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Okay---so what be up with the choice of Alcatraz as the pic----no it is not a metaphor that tour feels like prison---not by a long shot! As I may have said a time or 2---I am using Facebook as my photo album---and Kilroy will not let you post unless you choose a pic---and today Alcatraz seemed perfect because we toured the Missouri State Penitentary----which we even built 100 years before Alcatraz. Here is where I wish my short term memory was not so crappy---because the gentleman, Warden Donald DW Ayrick who gave the tour was so damned interesting (he worked as a prison guard for 40-plus years, and has authored 3 books, now gives tours frequently) and so full of incredible tales....that I cannot begin to remember---but I am gonna cheat and copy and paste some internet info, so if you are following my blog, you can get an idea of what we saw. And at one point we were taken down to dungeons where prisoners were kept for sometimes years at a time, and we all get to experience what it felt like when lights were out completely, and how they spent 24 hours a day not being able to see a thing---and I MEAN NOT A THING---it was a WOW!
We also got to tour the gorgeous Capitol Building, and myself and 2 of my other CBLs got treated to a beautiful lunch by the folks sponsoring our venue, and we got free movie tickets to the 2nd run, so I went to see DESPICABLE ME (damn you again Pixar for tugging at my heart strings)---so overall, it was quite a GOLDEN DAY---and very cost efficient.
Okay----since we are back to work tomorrow, I should focus on the show. We had beautiful performances in Sioux Falls in that amazing venue. So far I have had one big prop scare (not wearing my tool belt for the opening number, and I use it frequently throughout) and our Vivian Snustad has had one (we have both learned on how to do fool-proof pre-sets so that won't happen again). We also saw the lovely Falls of Sioux Falls (complete with gorgeous Christmas lights). And may I say, that our long ass bus day was quite entertaining, thanks to Kristin (our sound Goddess) making the genius purchase of the brilliant board game GIRL TALK (check out arm wrestling challenge videos on my FB page).
So---tomorrow is 2 perfs here in Jefferson City---and then it is EVERYONE's FAVORITE 2 words BUS NIGHT!
Read on about the Missouri Prisons----and I will see you again soon!
The Missouri State Penitentiary was constructed in the early 1830s to serve the newly admitted state of Missouri. Jefferson City had been designated the state capitol in 1822, and Governor John Miller suggested that the state's main prison be constructed there, to help the city maintain its somewhat tenuous status against other towns trying to obtain the capitol for themselves.[4] James Dunnica, a masterstonemason who built the first Capitol building in Jefferson City in 1826, was appointed to oversee construction of the new prison, and $25,000 was allotted by the legislature for expenses.[5] The facility opened for business in March 1836, the same month as the fall of theAlamo in Texas.
Prisoners were employed during the 1830s in making bricks; the initial prison population consisted of one guard, one warden, fifteen prisoners, and a foreman for the brick-making operation with an assistant. Eleven of the fifteen prisoners were from St. Louis, and all were incarcerated for larceny save for one, who was imprisoned for stabbing a man during a drunken brawl.[6]
In 1868 Housing Unit 4, formally known as A-Hall, was finished. The building constructed entirely of stone quarried on site was built mainly with inmate labor. Warde Horace Swift was the architect of the structure. It is still standing today, and housed inmates until the day the prison was closed. A museum was to be set up in this housing unit but has since been canceled due to a lack of funding.
[edit]Warden Wyrick
Warden Donald "D.W." Wyrick was the youngest, longest tenured and last "official" Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as "The Walls" and "The Big House." MSP was also infamously referred to as the "bloodiest 47 acres in America."
He was the only Warden to work his way up through the ranks. In less than fifteen years after beginning as a Guard, he became Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary during the most turbulent time in its history.
Warden Wyrick was credited on many occasions for keeping the old penitentiary under control when events brought the penitentiary to a boiling point.
His extensive knowledge of prisons and extraordinary ability to communicate with convicts led to the capture of escaped convicts, contraband weapons being found and attempted escapes from happening.
Warden Wyrick was well known throughout the United States and other countries as being the most superlative Warden of any penitentiary. He was sought after by many states to oversee their penal systems.
Warden Wyrick is a legacy within the Missouri Department of Corrections.
A book titled, "Man of the Big House, Missouri State Penitentiary, A Warden's Warden" was published about Warden Wyrick.
[edit]Famous inmates
April 19, 1919, prisoner Kate Richards O'Hare was brought to M.S.P. to serve a five year sentence for an anti-war speech she had given in Bohman, North Dakota some months earlier. Kate O'Hare's prison sentence was commuted by President Woodrow Wilson in May, 1920. Later she was given a full pardon by President Calvin Coolidge.
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd entered M.S.P. on December 18, 1925 for a robbery.
In the fall of 1953, a young Kansas City boy was kidnapped and brutally murdered. A week later the murderers, Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Heady, were arrested. They were tried and sentenced to death for their crimes. The Federal Government had no facilities to carry out the execution, so M.S.P. was selected to carry out their sentence.
In 1954 there was a riot at M.S.P.. The Highway Patrol and National Guard troops were called in to help quell the riot. When it was all over, four inmates had been killed, 29 injured and one attempted suicide. Four corrections officers had been injured. Several buildings had been burned; and damages were estimated to be 5 million dollars. No prisoners were able to escape during the incident.
In 1956, the towers were updated, and this was the last time they were updated before the prison was closed in 2004.
James Earl Ray was admitted to the penitentiary on March 17, 1960. On April 23, 1967, prisoner #00416 J.E. Ray escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in a bread box that was supposed to contain loaves of bread that was being transported from M.S.P. to the Renz prison. Somewhere during the trip, Ray escaped. Ray later was convicted of the Murder of Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King. (I want to interject to say that Warden Wyrick said he had actual conversations with James Earl Ray and believes that he was not a racist, and was paid to pull the trigger on Dr. King--that is when I thought---this man has really experienced history!)
In 1974, Lillian Bonds became the first female Correctional Officer to work in a male correctional facility. This was also the year that the official job classification for custody staff was changed from "Guard" to "Correctional Officer".
The last execution at M.S.P. was on January 6, 1989. The inmate executed was George "Tiny" Mercer.
In 1991, the name Missouri State Penitentiary was changed to the Jefferson City Correctional Center. In 2003 it was changed back to Missouri State Penitentiary so there was no confusion between the old prison, and the new one that was being built.
In December 1999, Corrections Supervisor I (Captain) Saralyn McKenzie became the highest ranking female custody staff member. She was the only female Captain ever to work inside the Walls.
On October 22, 2003, a murder/escape attempt occurred at M.S.P. Inmate Toby Viles was murdered by two offenders that worked with him in the prison's ice plant. Inmate Shannon Phillips has plead guilty of the murder. Inmate Christopher Simms was also present in the Ice Plant during the time of the murder, but has yet to stand trial. Inmate Phillips and Simms were found 4 days later in a room that the inmates had prepared for an extended stay. The room was concealed from corrections staff until they began to punch holes in peg boards that covered the walls. The offenders were planning to wait until the closure of M.S.P. to escape. They were only off by about 11 months.
The Missouri State Penitentiary was closed on Sept. 15 2004 and the new Jefferson City Correctional Center was opened.
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