2002 02 Colorado, Wyoming

Yesterday was a driving day, although I did take some photographs.  I went from Rock Springs to Laramie, which is not all that far (150-200 miles?) but I stopped a lot and spent most of the afternoon in Rawlins looking at the old state penitentiary.  I looked around at the exterior, and it is quite the Gothic looking structure, but was not sure how interesting it would be.  So instead I packed all the film I had shot and mailed it for processing.

(Which leads me to an aside.  I packed the film very nicely in a box that previously had wine in it.   I took this to the Rawlins Post Office, and the counter guy said "Aw, we can't take that.  Nothing in a liquor box.  Cheyenne would just send it right back to us."  Huh?  "You can't ship anything in a box that says liquor or anything else that might be dangerous on the outside.  You'd have to cover all that."  Huh?  More explanation follows, and the Postmaster comes out.  She over heard this and was quite nice about it but said that sometime after the Unabomber was convicted thay made up these rules, and after 9/11 they were tightened.  So, as I understand it, I can mail you a bomb, or 6 cases of bathtub gin, or a 55 gallon drum of nitroglycerin, as long as I don't label the box.  So remember that kids, next time you want to send a case of TNT through the mail.)

Anyway, after repacking the film, resending it, and recovering from that, I did go see the prison.  I wanted to photograph the exterior, but they would not let anyone inside the walls that was not part of the tour.  I said I would take the tour, but could I go in myself anyway?  Much negotiating ensued, and by the time they decided to let me in a thunderstorm that had been brewing up to the west came in and the light went.  Fine.

The tour was great though.  The organization that maintains the structure does not have much money, and this is probably a good thing.  It means that the place looks much as it did when it was abandoned by the state in 1981.  (1981!  Amazing.  The place was completed in 1901, and looks a lot more like 1901 than 1981.)  Anyway, because they don't have any money, and because they would not "fix the place up" even if they did, there is a lot of falling plaster and peeling paint, and generel decrepitude that is just the right level to make the place really creepy.  The thunderstorm outside helped too.

My general remark is that you did not want to be in this place any time while it was running.  There was no running hot water for the inmates until the early 70s, the cells in the first cell block completed were 5x7 and were often shared by two in bunk beds, there was a "hole" that the unruly were tossed in which was 4x4 and completely dark (until the ACLU found out about this in 1965 and successfully sued), even with the steam heat that was added in the 30s (?) the temp in the cell blocks never got more than 20 degrees warmer than outside (this is Wyoming) and on and on.  It was a really grim place.

I would like to get permission to go back inside and photograph though.  The peeling paint, grim interiors, lots of weird structures, all would be cool to photograph.  The director of the place that I did all the negotiating with turned to be a nice person and I think would be willing.  I got some coaching on the letter I would have to write to the board of directors of the non-profit that runs the place.

Here are some pics.  I took a lot but will include just a few that are representative.

The above two are cell block A, the first built, and one of the cells.

The barber shop, converted from one of a set of cells that were added to A block and sometimes contained 3 inmates.  One of those cells is pictured below.

Some of the shower room.  Remember, warm water in buckets only.  The taps were cold until the 70s.  Cold water in Wyoming..  There is a game goom access through stairs near here, and at one time a guard went up to see what a disturbance was about and was killed with broken pool cues.  (Why they had those is a good question.)  That was the end forever of the game room.  The warden converted it to something else.

The above two are C block, the "new" one, and a cell in C block.  You could actually open the windows in this block!  The red on the cell door is there so that a giard at the end of the block can see if the door is open.  The red would be visible from his position if the door was open.  The inmates learned to jam an object in the door after gluing cardboard with toothpaste to that painted surface.  The door would stay open without being seen.  So we were told..

An "isolation" cell in C.  Inmates were put in here naked and soaked with cold water.  No light, except when a hatch in the door was opened for food.

However, the warden there at the time C block was added allowed the inmates to paint their cells whatever color they wanted.  How nice:

Three of the kitchen and dining hall.

The dining trays were segregated until 1965, when the warden changed that policy.  The wire cage up on the wall at the end of the dining hall contained guards with aitomatic weapons.  At one time there was a riot in the dining hall and all the wood tables were burned.  They were replaced with stainless steel tables that are bolted to the floor.

This inmate did a large number of paintings that are on the walls of the dining hall.

 

He had only one arm so he could not work in the prison factory.  The above painting (we were told) was done so that the sheep's head and gaze always seem directed at you as you move around the room.  The inmate said he did that because they are always being watched anyway.  It it true, too.  As you walk by this painting the illusion is quite good.  The sheep are always looking straight at you!

The outside of the infirmary and death house.  Nice touch, putting them together!

The concrete wall around the yard.  This was built to replace a wooden stockade type wall that was deemed insufficient after a large breakout in the 20s (?) in which 28 prisoners escaped.  Rawlins is a very small town and our tour guide told us that this so freaked out the residents that many just sat on their porches and shot at people that looked like strangers.

OK, here we are.  The gallows.  Eleven people were executed here.  This is not an original noose, as all that was dismantled when they "upgraded" to poison gas.  The pictures are of all those put to death in Wyoming while this penitentiary was operating.

And here's the gas chamber.  Extremely grim.  I sat in the chair, and so did one other guy on the tour.  Nobody else did.

This is death row.  Once you climbed the stairs (the infirmary is below) you didnot go down the stairs.  Meals, showers, exercise, everything was up here.

We are back in the main building.  This is a classroom, which was built after the successful ACLU lawsuit in 1965.  Prior to that there had been at least one isolation cell in the basement here.  It was only 4x4 feet, which is indicated on the floor.  The door leaning on the wall fronted one of those cells.

And here's the front door.  This looks straight down 5th street into downtown Rawlins, which is only a few blocks away.  When it was built it was quite far from ano other structures, but Rawlins has grown out to it so there are now residences across the street and on both sides.  Nothing behind it though since there are hills there.

Nice cheery place, eh?

Well, today I am going to be packing up in Laramie and headed to Denver.  Yesterday the only rela photography I did was of the very cool weather that moved into the area in the afternon and evening.  Big thunderstorms and wild clouds.  I hope that happens again today.  Other than that and getting to Denver I have no plans.  The car is trashed and I need to clean it out and pack.  That will take a while so I want to get to Denver relatively early.

That's all for this trip unless I run into Elvis and Bigfoot hitchhiking on the way back..