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The Deer Lodge Prison
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The Deer Lodge Prison began construction in 1870 after Montana pleaded with the US government to send over money to pay for the prison. The prison was supervised by Dr. Armisted Hughes who was a major physician and surgeon in the area. After he was appointed, he began to realize the big problem with the construction. Congress had not given them nearly enough money to complete the prison. In response to this, the doctor decided he would cut costs on the prison to try to complete it. In 1873 ownership was transferred from the U.S. Attorney General’s office to the Territory of Montana. Once Montana had it in hand, they realized that the wing that had been created was hardly finished. It consisted of bare walls and cells, nothing more. Even so, the facility was used to house prisoners despite how bare it was. Around this time the first warden (C. B. Adriance) was appointed. In its early days it held 19 prisoners even though it was unfinished. The early prisoners also spent time constructing the prison, making their own clothes, cooking and cutting lumber. Even so they were never paid for this labor. After almost a decade on July 7, 1884, another $15,000 was given to help the prison complete inmate housing. They soon found that their initial foundation was not nearly enough to add on more, and they would have to completely redo the foundation in order to add more inmate housing. Despite the protests of the Superintendent of Construction (U.S. Marshall Alexander B. Botkin), instead of building more cells for prisoners, the money was used to build a central office building and rooms for the guards. In March of 1885, Congress gave another 25k to complete the prison and in 1886 the South wing was complete. This provided the prison with the capacity to hold up to 140 inmates.