Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces - Dave Basham - Страница 49

Stillwater prison is a registered historical site. Stillwater prison is in Bayport. How did that happen, you ask? Well, I'll tell you, eventually.

On July 2, 1839, a member of a Sioux tribe was killed and scalped by two Chippewa near Lake Calhoun. This caused the Sioux to send out war parties to find them and get revenge.

The next day, the Sioux found the Chippewa camped in a marshy ravine on the shore of the St. Croix River and attacked. This area is on the north end of Stillwater.

The Sioux caught them by surprise. 21 Chippewa were killed, 29 were wounded and the Sioux had no injuries or deaths.

This bloody battle in this ravine became known as "Battle Hollow". This site was chosen for the Minnesota Territorial Prison.

Minnesota became a territory in 1849. Alexander Ramsey was its governor. At this time prisoners were held at Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley as counties had no jails. On September 3, 1849, Ramsey addressed the territorial legislature. He stated that "there should be proper and safe places of confinement." He requested that they ask the federal government for money to build a prison.

In June of 1850 the government appropriated $20,000 to the territory to be used to build the prison.

Both Stillwater and St. Paul were being considered to become the capitol. Stillwater was important because its logging industry was booming.

Battle Hollow had an area of 4 acres, which was enough space for a prison at that time. This area was surrounded on three sides by bluffs. This worked well for the Sioux to be able to contain and conquer the Chippewa without receiving any casualties themselves. The legislature felt that this would be a great location for containing inmates in their territorial prison. That is why in February of 1851, St. Paul was designated to be the capitol and Stillwater was chosen to be the site for the prison.

Construction began in May of 1851. The prison was ready by April 4, 1853. Francis Delano, one of the contractors building the prison was appointed to a five year term as its first warden. There were a total of 13 wardens running this prison until it was abandoned in 1914.

Buildings completed by the time the prison was open for business were a three story housing unit with six cells and two dungeons for solitary confinement, a workshop and an office. They were constructed of limestone taken from nearby quarries. The wall surrounding the prison was 12 feet high. A warden's house was built outside of the walls on the south bluff overlooking the prison.

(As the prison population began to grow, the original building that held only six cells was torn down and replaced by a building that held 158 prisoners.)

The cells measured five by seven feet and had steel floors. The ventilation was poor and the small cell hall windows allowed very little light to enter. It was always damp and dingy. There was no running water or toilet.

Flat out the location sucked. Whenever it rained or there was snow melt, the prison had water flowing into it that was running off from the higher elevations around it.

Water constantly flowed into the prison. Cellblock workers had to try to get the water out of the prison in order to keep it livable for the inmates. They had to sweep out the water, squeegee it or do whatever they could to try to get all of that water out of the prison. Because of this, they acquired the name of "Swampers." That name is still what the inmates that clean the cell halls are called to this day.

(Even as recently as 2000, in the infinite wisdom of the Minnesota politicians, the prison in Rush City was built on swamp land because the state could acquire that land cheap. This created greater expense problems after it was built due to parts of the prison sinking.)

Warden Delano built up a profitable business for himself using the prison, its prisoners and hiring about 15 people from Stillwater to come into the prison to work. He used eight thousand dollars of his own money to buy steam powered machinery for the manufacturing of shingles, sashes, doors, flooring, wagons, and plows.

Factory owners worked at getting the wardens job so they could rent prison shops and use cheap inmate labor.

There were very strict rules governing the old prison. Inmates were required to be kept busy from sunrise to sunset, so they worked less in the winter due to fewer hours of daylight. They were allowed thirty minutes off to eat each meal. Inmates were not allowed to talk except on rare occasions. Dungeon cells were used for the unruly or disobedient. When in the dungeon cells, they were allowed only bread and water. If that didn't take care of the problem, they would receive 20 lashes a day for 5 days.

Escapes were frequent by such methods as prying, digging, dismantling and sawing. There were no night guards. In 1856, seven men and one woman escaped. On June 27, 1857, every prisoner escaped. Francis Delano was still the warden. As his background was as a contractor, he was more concerned with using the prison and prisoners to make money rather than having a secure facility.

Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858. The territorial prison became the first state prison. The new warden tightened security, ordering muskets and bayonets to be used by guards; reduced prison accessibility by outsiders; and refused to accept county prisoners.

In 1860, the prison started making the prisoners wear black and white striped uniforms. They were used until 1921.

In 1861, an addition included three cells for women.

