By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Who says prison can’t be fun?

Not Steve Rudolph.

As vicepresident of Jackson Historic Prison Tours, one of which is being offered to area residents next month, he enjoys guiding visitors through the Old Jackson State Prison and his charges seem to enjoy it, too.

“It’s a grim history, but we don’t make it grim, we make it fun,” said Rudolph. “It’s fun and educational and those two things do go together and it’s history that everyone should know.”

The first prison in Michigan opened in 1839 and by 1882 was the largest walled prison in the world, encompassing about 20 acres, with more than 1,500 cells, each just large enough for a cot and a bucket. There was no electricity, heating, plumbing or ventilation.

“In 1914, it was so bad, they condemned the east wing,” said Rudolph. “The guards couldn’t make it through a shift without throwing up, the smell was so bad.”

The prison, he continued, was overcrowded right from the beginning, but it was never found that more than one prisoner was put in each of the roughly 4 1/2 foot by 5 1/2 foot cells. Each inmate received rations of oil for light and heat.

While much of the history remains a mystery, Rudolph says what is known for sure is that particularly in those early days, the prisoners had very miserable lives.

Michigan outlawed capital punishment in 1846 and there were no official executions at the old Jackson State Prison, but there were other means for getting rid of inmates, including a “bullpen” where wardens kept the most dangerous prisoners and would send the ones they no longer wanted.

“It was tough to survive the bullpen,” said Rudolph. “It was a large cell with a bunch of badasses in it, people who liked to beat people up or knew that was what they were supposed to do.”

He recalls the story of one inmate that was caught hiding a bottle of liquor and assigned to the bullpen, where the official story was that he committed suicide, but in truth, it was found he was beaten to death.

Still, not everything was grim at the prison. Inmates were allowed to play baseball with civilians in the prison yard and there was a bandstand in front of the messhall. During Prohibition, the prison had some of the best musicians in the state, incarcerated after being busted at speakeasies.

Prisoners also often spent their days outside of their cells, working. Rudolph notes the facility was like a city within the city of Jackson, with numerous factories. In the early 1900s, prisoners baled twine. There was a canning industry there at one time, and inmates also made gravestone monuments and license plates. In the early years of the 20th century the brick and cement plants established in the prison had to shut down.

“It was always a bone of contention with workers on the outside that they had to compete for jobs and business with what was virtually slave labor,” said Rudolph. “You would have been making $1 to $2 per day and prisoners were working for 35 cents. It was always a problem, but when you got into the 20th century it was a bigger problem, especially during the Depression.”

The prison closed in 1934 and inmates were moved north of town to the State Prison of Southern Michigan. For years after it no longer housed inmates, the old Jackson State Prison was an armory, where military trucks and vehicles were kept, not only during World War II, but all the way up through Operation Desert Shield. In 2003, the armory was closed and in 2008, it was turned into a residential artist community by a real estate developer.

The walls still stand, as does the mess hall, said Rudolph.

“It’s pretty decrepit— if you have a couple million dollars, we can fix it,” he laughs.

One cellblock is still there, but the group had to replicate a cell for the tour.

Rudolph loves to tell the stories of those who spent long ago days in Jackson State Prison. They ranged from bread thieves to murderers and age was not a discriminator, with 13-year-olds jailed alongside 40 to 50-year-old hardened criminals. Some of them are infamous, like the Purple Gang, a Jewish mob of bootleggers and to whom 500 murders were attributed.

Rudolph’s favorite inmate, however, was Silver Jack Driscoll, a lumberjack from the Saginaw Bay area.

“He was the toughest, roughest brawler in the history of Michigan logging,” said Rudolph. “He did two stints in Jackson, one for three years and one for nine years. He made a lot of good friends and bad enemies. They think he was set up— he got sentenced to 18 years for stealing a gun and $2.50. Eventually, he was pardoned.”

Rudolph is looking forward to a captive audience on June 25, when a motorcoach that leaves from the Edna Burton Center, 345 Ball St., Ortonville, will arrive at the Old Jackson State Prison. The tour will also include a visit to the Cascades waterfalls, a concert in the park, and dinner at Steve’s Ranch. The cost per person is $85. To register, call 248-627-6447.