The Insane Real Life 19th Century Rotating Squirrel Cage Human Prison Design

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@J.MacInnes]

never fails to amaze me just how creative and dedicated we humans are to designing and constructing ever weirder ways to punish each other.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

And in a way that long term just makes the outcomes worse for everyone! Including the people doing the punishing! 🙃 -Daven

[@Travenspear8]

And also dumb. I’m just a layman but it seems stupid to me not to have overlapping guards or at least a handoff.

[@VeneraBerens-n7d]

EXACTLY YET WE FAIL BRILLIANTLY WHEN IT COMES TO INSTILLING PEACE WE CONSISTENTLY HAVE NOTHING IN THAT DEPARTMENT STAY SAFE AND BLESSED AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING NOT YELLING ALMOST COMPLETELY BLIND CAPS HELP

[@stancil83]

@@VeneraBerens-n7d I understand you and that's all that really matters. Plus this gives you the air of Doc Brown, which I love and I hope you will give me for but, I AM NOT STARING AT YOU, I AM A CYBORG PHOTOGRAPHER, PLEASE ACT NATURAL. These are pretty handy caps considering their wide range of uses. Okay, I officially ate too much turkey because I'm about to gobble some more. Happy Thanksgiving.

[@Tstorm731]

If you look at what we are in biological terms; that is, violent, religious, clannish, scapegoat reflexive, genocidal apes, we’re doing pretty damn good. You have to grade us on a curve with ourselves, not on a curve with our ideals.

[@hardlygamaliel455]

"Hoosegow" is a corruption of "house gaol" or house jail. In the 1700s, people which were sentenced to long jail terms would often live in the same house as the jailer.

[@Kaltagstar96]

In a weird way, that could be oddly wholesome, maybe a friendship would have been formed?

[@wendyshadden8732]

I grew up in Council Bluffs IA and we were told in school the the Squirrel cage jail was shut down due prisoner losing arms and legs when the cells were turned. Don’t know if it’s actually true. Eventually it was named a historical landmark and was used as a haunted house. It still stands and is now claimed to be haunted. I now live in Omaha, Nebraska which is right across the river from Council Bluffs. The one in Omaha no longer exists.

[@haileydee9954]

Hey! Fellow Council Tuckyan here!!!!

[@Robin_Starsfall]

I also grew up in Council Tucky, when I was in elementary school we took a field trip to the Squirrel Cage Jail. And I also now reside in Omaha.

[@enderwiggin9303]

😂 those feild trips where fun, im not sure why they were surprised i was climbing the bars.. that was probably 33 years ago

[@colletteprops8708]

Naw, you're in Corn country now. They just do you off in a cornfield and let the crows have you

[@L2615]

Tom Scott made a video about the losing limbs problem!

[@haileydee9954]

I live in Council Bluffs and was just at the Squirrel Cage Jail when i stopped at the courthouse earlier this month!

[@steverino6954]

As soon as he started describing the rotary jail I thought "This would be a horror show if a fire breaks out."

[@Draggonny]

Even now, fires aren't too much of a threat in prisons. There's not a lot to burn because soft furnishings are such a risk to safety as they can be used to hide contraband, to set fires or to ligature. Even those inmates who are repeat arsonists have a low risk of injury with most cases of death by fire being a result of prisoners barricading themselves inside their cell to deliberately prevent being rescued. In the UK, prison cells have a built in port so that water can be sprayed into the cell even if they cannot unlock the door or otherwise gain entry. Fire safety is taken very seriously with prisoners being limited in how much property can be held in possession and rules in place around how much wall space can be covered by posters and artwork. Smoking is now completely banned on the premises with staff not being allowed to have cigarettes, lighters or matches on their person. E-cigs are permitted but only within cells. There are also regular searches of property that would spot fire hazards such as broken or modified electrical equipment.

[@choklityum]

Very cool to hear my Iowa hometown mentioned! Our squirrel cage jail also touts paranormal events as part of its offerings. Sadly, I have never toured the jail myself. It's on my to-do list. 🐿️👻😊

[@lukemn5079]

Even pronounced it correctly

[@enderwiggin9303]

😂 no.. pott co he got correctly at the 3nd but the first time was rough and the word council was pronounced different each time

[@julianshepherd2038]

This video lacks squirrels. One star

[@slwrabbits]

wait no squirrels?! the title is clickbait? Nooooooo!

