Tucker State Farm

Linda Dailey Paulson

The Tucker Farm Unit of the Arkansas State Penitentiary, originally known as Tucker State Farm, is infamous in corrections history for its long-term pattern of prisoner abuse. Land for the farm was purchased by the state in 1916, although it was not until 1933 that the entire Arkansas penal system moved to the farm. Tucker covered some 4,500 acres, with about 3,000 acres devoted to farming. In addition to row crops and produce, inmates tended dairy and beef cows, which were used to feed the prison populations. About 275 men were held there. Like the rest of Southern society at the time, the farm was racially segregated. Tucker served as the facility for white convicts, while African Americans and “hardened” white convicts were held at Cummins Prison ...

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