Old Idaho Penitentiary

what a great visit, niceley done

Took the family here on International Museum Day. What an amazing piece of Idaho history. Oddly enough, for being a prison, my wife and I both agreed that the grounds were very attractive. There are many informative displays and there are plenty of areas visitors can access. There is also an outstanding military weapons museum (unrelated to the prison’s history, just inside the property). Both the prison and the weapons museum are top notch.

This is a great historic site. It’s only $ 6 to enter and you can take the tour (included) and explore on your own. There were a lot of interesting stories on the tour. They aren’t allowed to change anything, so don’t put off visiting if you are nearby because once all the rose bushes are gone they can’t be replanted.

I absolutely loved the tour for the old state penitentiary. The tour guide provided a lot of information and stories about the inmates who were in the facility. I will definitely very returning for another tour. Everything was very insightful & it almost made you feel as if you we’re there when everything was happening. I just hate that it’s almost a 10 hour drive from vegas!

So seriously, this is quite possibly one of my most favorite historical tours I have ever done! Make sure you get a tour guide to learn the cool stories. The different buildings are full of history! I loved learning about the different inmates and the cat! Try to go when it’s not super hot as the buildings aren’t a/​c. I wish my son had been with me, as this would have been an awesome learning experience.

Must see! The grounds are open to explore on your own or you can take a tour. It’s about 2 hours long with a lot of cool and creepy history. You can walk inside cells and even death row and the hanging gallows. If your a history buff or just into cool history this place is a must see.

A hundred years ago, it started off as a jail for males only, then had to make an adjustment as a final count of 222 debauched women eventually came into the picture. A complex of buildings made of architectually interesting carvings and grey sandstone walls are reminders of the stark difference in jail life of the 1800 and 1900’s to today’s quarters. Not that I would know… thankfully.
You can take a guided tour, or simply walk the grounds at your own pace, reading the signs along the way. The best place to start is with the short historical video that runs about every 20 minutes in the main building. The main entry has a few rooms staged to see what prison life was like from both viewpoints (prisoner and enforcer), and a roomful of artifacts in large glass cases.
The air feels thick as you pass through many areas. Imagine the associations to crime and violence and inhumane, the depressing punishments given (sometimes too harsh for the crime committed). There is still the evidence of the raging flames that licked the cafeteria and kitchen building as a result of the riot of 1973 that ultimately decided the fate of this spector of a facility. That entire grey stone building is now nothing more than a roofless, hollow shell with a visible depressing underground network of tiny rooms below the main floor that were used for food prep, storage, and who knows what.
One old, still intact building is devoted solely to the history of tattoos and their significance to prison life. Large photos of notable inmates and their stories are posted on the walls. Quite fascinating.
Another building is set aside for a vast gun collection, old military weaponry and displays to depict life in the trenches of WWI.
The trap doors covering holes in the ground and narrow dark cells used as tortuous solitary confinement chambers can be seen as you wander the grounds. Some buildings that were open for viewing include the creepy, multi-​leveled cell blocks for the masses, with rusty doors and peeling institutional paint. I cannot imagine enduring the extreme weather conditions and lack of significant protection.
The pathways are frequently cracked, uneven, and difficult to maneuver for those with physical disabilities, yet in contrast, some of the grounds have been cheerfully landscaped with green grass and flowers, a juxtaposition of the underlying morose tone.
Playing with your imagination, it is haunted in my opinion. It took a hundred years until it finally closed its doors to this chapter in Idaho history. Interesting place to visit. But I sure wouldn’t want to live there.

Fantastic facility and had so much fun. I’m sensitive to the dead so of course they got me a time or two with emotion and pains but so incredible and had such a wonderful time seeing what thing were like. Thank u!

Surprised I enjoyed the self guided tour. Surreal smelling roses and wandering where hundreds were incarcerated. I liked the story of the prison cat, and was amazed at the weapons exhibit. Impressive.

This place is a great way to step back into what prison life was like in the early 1900’s. For me it’s ver incentivizing to not commit a crime!

Yeah, go do it. Inexpensive. Engaging. Fun. Educational. Hopefully part of ending our system of incarceration as we know it.

