NCJ Number
169364
Journal
American Jails Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-August 1995) Pages: 83-84,86-93
Date Published
1995
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Ten jails built and operated in the frontier west exemplify the variety of early jails in operation during that period.
Abstract
These jails are located in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming and are easily accessible by road. The jails are typical of the early jails in that they were small and usually held only one to five people. No jail standards existed during the frontier period, so the jails could be filled to capacity in an emergency. The jail in Frisco, Colo. is made of logs and is 14 feet wide and 33 feet long. It originally had four cells; each was 7.5 feet square. The jail in Garnet, Mont. consisted of one room and was probably used rarely. The jail in Georgetown, Colo. has two cells and a keeper's room. This jail probably held drunks, people waiting for transportation, and stray animals, because the laws of mining camps usually called for banishing civil and criminal offenders and jail sentences were almost unknown. The other jails described are located in Nevada City, Mont., Phillipsburg, Mont., Shaniko, Oreg., Silverton, Colo., South Pass City, Wyo., Telluride, Colo., and Thompson Falls, Mont. Figures, photographs, reference notes, and 23 references