Rawlins, Wyoming Overnighter and Old Penitentiary Tour

On our way to Nebraska for the Blad reunion, we stopped for a rest in Rawlins Wyoming, a halfway point.  We got a cheap motel room.  It was OLD.  The place was not much to look at.  Our room had 3 full beds.  Wish Steve and I had tried each bed before choosing the one we chose.  Our bed was the stiffest of the bunch.  Lily's was cushy.  None of the blankets matched. All the furniture and decor seemed to be mismatched pieces probably given away at various yard sales.  I kept spotting little ants coming from a tiny hole near the bathroom door.  The old giant windows were draped with a layer of plastic encasing the windows and the sill. There were lots of dead bugs in that gap.  We kept the curtains closed.  Our room was right on the main road of the town and the big trucks were loud.  But... we did have a TV and we did have a microwave and full size refrigerator and freezer.  That was nice because I had brought frozen food from home so we wouldn't have to go out to eat on Sunday.

The next day, I looked into going on a tour of the old penitentiary just around the corner.  It seemed we had just the right amount of time to go on the tour before we checked out and headed off to Fort Robinson.  Amara and I went a little early to view the museum and Steve joined us for the tour a little later.  Lily was tired and wanted to sleep so we gave her the motel to herself and took lots of pictures to show her.  After we got back she admitted that she wished she had gone on the tour.  She couldn't really sleep anyway.

Amara in front of the "old pen."

I love how Amara is hiding under the sign for this picture!

What a building!

Enjoy a look at a few of the exhibits at the museum...

Hopefully the only time we see Amara behind bars.

This was the disturbing demo of how the Julien Gallows worked.

There was an art gallery displaying artwork done by inmates.  I was very impressed.  Something I learned from going through this museum and tour was that these criminals are not so different from non-criminals.  They have intellect, talents, gifts, lots of good they could contribute to the world.  Their unfortunate choices led them to living in this penitentiary.

This is one of the incredible paintings done by one of the inmates.

Another cool painting from an inmate

Pictures from the Penitentiary Tour

The door that led to the room where the inmates had to give up everything on themselves including their clothing, and put on their striped clothes.

I bought the book that they believe was the diary of this inmate.  It is interesting to me how eloquent his writing is, even if his grammar is poor.  I also like seeing his thoughts and where they lead him.  The thoughts of this criminal hold value in my mind because it puts an honest look into this real person's life, bad choices and good, then I can relate it back to human behavior, including personal behavior.

Our tour guide was excellent, very knowledgable, and  funny.

This is what visitation looked like back then.

The walls look gross and horror-show like because there was a movie filmed there and they wanted the place to look scarier so they "fixed up" the walls to look like that.

This is what the cell block looked like.  the Johnson bar runs along the top of all of the doors and can be locked and unlocked all at once.  It is COLD in there.  We went in the middle of the heat of summer and it was still cold in there.

Showing the Johnson bar.  One inmate used floss or string or something and coupled with gritty toothpaste he over time sawed through the Johnson bar and was able to unlock his cell every night and break into the commissary and steal goods and sell them to other inmates for money.  They did eventually catch him, and they knew it was him because he had so much money in his cell.

A cell

Prison doesn't look like a very enjoyable place to live.

This place is so dark and is not the kind of shower I'd like.  The water was cold, the place was dark and cold.  No thanks.

Kitchen/ Cafeteria

This would be my favorite place in the whole pen.  It was the brightest room and had artwork (painted by inmates), plus it's where you got fed.  The thin tables were set up with one bench all on the same side to keep the peace.  

The art on this wall was one of the two optical illusions.  Depending where you stand in the room it looks like you're on a different side of the tracks.

This is the yard where they would get some outside time.

The gate to the yard

The stairwell to death row.