Washington State Penitentiary
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- Jun 23, 1888The Failed Nitric Acid Mutiny at Walla WallaA covert plot by forty convicts to poison their guards with nitric acid and storm the prison gates was thwarted by a lucky discovery in the brickyard.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Oct 10, 1891A Constitutional Oversight Stalls the Penitentiary’s Jute PlantLawmakers intended to renew an old appropriation for prison-made jute, but a procedural misstep holds up $10,000 and suspends work until the attorney general rules.Olympia, WA
- Feb 6, 1893The Looming Crisis at the State PenitentiaryWashington's state prison faces overcrowding and inadequate facilities as the inmate population outpaces projections, forcing guards to rent rooms in town.Walla Walla, WA
- Sep 14, 1894The Warden Fights Back: Prison Labor, Jute Sacks and a Seattle Newspaper ScandalAccused of selling prison-made sacks to middlemen and brutalizing convicts, Walla Walla’s warden answers his critics with a detailed defense—and a challenge to inspect the prison.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Jan 23, 1895A Convict Killed a Fellow Prisoner. Could He Be Tried While Already Serving Twenty Years?The killing of Reif by convict Hoyt at Walla Walla set off a legal puzzle: whether a prisoner already serving a murder term could face another trial — and whether the governor could suspend his sentence to allow it.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Mar 3, 1895A Shortage Behind the Prison Walls, and a Legislature Out of TimeA joint legislative committee grills the penitentiary directors at Walla Walla over the missing funds of a defaulting official, while senators privately admit the session will end before the truth comes out.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Mar 26, 1895A Guard Called It an Escape. A Witness Called It Murder.In a letter to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Thomas Hayden described the shooting of convict Thomas Dryden at Walla Walla and accused prison officials of covering it up.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- May 25, 1895Five Years on a Fraud's WordJohn Bryan was pardoned out of the Walla Walla penitentiary after the real robbers confessed — but his companion was still inside.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Nov 27, 1903The Prisoner Who Promised to Come Back and Kill the SheriffCaught sawing their way out of the Colfax jail, three depot burglars were hauled to the penitentiary — one of them vowing to return for Sheriff Canut and his deputy before he would consent to hang.Colfax, WA
- Jul 28, 1904Violence Erupts at Walla Walla Penitentiary Jute MillA violent confrontation among prisoners leaves one man hospitalized after a stabbing incident behind the walls.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA
- Sep 2, 1909Nine in Ten Convicts Blamed on WhiskyA Walla Walla prison chaplain's letter gives Washington's temperance movement its starkest statistic—and a bill for the saloon.Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, WA