In 1862, the legislature passed a law allowing prisoners to have their sentence reduced three days for every month of good behavior that they racked up.

In 1864, a 24 x 24 foot stable was built on the lot adjoining the Warden's House. The construction of the stable was completed in July for the cost of $75. The stables eventually evolved into a two-story framed carriage house. By 1910 the carriage house was used as an automobile garage.

Female convicts were generally locked up in local jails or county jails. In 1870, the prison started locking up females there on a regular basis. Nellie Sullivan became the prisons first female inmate since Minnesota had become a state. She was 19 years old. The best that I could find about her crime was an inference that she was a sexually promiscuous person. It became necessary to build a different area in which to house her and other women.

Matrons were assigned to care for, control and discipline the women prisoners. The wives of prison staff were generally assigned to be the matron. The work for the female offenders was washing, ironing and mending clothes. This set up went on for 50 years, which is when the Shakopee Correctional Facility for Women was opened.

In 1874 the Minnesota legislature passed a law that allowed prisoners to be paid for the work that they did.

November 22, 1876, the Younger Brothers, (Cole, Jim, and Bob) arrived to serve life sentences for the Northfield Bank Raid.

What did the prisoners eat in 1879? The Minnesota Department of Corrections web site states that "typical prison food consisted of boiled meat, potatoes, vegetable and two slices of bread on a tin dish with a cup of water. Coffee, tea and porridge were also served. Milk was a delicacy reserved for the sick. Fruit, butter, salt and pepper were not provided."

The prison had two fires in 1884, both in January. The first fire was on the 8^th. The second and worst was on the 25^th. This fire started in the wood working shop. The state militia was called and helped get about 350 prisoners out of their cells. The temperature was below zero. The inmates were held in different parts of the prison yard before being moved to a foundry where they were guarded by the militiamen. An inmate who did not obey the order to leave was the only casualty. About the only objects saved were the prison records.

The Younger Brothers had been in Stillwater prison seven years at this point in time. Cole Younger later wrote, "There was danger of a panic and a terrible disaster." The prison shopkeeper, who trusted the Younger's, released them and handed a revolver to Cole, an axe handle to Jim and a small iron bar to Bob.

According to a quote attributed to Cole, "We stood guard over the women prisoners, marched them from the danger of fire, and the prison authorities were kind enough to say that if it had not been for us there might have been tremendous loss of life."

The next day the prison was flooded with telegrams, and newspaper headlines that read such things as, "Did the Younger's escape?" and "Plot to free the Younger's." The warden suggested to his chief deputy that the Younger's be put in irons, not because he feared them, but to soothe the public. The deputy refused. Instead he took the Younger's to the county jail downtown, where they stayed three to four weeks. It was the only time they were outside the prison from 1876 to 1901.

Cole Younger recorded, "I can say without fear of contradiction that had it been in our minds to do so, we could have escaped from prison that night, but we had determined to pay the penalty, and if we were ever to return to liberty, it would be with the consent and approval of the authorities and the public."

Governor Hubbard worked on finding cell space for the prisoners by telegraphing county jails and the Wisconsin State Prison in Waupun. Most inmates were transferred by train. A few were housed temporarily on the prison grounds.

A matron and six female inmates were guests of the warden and his wife at their home adjacent to the prison before being taken to Winona. Three of them were doing time for murder.

As soon as they could put a roof on the burnt prison, the prisoners were brought back.

Most reconstruction was completed by the middle of 1886. There were now 582 cells and work space with machinery to employ over five hundred people. At the time there were only 387 prisoners.

On July 11, 1887, fifteen inmates put up $200 to start a prison paper. Three of the fifteen were the Younger brothers. Cole and James each gave $20 and Bob gave $10.

On August 10, 1887, the first edition of "The Prison Mirror" was published at the old Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater. It is the oldest continuously published prison newspaper in the country.

Cole Younger was a printer's assistant, called a "printer devil" back in those days.

In 1885, the legislature began the process of creating the Minnesota State Reformatory for Men. St. Cloud was chosen due to the granite quarry there that could be used to build the facility. The purpose was to be for correcting "criminal tendencies before they became chronic". It was felt that a younger prisoner could not be reformed by locking him up with the hardened criminals at Stillwater. In 1889, inmates began being transferred from Stillwater to St. Cloud.

