I live in Arkansas and over 50 years ago the Arkansas Prison System was self-funding, this going way back. They had a huge farm down there in the Gould and Wrightsville area. All of the prisoners worked on the farm, they had a Trustee System in place that worked, they had less than 50 state employees and the farms made enough money to run the prison system with a surplus that went to the State. Now we have over 800 state employees employed in the prison system. So why would anyone complain about prisoners growing food. It keeps them busy and some income coming in.
They had a huge farm down there in the Gould and Wrightsville area.
Is that anywhere near Paragould? My dad was born in Paragould, named after J. W. Paramore and Jay Gould.