Visiting the Rotary Jail Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana
In Crawfordsville, Indiana we visited a jail that was a prototype of an idea that a number of communities adopted - a rotary jail. This wasn’t just any way to incarcerate folks, it was a way that a community could save money.
The idea was that jailers could rotate the entire jail and provide access to only one cell at a time, thereby making it easier for fewer people to manage the prison population. It was actually rather effective and innovative - one individual could actually move the 8 cells on two floors with a single crank rotating the 45 ton structure with surprising ease.
There were other innovations, too. For example there was a central plumbing system in the jail so prisoners didn’t have to be let in and out of their cells just to go to the bathroom. Instead, there was a bathroom right in their cell which was rather revolutionary at the time.
The 32 toilets in the jail drained down a central pipe into the basement of the property and out of the building. However the toilets were only flushed twice a day.
The whole thing was a round structure designed in 1882 by William H. Brown and built by the Haugh, Ketchm & Company iron foundry in Indianapolis. The cells were pie-wedge-shaped and the idea was popular enough that a number of communities adopted it.
In fact the original rotary jail, which we visited, is still standing and even still rotates!
While the idea was successful in some ways, challenges showed-up almost immediately. With many of the towns’ guests coming to the jail after a night of drinking. They were often still intoxicated when it came time to rotate someone in or out and, if they had their hands or legs resting on the bars as the jail was rotated, it could easily amputate them.
At one of the rotary jails a prisoner passed away but the mechanism jammed and it took two days before they could be gotten out of their cell.
There is a funny story about this though. One of Crawfordville’s residents, who was a regular guest at the institution, happened to have a wooden leg. The combination of snow and challenging roads meant that the leg wore out and had to be replaced regularly and wooden legs weren’t cheap. So he figured out that he could get sent to jail for a minor crime where he would get three meals and a shave as well. But, even better, he would put his wooden leg out when the jail was rotated which destroyed the leg and the county had to buy him a new one.
It only took three years for jailers to catch on to what he was doing and they would confiscate the leg when they put him behind bars.
After being declared unfit, many of the rotary jails were modified to more traditional types and had their mechanisms disabled. The one in Crawfordsville did too, and still was used until 1973.
Three of these jails still stand, but the community of Crawfordsville saw the significance of the history of this jail and worked to restore it. Today you can take a tour and the jail spins again, but only by a docent.
But they’re careful not to let you put your hands and legs - whether natural or wooden - between the bars while the 45 ton structure rotates.
A rotary jail is an interesting bit of innovation and history, something worth visiting on your StressLess Camping adventure and is definitely Goofy, USA.