I love old prisons.
Old Idaho Penitentiary isn’t quite as fascinating as Alcatraz or Eastern State Penitentiary (in Philadelphia), but it’s worth your time.
I went on a crazy hot August day and our tour guide did an excellent job taking us through the various buildings. Because of a fire set during a riot in the 1970s, some of the buildings are basically just four walls with no floor.
If you go here, make sure that you can get a free tour. Without one, I can’t imagine it would be all that exciting. Our tour guide told us about the one crazy inmate who sat in solitary confinement for seven months because he refused to give back a spoon. We also learned why the 1970s riot began. And the tour guide can let you into the death chamber where just one man was hanged before the prison shut down. Your guide can also tell you about the cool push-​button system the guards had when they wanted to leave. (There’s a reason there’s a stop light above the door out.)
Though it wasn’t included in my tour, make sure you go into the laundry. It’s one of the creepiest rooms I’ve ever walked into.
As a total left-​field bonus, one of the buildings houses an AMAZING collection of military weaponry. Swords from hundreds of years ago. Trench weapons from WWI. Yes, WWII weaponry as well. I have no idea what all that stuff is doing in a prison, but it’s an incredible addition.

Erin Bostwick was a great tour guide. I really enjoyed learning about Idaho prison history. If you are in Boise and you are looking for something to do I strongly recommend it. The conditions of prison in the 20’s through 60’s was appalling.

I have to admit when I looked at «Things to do» in Boise taking a prison tour was not on top of my list. But I am so glad I took this tour. Most museums you just go though not reading any of the information. I found myself reading every detail about this place in interest. I would say it was one of the most informative tours I have ever done. It’s only one of four prisons that you can actually tour, which I thought was neat. This tour is a must do Boise. It’s a cheap tour also, with discounts. Please don’t miss out on a Boise treasure.

The field trip destination of choice for Idaho fourth graders and the consummate Boise experience. A rich part of Idaho history, great volunteers, and fun events. Definitely worth a stop for out-​of-​towners or Boiseans who want an informative afternoon experience.
No trip to the Old Pen is complete without perusing the shank exhibit. It really gets a person’s creative juices flowing when you start thinking about household items that could be fashioned into a weapon.

The Old Idaho State Penitentiary holds a sad legacy. It opened in 1872, while Idaho was still a territory. Statehood came 18 years later and the sandstone prison, oppressively hot during the summer and freezing cold in the winter remained as Idaho’s main prison until 1973.
A prison riot in 1973, which came as a result of legitimate grievances by prisoners, led to the closure of the facility. The state hurried completion of a modern prison south of Boise.
After the prison closed, it became a tourist attraction. Evidence of the fires that were part of the 1973 riot can still be seen.
The prison is well preserved and it’s easy to imagine what life was like back when it was operating.

What an experience. Lots of history lessons. And a wonderful artillery museum. It was amazing to the Who’s, the gardens, the little stories of why’s and the art the inmates put together (the toilet seats and backings, and head /​lean boards). An eye opener to how small the living quarters were. Sad to say… but, if these were the conditions maybe they should still be the conditions? Is that heartless?
A nice history lesson for all of us!

Yeah for history and well preserved history!
I’ve seen this place every time i’ve climbed Table Rock! It was fun to tour and see all the old buildings, make up stories, check out the solitary rooms — oh my!
See the buildings as they were left/​abandoned when the prison was closed.
There are no tours on weekdays — bummer. But there is a AAA discount — woohoo!
It really is an interesting tour — i liked reading all the info — although it was alot to read!
And the gun musesum was pretty fascinating! But again — lots to read and for me it made me tired!
Definitely stop by, take a gander, enjoy some history!

Visited this place over a year ago now! Never wrote a review but was reminded by a fellow Unilocaler Willa by a pic she posted.
I love old jails, I love haunted houses, pretty much anything spooky.
The whole family went on this day during our Boise adventure. Our tour guide was an elderly gent whom had actually been an inmate or a guard there. Can’t remember which .!! Fun! Well for us anyways. We saw where people were put to death by hanging. Very interesting. We saw women’s quarters as well as the men’s. it was staged to look «lived in» I sure it wasn’t quite exact but good for kids to get an idea of what jail might be like.;)
We saw the underground «room» more like a hole they sent u to if u misbehaved and enjoyed crazy stories about criminals housed there like the dude that cut off a women’s nipples and was found with them in his pocket! Fascinating stuff, scary but fascinating!
A definite stop if u like crazy history stuff like I do.

Do not pass GO and go directly to JAIL!
I’ve passed the Old Pen numerous times on hikes up to Table Rock and you get a nice view of the property when hiking up but I had yet taken the time to do a tour or visit the prison itself. With some friends in town over the holidays we decided to take a few hours and do just that. It’s not an all day excursion but for $ 5 you can spend 1 – 2 hours touring the facility on your own or with a tour guide. They have an interesting exhibit of prison body art and quite an array of homemade prison weapons to view. All of the staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about the facility. It’s insane to me that the facility was still running up until the 1970’s.
Its has been reported that the prison is haunted and a certain times of the year you can do night tours and spook yourself out. Maybe a great place to hit around Halloween or just an interesting place to take the parents or out of town family to visit when it is time to get out of the house.