[@solitivity]

Your comment made me contemplate what it'd be like if KZbin videos actually had "reviews" like Google and Yelp with star-ratings instead of likes/dislikes. 😂

[@HerculeYakko]

You missed one. There is a rotary jail in Llano, Texas still standing and operating as a museum. It's a rather pretty structure, at least on the outside.

[@herzogsbuick]

prisons work so good, that's why we have to keep building more of them!

[@AsbestosMuffins]

the interesting thing is the way other prisons were constructed at the time was a large stone building with an iron or steel cage inside with cells inside that. the mansfield prison has this enormous apparatus inside it.

[@bobtheduck]

"Even entire schools" I thought you were going to stop there. There are actual US high schools that use prison designs.

[@vulcanfeline]

😢

[@enderwiggin9303]

Lol yep, in cb.. and they took us to the squrel house for feildtrips

[@AidanOAArch]

I... Why didn't they just keep the cells stationary, with normal windows and plumed in toilets and lights ect, and have the central shaft be a stairway that could be rotated to face the cells when needed? Why is the big bit rotating and the small bit stationary?

[@reubensvlogchannel8565]

I live just a few hours from the pottawattamine county rotary jail in Council Bluffs and have visited it multiple times. It’s a fascinating piece of architecture and engineering.

[@secretsquirrel1534]

WoW Only $30,000 to build each Jail !!! Hard to find a Automobile in the USA for that these days !!!

[@jjmusicfordummies]

That was about equivalent to 1 million dollars in todays money, if we are talking turn of the 20th century. Still impressive though!

[@mtndogrally]

Simon, how have you not started a whole channel titled "The Past was the Worst"??? Or call it "Simon vs The Past"! | and cover all the crazy historical stuff. It would basically be a mash-up of Into the Shadows and Brain Blaze and Highlight History all combined.

[@mattymayhem1232]

Just give him time. Simon will eventually be the narrator on ALL channels.

[@hamaljay]

He doesn't have enough channels?

[@seagie382]

Title was cut off and I thought it said "squirrel cannon"

[@Tstorm731]

In America, everything is possible.

[@drunkramen]

I have been to the Council Bluffs Squirrel Cage jail museum... It was fascinating at the time, but it's even cooler to find out the further history on a channel I watch anyways. Thanks for this!

[@jacquelynsmith2351]

The rotary jail might be gone, but that other building in the Utah picture is still there! Don't ask me what it's called though, I've only passed it a couple thousand times 😅

[@ghosty_mothhh]

That’s the Salt Lake City county building! I’ve been there for events held there since there’s a ton of grass. It’s also really pretty up close like most Victorian made buildings. It’s said to be haunted by children, their mother, a judge, and a former mayor! Highly recommend taking a dog on a walk there(leashed and if you have one)

[@rebeccacresswell6753]

:05 seconds in and I’m laughing 🤣 the HOOSEGOW

[@Shwalamazula]

Take a shot every time Simon says "indeed"

[@robintachoir7984]

I'll keep my air conditioning and penicillin thank you.

[@BigZebraCom]

@todayifoundout in these panopticons, are the writers always kept in the basement?

[@mounyenclifton7320]

Whoozegow is super old.😊

[@JonMahn]

Is it just me or ... Vessi (nice shoes, buy a few) sponsor of today's video. Are shoes a form-fitting prison for feet? ... just me then? Ok, back to today's video...

[@mattymayhem1232]

I firmly believe Simon will eventually narrate ALL of KZbin.

[@duncancurtis5108]

You forgot chokey and stir.

[@supernoodles91]

@4:31 Simon, are you sure that quote isn't from Jacob Rees-Mogg?

[@Batters56]

17:25 Seems a bit unfair to hold this against a rotary jail!

[@gwc656g]

Seemed like a good idea on paper.

[@tbix1963]

Thanks for sharing your videos, always interesting and entertaining. FYI. Oswego, Os we go. Not Os wego. Yes I know, unnecessary nitpicking 😂

[@gerrycarrington837]

I can hardly wait for elon musk to come up with this.

