![]() Taylor gathered about him Guards Jally and Silak. Some time during the morning Jally informed Taylor that there was something wrong in the engine room. After three or four days of watching Jally informed Superintendent Taylor, and both became convinced that some deeper plot was being laid, and they became more determined than ever to ascertain the cause of so much suppressed excitement among the convicts. This is a very common matter at the prison, and only last week Guard Lamphry burned ten pounds of the drug which had been surreptitiously brought within the confines. whose station is at the rock crushing plant, has had his suspicions aroused by the peculiar conduct of some at the prisoners under his control At first he thought these whisperings and signals were carried on in the planning of some scheme to smuggle in opium. For some time past Officer Charles Jally. Not long ago I brought $75 worth of books for our library with money found around the prison grounds - money that had been hidden by convicts or carried in, notwithstanding the precaution we take to relieve all the prisoners of every cent they have upon their person when entering for registration .”īut while it may not be astonishing to find this overwhelming desire on the part of convicts to conceal their spare change, there is probably no prison in the United States where the criminals successfully operated and circulated bogus coin, manufactured within the prison walls under the very eyes of the officers. They conceal money in their hair and in their ears, and we are not always successful in obtaining possession of it. I have known them to have five-dollar pieces covered with cloth and sewed upon their vests as buttons. No second termer ever comes without an endeavor to conceal upon his person some bit of money. “ You would be surprised to know what difficulty we have in securing money from the prisoners who are brought here. ![]() Secretary Smith, in speaking of this peculiarity on the part of prisoners, once said to The Call correspondent: On the part of many it becomes a mania, and they will resort to all sorts of devices and any kind of a subterfuge to withhold a few pieces of coin from the Warden upon entering the prison. To those who have had dealings with me sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for the commission of crime it is known that there is no passion or desire stronger than the predilection of a prisoner to carry upon his person some small amount of money. If there is a place in the broad universe where neither the opportunity nor demand of money arises it is within the walls of the State prison at least such is the general impression of people who are without experience with criminals. Guards Surprise Convicts Busily Engaged in Coining Nickels in the Engine-Room.Ī counterfeiter’s layout has been discovered at Folsom within the State prison walls, the last spot on earth where one would look for the illegal minting of Uncle Sam’s coin. In 1968, Johnny Cash performed live at the prison to the delight of inmates and jailers.īOGUS MONEY IS MADE RIGHT IN FOLSOM PRISON Outside of California residents, most of the rest of the world was to first hear the name Folsom Prison in the 1955 hit song “ Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash. What follows is the text of an article which appeared in San Francisco’s The Call newspaper, March 10, 1898.
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