The Kentucky State Penitentiary in Frankfort was an American prison. It was the first prison built west of the Allegheny Mountains and completed on June 22, 1800, when Kentucky was still virtually a wilderness. The Kentucky Legislature of 1798 had appointed Harry Innes, Alexander S. Bullitt, Caleb Wallace, Isaac Shelby and John Coburn as commissioners to choose a location for a “penitentiary house.” The house was described "to be built of brick, or stone, containing cells, workshops, with an outside wall high enough and strong enough to keep the prisoners from getting away." The site chosen was Frankfort, Kentucky. Henry Innis, one of the commission, gave one acre of land and the legislature appropriated $500 towards its building with more funds to be allocated later. This prison was known as the Kentucky Penitentiary until the 1910 Prison Reform bill passed March 1, 1910: This bill included that one institution be penal and the other reform; the changing of its mode of Capital Punishment from the gallows to the use of an electric chair, and included that the electric chair be kept in a "penitentiary," and that a "Death House" to be built. The electric chair was installed at the Branch Penitentiary September 1910. All convicts under 30 years of age with minor crimes should be kept in a reformatory and those over 30 years of age should be kept in a penitentiary. The prison's history ended in January 1937 when a flood ravaged towns and cities all along the Ohio River and the trans-Mississippi River Valley wreaking havoc in its wake. The old Frankfort prison was among its victims. The flood made the prison uninhabitable. The State had appropriated funds the previous year (1936) for the building of a new prison to ease the overcrowding. No one predicted a flood would hasten the process.
Contractor Colonel Richard Taylor was the contractor hired for building the new prison.
Keepers of the penitentiary 1800 – 1860
John Stuart Hunter −1800-1806 – Reported to six inspectors. 1800–1806 – Governor appointed the Keeper and the Keeper's pay was an annual salary. Samuel Taylor – 1806 -1810 Six inspectors were disposed. John Glover- 1810–1815 In 1813, the State advanced $5,000 to buy nail-iron. There was no other prison of the kind west of the Alleghenies, none nearer than Virginia and Philadelphia. The problems of industrial management in prisons were new, and without clear precedents. Anderson Miller −1815-1816- William Starling- 1816-1819- William Hardin −1819-1825—When William Hardin left in 1825, the State was in debt to him in the amount of $2,307.61. The 1825 act of Legislature authorized the Governor to appoint the keeper on a partnership principle and this constituted a basis of a contract between the state and the keeper. Joel Scott −1825-1834—Scott became known as the institution reformer of his day. When he took charge, the inmates were in a deplorable condition, filthy and diseased. There were 84 convicts in the state penitentiary in 1825. 1825–1856 – In 1825 the principle changes and the state enters into a partnership contract. The General Assembly of 1825 loaned the Keeper $6000 to run the institution. The Keeper was to pay back this amount plus 6% interest at the end of his term. The Keeper was to receive ½ of the net profit of sales from inmate made goods plus guarantees the state $1,000 profit. Thomas S. Theobald −1834-1844 Newton Craig and Col. William Henry −1844-1855- 1848 – Both houses of legislature voted to elect a keeper of the penitentiary for the next six years: The law made him a partner of the State in the profits of the institution. The keeper to have one-third the profits, and the State two-thirds; but the keeper had to guarantee that the annual profits of the State not be less than $5000. The State to furnish the penitentiary, work-shops, machinery, clerk, capital, and convicts, and therefore receives the stipulated sum annually...There were two or three candidates for the office. Zebulon Ward −1854-1859 – Calvin Fairbank described Zeb Ward as one of the strangest men he ever knew; physically handsome, sonically magnetic, and utterly devoid of heart or conscient. He was a gambler, libertine and murderer, all under the cover of the law. Ward leased the prison at $6,000 a year and made $100,000 out of the lease in four years. Fairbank stated: "To do this he literally killed 250 out of 375 prisoners." Jeremiah South −1859-1862 Harry Todd --1862-1871–30 Females and 500 males in the Kentucky Penitentiary 1856–1880 – The prison was under the Sinking Fund in the 1870s Jeremiah South −1871-1880 Feb 1878 the Kentucky General Assembly discussed the bill to abolish the lease system in favor of the warden system. 1880 – Lesseeship terminates and the State takes back control of the prisons.
Wardens 1880–1937 W. S. Stone --1880-1882-- Harry Todd --1882-1884-- J. Proctor Knott—1884-1884-- W. T. Barry South --1884-1885-- E. H. Taylor --1885-1890-- M. P. Bolan --1890-1892-- Sam A. Norman --1892-1893-- Resigned as warden to take over the State's Chari Factory in the Penitentiary Henry George --1893-1895—Senator from Graves County succeeded Norman Dr. E. M. Nell --1895-1896—He had been a State Senator from Adair County. Died in office. Maj. R. A. Hancock --1896-1898-- Ephraim T. Lillard --1898-1906—Resigned W.S. Hawkins --1906-1907—Temporary Warden George P. Chinn --1907-1908-- E. E. Mudd --1908-1913-- A.J.G. Wells --1913-1916–1914 – 460 acres belonging to Mrs. Mastin, Frankfort, Kentucky was leased by the State for a prison farm at $3,000 year. J. Mack Phythian --1916-1920—Resigned due to ill health L.R. Davis—1920 – -- W. H. Moyer --1920-1921–1921: Convicts go on salary, increase more work, per Superintendent Moyer. Increase in volume and quality of work improved. H.V. Bastin --1921-1925–1922: Open air dormitory to be constructed at the Reformatory. By using the ward system instead of cells would accommodate 500 prisoners. Herbert M. Beard --August 5, 1925 – 1929—Died of pneumonia 20 Nov 1929; appointed Warden of the reformatory by the State Board of Charities and Corrections under Gov. William J. Fields. W. M. Roach—1930 --- Acting Warden after Beard's death. James Hammond --1937 – -- Major Joseph M. Kelly – Warden Tent City--
1838 Prison Towers
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