Most people did their best to avoid this place for nearly 160 years. That’s about to change. When the Kansas Department of Corrections opened a newly constructed Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas, in 2020 it meant the old, stone-walled prison building that housed inmates since the 1860s would be left empty and without purpose. Instead of demolishing it, the Department of Corrections has transferred control of the building to the Lansing Historical Society and Museum, paving the way for the historic prison to be opened for tours. Visitors will have plenty to see in the buildings that have mostly been left in the condition they were in when the prison shut down. Hundreds of tiny cells on multiple floors sit with their barred doors open inviting tour goers to step inside. Paint peels from the walls, some covered in graffiti and the grunge accumulated from the men serving their time there. The access provides a strong visual reminder of the conditions put on people serving time in prison. The prison’s walls also hold the stories of the people who were locked inside and those who walked out after working their shifts. People taking the tours will hear about the day to day routine of prison life lived by the majority of the inmates who served their time and were released from Lansing. They’ll also hear the stories of some of the facility’s more infamous residents. Several whose time there ended at the end of a gallows noose. Members of the community, the Lansing Historical Society and Museum and dignitaries gathered outside the Lansing Correctional Facility, which closed in 2020, for the transfer of keys on Sept. 9 to the Lansing Historical Society and Museum. Tours of the prison to the public began Sept. 13. Tammy Ljungblad Tljungblad@kcstar.com The prison tour is modeled off of a similar tour in Missouri. About a year ago, Kansas Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth Democrat, approached the Lansing Historical Society and Museum with the idea of preserving the prison by converting it into a tourist attraction, similar to the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. TOP VIDEOS After months of discussions, on Aug. 1, 2024, the Kansas Department of Corrections and the Lansing Historical Society and Museum formalized their partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding, allowing the society to offer guided public tours of the historic Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle