The Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP) opened in 1836. The same week the Alamo was lost. Remember the Alamo?
Missouri was barely a state, but enlightened politicians in D.C. and St Louis knew the West was going to be settled through this state. Infrastructure was needed: armories, roads, ports, courthouses and yes, prisons.
St. Charles was the first capital of the state but not centrally located. Several towns vied for becoming the new capital. By building the only prison west of the Mississippi River, Jefferson City would solidify its hold on being selected.
When the MSP was completed, Jeff City was on the frontier with only 31 families claiming residency.
The first prisoner to enter the prison was Wilson Eidson, for stealing a watch in St. Louis. Granted it was a fine watch, but one year in hell for swiping a watch? There were 19 inmates that first year. Over time, MSP grew to hold over 5,000 prisoners, becoming the largest penitentiary in the world!
Conditions were deplorable, as you can imagine, long before any cruel and unusual punishment conversation or prison reform. Five, six, ten men to a cell. Forced labor was the order of every day. It was confined slavery, disease, violence, rotten food, and suicides were common: “man’s inhumanity to man.”
As the U.S. grew and territories were formed, there was no Federal Prison System. Anyone prosecuted and sentenced from Oklahoma to Alaska was sent to the MSP. The federal government and several states would rent space and send their worst to Jeff City.
During the Civil War, prisoners were held—from both sides!
Missouri could not afford to take care of all the prisoners so the forced labor system was established allowing individual businesses to contract labor inside the walls and manufacture a myriad of items. Brooms, hats, saddle trees and brushes made outsiders millions. At one time there were nine shoe companies operating inside MSP.
Now, I can’t relate to being incarcerated, except for that misunderstanding in Tijuana. I have never been in prison. Trapped perhaps in past relationships by spoiled, conniving, vengeful women, but if it came down to those girls or a weekend at MSP, give me those old flames every time. Don’t you love tangents.
Now, where were we?
Famous names have graced the inner sanctum of the MSP.
Charles “Sonny” Liston learned to box at the prison. He was the 15th of 17 children, illiterate and abandoned by his parents. He found his way to St. Louis and started a short life of crime. Sent to MSP for robbery, he received three squares a day, a regular place to sleep and a trade—boxing. In 1962 Sonny went on to become the heavyweight champion of the world, only losing the title in ‘64 to Cassius Clay.
James Earl Ray was also in for robbery. He was “on the lam” from MSP, escaping in a bread truck when he, a year later, assassinated Martin Luther King in Memphis.
Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was a thug and murderer. In MSP for a payroll robbery, I wonder what it was like to be in prison with a nickname of Pretty Boy? After being released in 1929, he and his gang went on a spree murdering at least 12, mostly policeman, on his way to becoming the FBI’s Public Enemy No. 1. He was hunted down and killed in an Ohio cornfield.
Over the years there were 40 executions conducted at MSP. Many notable, if you like that sort of thing. The one I found interesting was the execution of Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Heady. They confessed to kidnapping and the killing of Bobby Greenlease Jr whose body was found in St. Joseph. Interesting because they were put to death side by side in the gas chamber only 81 days after the murder, now that’s due process!
There was a massive riot in 1954 that destroyed much of the prison but changed the way prisons were run and inmates treated.
To hear more compelling and unbelievable stories about MSP, we have completed a great podcast with my friend and tour guide Mike Lear that can be heard for free at bobfordshistory.com.
If any of this intrigues you, that makes you a little odd, but I encourage you to go, request Mike, and take a tour of this fascinating facility. “If only the walls could talk.”
The Missouri State Penitentiary, where the West was won, lost and held.
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You can find more of Bob’s work including his Bob Ford’s History, Mystery and Lore podcast, on his website, bobfordshistory.com plus search Bob Ford’s History on YouTube. The podcasts are available on most streaming services. He can be contacted at robertmford@aol.com.
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