Hidden · Boise, United States
Old Idaho Penitentiary
A sandstone prison that held more than 13,000 inmates over 101 years, now a museum a short way from downtown Boise.
A prison that grew from one cell house into a walled complex.
The Old Idaho Penitentiary was a working prison from 1872 to 1973. The first building, the Territorial Prison, was begun in 1870, when Idaho was only seven years old as a territory and two decades before statehood, and was completed in 1872. It lies less than two miles southeast of downtown Boise, near Table Rock.
From that single cell house it grew into a complex of several distinctive buildings inside a 17-foot sandstone wall. The stone was quarried from nearby ridges by the convicts themselves, who also helped with later construction.
Over its 101 years of operation it received more than 13,000 inmates, with a maximum population of a little over 600. Two hundred and sixteen of them were women.
Steel cells, painted walls, riots before the closing and a cat with a headstone.
The New Cell House of 1889–1890 had three tiers of 42 steel cells. Solitary confinement was in the Cooler, built in the early 1920s, and in Siberia, built in 1926, with twelve cells measuring 3 by 8 feet. In Cell House 4, from 1952, some inmates painted their cells and left drawings on the walls that can still be seen.
Serious riots over living conditions broke out in 1952, 1971 and 1973, and fires in the 1973 riot destroyed several buildings, among them the old chapel and the dining hall. The 416 inmates still held were moved to a new correctional institution south of Boise, and the old penitentiary closed on December 3, 1973. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places that same year.
One of its best-known residents was Dennis, a kitten an inmate found in the prison barn in 1952. The guards let him stay for sixteen years, and when he died in 1968 the inmates held a funeral and gave him a headstone. Today the site is managed by the Idaho State Historical Society, with exhibits in the buildings and cell houses and a collection of arms and military memorabilia. The old prison recreation area is now the Idaho Botanical Garden.
Inside the walls.
Practical notes.
Before you go.
When was the Old Idaho Penitentiary in use?
From 1872 to 1973. The first building was begun in 1870, and the prison closed on December 3, 1973.
Who quarried the stone for the walls?
The inmates. The sandstone was quarried from the nearby ridges by the convicts, who also helped with later construction.
Who was Dennis?
A kitten an inmate found in the prison barn in 1952. He lived at the penitentiary for sixteen years, and the inmates gave him a funeral and a headstone when he died in 1968.
What can you see at the site today?
The buildings and cell houses with exhibits, the Idaho Merci Train boxcar and the J. Curtis Earl Memorial Exhibit of arms and military memorabilia, all managed by the Idaho State Historical Society.
Around Boise
Walking tours, day trips and experiences around this area, on GetYourGuide.