A 1939 $100,000 JAIL REMAINS ABANDONED IN REDDING

On July 30, 1888, the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper, of Sacramento, reported the following future improvements for Redding which became Shasta County’s brand-new county seat, that year;

"SHASTA'S COURT-HOUSE

A new Court-house for Shasta County is to be erected at Redding. The plans and specifications of the architect, A.A. Cook, of this city, have been accepted by the Board of Supervisors. The building completed is to cost in the neighborhood of $40,000. The plan shows a neat and tasty edifice. There will be three main entrances, a large court-room, numerous vaults, and the structure will be ornamented by a beautiful dome, on which will stand a statue of Justice. The jail will occupy the ground in the rear of and connecting with the court-house, and is to cost $10,000.” [SIC]

Construction on the City of Redding's first Shasta County Jail was completed prior to April of 1889, when a fire insurance map was surveyed for the city, that month, which describes this courthouse property exactly like the above article states. Years later, severe damage was done to the Shasta County Jail from attempted jail breaks to natural effects and nature related damages. Then in 1903 the jail reached its maximum capacity of prisoners and it made the Shasta County Board of Supervisors re-evaluate the jail structure. They determined that the smelter smoke fumes most notably from the Mountain Copper Mining Company, LTD., at Keswick, was eating through structures of the Shasta County Courthouse and the Shasta County Jail. However, most of the damage was caused to the tin roof of the jail at Redding.

Another fire insurance map was surveyed in February of 1904 which shows another new addition in the form of a fountain in the front yard of the Shasta County Courthouse facing Court Street, and additional features were added to the Shasta County Jail in the rear of the Courthouse by that date. This jail now featured a wood shed in the back yard, and an additional structure with cells to incarcerate their insane prisoners. These new features were located in the jail yard which had a fifteen foot brick wall wrapping around it's perimeter backing West Street.

On August 2, 1912, a freakish nature related incident occurred when a single bolt of lightening during a lightening storm struck the Shasta County Jail at Redding, although the location of the strike was never found the sound echoed through the city, while it shook the building. Not one person inside the jail was injured from the strike of lightning. Even the incarcerated inmates inside the jail at Redding were displeased with the accommodations of the structure and found it poorly unfit through out the decade leading into the 1920s.

Above: is Redding’s first Shasta County Jail which was erected in 1888 for $10,000, along with the Shasta County Courthouse. It was situated in the rear of the courthouse property which also included a registered street address of 1313 Court Street. Courtesy of the Shasta Historical Society. 

Oddly, opium found its way into the Shasta County Jail in 1922, while the inmates who were non drug users witnessed other prisoners heating "hop" in spoons and administering it in their presence inside their jail cells. Additional narcotics were also distributed as well while prisoners passed them around from cell to cell by placing the drugs in hats and shoving across the aisle of the corridor with brooms and using them to get high. In 1925, narcotics from the evidence locker room of the jail disappeared and they were distributed amongst the inmates. Surprisingly, local authorities discovered that it was an inside job by one of their own officers. 

During the 1930s, the City of Redding was filled with tons of illegal activity and unsavory criminals while the city’s Red Light District (or tenderloin) was booming and the Ladies of the Night kept their clients returning for more satisfaction inside the brothels these women worked in downtown. While prostitution was rising the increase of syphilis cases climbed in Redding, it was District Attorney, Francis J. Carr who ordered all prostitutes to leave the city, or he would be forced to take legal action against anyone violating his orders which were based under the red light abatement law which was approved that decade and made it illegal for them to work in their profession. 

In addition, the construction of Shasta Dam began in 1938 and it’s construction was steadily progressing to be finished in 1945. Meanwhile, the Shasta Dam construction workers visited Redding quite often to drink in the local saloons and they caused many saloon brawls, and outdoor public intoxication. Drunk driving was also a regular occurrence which made local headlines and there were additional disturbances which were cited by local law enforcement. 

While the arrests were doubling by the local authorities, due to all of the above activity, the present jail, pictured above, reached it’s maximum capacity of prisoners again. This jail needed major repairs even though it was utilized by local law enforcement until 1939, for a total of fifty-one years. Eventually, the building which was unsound made the Shasta County Board of Supervisors apply for a grant for a new jail through the federal government. 

Above: the three-story 1939 jail remains abandoned next to the present-day Shasta County Courthouse on Court Street. A fence protects it with video surveillance around the abandoned jail property. This photograph was taken through an open space of the fence line by Jeremy Tuggle on January 16, 2021.

$56,000 was already placed into a special fund by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors to be utilized to pay for the brand-new jail. This was required to prove to the federal government that their portion of the jail cost was available before a $44,000 grant was awarded to them by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works to pay for the remaining cost of the construction of the brand-new jail. The jail was designed as a three-story building by a San Francisco architectural firm called Masten & Hurd.

The new jail was erected on the north-west lot of the present Shasta County Courthouse property on Court Street. It was C.H. Dodd a contractor from Stockton who was awarded the contract of the new jail. He placed a bid at $92,452, and Dodd was instructed to begin the construction process by September 26, 1938. 

