Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, Tennessee

Before we arrived at Raccoon Valley we stayed at a Harvest Host  Winery for a night, in Riceville Tennessee.

Unfortunately wine tasting was not an option, the winery was operating short handed... even the owner was working... in the kitchen. That's right the kitchen, you see they have a Greek restaurant on site, so we stopped in for a meal.

The hash browns came with three poached eggs and country potatoes. The bacon omelet had large chunks of bacon in it, and came with country potatoes too. After brunch we just kicked back, and prepared for next day departure.

Behind our trailer is a little creek.

They knew I was coming? no, there actually is a dip in the road.

Raccoon Valley is in the town Heiskell, just a hair northwest of Knoxville. After we settled into our site, we made plans to investigate our surroundings. The first outing was to a town called Petros, home of Brushy Mountain Prison, and Brushy Mountain Distillery. 

Visit: https://tourbrushy.com.

The prison had the distinction of be known as "the end of the line".

The prison is nicely hidden during the beautiful drive.

Entering the grounds of the prison.

You can't get here... until you stopped at the gift shop to buy a ticket. Before we go to prison, we'll visit the history of the region.

Brushy Mountain was not always known for the prison. The end of the Civil War led to the boom of railroad expansion and coal mining in Tennessee. The situation with coal mining in Tennessee was where the coal veins were located... in remote areas. You have probably heard or seen what mining companies were doing to the employees. They would build housing and stores; the stores provided food and clothing at ridiculous prices. These prices would force the miners into debt, debts that could not be cleared by the end of the miners employment, leaving them as poor as when they started working for the company. The miners worked in dangerous conditions for low wages, and decided to do something about it. The Coal Creek miners took to going on strike... generally during the winter months...when coal was needed the most.

The state saw an opportunity to capitalize. Most southern states had a difficult time building prisons and feeding the prisoners, so they adopted a work program known as the "prison lease system". They would lease out prisoners to work in the mines. This program achieved two points: provided a work force that was more controllable, and stepped around the 13th Amendment, which stopped slavery, but allowed "involuntary servitude" for criminal punishment. After the reconstruction period ended in 1877, state officials who hated blacks, used this program to create an inmate population, mostly black, to work the mines.

the state of Tennessee began leasing prisons in 1866. In 1871 the Tennessee Coal Mine in Anderson county adopted the program, which was a bad decision. That decision led to the Coal Creek War, where citizen-miners attacked and burned the prison, stockade, and mines. These citizens took it one step further, they loaded up the prisoners and guards onto a train, and sent them out of town. The mining companies sent the people back in, and the state officials provided protection utilizing the state militia. The small arms skirmishes lasted several months, costing he state money greater than any financial gain from the lease; the state let contracts expire without renewal. This would be the beginning of a new era. State legislature passed a bill allowing for the construction of Brushy Mountain Penitentiary.

As I said earlier, the starting point is the gift shop, so off we go. We purchased our tickets, but decided to have lunch before we headed to prison. The Warden's Table is a nice eatery, with decent prices.

We chose to eat in the jail cell section, which had about six tables.

After lunch we decided to hit the gift shop moonshine tasting before we drove up to the prison.

Did I tell you that we bought a few bottles... for medicinal purposes of course.

So let's talk about Brushy Mountain Penitentiary before we walk down the hallow halls.

The original prison was built in 1896, by the prisoners themselves, and made of wood.

The prison wasn't much to brag about, especially the health conditions. Besides the mining accidents, violence and chronic illness, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and syphilis, which all ran rampant, and affected almost 3/4 of the black population. Sleeping conditions weren't the greatest either.

In the first prison beds were suspended from the ceiling, because rodents liked to attack the inmates. 

Although the prison was classified as a maximum-security facility, there was no death row, the way they killed off the inmates was through labor in the mines. If the mines didn't kill them quick enough, the guards would beat the inmates with a leather strap for "under production".

The inmates were tied to a "whipping  post", beaten until welts formed, then beaten some more until the blisters broke open. The inmates generally slept on their stomachs until their injuries healed. This style of punishment was stopped in 1965, when a new warden deemed it inhumane.

The wooden prison was designed to to hold roughly 650 inmates, by 1931 the prison was housing nearly a thousand inmates, and the overcrowding was compared to the infamous Siberian prisons in the Soviet Union. 1931 was a good year for the inmates, they got the opportunity to build a new prison out of stone.

