The Old Idaho State Penitentiary

A few years ago when my dear friend J moved to Boise for a temporary work assignment, we all became aware of The Old Idaho Penitentiary's existence. On one of of their trips back to the Panhandle she waxed ecstatic about just how awesome the place was and how we all needed to come check it out.

We planned a trip to the state Pen for Spring 2020, as our friend was going to sell their Boise house and move back up north to the Panhandle. Well, we all know what happened in Spring of 2020, so we kicked the date out to Fall of 2020, and rescheduled again, and again, until October of 2021 arrived and we finally got to take our trip to the Penitentiary!

Honestly though, having the word PENITENTIARY spelled out in all caps on my whiteboard calendar for the world to see was kinda awesome and most definitely a solid conversational starting fodder for the past two years, I am going to miss it....

Anyway, the old state pen was opened in 1872 and in business for just over 100 years. I love kicking about through old buildings, especially dwellings with history and prisons most definitely got some of that colorful history vibe going on.

Plus, I think it's important to see what those who have come before us went through, how they lived, and where they buried their pets (more on this later).

You can purchase tickets online to go through the Pen, or buy them right inside the door. As my friend J had made all of the pre-arrangements to visit, while she was talking to the most excellent and friendly staff about our entrance tickets, I faffed about the entry, taking in the warden's office:

After getting our admission lined out, we walked through a door leading to the inner realm of the prison. My first delightful moment was the discovery that there were rose bushes everywhere throughout the prison's yards. They were all still in bloom too, which made my whole day as up where I live good ol' Jack Frost has already put every plant thing to bed for the season.

If you do visit the prison, be prepared for your brain to go into stimulation overdrive, there was so much to take in, prison blocks, rec yards, explanatory signs, anti-social attraction goers, the list goes on!

While attempting to be good tourists, and with perhaps our destination laying a bit thick on our minds, we attempted to follow the map we were given in an orderly and well-behaved fashion. Okay, I am fibbing a little, I skipped around like an elated chihuahua! My two friends are quite tall women, so the chihuahua thing works in this instance. Our first stop after I gazed at the basketball courtyard was the oldest cell block.

Holy cramped quarters! I am a touch over five feet and the beds were for someone my size. I mean, I know people were smaller on average a century ago, but those cells were super dark, dank, and cramped. Not to mention the bathroom accommodations were a little less than ideal. Hello, honey bucket! If I remember right the inmates only got to bathe once a week, so the whole place must have been beyond odiferous.

There were four rows of cells, all vertically stacked, which also gave me a bit of a pause. Boise gets HOT in the summer, so those poor creatures on the top row must have roasted. I guess I shouldn't say poor, I saw what some of them were in the place for, but dang!

We then moved on to the more modern cell blocks that were constructed as the prison grew and aged. Not that living conditions improved much, but it was very interesting to see the evolution in architecture over the decades. My friend pointed out the radiators in each of the buildings and you could see how styles and technology evolved just by looking at the heating apparati of each building.

One of my favorite exhibits was the improvised weaponry board. People are so creative!

Most of the place was pretty serene when it came to how the overall feeling of the setting was, with the exception of the Maximum Security Block and The Laundry Showers. My chest clenched right up when I stepped into the max security area, it was a little strange.

Their shower situation was less than desirable, that's for sure:

The State of Idaho hanged ten people at the Old State Pen, some in the Rose Garden, and some right here:

After pondering the particulars of execution, we went to the other neck hair raising place in the prison (for me at least) The Laundry. It definitely had the creepy old industrial thing going for it:

And to top off the discomfort sundae was the showers that were present in the already slightly horrifying laundry building. #nope

I was glad to get out of that chest crushing rock box for sure. We then meandered over to the sorta wrecked from the 1973 riot side of the prison. Before taking in the burned out husks of the hospital and other administrative buildings, I got to be shut in a solitary confinement cell. The only light in my temporary confinement came from a little round window in the ceiling. It was such a tiny and forlorn space, I can't imagine being stuck in it for weeks on end. For some reason I was struck with an urge to go read The Count of Monte Cristo.

After escaping my cell, I burst outside into the sun whirled around to take in more. The place is such an information overload! I really liked the building that was the old barbershop (I think) that had a graphic novel-like illustrated timeline of the history of the prison and the building next to it had an in-depth look at many of the inmates, what crime they had committed and so on.

After exiting those buildings I caught a glimpse of a beautiful rose garden in the northeast corner of the prison. It's where they used to hang people....

J also showed us something fascinating, the grave of the prison cat Dennis. It was tucked into the earth behind a guard shack:

The Old Idaho State Penitentiary was a time capsule of sorts, one you can wander through instead of digging up out of the earth. I'm so happy I got to visit, and you can bet your best shiv that I am going to return to the place for another gander at its historical grandeur sometime in the future!