BUILDING TIME IN THE MINES With two-thirds of inmates working in the coal mines, keeping hundreds of convicts in line inside damp, crowded, dark caves was no easy feat. Each man hauled several tons of coal each day. Brutally whipped if quotas weren't met, prisoners were also often stripped of their shirts, put atop a donkey that barely cleared the cave ceiling, and made to ride the mine trail until their backs were severely scraped. As a result, hostage incidents, escape attempts, and inmate revolts were not uncommon. In 1959, the prison made national news when inmates rigged well over 200 sticks of dynamite and threatened to blow the mine if working conditions did not improve. Finally, in 1967 after a rockfall killed two convicts, Warden Lake Russell ordered the mines to be permanently closed. The decades-long legacy of inmates mining coal at Brushy had finally ended.

Creation Date: 2019-07-28 13:40:49
Modification Date: 2026-06-10 06:43:56
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION / NIKON D5100
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 36 mm
Exposure Time: 0.016666666666667
ISO: 3200
MeteringMode: 5