Last years Montana State Prison

1 last years

1.1 1975 theater fire
1.2 retirement of facility
1.3 notable inmates

last years

horsehair bridle snaffle bit, made @ montana state prison ca. 1960

in twenty years between 1959 , when facility shut down in 1979, old montana prison struggled same problems had plagued institution entirety of history: overcrowding, underfunding, , substandard conditions. 1959 riot had raised awareness, few montanans recognized problems or realized extent of them.

1975 theater fire

on 3 december 1975, after building vacated after showing of odessa file, fire broke out in wa clark theatre. fire managed burn 2 , half hours before guard noticed smoke coming building, , time arrived, late. warden frank conley s proudest achievement had been destroyed. state fire marshal later determine fire had been caused homemade incendiary device . arsonist never discovered, remaining cellblock searched , presence of contraband, including weapons, inspired warden crist sentence dozen inmates maximum security building, had been closed 3 years.

retirement of facility

almost ten years after warden floyd powell resigned, governor forrest anderson, had been instrumental in negotiations led end of pea riot in 1957, managed state legislature approve $3.8 million used in construction of new facility, funds did not become available until 1973. in 1974, contractors broke ground on new prison, situated 3 miles (5 km) outside of deer lodge on 33,000 acres (130 km) had once been warden conley s ranch. construction continued 5 years, , last inmates removed old montana prison on 5 september 1979. old facility had been added national register of historic places in 1976, but, upon removal of inmates facility, state @ loss it.

notable inmates

william gollehon, convicted serial killer on death row.
ryan leaf, former quarterback, , nfl first-round draft selection.
floyd tapson, suspected serial killer convicted kidnapping , attempted murder in november 2003.
leland jensen, proclaimed jesus high priest of zechariah chapter 3 in 1971.




^ baumler, p. 70
^ cite error: named reference kent, p. 82 invoked never defined (see page).
^ edgerton, p. 105
^ baumler, p. 103