A lock on history

Former deputy warden leads new tours of Missouri’s old state prison
By Sally M. Snell
Photos by Michael Snell

Guide Mark Schreiber met a tour group at the main gate of the former Missouri State Penitentiary. Behind him, a crane operator maneuvered multi-ton slabs of concrete into place for a new Federal Courthouse under construction, a visual reminder of progress encroaching on the historical.

Above: The Missouri State Penitentiary, which dates to 1836, was the oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi River when it closed in 2004. Below: Mark Schreiber began working at the prison while in college because he needed the job.

Schreiber began working at the Missouri State Penitentiary while in college because he “needed a job,” as Schreiber described it. He stayed on, working at every level within the prison, ultimately becoming its last deputy warden. He has been leading Hard Hat Tours through the former prison since they began this summer, and his MU Criminal Justice students well before that.

“The Missouri State Penitentiary opened the week that the Alamo Battle was going on in Texas in 1836,” said Schreiber. “This prison was 100 years old when Alcatraz opened as a prison, and Alcatraz never had more than about 600 inmates at any one time.”

Conversely, 5,200 inmates were incarcerated at the MSP by 1932, making it the biggest prison in the U.S. When it closed in September 2004, “it was the oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi River,” said Schreiber. Until 1989, it had also been Missouri's only maximum-security prison.

The group entered the dark interior of the 19th-century administration building. Schreiber pushed a button inside the security booth of the control center lobby, closing the electronic gate. “I love the clang of metal on metal,” he said, laughing. It took a few minutes for eyes to adjust to the low light, but details slowly began to reveal themselves: paint peeling off walls, long passages leading to ever-darker corridors, scrubby trees casting shadows on broken panes–signs of neglect that took hold after the building was vacated.

Over its 173-year history, the prison was home to a number of high-profile prisoners, including James Earl Ray, Pretty Boy Floyd, and heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston.

The prison’s oldest surviving structure is Housing Unit 4, built in 1868. Union and Confederate soldiers were housed together in hive-like stone cells above ground, or interned in windowless dungeons below.

“People were locked up for years with no light, and a bucket for a toilet,” said Schreiber.

Violence also is a part of the prison’s long history.

One of the inmate cells seen on tour.

“This was known as the bloodiest 47 acres in America,” said Schreiber.  “In 1976, when I was chief investigator for the prosecuting attorney for this county, I worked 12 homicides and 144 assaults here in one year,” he said. Schreiber also worked two officer homicides. “There’s been a total of 10 staff killed, and maybe hundreds injured,” he said.

After the Riot of 1954, investigators recommended the facility be closed, but 50 years passed before that happened. Schreiber spoke with pride about his staff’s impeccable job moving every prisoner in a 13-hour window of time, from a 19th- and early 20th-century prison facility, to a state-of-the-art facility in 2004.

Often tour groups include individuals with an association with the prison.

 “A family member worked there, or was incarcerated, or they were incarcerated,” said Schreiber. History is important to all of us, and it's important to help people realize that they are themselves a part of history.”

A number of prison structures already have been razed, but Schreiber is passionate about saving this part of Missouri’s history for future generations.

“Certainly I think that some of the redevelopment that's going on there, like the Federal Courthouse, is a very positive thing. For parts of the old prison to be saved, a rebirth of it is an absolute necessity.”

Schreiber hopes projects already initiated go forward. But he also realizes the importance of retaining parts of the former prison for future generations.

 “The inmates who were housed here, and the books they wrote about their internment make this a very significant historical site,” said Schreiber. “We need to pass it on.

“If everything is torn down and we only have a plaque: ‘On this site from 1836-2004 was the Missouri State Penitentiary’ then it would be awfully hard for people to relate to what is there,” he said. “For the people that worked there, and people of Jefferson City and Missouri, they deserve more.”

Sally M. Snell is a contributor from Lawrence, Kan.