Total mileage for the trip so far: 886.0 Miles
June 13 was the scheduled day for the Missouri State Penitentiary Tour - the reason for the motorcycle tour to Missouri. The tour didn't start until 9:00 AM, but I was up early as usual so I took advantage of the time to do some walking and to see the State Capital. Jefferson City was almost scary quiet on an early Saturday morning which gave me time to walk around the Capital grounds some. The only other person I saw was the woman in the guard shack who appeared to be doing laps inside the shack as exercise or something.
The Capital building itself is impressive, but I could not get inside at this early hour. There are many statues around the building, most commemorating the territorial acquisition.
The Capital sits right on the Missouri River. Unfortunately, a set of train tracks separates the city from the river so it is not possible to enjoy it. It did look like it might be more accessible farther down the river. The sunrise over the river was still very pretty.
After the nice morning walk, it was back to the hotel for more hotel waffles saturated in syrup before heading out for the very short drive to the Missouri State Penitentiary.
The building itself is imposing and looks like several other prisons. The tour group was already congregating when we got there.
Once inside, our tour guide Ray gave some stories on the history and mayhemic background of the prison. Gretchen, the other tour guide, was nice enough to allow our motorcycle coats to be put up in the Guard Control Room for the bulk of the tour.
The Missouri State Penitentiary was built in 1836. It was added to multiple times after opening, typically using inmate labor. Interestingly, inmate labor was also used to build prestigious houses in the area.
The prison grew over the decades to, at one time, become one of the largest prisons in the US, if not the largest. It seemed to ebb and flow from being progressive to regressive in treatment of inmates, but like many prisons of the times, inmates were often seen as a lesser form of human.
One of the most notable inmates was "Pretty Boy" Floyd. It was also notable for female inmates and being the site of Missouri executions. Since for a time, the US government did not have its own facilities suitable for executions, the Missouri State Penitentiary was used for federal executions. It is noted as the only site where a woman was executed by lethal gas - any personal feelings on the death penalty aside, I'm not sure there is any reason to treat males and females differently with respect to punishment for similar crimes. Women's Lib? Take your medicine...
James Earl Ray was housed in the Missouri State Penitentiary. After numerous escape attempts, he finally made it out about a year before assassinating MLK. If there were "numerous" escape attempts, one wonders why he wasn't watched closer ... conspiracy theorists, have your say!
Like other prisons I've previously visited, the structure is an imposing stone building which I'm sure is designed to serve as a mental imposition to the imprisoned. It was in use from being built in 1836 through 2004 (seriously? - yes, only about 10 years ago - yikes!). It was the site of a major prisoner riot in 1954 and was labeled as the "bloodiest 47 acres in America" by Time Magazine in 1967 - an achievement noted on the tourism web site for the prison.
Rather than give a stone by stone account of the prison, below are some pictures from the tour:
One of the cell blocks.
A prison cell. Can you imagine spending years in this?
Another prison building off of "the yard." All these stone and metal buildings are so metaphorically cold, even on the hot and humid day that we were there.
The Honor Building. This is the oldest prison structure and served various purposes over its life. In the last incarnation, it was used to house inmates who had proven themselves to not be troublemakers. This building is different from previous tours I've been on in that the cell blocks are on the outside wall, not free standing.
Inmates were even allowed to decorate their cells to some degree. There were many murals painted, some of which remain. Apparently, some decorations that no longer exist were very ornate.
This is "The Hole" which is also known as the Dungeon. Much mistreatment of inmates went on down here. It was dark, dank and hard to imagine staying a few days down in it, let alone years.
Death Row. It was actually not as unpleasant as some of the other cells, but the reality is, it was probably the worst - mentally if nothing else.
The death chamber. They said they needed a two seat chamber since they had four double executions, but I still think it is odd in a scary sort of way.
Overall the tour was well done. I thought it was longer than it had to be since we didn't see that much. Much of the time was spent with Ray telling stories of the prison which did help bring the tour alive and bring some perspective to the event. There were some times when the talking did get to be a bit verbose. And some of the "ghost" stories were somewhere in the silly realm. It actually felt a bit rushed at the end, where we all drove to the Death House - which is where the tour ended.
Overall the tour was enjoyable. Having toured three prisons (and a jail the previous day), these prison structures are probably in the best shape of the ones that I've seen. There were 33 people on the tour which was a bit too many. I guess I would have liked it to be shorter, with not quite as much talking and a few less people. As it was though, hanging back when the group walked on allowed some really great pictures without a lot of other people in them.
The three prisons I have toured; Mansfield, Ohio; Rawlins, Wyoming; Jefferson City, Missouri do paint an interesting historic picture of incarceration. My plan is to only see these things as a free, motorcycle-riding tourist.
Once the tour was over we hit the road. The plan was to ride down 2-lane roads except for right around St. Louis. We hit some really heavy rain before St. Louis, but muscled through it. There wasn't any thunder and traffic was light. The rain only lasted about a half an hour until we were back into the heat.
We continued on through Illinois for the afternoon. I didn't hit "the wall" during the ride, but I did find myself wondering where the Indiana border was.
Eventually we did find the border. We were chasing rain through much of the second half of Illinois and into Indiana. Rain could be seen in the distance, and in some places the road was not dry yet. We stopped a little way into Indiana in the town of Washington. We didn't make reservations, but found a very nice reasonably priced independent hotel with a pizza and wing place next door.
Now that we are out of prison, it is time to head home.
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