In 1916, construction began at the St. Cloud site on the largest enclosed granite wall in the world. It is over one mile long, 22 feet high, and four and one-half feet thick. It was constructed from granite quarried within the prison grounds. This wall transformed the reformatory into the prison where all convicted felons first enter. Here they are evaluated. Some stay here while most get transferred to other Minnesota Correctional facilities.

Between 1858 and 1889 the cell capacity at Stillwater grew from 22 cells to 582.

In 1892, the forerunner of the parole system began. This allowed prisoners considered to be good risks to be released from prison before their sentence expired.

The twine factory banged out one million pounds of twine this year.

In 1893, a new parole law was passed by the legislature authorizing release of prisoners on parole prior to the expiration of their sentence.

There were three different classes of prisoners, each with its own uniform and its own set of rules and privileges.

Prisoners could be leased out to do work for others up until 1895. After that, only the sale of finished goods from the prison shops was permitted.

Inmates convicted to life sentences had not been allowed to be paroled. In 1901, the law was amended to allow lifers to be eligible for parole. This is when Jim and Cole Younger were paroled.

If you want Minnesota to have the death penalty, it's not going to happen. That is the fault of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department. In 1906, they failed to properly hang murderer William Williams. There must not have been a budget crunch that year, because they used some extra rope on this guy. When the trap door was dropped and he fell through expecting to be hung, it did not happen, being hung that is. His feet touched the ground. No, it was not a divine intervention. The idiot that determined the length of the rope must have been bad at math. The three wizard deputies that were standing on the scaffolding were quick to find a solution. They pulled up on the rope and held him there thrashing around. It took fourteen and a half minutes before he stopped moving. Strangulation was not considered a proper way to be executed. Having one's body weight plop down at the end of the rope is a main ingredient in helping to help snap the neck and spinal cord. This was considered the humane way to kill. This hanging was like watching the end of a basketball game where one team keeps intentionally fouling the team that is leading and getting further behind. It seems to go on forever when you want it to end. You keep watching because you want to see how long it will take before the stupidity ends. The spectators expected a quick show and instead wound up with a marathon. I don't know if they were upset with all of the wiggling around or if they had other plans, but they were upset. Newspapers that printed this fiasco generated the public to put pressure on the legislature to end death sentences. This change took five years to execute no more executions. Before this change passed, however, they took a shot at consistency. They thought about performing all hangings at Stillwater prison. The thought was probably that one group of officers could dispose of prisoners more efficiently than various hacks across the state. I worked with plenty of officers that would have liked to have been on a death squad like that.

(While going through the academy and working in the prison I heard this story many times. Only the version being told was that the sheriff grabbed the rope and started dragging the guy around the grounds until he died. This is an example of how the truth gets distorted over time.)

As time passed, the state needed a larger prison to accommodate their increasing number of felons. They chose a location two miles south of the Battle Hollow location in South Stillwater. They secured 160 acres on a bluff overlooking the St. Croix River. This location also solved the problem of water flowing from the surrounding area into the prison.

The prison didn't open officially until 1914; however some prisoners were transferred there in 1909 to work in the twine factory.

The powerhouse, water tower and industry buildings were the first to be built. The prisoners lived on the third floor of the south industry building in a dormitory. They went to work on the first floor in the twine factory. Making twine was a staple of the prison industries program from early on at the first prison until a few decades ago when the demand for twine diminished.

In 1914, the new larger prison in South Stillwater officially opened to replace the prison in Stillwater. With the construction costs, the state was able to direct funds toward education and recreation activities for the inmates. This Minnesota prison was a model for countries around the world to come to see. The same thing happened when Minnesota built the Oak Park Heights Super Max Prison 68 years later.

In 1920, the Minnesota State Reformatory for Women was opened for business. The female prisoners housed in Stillwater entered their new homes in Shakopee.

With the new prison on line, the state expanded its prison industries program. In 1921, all of the prison industries became known as the Industrial Department. They produced twine, rope, barrels, shoes, farm machinery and other farm equipment. The prison industries program is now called MINNCOR. They have recently phased out of producing most of the farm machinery, however they will produce whatever they can get a contract for. While I was working there around 2006, they received a contract to assemble tractors.

On September 26, 1922, South Stillwater became a separate city from Stillwater. They changed the name of their new city to Bayport. That is how Stillwater Prison wound up in a town called Bayport.

During the 1930's, most of the old prison's buildings were torn down to provide stone for public works projects.

In1941, the state sold the warden's house to the Washington County Historical Society and the two remaining prison buildings were sold to a dairy. The old warden's house is still there and is being used as a museum.

