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29-508: ISCI is the oldest operating prison in the state, with a capacity of 1,446, with special-use beds for infirmary, outpatient mental health, and geriatric residents. Its reception and diagnostic unit (RDU) serves as the entry point for all men entering Idaho's prison system. ISCI was opened in December 1973 as the state prison, after serious riots in 1971 and 1973 destroyed much of the century-old Idaho State Penitentiary in east Boise . A riot in

58-567: A 17-foot-high (5.2 m) sandstone wall. The stone was quarried from the nearby ridges by the resident convicts , who also assisted in later constructions. Less than two miles (3 km) southeast of downtown Boise, the Old Idaho Penitentiary is operated by the Idaho State Historical Society ; the elevation of the site is approximately 2,770 feet (845 m) above sea level . Dennis,

87-488: A few employees. Therefore, the inmate trusties essentially controlled inmate care and custody, basically running the prison system. Highest in the prison inmate hierarchy were the inmates armed with rifles , called the "trusty shooters". Their job was to act as prison guards and control other inmates on a day-to-day basis in the residential camps or out on the field work crews. Next came the unarmed trusties who performed janitorial , clerical , and other menial tasks for

116-614: A former inmate sued the prison superintendent for personal injury suffered under the trusty system. Other states using the trusty system, such as Arkansas , Alabama , Louisiana , and Texas were also forced to abolish it under the Gates v. Collier rulings. However, some states, such as Texas , still continued their use of trusty systems (known as "building tenders") until the 1980s, when Federal Judge William Wayne Justice , in Ruiz v. Estelle , 503 F. Supp. 1265 (S.D. Tex. 1980), compelled

145-425: A kitten found in the prison barn by an inmate in 1952 was kept in the penitentiary for sixteen years. Guards allowed him to keep Dennis even though incarcerated men were not allowed pets. Dennis roamed the yard and made friends. The guards and inmates grew to love him. In 1968, Dennis died in his sleep. The inmates performed a funeral in his honor, even providing him a headstone. Dennis is the only "inmate" buried within

174-556: A large industrial workspace for vocational rehabilitation and job training programs, and a fully functioning medical clinic with 28 inpatient beds. ISCI also hosted the Inmate Dog Alliance Program of Idaho (IDAPI). This program takes dogs from the Humane Society, and places them with an inmate. The goal of the program was to prepare the dogs for adoption, as well as providing therapeutic opportunities for

203-568: A position of authority and control other inmates or to use physical abuse or intimidation of other inmates was abolished. It also found some types of corporal punishment were a violation of an inmate's Eighth Amendment rights, including " handcuffing inmates to the fence and to cells for, long periods of time,... and forcing inmates to stand, sit or lie on crates, stumps, or otherwise maintain awkward positions for prolonged periods." Its structure and abuses were detailed in Hope v. Pelzer in which

232-654: Is also an outdoor recreational area that is now the Idaho Botanical Gardens where inmates boxed and played baseball, basketball, handball, tennis, horseshoes, and football. The baseball, and later softball, team was named The Outlaws and frequently played teams from across the Treasure Valley . A baseball stadium was located in what is now referred to as "Outlaw Field" where the Botanical Gardens hosts outdoor concerts. The prison cemetery

261-597: Is located in the Botanical Gardens. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 for its significance as a Territorial Prison. The site currently contains the buildings and cell houses with exhibits, the Idaho Merci Train boxcar, and the J. Curtis Earl Memorial Exhibit, all managed by the Idaho State Historical Society . In late 1999, J.C. Earl donated his personal collection of historic arms and military memorabilia to

290-473: The 1950s to the closing of the prison. The collection is open for research at the society. The Territorial Prison was completed in 1872 and received its first 11 inmates from the Boise County Jail. This building was converted into a chapel in the 1930s and was destroyed by fire in the 1973 riot. The New Cell House (1889–1890) consisted of three tiers of 42 steel cells. The third tier closest to

319-637: The Multipurpose Building (1923) served as a shirt factory, shoe shop, bakery, license plate shop, laundry, hobby room, loafing room, and housed the communal showers. Solitary confinement consisted of two sections. The first, built in the early 1920s, was the Cooler. Although built for solitary confinement, each cell contained 4–6 men. The second section, known as Siberia, was built in 1926 and housed twelve 3-by-8-foot (0.9 m × 2.4 m) cells, with one inmate per cell. Cell House 4 (1952)

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348-614: The Rose Garden served as "Death Row." The area now known as the Rose Garden (as this is what it is now) was once used to execute prisoners by hanging. Of the 10 executions in the Old State Penitentiary, six occurred here. The Administration Building (1893–1894) housed the warden's office, armory, visitation room, control room, and turnkey area. The False Front Building (1894–1895) held the commissary, trusty dorm, barber shop (1902–the 1960s), and hospital (originally

377-463: The blacksmith shop, but was remodeled in 1912 and remained the prison hospital until the 1960s). The hospital was then converted into the social services office but burned down in the 1971 riot. The Dining Hall (1898) was designed by George Hamilton (an inmate at the time) and burned down in the 1973 riot. Cell House 2 (1899), also known as the North Wing, contained two-man cells. A honey bucket

406-414: The flagrant abuse of inmates under the trusty system and other prison abuses that had continued essentially unchanged since the building of the prison in 1903. On October 20, 1972, Federal Judge William Keady ordered the end of racial segregation in prison residential quarters. He also required replacement of trusty shooters with civilian prison guards. Any system in which inmates were allowed to be in

