Missouri State Prison Research Paper

Missouri State Penitentiary:Kenneth Boyd

Governor John Miller suggested there should be a prison built in Jefferson City, Missouri. On January 3, 1833 the bill passed to build the penitentiary. The Missouri State Penitentiary was the first prison to be built. The first prisoner arrived to the prison in 1836. 6 years later the first female prisoner was brought to the prison. Factories and gave to the prison including 6 shoe factories. Prisoners were fed and had housing for 11 cents a day and was named the most efficient prison in the country. In 1900 more than 2,200 prisoners lived at the Missouri State Penitentiary and was called the “Greatest in the World”. Prisoners saved documents during the fire that destroyed the state capital. By 1932

the Missouri State Pen became the largest prison in the United States. With more than 5,200 prisoners 40 of them are executed in gas chambers. A giant riot broke out when 2 inmates tricked a guard in being sick and locked him into the cell and let the other prisoners out which caused a riot. As all this went down it brought national attention and inmates died. Also during this riot the prisoners set the prison on fire since they knew they weren’t able to get out. Later on in 1967 the Missouri State Penitentiary was named the bloodiest 47 acres in America because of all the killings and stuff that happened in the prison. The prison name was changed in 1991 to the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Not much longer after that the prison was changed back to Missouri State Penitentiary in 2001. 1,355 inmates were transferred to a different prison and the prison is now opened for tours.
Kenneth Boyd was one of the 40 inmates to get executed in the gas chambers. Kenneth was a guy who lived in St. Louis and was married to Theresa Boyd. He was born on March 24th, 1930 and born in St. Louis Missouri. His parents names were Robert Boyd and Aline Johnson.
On January 3, 1951 Kenneth got in a robbery for $40 and shot and killed a man named Sam Barenfeld. He was shipped to the Missouri State Penitentiary and was in there for 18 months. On July 10th, 1953 Kenneth was put in the gas chamber and executed. The gas chamber was made out of a submarine tank and used cyanide tablets that dropped into acid. The inmates were only able to hold their breath for about a minute and would inhale the gases and would suffocate It would take about 5 to 10 minutes for the inmates to die. A day before they would actually execute them they’d walk them down a little walkway and before you’d reach the chamber there was a cross so you could think about what you did and make you think about it all night. Also they would let you pick out what your last meal would be before you were executed. Kenneth Boyd did not have a last meal that anyone knows about. After Kenneth was executed he was taken back to St. Louis and was buried at the Calvary Cemetery. Most of the people that were executed in the chamber were buried the penitentiary. A hundred people were buried and no one knew their name and are still there till this day.