Squirrel Cage Jail

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[Narrator] The Squirrel Cage Jail is a national historic landmark known for its unique design and history of isolation.

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[Narrator] Built in 1885 by architect William H. Brown and engineer Benjamin F. Haugh, both of Indiana, this three-story Victorian gothic brick rotary confinement served as the Pottawattamie County Jail until 1969.

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[Narrator] 18 rotary jails were built across the United States. But today, the Squirrel Cage Jail is one of only three remaining.

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[Kat Slaughter] It's called a squirrel cage because it rotates. All three levels of cells would rotate as one large piece. And it was meant to do that continuously, which they tried. It had a few issues. So, it turned where they would just turn it when they would have inmates going in and out of the cells up until 1960 when it was found too dangerous to continue rotation. They stopped rotation, they cut openings into some of the cells, and they used it for another nine years after that. So, it becomes a free-for-all until December of 1969. It was the county jail for 84 years.

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[Narrator] The unusual design was intended to make the jail more secure and efficient. With only one point of entry, a single jailer could rotate the cylindrical structure for the loading and unloading of prisoners.

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[Kat Slaughter] The cage would be moved by hand crank. There is a hand crank on the front of each level, so all three levels. There is an entry cab. And you could use the hand crank connected by chains and gears down to the very base of the cage.

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[Kat Slaughter] It's kind of a giant gear as the base as well that would move by manpower. It's 90,000 pounds empty. When it was perfectly aligned it was easy to move. They say a child could move it in the early years. As time goes on, buildings expand and contract, especially in the Midwest. And so, it has done that and it is at least an inch or two off gear alignment, making it harder to rotate.

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[Kat Slaughter] This building is kind of untouched. We're very lucky. It went from a jail to a museum. Most buildings aren't that lucky. There is usually something in between. But it closes as a jail in 1969, December of 1969, so basically the end of that year. The county takes out their stuff. The jailer and wife that live here remove their things in 1970. And then it is owned by the Parks Board for a little while, but the Historical Society is already in here getting it ready to be a museum. So, it was flipped basically to a museum immediately.

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[Kat Slaughter] Pretty much everything is original. The cells haven't been changed very much since 1885. It is all one piece, so to speak. Stuff you would see in your cell if you were arrested is very similar to today. You'd have the gray walls. If you're on the bottom bunk you're just looking up at the metal above you. The bunks are maybe as wide to my elbows. We've had to replace small things over the years like the wood on the frames. That just doesn't last 138 years as much as we'd like. The bars are all original. We've done some reworking of the masonry, but very little changing it out. It's to the original aesthetic that it was. We've had patches over the years because we are an old facility.

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[Kat Slaughter] The cement floor is original, that's why it's nice and pitted back here, because there have been a few people walking over the floors in 138 years. The walls are original. All of the carvings in the walls, the smoke, names on the ceiling, that is all done by the inmates as well.

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[Narrator] The barrier surrounding the building has also stood the test of time, keeping what belongs outside out and inside in for well over a century.

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[Kat Slaughter] The metal fence with the lovely spikes is original. We actually had an attempted escape of an inmate and he got outside and his pant leg got stuck on one of those nice spikes on top.

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[Kat Slaughter] So, the fourth floor is where the jailer and his family live because this building is staffed by two people. So, it's a little apartment on the fourth floor. But there is still only one kitchen in the facility. So, if you lived here you would have to go downstairs to the first-floor kitchen. They have a bedroom, depending on the year two bedrooms, later on you get an actual bathroom on the fourth floor, which I'm sure was exciting. And there is a bedroom and a living room up there. And the windows are original. They are huge arch windows that bring in basically all of the light to that fourth floor. They're absolutely stunning.

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[Kat Slaughter] I think it's important to keep all structures and this one specifically because jails give us an insight into the human mind when it was built and what's going on in our economy, what is going on in our nation at the time. This jail was built in the time of Queen Victoria. By the time it closes we've landed on the moon. So, it gives us a really good time capsule of how things were going on during that time period. We were open for eight and a half decades so there was a lot of change and you can see that throughout the whole facility when it comes to the structure, to the stuff that is written on the walls. Nice time capsule.

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[Narrator] Today, the Squirrel Cage Jail is preserved as a museum and is open for tours offering visitors a glimpse into a bygone era and its approach to incarceration.

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