The Ultimate Prisons Quiz | World Sites

Answer: Attica Correctional Facility

Overcrowding and frustration with strict prison life finally boiled over on September 9, 1971 and 2,200 prisoners in all four cell blocks took over the prison. By the end of the day, state troopers and prison guards had regained control of three of the cell blocks. When a guard hostage was severely beaten and thrown out of a second story window, the gloves came off. Governor Rockerfeller brought in the National Guard and ordered the prison taken back by force. Tear gas dropped by helicopter was followed by state police and prison guards firing 3,000 rounds of ammunition into the tear gas haze, killing ten hostages and 29 prisoners, in addition to the one guard and three prisoners killed earlier by the rioters.

I've always been interested in Attica Prison because my grandfather was a guest there for one to five on a burglary charge. The room rates were great, but he didn't care much for the accommodations - or the neighbors.

Answer: Rikers Island

Everything about Rikers Island Prison is big. It takes up an entire 400 acre island. In 2018 it had an annual budget of $860 million dollars. There are over ten thousands officers and civilians managing 100,000 admissions a year and an average daily prison population of 10,000 prisoners. I'll take their word for it. I don't think I want to go there in person to check their numbers.

Answer: Folsom Prison

There is an Urban Legend that Johnny Cash spent some time as a guest in Folsom Prison for a drug violation, but it's not true. He did perform two concerts for the inmates there, but he was not asked to stay. Nor was he issued an orange jumpsuit.

Answer: West Virginia State Prison

West Virginia State Prison began operation in 1876 and was retired from service in 1995. It now operates as a training facility and tourist attraction. Ninety four men have been executed there, eighty five by hanging, and nine by "Old Sparky", their electric chair. The public was free to attend the hangings until 1931 when the honored guest dropped through the trap door and was instantly decapitated.

I did some time at West Virginia State Prison myself. I was on a tour of the facility and as part of the tour you can be locked in a cell for five minutes or so. I was fortunate in that my wife never lost faith in me and waited faithfully for me until I had done my full five minute sentence. Bless her heart.

Answer: ADX Florence, Colorado

ADX Florence is a supermax facility. The aim of the facility is not to rehabilitate, but to merely contain. ADX stands for "Administrative Maximum Facility".

Answer: The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show depicted Sheriff Andy Taylor and his Deputy Barney Fife enforcing the law in Mayberry, North Carolina. The show ran from 1960 until 1968. Many of the place names used in the show were drawn from Andy Girffith's memory of growing up in Mt. Airy. If you go there, you can visit the replica courthouse with its two jail cells, get a haircut at Floyd's Barber Shop, take a ride in the sheriff's official car or have a pork chop sandwich at the Snappy Lunch restaurant.

They also have an Andy Griffith Museum and a statue of Andy Griffith and Opie heading off to the fishing hole, just like in the intro to the show.

Answer: San Quentin

San Quentin opened in 1852 and is still being used. Currently (2020) it has the biggest death row in the country because California houses all of their death row inmates there. At this time there are over 700 death row inmates who are more likely to die of old age than they are to die from execution since California has only executed six prisoners in the past twenty years. .

Answer: John Dillinger

Despite a manhunt that involved 20,000 law enforcement officers, Dillinger made good his escape. But he wasn't free for long. Four months later Dillinger was gunned down in front of the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Street in Chicago, caught in a police ambush. The Lady in Red had betrayed him.

Answer: Louisiana State Penitentiary

At this time (2020), Louisiana State Penitentiary is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States with 6,300 prisoners watched over by 1,800 staff. This is the location of death row for all men in Louisiana who are so sentenced and is the location of the state's only execution chamber.

Answer: Illinois

Although the prison was closed in 2016, the plans are to allow the prison to remain standing due to its unique architecture. It opened in 1925 and was built to accommodate 1500 prisoners. The design was copied at a prison in Cuba in 1936 but it has since been abandoned.