The new prison was reinforced concrete and sandstone, which the inmates broke out of a quarry nearby. When the new prison was completed, it was four stories in the form of a Greek cross, with battlements atop the building, and by 1934 the prison was surrounded by an 18 foot high wall. 

The mines remained the sole mission of the prison until the 1960s. In 1969 the prison was classified primarily as a maximum-security prison, built a 100 inmate facility outside the prison for inmates categorized as "lesser offenders". Many of these low-security inmates was part of the Petro Volunteer Fire Department, between 1971 and 1994.

By the mid 1900s the prison achieved the legacy of "end of the line", for all those criminals who committed unspeakable crimes. The nastiest criminals ended up in "The Hole", basically solitary confinement.

"The Hole". The inmate would not have seen the light of day, or much of any other light for the length of their time in "The Hole".

In 1957 they did away with "The Hole", constructing new housing for these inmates... called "D" block.

Front Door to "D" Block

Administrative Area for "D" Block

A "D" Block Exercise Yard

Inmate Lodging Accommodation

Ironically, "D" block was built on the same location as the old "death house", which housed the dead inmates' bodies until family could pick them up, but if there was no family, the bodies were buried at a paupers cemetery located up the hill.

The start of the tour begins at the main entrance to the prison.

This would have been the entrance workers, visitors, and inmates. Inmates would come through this door on their way to court, medical care, or waiting transportation to a different prison. Their mode of transportation would have been via the party bus.

As you can see from the middle photo, it was a "no frills" ride. Today the distillery uses the bus to serve drinks at special functions... hence the blue garbage container, and a tap on the driver's side of the bus.

Once in the prison, visitors, and inmates enter a different world.

Thinkin' About Hard Time

Through this portal was access to the administrative offices. When dealing with prisoners there was a always a form of security in place, known as trap gates. 

At any given time, only one gate was open, restricting movement. Over 278,000 inmates entered this prison, knowing they would never leave.

In this hallway were the offices of the warden, paper pushers, and a holding cell.

Warden's Office

Control/Count Room

Holding Cell

The small holding cell detained women prisoners as well as men, usually waiting transportation to court, or a women's detention facility. Women prisoners were never kept overnight at Brushy.

Once through door number three, there was no turning back.

After passing through door three, the inmate options were left to "D" block, or right to the "Yard". The tour directs visitors to go right, to visit the museum, where a video talks a bit about the history of the prison.

The right turn brings the inmate to this portion of the yard, the area where the "whipping posts" were located. The building on the left was the gymnasium, the building on the right was Laundry, and "The Hole", now housing the museum. On the back side of the building on the right was the chapel, which started out as the wash house, built in 1938, for the black inmates. As desegregation occurred, the bath house became a law library, and in 1982 became the chapel. At one time the ratio of "black" to "white" inmates was 6:1, mainly because blacks were convicted of petty crimes, and sent to Brushy as part of the labor forced to work the coal mines.

After the video visitors can return to the museum exhibits. Not all inmates spent their days wallowing in self pity, some took up creative life... some for good, some for not so good.

The not so good.

Violence

Drugs

And More Drugs

God works in mysterious ways sometimes. Back in 1970 a young deer fell off the cliff and into the prison. The inmates and staff kept the deer as a "pet", and named him Geronimo. They managed to tame him, and learned that he liked to chew on unlit cigarettes.

The guards found that he was also useful for sniffing out contraband.

When the prison guards went on strike from 1972 to 1975, the inmates were shipped off to a Nashville prison. The transferred inmates requested that Geronimo come with them, and that desire came to pass. There was one problem though, Geronimo was a country deer, the city life wasn't for him. He was known to have "temper tantrums", which caused injury to one inmate when he was struck across the face with a hoof.

Back to the museum.

The Laundry was capable of meeting the needs of the prison's daily requirements.

Fun Facts: 

- During the 1950s and 60s, the citizens of Petros could bring their laundry to the prison for the inmates to wash.

- A 25 caliber automatic pistol was found in the laundry area.

- The infamous James Earl Ray worked in the laundry, and supposedly had a watermelon patch out back.

 We headed to the actual "Yard".

