A wave of patriotism swept the nation during World War II, and prisons were no exception. Within the American Prison Newspapers collection, publications of the era showcase the little-known ways that prisoners supported, or wanted to support, the war effort. The US is not known for having sent its prisoners to the frontlines to fight, unlike some other countries. The prison newspapers tell a different and more complex story, though.
From editorials proclaiming love for democracy to calls to be released from prison in order to fight overseas, the initiatives seem to have been at least partly inspired by the incarcerated people themselves. Though some correctional administrators sneered at prisoners’ patriotic proclamations, interpreting them as little more than a ploy to be released, parolees were among those killed in action. They chose risking their life to fight in the war over safely sitting out a few years behind bars. The myriad ways people in prison contributed have barely been preserved by history, but contemporary prison newspapers documented them extensively.
While only a tiny fraction of incarcerated people were able to parole to serve in the Armed Forces, even prisoners who stood no chance of being released maintained a deep desire to contribute. From manufacturing to farming to using their own resources, bodily and financial, incarcerated people found many ways to support the country during the war. Though some initiatives were surely imposed by the administration in top-down directives, prisoner-penned editorials of the time are uncharacteristically motivational.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, for our totalitarian enemies to understand that the products of our prison shops and prison industries are not the products of enforced labor; that the prisoner, along with the prison official, is working for those liberties he knows he will some day enjoy as a free American,” wrote then-Attorney General Francis Biddle. Because of the 13th amendment, his statement is not entirely true, of course, and plantation prisons in the South producing food under rationing were likely using forced labor in harsh conditions. But his point remains: a sizable share of people inside correctional institutions contributed to the war effort with something that approximated willingness.