Inmates of the Big House Build Another’s Dream House

Carol and Walter Baker first saw their dream house through a prison fence, watching as prisoners with hammers and saws worked at an innovative program aimed at easing housing needs in rural areas.

Now the couple, struggling with health problems, have a cozy home of their own overlooking the prairie at a price they could afford.

“I like to sit out there with a cup of coffee in the morning,” Carol said, nodding at a small front porch. “It’s a nice place to be.”

So far, 161 South Dakotans have purchased homes through a program launched by Gov. Bill Janklow. It puts prisoners to work building houses for elderly and disabled people in the state’s small towns.

The homes built at Springfield State Prison are small, designed for people who need less space. Ill or elderly, they may no longer be able to handle the stairs of a bigger house.

“It may be that they have a house with three or four bedrooms in it from when they had their families, and now their family is gone,” said Janklow. “So it’s more house than they need.”

After repeatedly hearing complaints about the lack of good, affordable homes in rural areas, he began the program in April 1996.

With 99 homes sold in the first 14 months, and 62 in the last four months, “you can see how it’s coming alive,” he said.

Other states have begun calling and asking for information on how it works, he said.

As many as 70 inmates get $2 per day to build the two-bedroom houses, taking up to 40 days to finish.

“The program employs a lot of inmates, and they’re learning specific job skills that will help them when they get on the outside,” said Bob Dooley, the prison warden.

Buyers must be at least 62 years old or demonstrate some handicap, and must live in a community of fewer than 5,000 residents.

For the Bakers, finding a single-level home became a priority after Walter started having trouble breathing. His diaphragm was damaged from polio as a child.

In the last few years, Walter, 50, had a hard time walking up and down the seven steps of the split-level home in Brandon, a few miles east of Sioux City, where the couple lived for 17 years.

Looking for another choice, they soon realized they couldn’t afford what they wanted. Walter can’t work; Carol, 45, works part-time.

When they heard of the prisoner-built homes, they liked the idea almost immediately.

“We walked around the fence one day and took these pictures,” Carol said, proudly showing off a handful of photographs of several houses, including the one they would own, under construction.

Their photo album documents nearly every step between framing and the day last summer when a truck loaded with their finished home pulled up to their driveway west of Canton, near the border with Minnesota.

They spent about $20,000 for their 578-square-foot house and the moving expenses from Springfield, about two hours away. Then they spent $40,000 to add their own touches: A full basement, two-stall garage, front porch and closed walk-through between the house and garage.

The workmanship is excellent, they said. They got everything they wanted--two comfortable spots in the living room where they can curl up and read or watch television, a kitchen with a laundry built into a closet, and a bedroom large enough for a queen-size bed and two dressers.

“The kitchen, living room--that’s where you spend your time. That’s what we have,” says Carol. “What do we need more space for?”