Ida Laherty, age 16, became one of the first women incarcerated at the Idaho State Penitentiary when she began a sentence for Grand Larceny in 1903. She remained one of the youngest women to serve time there. 
Born in Washington, Ida lost her father when she was 11 years old, and her mother was left to raise six children alone. Ida left home at fifteen, settling in Moscow, Idaho. There she met and fell in love with a young man from Reardon, Washington named William Loomis.
One day, Loomis hatched a plan for Ida to hire a team of horses for one day from a livery stable in Moscow and ride by herself to Sprague, Washington where William would meet her and the two would sell the horses for a large profit.
On October 2, 1902, Ida drove the team to Sprague and waited for him to arrive (he never did). Several days later, Ida was arrested as a horse thief.
When Ida first entered the prison, guards described her as an “ill mannered” child.
When Ida first entered the prison, guards described her as an “ill mannered” child.
A warden once caught a male prisoner sneaking through her window. He boarded the window to prevent them from communicating.
The local branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union petitioned the Board of Pardons with over 376 signatures on her behalf.
The local branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union petitioned the Board of Pardons with over 376 signatures on her behalf.
After serving three months, Ida was released from prison and turned over to the local Florence Crittenton home, a social welfare organization.
A grant from the NHPRC to the Idaho State Historical Society supported a project to arrange, describe, and make more readily accessible prisoner files and inmate photographs from the Idaho State Penitentiary for the period 1880-1947.
You can see a PDF of the catalog of Women Inmates at history.idaho.gov/.../08/inmates…
Source: National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