435-497: The location for the thirteenth episode of their second season. Ghost Adventures investigated the Old Idaho State Penitentiary for the eighth episode of their first season. The Idaho State Historical Society also produces a podcast "Behind Gray Walls," which tells the stories of individual inmates. Trusty system (prison) The " trusty system " (sometimes incorrectly called "trustee system")

464-554: The participating residents. This program was retired in 2021 due to COVID. On Easter Sunday in 1986, convicted felon Claude Dallas escaped from ISCI. Some believe he accomplished this by walking out with a group of visitors, although this remains in dispute. The escape spurred an almost year-long manhunt that ended in suburban southern California. 43°28′41″N 116°13′23″W  /  43.478°N 116.223°W  / 43.478; -116.223 Old Idaho State Penitentiary The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site

493-415: The population of the prison was around 1,900 inmates (two thirds of whom were black and in racially-segregated units), the law allowed only a maximum of 150 staff members to be hired to minimize operating costs. Thus, the farm labor was done by inmates. The bulk of guarding and disciplining of the inmates was performed by inmate trusties. They also performed most of the administrative work, supervised by

522-580: The prison walls. Over its 101 years of operation, the penitentiary received more than 13,000 inmates, with a maximum population of a little over 600. Two hundred and sixteen of the inmates were women. Two famous inmates were Harry Orchard and Lyda Southard . Orchard assassinated former Governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905 and Southard was known as Idaho's Lady Bluebeard for killing several of her husbands to collect upon their life insurance. Serious riots occurred in 1952 (May 24), 1971 (August 10), and 1973 (March 7–8) over living conditions in

551-503: The prison's staff. Simple tasks, such as distributing medication, were carried out by other categories of inmates such as "hallboys". Inmate trusties enforced discipline within the prison inmate living quarters (16 different residential camps) and in the work camps and prison farms . In addition to punishment administered on site, inmate trusties could recommend further punishment in the special punishment area for disobedient or disruptive inmates. According to attorney Roy Haber, who handled

580-537: The prison. The 416 resident inmates were moved to the new Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise and the Old Idaho Penitentiary was closed on December 3, 1973. Five years earlier in 1968, numerous prison trusties had escaped by walking away. In 1992, the Idaho State Historical Society recorded oral history interviews with fifteen former prison guards. These tapes and transcripts cover prison operations and remembrances from

609-568: The series of litigation cases brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the trusty system, inmates were whipped with leather straps for failing to pick their daily quota of cotton. The farm's camps of black inmates were supervised by one white sergeant, and under him the black inmate "trusty shooters", who were serving sentences for murder , carried rifles and enforced discipline. Gates v. Collier (Gates v. Collier Prison Reform Case, 1970–1971) ended

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638-484: The state of Idaho. These items were placed on exhibition in 2001 as the J. Curtis Earl Memorial Exhibit at the Old Idaho Penitentiary. They range from the Bronze Age to those used today for sport, law enforcement, and military purposes. The Luristan Bronze collection dates to about 1000–650 BC. The prison has become a popular site for ghost hunters. The Travel Channel's television show Destination Fear filmed at

667-420: The summer of 1980 at the prison caused damages in the millions of dollars, mostly in the maximum security area. The institution is surrounded by a double fence, patrolled by sentry dogs, with six operational towers to monitor perimeter security and resident movement. The facility includes a religious activities center, a fully-equipped recreation facility with two large tracks and ballfields, an accredited school,

696-417: The women moved into the warden's old house in 1905. Previously women did not have separate quarters and several scandals forced their relocation. Male inmates built a wall around the old warden's home in 1906 to serve as a separate facility for women. This building had seven two-person cells, a central day room, kitchen, and bathroom facilities. This building held the infamous Lyda Southard . Built by inmates,

725-566: Was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States , east of Boise, Idaho . The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison , was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870; the territory was seven years old when the prison was built, a full two decades before statehood. From its beginnings as a single cell house, the penitentiary grew to a complex of several distinctive buildings surrounded by

754-551: Was a penitentiary system of discipline and security enforced in parts of the United States until the 1980s, in which designated inmates were given various privileges, abilities, and responsibilities not available to all inmates. It was made compulsory under Mississippi state law but was used in other states as well, such as Arkansas , Alabama , Louisiana , New York and Texas . The method of controlling and working inmates at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman

783-650: Was designed in 1901 to replace convict leasing . The case Gates v. Collier ended the flagrant abuse of inmates under the trusty system and other prison abuses that had continued essentially unchanged since the building of the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Other states using the trusty system were also forced to give it up under the ruling. Prisons had trusties as far back as the 1800s. The prison had approximately 16,000 acres (65 km ) of farmland and grew such cash crops as cotton as well as engaged in livestock production. Although

812-442: Was placed in each cell to serve as a toilet. Inmates burned the building in the 1973 riot. Cell House 3 (1899) was built the same as Cell House 2. It was eventually condemned for habitation, but in 1921 was converted into a shoe factory. In 1928, this building was remodeled for inmate occupancy and became the first cell house with indoor plumbing. The Women's Ward dormitory (1920) was built out of necessity. Prior to its completion,

841-403: Was the largest and most modern cell house at the penitentiary. Some inmates painted their cells and left drawings on the walls that can be seen today. Cell House 5 (1954) was maximum security where the most unruly and violent offenders stayed. This building also served as a permanent place of solitary confinement. It includes a built-in gallows and " Death Row ." Although not a building, there

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