CARSON CITY, Nev. — How was your first day in prison? That’s what E.K. McDaniel and Glen Whorton will describe at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at the Carson Nugget.
Of course, McDaniel and Whorton were able to go home after their first day — because they worked for the Department of Corrections. And both had many days after that to learn the unique job of working on the inside.
Their talk on "My First Day in Prison" is free and open to the public.
It is the second in a series of presentations by the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society on the history of the 151-year-old prison.
NSPPS was formed to preserve the historic prison on the state capital’s east side. The prison was built in 1862 and is the third-oldest in the West, after only San Quentin and Alcatraz. It was decommissioned in May 2012.
McDaniel is deputy director of operations for the Nevada Department of Corrections and a former warden of Ely State Prison. Whorton is a retired director of the department.
Both came up through the ranks as correctional officers at a time, as Whorton says, “when corrections were a bit more old-fashioned.”
And they have plenty of stories to tell. They plan to stick to the PG version in this talk.
For more information on the NSPPS and membership, visit www.nspps.org. You may also write to info@nspps.org or simply attend the talk on Wednesday.
The Preservation Society has plans to preserve the historic portions of the prison and its unusual features, such as the original ‘hole‘ — a dungeon-like cave where the worst prisoners were isolated — and the quarry from which stones for several state buildings were mined.
The prison property also contains fossilized footprints of prehistoric animals, an execution chamber where 32 people have died, the site of the world’s first gas-execution chamber in 1924, and it once housed the Bull Pen casino for inmates.
NSPPS is a Nevada nonprofit corporation and has applied for federal nonprofit status. Individual memberships start at $25 a year ($20 for seniors) and will help NSPPS fund its goals of not only preserving a unique and prominent piece of Nevada history, but to open the old prison’s doors to tourists and events.