Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

26

"Welcome to the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary," Jaz said, leading us throughout the huge building. "On this tour, we'll be walking through all of the different rooms and sectors. To start out, we've got the main prison. It consists of the cafeteria, along with the A block and B block."

Jaz led all of us into a huge open space that I assumed to be the cafeteria.

"This is where the inmates and convicts ate eir three meals a day. They were appropriately sized portions, but barely met minimum nutrient standards considering the amount of physical exertion that was required of them," explained Jaz. She led us away from the cafeteria down a short hallway that branched into two different sectors. "A or B?" she asked, turning to us.

"B," said Ross.

"Okay, B it is. The two cell blocks are identical, so I'll be showing you guys the B unit. We made our way down the hallway to see three stories of empty cells, covered in peeling white rusted paint. "Initially known as the Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex, this was Tennessee's first maximum security prison. It held all sorts of criminals, from murderers to robbers to arsonists to rapists. The prison sentences were upwards of 200 years in some cases. Most of the prisoners that came in never came out.

"The penitentiary opened in 1896 and closed in 2009. However, the practices were lightened to a much more modern style in the mid 1980s. As of 2008, this facility was the longest operating Tennessee prison," Jaz said. "As you can see, there are hundreds of cells in this place. At its peak, this prison housed 975 people, which was 300 more than its capacity. Due to overpopulation, the prisoners were forced to expand their own quarters and had to construct a new wing of the prison so the wardens wouldn't be reprimanded for the illegal cell overcrowding. They also had to build railroads, practiced regular back-breaking agricultural work, and mined for coal."

"Dude, this place is shitty. I could break out of here," said Levi.

"Oh, totally," said Ross.

"You guys are dumbasses," said Niall.

"Did anyone ever even escape this prison?" asked Sam.

"Not successfully. There's no way," I said.

"Sort of. One of our most famous inmates was James Earl Ray. Do any of you know who that is?" asked Jaz.

"Dude who killed that important guy," Jake said.

"Good one, brother," said Corey.

"MLK's assassinator," I sighed, shaking my head at Jake's response.

"Woah, brainiac alert," said Levi. I shot him a dirty look, getting a wink from him in response.

"He did technically manage to escape the prison along with six other inmates," said Jaz.

"See? If he could do it, so could we," said Levi.

"One hundred percent," agreed Ross.

"I hate you guys," mumbled Niall.

"Slow down there, hotshots," I said. "There's more to the story, yes?" I asked, looking at Jaz. Her wording suggested that they escaped but didn't actually get away.

"Yes, there is. He was found 58 hours after the escape attempt. He was located 8.5 miles away in the inhabitable mountainous terrain surrounding the compound," said Jaz. "After returning, he gained what other prisoners called an unprecedented and completely incorrect heir of confidence. The African American inmates also already hated him since he'd killed Martin Luther King Jr., so Ray was stabbed a total of 22 times while in the prison by said inmates."