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| Corrections commission approves plan to sell tribal art |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/05/2004 |
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A proposal to allow American Indian inmates make tribal crafts and artwork has won approval from the South Dakota Corrections Commission, and the program could be up and running within a week. Ron Zylstra, director of Pheasantland Industries at the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, had asked for permission to start a program that will use 10 to 12 inmates to make beadwork, quillwork, ceremonial drums and original paintings. "One of our goals is to help these inmates perpetuate their culture," Zylstra told the commission during a teleconference last Friday. Zylstra had asked the commission earlier this month to establish such a program but the panel did not have a quorum. "Some of these skills that these young men have learned have come from their elders in a passing on of the culture from individual to individual," he said. Pheasantland Industries is a program within the Department of Corrections but receives no taxpayer dollars. It puts inmates to work making various items to teach them job skills and help them establish a work ethic. The sale of its products pays for the program. Inmates involved in American Indian crafts will produce acrylic, oil and watercolor paintings, said Zylstra. They will use beads and quills to make hat bands, dance staffs and medicine pouches. They will make ceremonial drums from cedar and buffalo hide. And they will craft mandelas, or hoops with deer or buffalo hide stretched over them. The items will be sold to nonprofit organizations such as colleges, governmental agencies and tribal offices, and the inmates will receive 25 cents an hour, Zylstra said. "We're not looking to make a lot of money on this," Zylstra said. "If we break even and cover our costs, I'd be very happy." |
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