Patriotism with conviction

Patriotism with conviction

By William Petroski

A few Iowans are stitching up the Stars and Stripes while serving time at the Mitchellville women’s prison.

It’s a tedious job. The red, white and blue cloth is carefully cut and stitched. Then it’s mounted on a rounded hardwood staff. The final step is adding a gold decoration to the top.

More than 200 years ago, Betsy Ross helped to sew the first American flag for the Revolutionary Army. Now a few inmate seamstresses are performing similar work to assemble Old Glory at the state women’s prison in Mitchellville.

The inmates’ goal: Manufacture competitively priced American-made flags to help decorate the graves of thousands of Iowa military veterans at cemeteries throughout the state.

“I feel very fortunate to be here and to have this job. I think this is the best job that you can get. I love it,” said inmate Anita Baumann, 41, of Des Moines, who is behind bars for selling drugs.

The work may not be high paying, but the issue of who makes the American flag has sensitive political overtones.

Some Americans oppose the use of U.S. flags imported from China and other foreign nations. Meanwhile, some U.S. flag manufacturers contend law-abiding American workers shouldn’t have to compete against American prison labor for flag-making jobs.

The Iowa Prison Industries plant at the Mitchellville state prison began assembling small flags about a year ago. More than 20,000 American flags have been produced for veterans groups, government agencies and other nonprofits.

Each flag, 12-by-18 inches, costs 85 cents. The flags are mainly made for cemeteries, but can also be used for parades and patriotic events. Larger, indoor flags are available for $10 each.

The flag-making program was launched by Roger Baysden, an Army veteran who is director of Iowa Prison Industries. He had been disappointed after visiting a Des Moines cemetery where his wife’s family is buried.

“I stooped over to pick up a flag and it had ‘Made in China’ on it,” Baysden said. “It was an insult to me. I said no veteran should have a foreign-made flag on their grave.”

U.S. Flag Manufacturing of Cohasset, Mass., supplies large rolls of preprinted flag material to Iowa Prison Industries that are used to assemble the flags. The hardwood for the staff is from Maine.

One inmate cuts each flag from the roll by hand. Two other inmates use industrial sewing machines to stitch hems around the edges. Two or three others staple the flag onto wooden dowels. They add a gold point – known as a finial – to the top.

“It’s time-consuming, but it’s a good job. I think it’s really a good idea that we make American flags in America,” said inmate Lori Arnold, 44, of Ottumwa, a team leader on the flag-making crew. She is the sister of actor and comedian Tom Arnold and is in prison for a drug conviction.

Despite Baysden’s concerns about Chinese-made flags, the vast majority of American flags are produced in the United States, according to flag industry officials. Probably fewer than 5 percent of American flags sold are made overseas, said Tibor Egevary, director of sales and marketing for Valley Forge Flag Co. in Womelsdorf, Pa. The firm is one of the top suppliers of flags to the U.S. government.

The United States was flooded with American flags imported from China and other nations amid the surge of patriotism that followed the September 2001 terrorist attacks. But there is no current shortage of manufacturing capacity to supply reasonably priced, domestically made American flags, Egevary said.

U.S. flag-makers comprise a relatively small industry, and there are concerns about having prison laborers compete with law-abiding American workers for jobs.

“Quite honestly we feel it is disrespectful that convicted felons are making the flags that are being put on veterans’ graves,” said Robert Waller Jr., president of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America in Mount Laurel, N.J.

Baysden said Iowa Prison Industries has no intention of putting anyone out of business. He noted prison products aren’t available at retail stores and can be sold only to nonprofit groups and government organizations such as schools and state, city and county governments.

About five inmates at Mitchellville work part time making American flags; they manufacture office furniture and other products during the rest of their shifts. Standard prison wages range from 42 cents to 75 cents per hour.

Sam Slaymaker, commander of American Legion Post 76 in Marengo, said he purchased more than 400 of the Iowa prison-made flags after receiving a sample flag in the mail from Iowa Prison Industries.

The flags were placed upon veterans’ graves at the local cemetery last Memorial Day weekend and seemed to hold up well, he said. The cemetery also had about 300 larger American flags from other sources mounted upon poles as a tribute to the deceased service members.

“It was really a nice, pretty sight,” Slaymaker said.