered Justice in the American West explores the role of both gender and race in determining the treatment of female inmates. She finds that women prisoners were often victims of abuse and neglect in male dominated prisons in the West. A point that Nicole Rafter supports in Partial Justice: Women. Prisons and Social Control. Both books show how governments often neglected women prisoners. Rafter’s book; however, also shows changing attitudes toward women criminals in the Northeastern part of the country. In many cases, race and gender attitudes held by most of society informed the views of criminal justice officials and others toward European American and non­ white women. Native American, and Latino inmates. Vll

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