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The rotary jail was a very unusual architectural design. In response to a need for better control over prisoners, 18 of the revolving, escape-proof structures were erected in the United States from 1882 through 1889.
There were problems. There were mechanical difficulties due to the extreme weight of the components. Unwary prisoners lost digits or limbs when carousels were rotated without warning--one lost his life. Because inmates could only be let out of their cells one at a time, some rotary jails were closed as fire hazards. This book describes in detail their construction, operation and eventual demise, as well as some of the colorful inmates that were held in them.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Table of Rotary Jails
Preface
Introduction
¿1.¿The Invention
¿2.¿First Rotary Jail opens in Paducah, Kentucky
¿3.¿Second Rotary Jail opens in Crawfordsville, Indiana
¿4.¿Nodaway County Jail-Maryville, Missouri
¿5.¿DeKalb County Jail-Maysville, Missouri
¿6.¿Pottawattami County Jail-Council Bluffs, Iowa
¿7.¿Douglas County Jail-Omaha, Nebraska
¿8.¿Warren County Jail-Williamsport, Indiana
¿9.¿Outagamie County Jail-Appleton, Wisconsin
10.¿Oswego County Jail-Oswego, New York
11.¿Grayson County Jail-Sherman, Texas
12.¿Chittenden County Jail-Burlington, Vermont
13.¿Salt Lake County Jail-Salt Lake City, Utah
14.¿Sedgwick County Jail-Wichita, Kansas
15.¿Ellis County Jail-Waxahachie, Texas
16.¿Kanawha County Jail-Charleston, West Virginia
17.¿Strafford County Jail-Dover, New Hampshire
18.¿Daviess County Jail-Gallatin, Missouri
19.¿Pueblo County Jail-Pueblo, Colorado
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
W.C. Madden, former editor and journalism instructor, is a member of the White County Historical Society and Tippecanoe Historical Association, and the author of 44 books. He lives in Monticello, Indiana.
