Inmates of the Idaho Penitentiary 1864-1947 - Idaho State Historical ...

IDAHO STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETYarticle noting the steel rafters added confusion to the storymentioning twice that the cellblock had three tiers. TwoHouse has four tiers. The “New” Cellhouse has three.The 10 December Statesman also details that a net wasbeing brought into the cellhouse but that the net couldnot be deployed because the corridor was only seven feetwide (the net required a width of ten feet). Again, the“New” Cellhouse’s corridors are less than ten feet wide;the corridors in Two House are wider than ten feet.If a researcher were to rely solely on newspaper accounts,Two House would appear to be the most logical locationfor the suicide even with minor inconsistencies in theevidence. However, other resources exist that call thisassumption into question.Two possible witnesses to the event identified themselvesto Society staff. Both of these men were former guardsand both were adamant, more than a half century after theevent, that the suicide occurred in the “New” Cellhouse.The Society also possesses other resources about DouglasVan Vlack. His inmate file unfortunately does not shedany light on which building he died in. Another clue tothe mystery was recently discovered in the E L “Shorty”Fuller collection. Fuller was a freelance Associated Pressphotographer who photographed for the Statesmanfrom 1937 to 1942. This collection contains negatives,photographic prints, and scrapbooks that documentvarious news stories. Two photographs in the collection,presumably taken shortly after the suicide, show theinterior of a cellhouse— the “New” Cellhouse. The firstphotograph shows a mattress on the ground next to thewall. The back of the photograph reads, “Where VanVlack died. A foot or two from where he did his divefrom the rafter.” One of the 10 December Statesmanarticles mentions this mattress. The article says, “VanVlack… was moved a few feet and was placed on amattress.” The second Fuller photograph shows a tablein the corridor of the “New” Cellhouse that could be theone Van Vlack used to gain access to the second tier ofthe cellhouse.After reviewing all available evidence in the Van Vlackmystery, most staff and volunteers at the Old IdahoPenitentiary believe the suicide of Douglas Van Vlackoccurred in the “New” Cellhouse. The discovery of newevidence could always change that belief.Those who share Old Penitentiary history with the publictry to be as accurate as possible, though determiningwhat really happened can often be challenging. Thestaff strives to be respectful to the experiences of thosemen and women who spent time at the penitentiary asthose experiences bring value and relevance to the oldprison buildings. Sharing the site’s stories with visitorsas well as the difficulty in finding the “truth” behindthose stories makes the visitors’ experience at the siteinteresting, meaningful and can sometimes inspire themto investigate the prison’s history on their own.The inmate files contain a wealth of information aboutthe men and women who served time at the prison.The Society’s catalog of inmate files will make accessingthose files easier. This catalog will provide one moreresource for investigating Old Penitentiary history andcontribute greatly to uncovering stories of the OldIdaho Penitentiary’s former residents, staff and historicbuildings. The inmate files project has identified morethan 1,250 “missing” inmates. Previously, there was noevidence that these inmates— whose records were lostor sometimes folded into other inmates’ files— hadserved time here. Who knows what stories those missinginmates have to tell? Idaho State Historical Society MS 511.863xii