[@EmmaChaffer-v3v]

That rhymes so well that the subtitles thought you used the same word. 😂

[@ian2000]

Next video, "the prison industrial complex and its consequences." Video lengths 7 hours and 38 minutes.

[@jonahsmedley3266]

I was not expecting to hear me home town of slc mentioned in this video haha.

[@elviolette]

Simon is wearing a gold rolly!!

[@Agent-cy5yb]

I live in Syracuse, N.Y., ot far from Oswego. I have never heard of that prison, they should teach us more of that in school, I wish it was still around to see. I have seen the one in Auburn, N.Y., it is right in the middle of a neighborhood. Janesville prison is not too far away either.

[@yawndiir9511]

So I grew up in Appleton Wisconsin and volunteered at our local historical society and can't recall anything about a rotary jail. But now I'm pumped to hunt for information. All I could find online was a note saying it wasn't confirmed to be finished. 🧐🧐

[@jamesmerrill1023]

I've been in 16 different jails/prisons. This would have been messed up. There is still one of these jails that exist in the states. It's a museum now.

[@rogerkearns8094]

Life in a horrific, fictional example is described Brian Aldiss's novel, _Heliconia Winter._

[@benchippy8039]

3:44 in my case, it is due to personal moral failings!! Gimme £500k and I’ll spunk it in a week😂

[@Stroopwaffe1]

I was locked up in the old Saughton Prison in Edinburgh, had the pleasure of spending a few days in A hall, didnt even have a light switch in your cell, built in 1875 or sowt, then moved into F hall slightly better in that now a light switch but it didnt matter coz the lights go off at 12am anyway lol.

[@ctmorrison]

I would like to see an experimental mass prison that started with severe deprivation and inmates could be promoted to steadily easier conditions culminating in normal treatment before being released. Then I would like to see a society that uses the same methods. the rotary could also be rotated by treadmill

[@randallcraft4071]

0:05 im surprised you also didnt say the pokey

[@JesseJoyce-cj2xg]

Seems nearly as inhumane as a private prison. Come on, America.

[@TorWalker1]

Ah the panopticon. The Magnus Archives podcast made this even creepier

[@MARKE911]

There is a rotary jail in the City of Jackson Tennessee (Madison County) on the 3rd floor of the Old Court House. Interesting it was not mentioned.

[@hamaljay]

It's always nice to hear the miscellaneous words that Simon says wrong.

[@raymondrhudy8681]

We should definitely bring back stocks!!!!

[@amandamorgan7626]

Shrewsbury prison, now a tourist attraction, is on street named after Howard and a bust sits of him sits above the main entrance.

[@jasonsimons4411]

I have never been to prison.. the biggest reason (besides pure dumb luck never allowing me to be caught for any of the sketchier shit ive done) is that prison is a horrible place.. if i had gone to prison for the first stupid thing i did, i would have continued through life never doing stupid things because i certainly wouldnt want to go back.. as for the repeat offenders that spend their lives in and out of prison, i have zero empathy for them.. make better choices and you wont have to go back.. I know people aee going to argue that felons have a hard time getting work and this forces them to do sketchy shit to survive.. in some cases, youre right. It does in fact limit their career choices.. however i have met plenty of felons that make more than I do. I also know for a fact that the government is trying to limit this by giving employers tax incentives for hiring felons.. its actually the same incentive for hiring a veteran. The difference is the company gets this perk for hiring a felon for the felons' entire life, whereas they only get the perk for hiring a veteran if they're within a year of leaving service.. Personally i think thats pretty asinine.. im not saying dont offer these tax breaks to felons.. im just saying felons made their choice to break the law.. veterans chose to serve the country (even if many of us regret our choices afterwards) and should receive the same perks or better than a felon while seeking employment

[@SuperDirk1965]

Spending time in jail is a pretty sure way to become a repeat offender. I pity those with a lack of empathy for their less fortunate fellow human.

