The Idaho Penitentiary held prisoners from the late 1800s to 1974. The architecture is actually pretty beautiful for a prison.
This prison actually had its own working gallows. (creepy, right?) Its hard to tell from the picture because of the glass, but this is the noose and trapdoor. The last time it was used was in 1954.
The drop room from the gallows... I would not want to be the witness for a hanging.
One of the cell blocks. There were several buildings of cell blocks, one of which was maximum security.
Solitary confinement. The prisoners called it Siberia, and when you went into Siberia, you never had any idea of how long you were in there or how long you would stay there. It looks more like a storage closet than a prison cell.
Prisoners during WWII actually did laundry for the local Air Force base at Gowen Field in this room. I liked the intense pulley system and machinery that ran it all.
There was also a Women's Prison. This building was tiny, and only held about 20 or so prisoners. Most of the women who served there were prostitutes or adulterers, and they always got out in a few years (even for big crimes like murder). The women were allowed to basically do whatever they wanted compared to the men in the rest of the prison. Other than being locked up at night it didn't sound like that bad of a place to be.
There was also a weapons exhibit in one of the buildings. This exhibit was full of basically every weapon from every American war up to Vietnam. And apparently almost the entire collection belonged to one rich guy! Peter found the trench warfare part particularly interesting.
Boise has some really neat historical places. Next week I'm hoping to go to the Oregon Trail site where early pioneers crossed the river on the way to Oregon.
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