Liberty Jail

Always sounded like an oxymoron to me: Liberty Jail. In fact, when in use it was an inescapable dungeon, located in Liberty, MO. The weather was muggy and warm as our bus pulled up to the visitor's center at the site of the old Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and others were incarcerated during some of the darkest days of the Church. The jail has been described as a Prison Temple, and indeed it became a sacred place in spite of the vile circumstances of the incarceration. Sections 121-123 of the Doctrine and Covenants were received at Liberty Jail.
The first of two photos up on my flickr shows the rebuilt jail, in a cutaway that gives an idea of the construction of the walls and the dimensions of the basement cell. The other photo shows the exterior of the visitors center, which is lovely. The visitor's center is built around the jail site, with sister missionaries on hand to explain the history. Our tour guide talked about Lyman Wight, also known as the Wild Ram of the Mountains. He was one of those who shared the cell at Liberty with Joseph. Apparently Brother Lyman once told Moses Wilson he was only alive because Joseph wouldn't let Lyman kill him. He seems to have lived up to his Wild Ram epithet.