I am writing this to send to some of my favorite podcasters, Karen & Georgia at My Favorite Murder, so I thought I’d post it here as well. Each Monday on the podcast they read stories from listeners about their own hometown murders, sinkholes, and pretty much anything we want to write. Karen & Georgia love a good wall cavity story!
On the podcast they told a story that included some creepy wall cavities which allowed the perpetrator to go unseen from apartment to apartment.
Ya’ll CHECK BEHIND YOUR MEDICINE CABINETS!
Since becoming addicted to true crime stories, I’ve been picking my Dad’s brain for stories of his life. My Daddy worked in the prison system for 30 years so he has some good stories.
For many years of his career Daddy worked at the Tennessee State Prison in Nashville. The building’s cell-block area is five stories high. Those in the cells on the third, fourth and fifth levels were allowed to order from the commissary. Those in the first and second levels were in higher security areas and not allowed to order from the commissary. This created a lucrative black market for those in the upper levels.
Between two rows of cells there are wall cavities which house the plumbing, electrical and a catwalk. There are vents in the back of the cell walls. The prisoners on the upper levels would use a make-shift fishing pole made from paper rolled up tightly into a long “pole” and tie a string to the end of it. They would then stick the “pole” through the vent grate on the back of the cell wall and pass items down to prisoners on the lower levels through the wall cavity. The buyer would pass their payment of tokens with holes in them by tying the tokens to the string and sending to the seller. The seller would then pass whatever they were selling to the buyer, usually candy bars or cigarettes. If the buyer was off to the side and not directly below them a hook would be used to bring the line over to the vent in their cell.
Daddy and the correctional officers would sneak into the wall cavity and take the goods off the fishing line. Then the buyer would get mad at the seller, but the seller would insist he had sent the goods down to the buyer. The inmates would also use this scenario from the front of the cells and those would mysteriously disappear, too.
The best part of this is that the correctional officers would give the candy to an older inmate that was not very well liked by the other prisoners. I can just imagine the arguments between the wronged inmates. Can’t you just imagine the older inmate with his stash of free candy and how it must have made him feel to walk around knowing who really had the candy!
Just in case I have not explained it well, here is a drawing to explain it.
I found this photo of the now condemned prison online and you can see the vent in the back wall of the cell.
The correctional officers would also listen to the prisoners while in the wall cavity and find out some interesting things like the time one officer heard about a tunnel which the inmate bragged, “the guards will never find it.”
After hearing that the officers searched the cells and tested the wall vents, which they did periodically anyway. They found a loose vent and continued to investigate the possibility of a tunnel.
Several officers looked for and could not find the tunnel. My smart dad, who is also claustrophobic, found it. He went all the way down to the lowest level and crawled on his hands and knees. Noticing a piece of concrete leaned up against the wall in a hidden area, he moved it and found the un-findable tunnel. He crawled through to investigate and found they had buried an electrical wire in the dirt so they had lights and power in the tunnel. They had picks and even a stolen jack-hammer. They never found out how those had been stolen. He got to a point where there was another section of concrete that they had been working to break through. He estimates that they were probably two days from breaking through it.
The fact that I know how claustrophobic he is and he crawled through to investigate the tunnel makes me even more proud of my amazing Dad!
They called Daddy, “The Godfather” because he had the respect of the guards and the inmates. I remember more than once he’d be called in during his off hours because there was a riot and he could get the inmates to calm down. Unfortunately he was on vacation during the “Pork Chop Riot of 1975”. The inmates rioted because the kitchen ran out of pork chops. Inmates ran wild. The state police brought in K9s. The inmates locked officers in cells to protect them during the riot.
He also talked briefly about the time in 1971 that he met James Earl Ray who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. The only thing he has said about that is that he doesn’t think there is any way James Earl Ray could have done it by himself.
I know he has lots of stories he has not yet shared. It’s fun for us to bond and he is an excellent storyteller!
The Tennessee State Prison circa 1898
The now condemned Tennessee State Prison originally built in 1898. It’s condemned due to asbestos which is such a shame since it has a lot of history and could be restored to a beautiful building. It’s gothic, castle like appearance could be used for so many purposes. It was hit by a tornado in 2020.
When it was first built there was a stage coach entrance. Over the years it has housed a soap plant, metal shop and print shop all of which employed the inmates.
Lots of movies have been filmed there including:
The Last Castle staring Robert Redford
The Green Mile – the death row area shown on the movie was actually the chapel. The houses shown in the movie were the commissioner warden, deputy warden, and maintenance manager’s houses.
Walk the Line 2005 biographical drama about Johnny Cash
Against the Wall 1994 Docudrama
Marie: A True Story starring Sissy Spacek 1985biographical film about Marie Ragghianti
Framed 1975 with Joe Don Baker and was shot while Daddy was there. He had a crush on Conny Van Dyke and let her ride his motorcycle.