In 1953, there was a riot in Stillwater Prison. The inmates tore the place up. They were protesting conditions and rules. The riot was so loud that people living near the prison could hear the noise.

I found information that stated that during an incident in 1960, it took 150 guards with bayonets to get inmates back into their cells. Where they got all of those guards and all of those bayonets, I have no idea. Another time tear gas was needed to regain control of the prison.

Two televisions were put in each of the A and B cellblocks in May of 1965. The inmates were allowed to buy televisions for their cells by the time the early 1970's rolled around.

A work release program was instituted in 1967. Inmates that met specific guidelines were allowed to work at paid jobs outside of the prison. Others were allowed to participate in community vocational programs.

In 1970, the "twine factory was closed by the warden, primarily because it did not provide marketable vocational training for inmates."

Warden Jack Young prevented an escape by firing a shotgun at a cellblock where inmates were cutting bars with a stolen piece of machinery known as a "Cincinnati Grinder."

During this incident, three officers were taken hostage. Inmates tried to walk out wearing the officers' uniforms. These inmates were not successful. Not that this could not happen at some point, but during an uprising, this would be expected. Inmates gave up after listing grievances for a reporter.

Later, another disturbance was ended with the use of shotguns and tear gas.

In 1971, an inmate stabbed the warden several times. This got the stabber committed as mentally ill and dangerous. Why wasn't this inmate committed before he tried to kill the warden? It's because massive buildings would have to be built to house all of those guys that could be listed as mentally ill and dangerous. A lot more staff would need to be employed. Those people would require higher rates of pay than correction officers. Housing those committed would cost much more than housing them in prisons. The warden lived, but obviously the physical and mental scars remained.

In 1972, a program called Legal Aid to Minnesota Prisoners (LAMP) was created to help inmates with problems other than criminal in nature. The program was run by the state Public Defenders Office.

"The Ombudsman for Corrections was authorized by the state legislature as an independent state agency." This was the first program of its kind in the United States. There is a section later that explains this program.

In 1975, a murdered inmate was found in his cell. We find plenty of inmates that have been beaten, but rarely is anyone murdered. Suicide is the larger problem. I should say that we assume that they have been beaten, because most often they assure us that they just fell. From the inmate's statements of so many falling down, vertigo must be something a lot of inmates must catch upon entering prison. Our country's surgeon general should check into this problem, maybe not.

May 30, 1975, after a one hour riot, an inmate with his throat cut was found on the flag after being tossed off the third tier. Yes, he did die shortly thereafter.

In 1977, in order to establish more control of the prison, housing assignments, unannounced cell block searches, extended inmate work days and other restrictions were implemented at Stillwater. Truckloads of contraband were removed from cells.

Even with the higher security measures, four inmates escaped by sawing through the bars and getting over a fence. They were all caught. Two of them never got very far. One was able to turn his escape into a two day vacation. The other was able to party for five days before being found.

In 1980, sentencing guidelines were created. This established consistency within the system for like crimes. This way, those choosing to commit a crime could see what their sentence would be if they got caught. If you felt like taking a three year vacation from freedom, you could look up crimes that would get you three years and commit one of them. However, this system established a new type of parole system. If sentenced to three years, you would only have to do two thirds of your sentence and be paroled for the final year if you behaved in the slammer. If you wanted to do the full three years, you would have to be a bad boy, bad boy, what ya gonna do; go for three or two.

In 1982, the Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility opened. This was called a super max prison at the time. It was designed differently than any other prison. Being the first of its kind, people came from other countries to examine it and still do. This is now a common design for states and other countries to build.

Escapes are preventable if officers are alert and question anything that does not seem normal. It took more than one security breech from officers for two inmates to be able to escape in 1982. The inmates did like little kids would do. They hid in cardboard boxes, were loaded on a truck and driven out of the prison. No further escape attempts have been successful from Stillwater since then. Inmates have walked away from minimum security outside of the walls, but no one has escaped from within the prison walls.

In 1983, the nice young gentlemen residing in cells in the prison got a little rowdy. When that many people of that type are placed in one place, bad things can happen. In this case, the public had to bear the cost of replacing 900 windows.

In 1985, sex offenders became the largest group locked up in Minnesota prisons. There were 430 of them which was eighteen and a half percent of the total population. This caused the Department of Corrections to mount a huge effort to increase the number of programs for these smarmy characters.

