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Old Montana Prison Museum

For a chilling look at life behind bars, stop in Deer Lodge on your next trip through Montana and tour the old Territorial Prison, now the Old Montana Prison Museum. Some of the hardest felons in the Old West were incarcerated here, including murderers, stagecoach robbers, and at least one member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch."

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Montana Prison was built by convict labor. The cellblock’s stout iron bars slammed shut and locked for the first time on July 2, 1871. On that day, Montana 's Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge incarcerated its first occupant. Over time, inmates fashioned 1.2 million bricks by hand for use in erecting the original 1896 cell house and other buildings. Stone was quarried nearby and hauled to the site. Convicts cut the timbers and dug the lime for use in the cement used in the construction project.

Today visitors can take guided or self-guided tours through the intimidating cell house and into the chilling slide bar cells and the black box of Maximum Security to experience a small glimpse of what it was like to live as a prisoner below the turreted stone towers and iron gates. The tour takes you through several prison buildings and onto the Yard, where prisoners could enjoy outdoor recreation and exercise. It is an eye opening experience to step inside one of the old Maximum Security cells and watch the door slam shut before you.

A tour pamphlet guides you through the old prison and interprets each building and explains its history. Signposts along the tour give insights into the different locations and events that occurred there.

The prison’s massive sandstone wall, erected by convict labor in 1893, is 24 feet high, three feet thick at the top and over four feet thick at the bottom. The wall extends four feet underground. Though many tried during the prison’s long life, no inmate was ever successful at tunneling under the wall. At one point along the tour route, a sign designates the Out of Bounds line along the wall. Inmates were never allowed beyond this line without a pass or unless being escorted by a guard. Any inmate crossing the line was subject to being shot immediately by the guards who manned the towers along the wall.

At one spot near the wall, a sign points out where inmates George Rock and William Hayes were executed following a failed escape attempt in 1908 that left the prison’s warden seriously injured and the deputy warden dead.

The Administration Building , built in 1931, was the center of prison security and operations. New prisoners were admitted here, inmates met with visitors, and convicts who had done their time and were being released received counseling on finding work and staying out of trouble. The main floor held the offices of the deputy warden, chaplain, teachers, and social workers. This building also housed essential services such as the infirmary, laundry, and mail room. One chilling display in the Administration Building contains contraband and weapons seized from inmates. Guns and shackles and restraints can be viewed behind mesh partitions, along with artwork created by inmates. One display shows sturdy work shoes with concrete soles instead of leather ones. These shoes, weighing 20 pounds each, were worn by convicts thought to be flight risks.

The 1912 Cell House was a model facility in its day. Each cell had running water, flush toilets, and good ventilation. The cell house contains eight galleries, four per side, and each gallery held 25 cells. Problem inmates were housed in isolation cells known as East Siberia and West Siberia .

An interesting story from the old cell house is that of Turkey Pete, who lived in Cell Number 1. Convicted of two murders and sentenced to life in 1918, Paul “Turkey Pete" Eitner became a model prisoner and was placed in charge of the prison turkey flock. Over time Turkey Pete became “stir crazy” and lost touch with reality. At one point someone commented on the great job he was doing and how nice the turkey flock looked, so Eitner "sold" him the entire flock for 25 cents per bird, beginning a new career as the prison entrepreneur.

Humoring Turkey Pete’s mental condition, inmates were allowed to print special “Eitner checks” in the prison print shop and Turkey Pete was permitted to "purchase" the prison and run it from his cell. He "paid" all of the prison’s expenses and the guards’ salaries. In reports to the warden, Turkey Pete boasted proudly that his “company,” Eitner Enterprises, had saved Brazil’s coffee crop, sold pink alligators, purchased alfalfa seed from Poncho Villa, sold grasshopper legs to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and ships to the United States Navy.

Turkey Pete died in 1967 at age 89, after 49 years behind bars. His was the only funeral ever held within the walls of the prison. At his death, Cell Number 1 was retired from use and looks today as it did when Turkey Pete lived in it.

Through the 1940s and 1950s, the prison experienced dangerous overcrowding and became a powder keg waiting to explode. The explosion came on April 16, 1959, when inmates Jerry Myles and Lee Smart led twelve other inmates in a desperate escape attempt. The inmates overpowered two guards, seizing their rifles and taking control of the 1912 Cell House. Forcing their way into the Administration Building, they killed Deputy Warden Ted Rothe and took 19 prison employees and five inmates considered stool pigeons hostage. They threatened to burn their hostages alive if any rescue attempt was made.

After a tense 36 hour standoff, Warden Floyd Powell ordered the National Guard, who were on hand to help quell the riot, to fire a bazooka at the northwest tower of the cell house, where the rioting inmates were congregated. The blast stunned the inmates long enough for a rescue team to free the hostages. Riot leaders Myles and Stuart were found dead in the third floor tower, apparently a double suicide. Although the riot drew attention to the prison’s many problems, it would be another twenty years before the old prison was closed and inmates moved to a new facility. Today visitors can see the damage caused by the bazooka to the cell house tower during the rescue.

The grim prison gallows were called the Galloping Gallows, because they were made to be portable and were used for executions all over the state. In service for over twenty years, several men made their last walk up the gallows’ steps.

If you get a feeling of déjà vu, don’t be surprised. The prison has been featured in several movies, including Fast Walking (1980), starring James Wood, Kay Lenz, and Tim McIntire; Runaway Train (1984) starring John Voight; Diggstown (1990) starring James Wood and Louis Gosset Jr.; and The Last Ride (1994), starring Mickey Rourke and Lori Singer.

In the late 1970s the old prison was closed and inmates moved to a more modern facility. Guards no longer stand watch in the turrets set in each corner of the wall, and the thud of heavy convict footsteps marching along the walkway are no longer heard. But if you listen closely, you can almost hear the ghostly echoes of steel cell doors slamming closed and the sounds of hardened convicts doing their time behind the prison’s stone walls.

The Old Montana Prison is a beautifully preserved relic of prisons past. The prison is located at 1106 Main Street in Deer Lodge and is open for tours daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A separate section at the prison houses the Montana Auto Museum , which displays dozens of beautiful antique and classic cars. For more information on the prison, call (406) 846-3111 or visit their website at www.pcmaf.org.

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