Stairs to death row and the gallows, at the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, Boise, Idaho, USA.
The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site, also known as the Idaho Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870 and lasted until 1973. The territory was less than ten years old when the prison was built east of Boise, Idaho in the western United States. From its beginnings as a single cell house, the penitentiary grew to a complex of several distinctive buildings surrounded by a high sandstone wall. The stone was quarried from the nearby ridges by the resident convicts, who also completed all the later construction. Over its one-hundred and one years of operation, the penitentiary received more than 13,000 convicts, with a maximum population of a little over six-hundred. Two-hundred and fifteen of the inmates were women. Two famous inmates were Harry Orchard and Lyda Southard. Harry Orchard assassinated Governor Frank Steunenberg at the turn of the 19th to 20th century and Lyda Southard was known as Idaho's Lady Bluebeard for killing several of her husbands to collect upon their life insurance. Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging". Hanging has been a common method of capitol punishment since medieval times, and is the official execution method in many countries and regions today.
Size: 4256px × 2831px
Location: Old Idaho State Penitentiary, Boise, Idaho, United States, America, USA
Photo credit: © M L Pearson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: america, boise, death, detention, education, gallows, idaho, jail, jailhouse, lockup, penalty, penitentiary, prison, state, tourism, travel, usa