The Courier-Free Press newspaper, of Redding, heralded this article about the construction of the brand-new Shasta County Jail building on February 22, 1939:

“Work Progresses On County Jail

The structure of the new county jail has been completed, and work of installing cells has begun. Half of the first floor cells have been put into place, and work is also being started on installation of the second floor block. All pipes have installed, and plumbing fixtures will soon be put into place. Each cell will have individual plumbing.”

The interior of the facility contained cellblocks which were known as cells. Each cell was measured at 4.5 feet wide by 8 feet long and it included two bunks with a toilet and a sink for the inmates. The sheriff and his deputies called them "tanks." Tanks Number 1 and 2 had two bunks each, and tanks Number 3 and 4 housed four people in each cell. The facility also included a kitchen, an enclosed prisoner drop off area, a dining room, a visitor center, a narcotics evidence locker room and an evidence locker room, with a laundry room.

Eight months later after the above article was printed, Shasta County Sheriff, William W. Sublett, transferred his office from the Shasta County Courthouse into a room of the newly completed jail building along with Constable W.A. Houston’s office, on October 4, 1939. The transferring of prisoners from the former jail to the new jail took place on October 5th, and Ferol Thorpe, of Redding, had the distinguish honor to be the first attorney to interview a prisoner in the brand-new facility. She interviewed her client an inmate named William D. Moore. Moore was charged with automobile theft.

Above: on a private tour of the 1939 Shasta County Jail, local historian and author, Jeremy M. Tuggle, is shown here inside a jail cell. This photograph was taken on March 26, 2016. 

Other inmates who were transferred amongst that first group of prisoners to the new jail were Buddy Giboney and Rudolph Phenegar. Giboney was held and awaiting to be charged for his role in the murder of a local woman. Phenegar was charged with assaulting a woman with the intention to commit rape in the Burney area. It was Superior Court Judge, Albert F. Ross Jr., who sentenced Phenegar to a term of 1-20 years at San Quinten State Prison.

The most famous inmate housed at this jail was local serial killer and rapist Darrell Rich, a resident of Cottonwood, known as the “Hilltop Rapist” and “Young Elk”, Rich was arrested by authorities in 1978 for the murders of three adult women and a young girl between June and August of 1978. He was later sentenced to San Quinten State Prison, where he was executed under the California death penalty during the year, 2000. Presently, this facility has been abandoned and this historic jail was saved from demolition under Shasta County Sheriff, Jim Pope. This Shasta County Jail was utilized for forty-five years until the John J. Balma Justice Center was opened on West Street in Redding in 1984.

RESOURCES: 

Chico Weekly Enterprise newspaper of Chico, May 25, 1888

County Seat Expenses - Chico Weekly Enterprise newspaper of Chico, June 15, 1888

Redding Improvements - The Press Democrat newspaper of Oakland, July 24, 1888

Shasta's Courthouse - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Shasta, July 30, 1888

Chico Weekly Enterprise newspaper of Chico, August 10, 1888

Redding Jail Full - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, March 30, 1903

Eating A Courthouse - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, July 21, 1903

Lightning Hit Jail At Redding - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, August 4, 1912

City Jail Real Opium Den, Says Night Guest - The Sacramento Daily newspaper of Sacramento, February 26, 1921

Disapprove Of Redding Jail Accommodations - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, December 10, 1922

1313 New Number of Redding Jail - The Colusa Herald newspaper of Colusa, December 27, 1929

Establish Fund For Shasta Jail - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 7, 1938

Jail Will Be On Northwest Corner Of Lot - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 25, 1938

Contract For New County Jail Building Awarded Friday - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 16, 1938

Ingratitude - Organized Labor newspaper of San Francisco, September 17, 1938

PWA Has Resident Engineer Here - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 24, 1938

New County Jail Equipment Arrives - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 29, 1938

Shasta Picketing Is Resumed - The Madera Tribune newspaper of Madera, March 6, 1939

Spreading Prostitution and Syphilis - The Organized Labor newspaper of San Francisco, June 3, 1939

New Jail Is Now Nearly Ready - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 11, 1939

Occupy Jail Wednesday - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 3, 1939

Sheriff Moves To New Jail Building - October 4, 1939

Move Prisoners To New Jail - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 6, 1939

Phenegar Is Denied Probation By Judge - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 23, 1939

Movie Gallery In County Jail - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 24, 1939

Phenegar To Prison - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 31, 1939

Carr Orders All Prostitutes To Leave Redding At Once - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 2, 1939

Prostitutes Start Exodus - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 4, 1939

Carr Reports Prostitution Houses Closed - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 5, 1939

Work Progresses On County Jail - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 22, 1939

Supervisors Name Panel To Study New Shasta Jail - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 11, 1977

Changing Skyline - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 27, 1982

New Jail Starting To Fall in Place - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 16, 1983

VF 364 Shasta County Jails on file at Shasta Historical Society

Three Known Murderers Had North State Victims - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 20, 2010