Michael got tickets to a behind-the-scenes tour at the Old Idaho Penitentiary on October 30. The evening of the event came and I was tired. It was cold outside. I didn't want to leave my house, but I decided to act like a grown up and spend an evening touring an old prison with my husband. Michael was very excited about seeing all the bits of the prison that are usually closed to the public. So I put on my shoes, coat, gloves, hat and wool socks and we were on our way.
What we were able to see that is usually behind lock and key:
Graffiti from the the 70s. It was scrawled just a year before the Penn was decommissioned. I learned junior high students and prison inmates share the same limited graffiti vocabulary.
We were allowed in a basement that was used for "storage". Inspectors were told the prison basement was used to store canned goods. When saying canned goods, they actually meant prisoners who were being punished in 4'x4'x4' cages. It was such a sad, lonely area.
The whole trip was interesting, although also maddening. It's such a shame that we forget to treat people with basic decency.
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This has nothing to do with the prison, but I didn't want to create another blog post for the one picture I managed to capture on Halloween. Enjoy the tangent.
When Halloween came Grace and Sam were ready. They each headed out into the neighborhood with their respective group of friends. Sam went door to door until 8:30, and then headed home with his haul of candy. He weighed his treasure and was proud of his five pounds of goodness. Grace came home a few minutes later with her spoils. She had sprinted from door to door with her group. She was focused and determined. Her dedication netted her 12.7 pounds of candy. Oy vey.
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