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While not a site of mass incarceration, in Northern Idaho, Kooskia detention facility held over 200 Japanese “enemy aliens” during WWII. The site is known as an internment camp because it held “enemy aliens”, while Minidoka is referred to as a confinement site or incarceration camp because Minidoka held United States citizens along with “enemy aliens”. (For more information on the use of terminology, please see our page on terminology). The site had originally been a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in 1933, which was then turned into a prison camp for inmates convicted of crimes against US laws. The inmates were to help build the Lewis-Clark Highway, now known as Highway 12. In 1943, the prison was closed. However, the route had been declared a First Priority Military Highway, and the camp reopened, this time, holding Japanese “enemy aliens”. Known as the Kooskia Internment Camp, the facility was run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, operating between May 1943 to May 1945. The Kooskia Internment Camp was unique because it was the only work camp for Japanese internees who could earn better pay for their work and have better access to medical care and housing as they were protected under the Geneva Convention, unlike those who were at Minidoka1.
1Priscilla Wegars. "Kooskia (detention facility)," Densho Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Kooskia%20(detention%20facility)/ (accessed Jul 6 2019). |
Last updated: August 29, 2019