The Kansas State Penitentiary, now known as the Lansing Correctional Facility, was built in the 1860s. Since then, thousands of inmates have passed through it's doors, most notably, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, whose crime was retold in Truman Capote's novel, In Cold Blood. Recent additions to Kansas Memory include the images of several dozen inmates from the Kansas State Penitentiary captured on glass plate negatives, all taken in 1901.
More inmate photographs are currently being digitized, but in the meantime, other items of interest relating to the Kansas State Penitentiary include correspondence and artifacts. You can also learn how to preserve any collodion negatives you might have at home, or browse all the glass plate negatives we've put on Kansas Memory thus far.