I was an inmate there for 7 weeks in late 1992. I was sent there for classification before going to NECC. I was convicted of a minor crime and should never have been there, or in prison at all, but that's another story. When the bus first pulled in and I saw it for the first time I honestly wondered if I would ever make it out alive. I had heard so many stories over the years of how violent it was. It should have been closed long before it was. If you never spent time there you cannot imagine what it was like. Touring it now will never give you a true idea. However, it was my short time there that turned my life around and where I came to the realization that I never wanted to be in a place like that again. They say Brushy was the damnation of many an evil man, and the salvation of a humble few. I am one of those humble few. I hope your brother turned his life around and is doing well.

@@darrenpope6807 I’m so happy that you were able to turn your life around, because that doesn’t happen for a lot of people, especially when they enter places like Brushy. I’m also thankful that you only had to do seven weeks there, because some of the stories that my brother told me- and these are the only a he would actually share with me or anyone else-were absolutely horrible. My brother was sentenced to serve three years in prison, and he served all three years, and he did the majority of it at Brushy. For three years, my family had to spend every holiday Brushy so we could celebrate together as a family as best we could under the horrible circumstance-I was in my early teens when all this was going on, so although my brother was going through a lot worse than I was because he was the one actually in the prison, it still made an big impression on my young mind, to say the least. I remember when my brother first went to prison, for a while, my mother used to make me go with her every weekend to go see him, but after a while I started revolting and I absolutely refuse to go every weekend..... I just couldn’t handle it, not every weekend; I began visiting only once a month on regular weekends. As for my brother, I wish I could say that he turned himself around like you have, and although my brother has had periods where he’s done pretty well, he has damaged himself with drugs and has been battling drug addiction on and off since he was a teenager, and he is just emotionally and mentally damaged I guess you could say; In fact, I haven’t spoken to him in probably eight months because he’s gone off the ledge and he’s super angry all the time and since he has a tendency to be violent, I’ve pulled away from him, and he’s basically said he doesn’t want to talk to me my son or my mother. I love him, but I have to love him from a far because he is dangerous when he’s like he’s been, on and off, for the past 2 years. Hell, he said he didn’t want to speak to me, our mom or my son many months ago so we’ve had very little contact with him -well my mom’s had a little bit of contact with him, but I’ve had absolutely none, and I’ve had to tell my son to steer clear of him. Going to prison, especially a prison like Brushy Mountain made him come out worse and more damaged than when he went in, I will say that. Heck, if you were in there ‘92 you might’ve actually met my brother; my brother’s last name is Wolfenbarger, and he was kind of a big guy and weight lifted.

Sorry to hear that about your brother, but I can see how a place like that could damage a person of they were there for a long time. Drugs have taken so many good people too. My sister overdosed and died a few years ago. As long as he lives there is still hope. God bless you and yours.

@@darrenpope6807 thank you. And God bless you and yours as well.

@@amandawolfe1054 I toured this place today and granted I have no idea what went on I really enjoyed the place and tour. I can't say I disagree with you though regardless even inmates need to be treated humanely. I read about some of what went on but, I know I will still never have any idea of how it affected people such as you even though it was your brother who was incarcerated still affects family as well.

In date and out date , I can get every record and inmate name from opening til closing. Let me know please

​@@marksealy7255 Who was in cell 28 and 27 ?

You were exactly where you belonged…

Same!

Sad just sad 💔

why? the prisoners are using the tax payer to pay for 3 hots and a cot, they should have some skin in the game

​@@patriciatoomingtheplantpar2558 ignorant comment.

This still happens, sadly.

​@@patriciatoomingtheplantpar2558here's something that you need to remember the prisoners work using taxpayers money by choice they were locked up according to the crimes and the laws that they committed and I'm pretty sure if they had their choice they'd rather not be in there so and I'll tell you having the mindset that if you beat somebody whether they committed a crime or not is playing out wrong to treat somebody as though they are not a human and they have no rights whatsoever no matter what they've done does that make you or them or the authority any better than that person that did the crime know it sure does

They should have closed that prison down so many decades ago. My brother was incarcerated there back from '90-'93, and the conditions were really bad back then, too.

