Behind the bars, unlocking the history of Nevada State Prison

Recently I saw an article about tours of Nevada’s historic prison in Carson City. We got tickets for last weekends tour, and little did Steph and I know how interesting our experience would be, involving human and natural history.

A three hour tour, famous last words😉

The prison historical organization is all volunteer, our tour guide was a local school teacher, and our second guide was a retired officer who worked at the prison in the 1970’s.

A watchtower over the main yard, has also served as a prominent landmark on numerous movies filmed on location, even during years when the prison was still operating.
Probably the best known movie, An Innocent Man starred Tom Selleck, shown on the main yard, and after filming completed he donated money to build basketball courts for the inmates.
A particularly unique historical aspect of the prison-a sanctioned inmate run casino. This old photo shows guards in the yard across from the casino building that operated until 1967.
These photos show the prisoner casino during operations , and it was frequented by local celebrities and elected officials. They used brass coins for currency, and these coins are now very valuable collectibles.
One of several cabinets of keys in a control room that is frozen in time from 2012 when parts of this facility were last used by prison staff. Our tour guide warned us-do not open or close any doors, if you get locked in a key operated cell we may not be able to find the correct key!! We didn’t need to be told twice.
The original “hole,” where prisoners could be segregated for punishment or safety. It’s a rock cave, the only light switch is on the outside in the electrical box. Also in these caves-extremely rare ice age fossils, including giant sloth footprints, now in the collections of museums across the western US.

Looking from a cell block at the main yard and the Carson Range of mountains. The ice age caves are in the far left corner.

The tour includes many histories of infamous inmates held at the prison. This chap committed the last US stage robbery, and was the first US conviction based on palm prints. He narrowly escaped the death penalty.
A large central cell area used at times for initial intake of new inmates. Several attempt escapes with hostages taken occurred here, one ending when guards fired at the captors leaving bullet marks in the back hallway.
I got to lock our fellow visitors in prison cells, I was surprised how willingly folks would step in and trust us when the tour guide offered them the experience (yes all doors opened when we turned the wheel back)
A typical two man cell, furnished to appear as original. Inmates could only hang personal items within the red outlines on the open wall. This prison block was for male inmates, females were at times housed in a structure atop the main cell block, before separate women’s prison was built.
Undoubtedly the most grim part of the tour was the execution chamber, originally built as a gas chamber and later modified for lethal injections. The photos on the walls depict all those executed at the prison.
The execution table, it was so hastily modified to lethal injection method that prison staff had to add last minute restrains consisting of GM auto seat belts bolted to the table.
The executioners room, where staff/doctors would be behind a one way mirror when they administered the lethal dose—be it gas or injection.
The tour also includes a museum of prison artifacts and history, such as this tribute to the first female officer at the prison.
And the old license plate manufacturing dies
An inmate mask made of toothpaste intended to be used in a foiled escape attempt in the 1970’s.
And a very old eagle made of sandstone that originally stood atop the Warm Springs Hotel on the site before the prison was built in 1862. It is one of the oldest European artifacts ever in the history of Nevada, and was returned to the prison in 2016 from a local casino that had it on display.