KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There will soon be a way to step into a solitary confinement prison cell without being a convicted criminal.
The Lansing Historical Society plans to conduct tours of the abandoned, but still standing, Kansas State Penitentiary at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
"It gives people a place to come to see a prison in a prison town," said Debra Bates-Lamborn, with the historical society.
Prisons in Leavenworth County include the Lansing Correctional Facility, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth and the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.
KSHB 41, along with other local television stations, were given a preview tour Thursday.
The prison, with its imposing rock wall and rolls of barbed wire, sits just off Kansas 7 Highway.
Leavenworth Mayor Jermaine Wilson came to the prison Thursday afternoon where he spent two years serving time on a drug conviction.
Wilson, standing outside the old prison, pointed out the cell house where he lived and led a group to his old prison cell.
He climbed five flights of stairs, took a quick left turn and found cell 507, a three-man unit.
Wilson pointed out the metal bottom bunk where he slept, the table where he studied and the small space next to his bunk where he prayed.
"This area is where I prayed to God when I was at the lowest point of my life," Wilson said. "I felt peace come upon me. Although I was locked up physically, I was free mentally and spiritually."
Although he came prison reading at a fourth-grade level, he left prison taking college courses.
"I learned how to communicate while I was in prison, I learned conflict resolution," Wilson said standing inside his former cell.
The tour also included a visit to the prison's auditorium where Johnny Cash, his wife, June Carter Cash and other entertainers performed in 1970.
"He played here in the morning and then he went over and performed at the federal prison," Bates-Lamborn said. He enjoyed playing to audiences of inmates because they were the most enthusiastic."
Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said he hopes the prison tours will allow tourists and others to see not only the prison, but other parts of the community.
"I'm just a person who's part of the community," Thompson said. "I've lived here my entire life. My family's been here since the 1840's. Leavenworth is just known, I mean you can't watch a movie about crime, a mobster movie or anything without someone saying Leavenworth. But you've never had an opportunity to now experience what we know it for. It's not what we want it known for, but we hope it brings people here so they can go experience the great community I know exists."
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