@@amandawolfe1054I disagree. I think they should have expanded the prison. These animals who were incarcerated there deserve everything they had coming.

well documented yet people still deny the school-to-prison pipeline "theory"

America needs to get back to this now. You get out you want want to go back again.

​​@@bettyallred8883The only reason "former inmates" want to go back as you put it, is that once people on the outside never think of them as former. People make mistakes and do their time. Used to be that once you "paid your debt to society" you were a free man and could live again. Today, once a convict, hard to prove yourself to many who have never been there or had family who have been there. Yes, prisons are needed for those repeat offenders who decide crime is better and easier then honest living, but many learn their lesson and, if given the chance" can be productive citizens if given the chance. For those who have family in prison, give them hope by giving them support, and I don't mean money wise. Let them know they have not been forgotten and that they are still loved. The hard and dangerous time in prison is a major learning experience and for many, they do not want to go back to ever.

​@@bettyallred8883 what an ignorant comment. That not how it works at all.

Yes. And put together a trauma kit.

There's are marathon due to him...

@@That_Metal_Dude there’s things a lot more notable than marathons that are attributed to him…

😊

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Mike... Gezz, why are u yelling??

Harsh prisons do nothing but make violent prisoners.

I did Saturday

Did time there from 2005-2009

You know the inmates make thier own alcoholic drink called mint Jul lip. They would take fruit juice and put bread in it and had to have a sugary base and let it set and start to work. After about a month it would be ferminting then strain the juice and drink it and it would give you a good buzz.

I lived in San Francisco for eight years before I agreed to tour Alcatraz with a friend. I didn’t believe a prison should be a tourist attraction. However, the tours were done by the Park Service. It was more educational, not exploitative. Surrounded by all those walls and steel bars you get a sense of the suffering the prisoners had to endure.

Yes it is! Her father was actually the Constable of the prison.

Make me number 2. LoL

Guess that makes my comment, comment #3. But when I was a kid, back between ‘90-‘93, my older brother (and my only sibling) who’s 16 years my senior, was incarcerated at Brushy Mountain, and this is the first time I’ve seen even a glimpse of the prison since 1993. I live in Maryville, TN, which is driving distance to Brushy, so my family and I spent all the holidays, and just about every single Sunday at Brushy visiting my brother; to say I am glad that, that time in my brother’s and my family’s lives is over and done with would be an enormous understatement.

@@amandawolfe1054 yeah I live out past Wartburg a little ways. I hope to see the place in person maybe someday.

Joshua Gibson i live right beside the prison lol

@@addisonarmes6844 I live closest to Deer Lodge.

David... Bad enough to do a crime, but a bish when it comes to being spooked?

Brushy only housed the electric chair from Nashville while the Nashville prison was being remodeled. There were no executions done at Brushy. There was, however, a shoe shine chair that could have been mistaken, by a child, for an electric chair. But it didn’t have anything hooked up to it.

@@pogmo84 your incorrect I sat in the electric chair in 58 as well as other people I toured the place n also remember the summer cells that we're outside the main cells. They stopped the tours sometime later because they said many of the kids that visited ended up back there. There was a radio program about the man who developed the electric chair who speaks about it and I believe there's a guest register that may exist

@@pogmo84 you could be right there's lots of conflicting information about the electric chair some say there never was an electric chair there yet the person who developed the electric chair claims to have started at brushy mountain. Where was old sparky?

@@pogmo84 I just heard a story about a person who escaped from brushy mountain n killed people and was electricuted in the electric chair so I'm guessing there was an electric chair there when I went

Death penalty needs to be reinstated.

My grandfather spent a day in the mines, somewhere in West Virginia. The entrance collapsed. He got out. But he never went back. He became a finish carpenter instead.

No. Definitely not

James Earl Ray..

What did James earl ray do?

@@jasonden1866 He was the guy who killed Martin Luther King Jr.

Izzy well the cia killed mlk not James

Oh well he had a dream 😂

Search James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain I just watched that myself

What do you want to know

And ur name is Mike

WTF r u even saying 😂😂😂

Omfg wtf 😂😂😂😂😂

You are so very very wrong he got right with the Lord and he set him free. Maybe you should try talking to the Lord. He will set you free from bondage and sin.