Here are Kiley and Miranda looking around before the tour started.
They always start the tour with a hanging. A Cheyenne, Wyoming architect named James P. Julian designed the contraption in 1892, earning the name "The Julian Gallows," which made the condemned man hang himself. The trap door was connected to a lever which pulled the plug out of a barrel of water. This would cause a lever with a counterweight to rise, pulling on the support beam under the gallows. When enough pressure was applied, this would cause the beam to break free, opening the trap and hanging the condemned man. (Gallows info from Wikipedia.) It was pretty interesting to watch it work. I can't imagine standing on the trap door listening to the water drain from the bucket just waiting for the door to fall away and you falling to your death.
After the demonstration they take you on the tour. You start out where all the inmates started, in where you get your mug shot. Then they take you into the room where they would get their prison uniform. There is a window that they would open and yell out "fresh fish", which is what new inmates are called. There is a pole in the middle of the room. If the inmate was not following commands they would handcuff the inmate to the pole and whip them with a rubber tipped whip so they didn't leave any marks.
Connor had his hands wrapped around the pole right before I took the picture. I thought it was funny.
Next you walk past the visitation room. They have a dummy in there. It scared the kids when they walked in.
Then you walk into cell block A. When they originally built the prison they had 13 cells on each of the 4 levels on the front side and back side of cell block A. It was designed for one inmate per cell, but when they transferred the inmates from Laramie to Rawlins, they discovered they didn't have enough room. They put another bed in the cell. It was quite cramped in the cell with two people in there.
Cell block A
Just had to take a picture of cell number 13 ;)
After you go through cell block A you go into the library area. They had an inmate paint the walls. How painted them with bright colors. On one wall as you are going out of the library into the shower area, he painted happy faces coverting to sad faces as you leave. They said it was because you were going from the happiest place to the saddest place.
,In the shower room they said they would have about 30-35 inmates showering at a time with only few shower heads. She said that that was where a lot of disputes were settled among the inmates. There is a staircase that leads up to the game room in the area of the shower room. There was a guard that was brutally murdered in the game room and then thrown down the stairs. After that, they sealed the door closed and there was no more game room.
Here's Isaac looking tough in front of a cell ;)
Next we went into the kitchen. There was a riot in the cafeteria one year. The inmates had taken all the wooden tables and benches and piled them up at the end of the cafeteria and lit them on fire. After the guards got control again, they installed metal tables and benches that were bolted to the floor. They also installed a birdcage where a guard would stand with a tommy machine gun. He was given the ordered to shoot to kill if anybody got out of control. I think it worked, because I don't think they had any more problems after that.
They had one of the inmates paint all the beautiful pictures in the cafeteria. The picture of the big horn sheep is very interesting. The sheep's heads follow you wherever you go in the area. It was a reminder that you are always being watched. The painting of the railroad tracks was interesting also. No matter where you stand in the room you are always on the right side of the tracks.
Next stop is outside. They used to have a warehouse/factory where the inmates made various things. First they made brooms, then they made wool blankets for the Navy (I think) during the war. They received an award for the high quality of blankets they made. Next they made license plates and highway signs. The factory is no longer there.
They had an outdoor recreation area for the inmates. They had a baseball field, horseshoe pit and basketball courts. The in,ates would play baseball against the local teams. They were pretty good until the catcher had to serve his death sentence. He was their best player. After that, they never won another game.
Next stop was the death house.
This is what the gallows looked like. It was pretty convenient that they would hang from the second floor and fall to the first floor. All the gaurds had to do was cut them down and put them on a stretcher and wheel them around the corner to the infirmary.
The picture below shows the hook that the noose would hang from. They would face the inmate towards the window so they could see the mountain before they died.
The death row cells were just a few feet away from where the inmate's death sentence would be carried out.
Here is the famous gas chamber. 5 men were put to death in this very chamber. Connor wouldn't get in it. Isaac and Kiley were excited to. Connor was pretty excited to pretend to pull the handle to gas Isaac though.
Here is Kiley looking like a little villain!
They end the tour back in cell block A. They leave you with a story of murder and commerodary. The story goes like this. Ther was an old woman who and a nephew in the prison. She lived just down the street. Every time she would visit him she would bring treats for him and the other inmates. They all liked this old woman. This one inmate was released on parole and didn't know of any other place to go than the old woman's house. He did some horrible things to her and left her for dead. She died a few hours later. He was caught quickly. The local police didn't think he would be safe in the city jail. They thought the citizens of Rawlins would come and murder him. The police thought he would be safer back in the prison. They snuck him in the prison in the middle of the night in hopes that the other inmates wouldn't find out. Well, they did. In the morning when they were being let out for breakfast, the inmates overpowered the gaurds and took all their weapons and keys and locked them the the cells. The inmates then went and grabbed that guy and hung a noose around his neck and threw him off the 4th teir in cell block A. After the inmates were done with their revenge, they let the gaurds out, gave them back their keys and weapons and they all went to breakfast. The gaurds left him there to hang while everyone ate breakfast.
4th teir in cell block A
It was such a fun tour (if you couldn't tell, I loved it). We had a great weekend feising and touring the prison.
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