Let's take a moment to discuss one of the infamous characters that visited Brushy, his name, James Earl Ray. You might remember him for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. in 1969. James Earl Ray started his visit at Bushy in 1970, and didn't waste time trying to escape. A year after he arrived, he made his first attempt, removing a cinder block from his cell, squeezing through the hole. There was one problem with his escape route, it led him to the steam plant, which would have cooked him. A year later a guard caught him crawling with a makeshift saw, they guessed he was hoping to cut his way out of an air vent. In 1977, he and six other inmates escaped over the yard back wall, using a 16 foot ladder made from salvaged pipe.

Way out.

Method for way out. With local trackers, the FBI and US Marshalls re-captured Ray in a couple days, only a few miles from the prison walls.

James Earl Ray was supposedly liked by both guards and fellow inmates. However in 1981, it was not a good year for James Earl Ray, because three inmates stabbed him 22 times. Some believed it was just another scheme to get attention. In 1992 James Earl Ray left Bushy, dying in the state facility in Nashville six years later.

The gym was used for boxing matches, basketball, weightlifting, and extra berthing for overflow inmates when all the other cells were full. Nowdays the gym is used for functions and concessions.

Now it's time to see the roomy accommodations provided to the inmates during their stay.

Lookin' down the walk, better known as "the street". You would think it was safe to walk the hallway. In earlier days of the prison "cage walls" did not exist. One of many incidents which involved a gang-member turned inmate, met his fate. He was attacked on "the street", after being stabbed in the neck, he was tossed over the rail, landing on two guards. After several other incidents, the "cage walls" were constructed, preventing future events.

View from "the street".

Lookin' in from the "street".

The spacious two-man bachelor pad. For you folks out there that did time in a college dormitory, this next area may seem familiar, its called the shower.

Kinda like a tropical outdoor shower, huh. These were luxury showers compared to "D" block, which were locked down, and only one inmate showered at  a time.

When renting one of these condos, the landlord allowed the tenants to decorate while they were living there.

Countin' the days 'til vacation is over.

This gentleman found religion.

The main building is where the inmates came for meals. What was impressive were the murals on the walls.

The guards would march the inmates to the cafeteria in a single file line... much like school cafeterias used to do. At one time the prison was self supporting when it came to their food supply, growing crops and raising animals. The prison even had its own butcher shop. Inmates did all the cooking and feeding of fellow inmates and staff.

Most of the time eating in the cafeteria was no fun, but sometimes inmates got dinner and a show. On one occasion an inmate cut in line, and received a blow to the head from a hammer. Another time two kitchen inmates turned on a third inmate. One of the inmates used a clever to sever the guys spine, while the second guy took a long knife and nearly cut the guy's arm off.

These inmates were watched while they were eating.

If you look between the two raccoons, you will notice a shiny area, with two holes drilled in it. Guards on the other side of the wall had rifles pointing out the holes, and in case of riot they were to shot to kill. They were not the only guards watching the inmates, there were two with rifles on the floor, in proximity of the inmates.

We all know that if you get to eat, there must be dishes to clean up, no different here.

It wasn't all work and no play, the inmates were allowed visitors. Depending on the inmate, they may get to get close to their visitors without bars between them, or they may have been designated a risk, which meant no contact.

Entrance to the open area visitation. The well behaved inmates (as determined by the warden) were allowed weekly visitation. Initially there was no contact, eventually the glass was taken down, allowing for the inmates to sit at a table across from their loved ones. Privacy was not an issued, 20 inmates were seated side-by-side.

This was the "no contact" visitation. Initially maximum-security inmates were not authorized visitation. However, if they had a "good behavior" report, they received a 1 hour video visitation. The inmates would enter through the barred door and into a sitting room; his visitors would sit outside, and they would talk through the glass.

Time for another inmate story, this one is about James Slagle. 

This visitor to Brushy booked a 318 year stay for kidnapping and murder. A couple of years into his stay, he decided he was going to leave... by box. Slagle knew that large boxes never left the prison, and knowing that, he took up yoga for a year, to limber his body. Working with kitchen staff, he was squeezed into two 18"x9" boxes taped together, and marked labeled "153lbs of Roast Beef". The box was loaded on a flatbed truck and headed off reservation. Once on the highway, James used his shoulders to break the box open, tumbling off the truck, and to freedom. Karma has a way of changing a person's plans, and that is what happened to James... an off-duty guard was out rabbit hunting and saw him... he was picked up and moved to "The Hole" for awhile.

