The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

“We haven’t covered everything, with inflation or with prison labor,” Johnson said.

Johnson displayed several artists’ renderings of the museum. The plans call for building an addition to the current Lansing Historical Museum on Kansas Avenue and constructing additional museum facilities north of the building. The addition will include restroom facilities and museum displays in front of the entrance to the prison museum.

An admission will be charged upon entrance to the prison museum. Visitors will cross through a sally port into a prison yard surrounded by a 12- to 14-foot stone wall. They will also exit through the same sally port back into the museum gift shop.

“It will make you feel enclosed,” Johnson said.

The walls will extend to the north and east toward Lansing Correctional Facility. In addition to the stone walls and prison yard, two guard towers will be constructed for the museum. One tower will be open to visitors, who will be able to see the Lansing Correctional Facility.

To complete the prison atmosphere, one building in the museum will include space for prison cells and a gallows chamber.

“We are trying to replicate it as closely as possible,” Johnson said.

Meeting rooms will also be constructed in the new museum facility, along with a separate exit. New parking would be located east of the current museum building, with extra space for bus parking.

The museum could be constructed in several phases, depending on the funding that is provided for the project. The museum’s total assets are currently $30,367.

The area of the prisons museum is significantly larger than the current structure occupied by the Lansing Historical Museum. The gift shop will have 3,372 square feet; meeting rooms, 2,408 square feet; and the museum displays will have 7,824 square feet for a total of 13,604 square feet. The Lansing Historical Museum has 1,426 square feet of existing display space.

David McKune, warden of Lansing Correctional Facility, said inmates could create a model of the museum facility. He suggested having a model with “lift-off” roofs, which will allow board members and area residents to see the layout of the museum complex.

“The model could help build community support with more detail,” said Lansing resident Bob Ulin.

Also in the meeting:

* Web site — Shanae Randolph, economic development director, discussed establishing a Web site for the prisons museum. She suggested hosting the site through the city of Lansing’s Web site, which can reduce the cost.

“It’s our own domain name hosted through the city,” Randolph explained. “We are familiar with the software and the cost is minimal for a Web site.”

Using the CivicPlus program, the Web site could be established for a one-time fee of $1,250, with a $15 monthly domain fee. The site could also include e-commerce for purchasing items from the museum store.

Ulin suggested contacting a Kansas City fulfillment company that packs and ships purchases off e-commerce sites instead of hiring additional staff.

“It’s a cost-effective way to do business,” Ulin said.

The board approved using CivicPlus to host the museum Web site.

* Letter — The board reviewed a letter from the city of Leavenworth regarding support for the museum. City commissioners expressed their “qualified support” for the museum but requested that the name of Leavenworth not be associated with the facility or used in promotional materials.

“It’s a letter, that’s about all I can say,” said Lansing Mayor Ken Bernard. “We can’t use Leavenworth, but we can use Leavenworth County.”

* Funding — Bernard also discussed securing grant funding or low-interest loans for the museum project. Randolph said that more funding may be available from educational grants than from museum grants.

Ulin suggested contacting the Kansas Non-profit Association, which researches philanthropic organizations that might donate funding to various projects.

“People that are passionate about the project will pony up the money,” Ulin said.

* Logo — Peter Grande, director of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, asked about a logo for the museum and for souvenirs that will be sold in the museum gift shop or online.

Bernard directed Laura Phillippi, Lansing Historical Museum site director, to create a logo for the museum.