Claire

Claire's squirrel cage jail speech.

My speech is on a historical landmark right here in Council Bluffs. Its the biggest of its kind,and one of 6 ever made in the U.S.What is it? It's our very own Squirrel Cage Jail.

The "lazy Susan" jail was built in the early 1880s,and designed by William H. Brown and Benjemen F.Haugh.The idea was patented on July 21,1881.But the jail was built wrong! The axel didn't turn right.It was supposed to be turned when nobody was watching the prisoners, but they just turned it at night to put new jailers in. That was one of the reasons squirrel cage jails are so unique. It was for "maximum security with minimum jailer attention." It was also closed due to health hazards, but they fixed it when they got a new jailer.It got 3 new coats of paint and new sheets and mattresses.

It looks like a victorian style house, one of the many things that sets it apart from many other jails.The jail was built with 4 floors,with jailer's quarters and different quarters for the women and children.There were 30 pie slice shaped cells with a cage over them, hence the name.In the middle of the jail is what makes the whole thing work, the big steel drum. The drum could be rotated from any level of the building.The cage had 3 openings, so if the jailer wanted to get a prisoner out he would have to turn the crank until their cell was at the opening and unlock their door.In case of a fire a brave man would have to risk his life and turn all the cells till they faced the opening, which takes about 3 minutes per cell.So it would take 10 minutes to get everyone out, and by then the jail would have burned down,which is one of the big reasons that the jail was closed.

There was a bull pen for the especially naughty ones.Speaking of the bull pen, that's how four prisoners escaped, taking less than an hour to knock a hole through the wall. They left a note for Roy Wichael, the sheriff at the time.The note said, "I sincerely hope that this escape will help you get a new jail because you need one." But I very sincerely disagree, because if that happened it would be demolished and no one here would know why a jail would be named after a squirrel. They did almost tear the squirrel cage jail down when it closed in 1969, but it was saved by a group of women. After that it was renovated by the historical society of Pottawattamie County for 5,000 dollars and now tours are given.Plus another cool thing is that some say it's haunted by it's first superintendent, J.M. Carter.

Still don't know why I chose the squirrel cage jail as my great American landmark? I'll tell you why. There were only 18 "squirrel cage jails" ever made, and only 3 are still standing in the U.S.A. Out of those 18 jails ,still standing or not, Council Bluffs' jail is the biggest one, and probably the coolest looking one. So the next time you look at our beautiful jail, say thanks to Pottawattamie County for restoring it.