Kansas State Penitentiary Inmates

[W. Gray]

From the Topeka Commonwealth, January 24, 1874,

The state penitentiary contained 340 prisoners of whom 58 were not born in the United States. Eighty-four of the prisoners could not read or write.

From the Elk City Courant, June 17, 1874,

"The prison labor of the Kansas state penitentiary will be used by Kirby, Roach & Co., of Jefferson City, who get from 30 to 75 men at boot and shoe making, at 50 cents per day, for ten years. Alexander Caldwell and J. Water, get the remainder, to be employed in the manufacture of wagons, buggies, carriages, cars, etc., at an average of 51 cents per day."
Wagons manufactured by prisoners were called the "Kansas Wagon."

From the Elk County Ledger (Howard City), March 10, 1877,

"It costs fifty one cents a day to keep each convict in the State penitentiary."


From the Cave Springs Globe, May 3, 1882,

"The Kansas penitentiary has 666 regular boarders at present."

The 2006 Kansas state penitentiary population was 8,937 housed at several locations.