[@jasonsimons4411]

@SuperDirk1965 i have empthay for some people.. just not the ones that continue to do the same thing over and over again.. in fact, my only real goal in life is to start a non profit that I use to house and employ homeless vets.. there's more to my plans and I will eventually branch out to do other things with a simple goal of generally just trying to make the world suck a little less.. You also missed the most important part of my comment... felons have more perks for gaining employment than veterans.. I think that's pretty fucked up.. and I never once said that felons shouldn't get those perks that help them find jobs.. but veterans should get the same or better perks. This world is a shit show.. there are a ton of people that need help.. Im just going to choose to focus on the ones I see that need it more.. not people that continue to do the same shit over and over.. Ive actually seen jd back in the day out doing hood rat shit and being a fucking idiot.. I had a very low opinion of him back then.. he finally broke the cycle of repeatedly offending and now he's one of my favorite people on the internet.. I sold a harley to a career criminal.. he was in his mid 40s and had finally gotten his life together.. he has been working up at the shipyard for two years, and that was his first legit job ever. I'm all about people when they get their shit together.. im even thinking of ways to expand what I'm trying to do to incorporate reaching out to kids in juvie and hopefully get to them before they become adult repeat offenders.. There are millions of people in my state.. let's pretend for a second that only 50k per million need help... if i can help 10% of them, I'm choosing the ones I have the most chance of actually helping.. im also a veteran that understands what veterans need and how to make that happen because ive been there.. even if I wanted to help repeat offender in prison, I think I'd still leave that to someone that can more easily relate to them.. Then theres kids.. I can relate to kids that are growing up in shitty situations because that's all I ever knew.. name a type of abuse, it was a part of my childhood.. im talking next level shit that makes me laugh and talk shit about serial killers because most of the time, my childhood was far worse.. I remember reading a story about someone being abused by their drug addict parents and wishing my mom had substance abuse issues because then at least there would have some kind of reason for it.. So, again.. I have empathy.. just not for everyone..

[@EdKoller]

Grey Bar Hotel.

[@bigemugamer]

Is the background music from Kerbal Space Program??

[@cun7sathome]

Whats that noise behind you?!?!, like a faint people chatting in the pub background.. but its really very quite but i know i cak hear somthing in the background

[@string_fellow_hawk]

Eastern Pen is used today for ghost tours at Halloween. ❤❤

[@hoightb]

Why are you wearing a prison issued jumper? Done some time ay? Or recording from jail?

[@enderwiggin9303]

+1 for CB.. i climb the bars to the top level on a field trip in first? grade 😁 good fun in the early 90s

[@stancil83]

Okay now I want to see a Rube Goldberg-style prison, make it so, hehe. I only wish.

[@thundernlightning]

Highly absurd that the founder of utilitarianism also created the design for panopticon prisons

[@maryhildreth754]

Inthought the treadmill was invented to turn a spit over a fire in the large kitchen fireplaces during the middle ages

[@chrstfer2452]

The wheels of justice continue to trample rights, you mean.

[@some_random_guy_lol]

Thank you for trimming your beard. You were beginning to look like Rasputin with the brain of Alex Trebeck.

[@annieinwonderland]

@that writer Kevin @Blind Dave, a follow up could be the Madeline laundries and sinad o'conner.

[@Bigtimecharlie1349]

When crack hit America in the early 80s. By 1986. The prison population doubled 😮fekn madness.❤

[@davidtanderoe7821]

Should build this with today technology. Make it go 100x the speed.

[@foo219]

"technology whose function is to contain, control and hopefully reform and rehabilitate large numbers of people"... or use them as slave labour, depending on the kind of regime your country has.

[@jasonkurt1958]

I've been to two of these, in council bluffs & the museum in Indiana.

[@mblake0420]

There shouldn't be one non violent person in jails

[@seanm1462]

Commonwealth* of Pennsylvania... Gotcha fact boy!

[@BurritoMassacre]

Hello early birds 👋🏼

[@EJWizard]

lol... it is OS-WE-GO, NY (not OS-WAY-GO).

[@terriwetz6077]

Oh, I've been pronouncing it wrong all along!

[@childofcascadia]

Lol. I feel your pain. I live in the PNW. No one can pronounce our place names. Even simple ones like Rainer, Oregon (you think people would know how to pronounce a freaking state) or Spokane get mispronounced constantly by non locals. And the trick to tell a local. Pronounce "Sequim" correctly.

[@andyf4292]

a foundry owner....~? so all that iron, gonna be expensive

[@docholiday5682]

Anti-slavery measure Prop. 6 fails, allowing forced labor to continue in California prisons by Cayla Mihalovich November 10, 2024

[@vulcanfeline]

OMG

[@danielleburke87]

Thats what happen when u vote blue

[@bravace]

Where your table come from?

