Utah's First Convict Labor Camp BY VIRGIL CALEB PIERCE
Officials stand outside the fence enclosing Utah's first convict labor camp near Willard, Box Elder County. Utah State Road Commission photograph, Utah State Historical Society collections.
1 HE MORMONS, WHO BROUGHT permanent settlement to Utah, have always believed idleness a curse. Even convicts, it was thought, should not waste valuable time. But how to use their time has been a lingering problem through the years. In varying degrees they have been permitted to compete with the free labor and free enterprise system by working both inside and outside the prison walls. Their Mr. Pierce is a teacher at Henry Perrine Baldwin High School on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
