The Old Idaho Penitentiary was a dangerous place, not only because the prison housed Idaho’s criminals but also because the architecture of the prison was not conducive to healthy living. Not all inmates in our prison system are murderers and not all are convicted of passing bad checks. Historically, the question of how to create an institution to punish inmates while protecting society, maintaining the rights of lesser criminals and restricting the rights of the worst has always been a daunting challenge.

The federal U.S. government built what is now the Old Idaho Penitentiary as a territorial prison in 1870. The prison became Idaho’s state penitentiary in 1890, when Idaho became a state, and operated until 1972. During that time, more than 13,000 men and women served prison sentences in the facility. At its peak, the prison housed slightly more than 600 inmates at a time. Approximately 110 inmates died while at the old Idaho Penitentiary. By the 1920s, Idaho’s Department of Public Welfare began reviewing a series of complaints about the health safety of the facility.

          While the buildings at the Old Pen are visually stunning, many of the structures are considered health hazards. Administrators continually feared that if a contagious disease entered the prison, there would be little they could do to prevent an epidemic.         

          This and other factors gave rise to an era of inmate rights awareness in the 1960s, similar to an existent national movement. Inmate complaints ranged from dangerously unsanitary living conditions to the lack of inmate labor opportunities by which to better themselves and make use of their time while incarcerated.

          When their demands were not met, the inmates rioted. Riots in the early 1970s cemented the prison’s fate. One final riot in 1973 that caused major damage to several buildings forced the state to close the facility. The Old Idaho Penitentiary is now open as a historical site.