BOISE (Day 5 - part 10)

We walked over to the laundry room entrance.

The laundry machinery was powered by a 440 volt motor connected to a line shaft and a series of belts leading to 4 washers, 3 dryers, an extractor and a mangle.

Every machine was connected by a belt.

The wasthers

Extractors remove excess water from washed clothing (like a spin cycle). ... The mangle was used for laundering sheets. Two rollers would ring water from the sheets while flattening and pressing them.

The dryers .... Even back then, socks would mysteriously disappear in them.

The showers

Behind the shirt factory building was the back wall and 2 Yard Gate. This led to Outlaw Field (baseball and football field), education and vocational buildings, as well as the social service complex. It was here, on temporary gallows, that the double execution in 1951 took place. The prison cemetery is located in the Botanical Gardens.

Upon entering or exiting the yard, inmates were subject to search at the guard station. In spite of that, one inmate managed to smuggle in Dennis the prison cat.

The guard station

So it's only right that Dennis should be buried back here.

Unfortunately it was now almost closing time so we had to quickly run through the impressive J. Curtis Earl Weapons Exhibit, located at far end of the shirt factory building. The exhibits were wonderful as they took us from spears all the way up to modern-day weapons.

We made our way from the back of the compound back up to the front entry at the administration building.

(right photo) Looking down the inside wall towards the sally port

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