Missouri Gas Chamber
Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City Missouri. May 27th 2016.
The small building that houses the Missouri gas chamber was built in 1937. The airtight chamber was first installed on the concrete slab and the building was then built around it. Some of the construction was performed by convicts and the stone used was quarried by convicts from the prison quarry. Ironically, one of the the convicts executed here (Robert West) had helped construct this building during an earlier incarceration.
The information that you find online states that the building has two rooms. I don't know when this changed, but that is no longer correct. There are now three entrances to the building. Two in the front and one on the side. One of the front entrances leads to a room that has the door to the gas chamber and there is a room off to the side of that where the various chemicals and/or drugs were prepared. The other door on the front leads to a room with bleacher seats and viewing windows that was for family members of the victims' who wished to view the execution. The door on the side leads to a room that also has a viewing window and was for members of the convict's family.
Over the years forty people were executed here. 39 men and one woman. The first 39 were killed using hydrogen cyanide gas. John Brown was the first recipient in 1938 and in 1965 Llyod L. Anderson was the last. In 1989 George Mercer was executed here using lethal injection.
After an execution using hydrogen cyanide, the gas was vented to the outside through a tall pipe coming out of the roof of the building. Before this would be done, nearby guard towers had to be evacuated and precautions also had to be taken in the neighborhoods near the prison.
Missouri Gas Chamber
Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City Missouri. May 27th 2016.
The small building that houses the Missouri gas chamber was built in 1937. The airtight chamber was first installed on the concrete slab and the building was then built around it. Some of the construction was performed by convicts and the stone used was quarried by convicts from the prison quarry. Ironically, one of the the convicts executed here (Robert West) had helped construct this building during an earlier incarceration.
The information that you find online states that the building has two rooms. I don't know when this changed, but that is no longer correct. There are now three entrances to the building. Two in the front and one on the side. One of the front entrances leads to a room that has the door to the gas chamber and there is a room off to the side of that where the various chemicals and/or drugs were prepared. The other door on the front leads to a room with bleacher seats and viewing windows that was for family members of the victims' who wished to view the execution. The door on the side leads to a room that also has a viewing window and was for members of the convict's family.
Over the years forty people were executed here. 39 men and one woman. The first 39 were killed using hydrogen cyanide gas. John Brown was the first recipient in 1938 and in 1965 Llyod L. Anderson was the last. In 1989 George Mercer was executed here using lethal injection.
After an execution using hydrogen cyanide, the gas was vented to the outside through a tall pipe coming out of the roof of the building. Before this would be done, nearby guard towers had to be evacuated and precautions also had to be taken in the neighborhoods near the prison.