Minimum and maximum-security inmates had the opportunity to visit the Commissary once a week, from windows designated either "maximum" or "minimum". During the lockdowns groceries were delivered to the maximum-security inmates. The only way they could buy merchandise was by having money in their account, whether from working prison jobs, or family members sending money.

The Commissary played a small part in the attempted escape of one of the inmates... that inmate was Frankie Caylor. Frankie was the brother of Donald Caylor, a fellow inmate that escaped with James Earl Ray in 1977. Frankie hatched his own plan for escaping by scoring a guard uniform from Laundry. He shimmied his skinny frame through the first trap door gate and through a small Commissary window. Waiting patiently, he dawned sunglasses, and pretended to read the newspaper as he left with the other guards from shift change. He managed to get past the maximum-security gate before he was recognized by an actual prison guard. Frankie's reward for his efforts... "The Hole", and a voluntold extension to stay longer.

More fun facts:

- Inmates were carried in small railcars 100 feet, from prison to mine entrance, this was done to reduce the opportunity for escape.

- Miners worked 12 hour shifts, this allowed the prison to over book their reservations. The Navy would call it "hot racking", two inmates to a bed.

- Miners were lucky to earn .05 to .40 cents a ton working "overtask".

1989 brought more change to Brushy, a new high-security Annex was constructed, replacing "D" block. This became the new home for hardened criminals. "D" block became home to the lower security inmates.

The design reminds me of when I was at Donovan State Prison in California... working. I worked for a company installing fire alarm systems. Most of the installation was done by minimum-security inmates, and I did the programming. The work rates weren't much different from early days in Tennessee, earning between $1.40 and $3.00 a day.

Let's visit a couple more of the residents housed at Brushy.

This guy was a local politician by the name of Byron (Low Tax) Looper; the middle name was his choice, parenthesis included. He was born in Tennessee, and raised in Georgia. He went to West Point for a short time, but was discharged due to a serious knee injury. Moving back to Georgia, he finished college, worked for the legislature, and even tried to run for Georgia House of Representatives, but lost in the primaries. 1992,Undeterred, he moved back to Tennessee. He tried his luck making a run for the Tennessee House... luck wasn't so good, and this is where he changes his middle name, promising to expose corruption... where have we heard that story.

In his home county he decided to run for property accessor for Putnam County. Instead of getting into debates, he ran negative campaign ads... and won. A week after taking office, he held a press conference, announcing that he had discovered $100 million dollars in property taxes not paid. Long story short, the County Commission explained to him that it was normal for the time of year. He held another press conference announcing the County Commission was correct... and preceded to leave town... to Puerto Rico.

Time passes, and through bribes or punishment of his enemies, and extremely long odds, he wins a primary against a popular incumbent in the State Senate. This is where he goes off track, BIG TIME. In 1998 the TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) was breathing down his neck for corruption, and knows that he cannot win a fair election. Byron had a solution... drive to the opponent's farm, and shoot him in the head. Needless to say, he was convicted and sent to Brushy. He was moved to another correctional facility after Brushy closed, and died in 2013, at the age of 48 of heart issues.

Meet mortal evil, Paul Dennis Reid. At the age of 20, he was convicted of armed robbery in Texas, completed 7 years, and was paroled. He took a drive to Nashville with the dream of being a country star... the best he could do was wash dishes at a Shoney's Restaurant.

Paul didn't last long at Shoney's after he threw a plate at another employee.  The next day he took it out on two employees, ages 16 and 25, working at Captain D's. Paul threw them in the cooler, and shot them in the head, then cleaned out the register. A month later his anger is taken out on three employees at Mc Donald's, three mile from Captain D's. Another month goes by, he drives to a town an hour away from Nashville, where he kidnapped and killed two Baskin Robbins employees, ages 16 and 21, dumping there dead bodies in a cave, at a popular state park.

As we seem to do to acknowledge bad people, Paul Dennis Reid was deemed The Fast Food Killer, and convicted of seven murders, and given seven death sentences, the most ever handed down in a Tennessee case. After Brushy was closed he was moved to another correctional facility, and dies of pneumonia, in 2013.

2009 saw the "end of the line" for the prison, with all it inmates moved to a Nashville facility, and left to decay. Fortunately the Brushy Mountain Group came together to save the history of the "end of the line".