[@oFLYINGYETIo]

1:07 made me laugh.

[@itsmatt2105]

Detractors of the US are quick to point out that we have a lot of people in prison but they gloss over the fact that the US has one of, if not the highest recidivism rates in the world.

[@olaftheblack2012]

Yeah, wonder why that is... 🙄 Fuck the American prison system. It was literally built to punish the poor.

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

I think this kind of sarcasm goes over most peoples head. But I appreciate it.

[@bunnygirl2448]

Yes our prisons are so full of actual criminals, we don’t have any room for to imprison people who make mean social media posts, unlike our European counterparts.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

We have a super deep dive documentary on this. The recidivism rate is precisely because of the way we do criminal justice. And further, a huge number of people we keep locked up at any given time have been convicted of no crime... Go watch here. It's really fascinating. Because it's a relatively recent problem and very clear things causing it kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJXLq6ShjNOFnpIsi=GQuVdDtToYQcO0nl

[@EskChan19]

It's because what was said at the beginnning of the video is only partially true. He said that prisons are there to deter, to punish and also to help them turn into better people who don't do crime anymore. But in the US specifically, the last part is untrue. The US justice system is build entirely around punishment, and neglects rehabilitating people entirely. Because in the US, jails are run to turn a profit, which they only make if they are filled, which in turn means they WANT people to be criminal, because otherwise they won't make money anymore. As far as I know that's a concept that is pretty much entirely unique to the US. Most european countries have jails that are much nicer places, which are not aimed at being a punishment and instead aimed at preparing people to be reintroduced into society and pick up a productive trade. A lot of americans reactions to seing a european prison is "These criminals should be punished and not be given a stay at a hotel!" but that mindset is exactly why the US has the highest recidivism in the world. Because your entire justice system is build around making sure that someone who was criminal once, will never get to live it down for the rest of their lives, and when jailing criminals becomes a business, you can't be schocked when some companies go out of their way to maximize profit.

[@KraftyKreator]

Humans are so good thinking of new ways to be cruel to other humans.

[@EskChan19]

To be fair this was thought to be more humane than the old prisons at the time. So it was indeed invented as a new way to be LESS cruel to other humans.

[@andyf4292]

trust the Americans..... ' lets make it weirder!'

[@Yash-c3v]

Wasnt Orson Wells famously subjected to treadmill torture?

[@danielblinkhorn]

Hurray

[@samanthab3292]

Lots of strange horrors in Iowa... 😅

[@EyesOfByes]

16:10 Mission Impossible II?

[@vtorialyn]

Could you repeat this but a little slower 😂

[@revalesq]

Abolish prisons yesterday.

[@AsdfAsdf-asdf]

🥵🥵🥵 too bad there was no mention about Stateville prison in Joliet Illinois

[@chadfansler1269]

Last time I was this early, she was so disappointed

[@lynnkay417]

🎉

[@stancil83]

The big dig.

[@user-cq3pb6es9h]

Ah, that slogan again.

[@fourcatsandagarden]

of course he was from indiana.

[@francesbernard2445]

I hope you are right.

[@kevinsayes]

Simon what are thoooose? But fr, it infuriates me beyond belief how we still have 1st century mythology dictating public policy.

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

22:33 That's probably the fanciest way of saying "medieval savagery" I heard so far.

[@herzogsbuick]

simon pronounces the C is miscellaneous. there truly is no god.

[@dad_jokes_4ever226]

Ye gotta love the Victorians , the nutty bastards 😂😂😂

[@PopeOf420]

LOL SLC of course... smh lmfao O.G.B.B.

[@sirshrubberyvonfoliagethef3332]

Ohhh the past haha

[@davidmetis6249]

Grey bar hotel.

[@beefpanda4313]

Need to go back to some older systems.

[@samanthab3292]

Wild how in all of documented human history we have repeatedly shown jail, solitary confinement, and forced labor doesn't reform or deter people from criminal activity and yet we continue to do so.

[@georgeburns7251]

It is not supposed to reform. Jails are meant to get criminals out of society. Simple

[@aarongraham6017]

A bit long winded