In 1989, the legislature increased the amount of time criminals would be doing. Many sentencing guidelines were doubled. I don't know if this was to be a deterrent to committing crimes or if they wanted to keep these guys off the streets longer. It did create a need for more prisons.

In 1993, Stillwater's warden got the bright idea to create a controlled movement system. Guess what? I'm not being sarcastic. This was actually a bright idea. Instead of inmates being able to wander anywhere in the prison, groups were restricted to who could go where and when. Fewer numbers of inmates were allowed to be out of their cells and cellblocks at one time. This made it more difficult to be able to victimize other inmates. It also made it more difficult for groups to organize and create problems.

In 1995, Minnesota was the first in the nation to establish a restorative justice program with a full-time staff person. This has been a very successful program that allows victims and/or victims' families to interact with the criminal. This can create closure or healing for all involved. Criminals can put a face and feelings to the negativity that they caused.

In 1996, the city of Stillwater bought the site of the old prison for $845,000 to preserve it as a historical site.

In 1997, Minnesota's prison population reached over 5,000 inmates. The constant rise came from criminalizing more offences and increased length of sentences.

As of August 1, 1997, the state banned tobacco from being in their prisons, inmates and staff included. This was not popular. Tobacco became a highly sought after form of contraband and thus worth a lot of money. An old timer told me that before this policy went into effect, it was not possible to see from one end of a cellblock to the other because the smoke was so thick. Imagine the affects of that second hand smoke on those living or working in that foul air.

In 2002, Stillwater opened a new health services unit inside the main building. The old health services' building was separate from the main prison building. It had been built on a hill within the perimeter of the wall in the early 1900s. The old building was torn down and the hill was removed in order to make room for the new segregation unit.

On Tuesday September 3, 2002, fire destroyed the old prison's historic three story brick twine factory that had been built in 1890. Witnesses reported seeing three people running from the building shortly before the fire was reported around 8pm. It took more than 150 fire fighters from 15 neighboring fire departments to put out the fire. Due to its secluded location, vandalism on this site had been an ongoing problem. Two of the three men, that did not set the fire, turned themselves in two days later. They identified the man that started the fire. An 18-year-old St. Paul man was apprehended and charged with arson the next day. This crime carried a penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine. When police asked him why he set the fire, he replied, "I was bored." The two accomplices told the police investigators that they entered the building to investigate rumors that it was haunted by the ghost of Cole Younger. The three men explored the old twine factory building for 40 minutes. The arsonist stated that when he became bored, he placed a piece of cardboard under a shelf and lit it with a cigarette lighter. However, the next day he said that he might have thrown the cardboard into an open can, also igniting spilled liquid. The State Fire Marshall's office confirmed the use of a flammable liquid to start the fire. Due to this historic site being destroyed, the city sold the land to a developer for the same amount ($845,000) that they paid for it back in 1996.

In 2004, the prison population was continuing to rise. The DOC had been trying to maximize the number of beds in their prisons. They made future plans for more beds. In the mean time, they contracted with county jails to house their overflow of criminals.

Wisconsin even took some of our prisoners. I don't know when this started, but I believe it is no longer necessary.

Methamphetamine became very popular causing the prison population to spike. By January 1, 2005, the number of inmates locked up in Minnesota prisons due to being involved with meth was at 1,087 verses only 139 just 4 years earlier.

A prisoner attempting to escape was found in the basement of a prison industry building by a trained dog. He was captured 90 minutes after it was discovered that he was not where he was supposed to be. He had made a dummy and positioned it at the sink in his cell as if it were washing up. A seasoned corrections officer identified that something was wrong when checking that cell during the mid day count. That same prisoner was caught trying to escape from a jail in 1985. Escape materials were discovered in his cell in 1992.

In 2007, the warden's house across the street from the prison was refurbished and dedicated as the Jack & Adele Young Conference Center. They were the last ones to live there when Jack was warden from 1968-1971. This would have been a good house for one of those remodeling shows to cover.

(While I was working at the prison, a training instructor was hired for both the Stillwater and Oak Park Heights Prisons. This house was being used for training and had not yet been refurbished. Bats lived in this house and were frequently seen flying around. One day this instructor was bitten by one of these bats, thus his nickname became "Batman.")

The new segregation unit opened shortly after I retired in 2008. "The 150-bed unit provides a safer, more functional and energy efficient means of supervising offenders who must be segregated from the general population. The $19.6 million building features solid doors, electronic locking, and wider hallways."