The Pen Hits Capacity
Walla Walla's state penitentiary reaches a historic high in inmate population as a new group of prisoners arrives.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Sullen and dejected from the long, hot ride across the state and the prospect of the future, 13 prisoners from King County were brought to the penitentiary this morning by Deputy J. W. McLeod and guards. The arrival of the prisoners this morning swells the number of convicts confined in the big prison to 655, the high-water mark in the number of inmates in the history of the institution. It is getting to be a quandary with Warden Dryden as to what disposition he can make of the new arrivals to keep them out of mischief.
“It is getting to be a quandary with Warden Dryden as to what disposition he can make of the new arrivals, to keep them out of mischief.”
The Washington State Penitentiary, established in 1886, remains a central fixture of Walla Walla's economy and identity. The 1903 concerns about overcrowding and prison capacity echo the recurring modern-day debates over mass incarceration and state-level justice reform.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.