Folsom prison museum is closed. Here’s why and when it might open again
If you were hoping to see memorabilia from Johnny Cash’s famous concert at the old Folsom Prison, or perhaps a hemp rope from which prisoners were once hanged at the notorious Represa facility, you’re out of luck — at least for a few months.
The Big House Prison Museum has closed temporarily so the nonprofit that runs it can “reassess its current options and standing,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Tuesday.
The facility expects to be closed for two or three months, and updates will be provided on the museum’s social media and online platforms, CDCR spokeswoman Mary Xjimenez said.
Chad Deal, a spokesperson for Folsom State Prison, said he learned earlier this week about the closure from the chair of the nonprofit Old Guard Foundation, which runs the museum. During the few months the doors will be shut, the board and others will be taking an inventory of the museum as well as undertaking the reassessment, Deal said. Neither the prison nor CDCR has any oversight of the museum, he said.
A tax return filed by the nonprofit Old Guard Foundation shows an operating deficit of $52,000 for 2022. The museum brought in $3,351 from grants, admissions and sales in 2022, down considerably from the $113,413 it received in 2018, the tax return shows. It was not immediately clear whether the tax return represented the entirety of the museum’s finances.
Founded in 1975 as the Retired Correctional Peace Officers Museum, the facility is located in what was once the warden’s home, just outside the gates of the gray granite prison.
In addition to the Cash memorabilia and hanging ropes, exhibits include an actual ball and chain used to restrain prisoners, along with handmade prison weapons and a prisoner art project from the 1930s that used 250,000 toothpicks to make a model of a Ferris wheel.
Ten years in the planning when former Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation to expand the museum in 2015, the facility was set up to honor correctional officers and educate guests about the history of California prisons, with an emphasis on Folsom, which opened in 1880 and is the second oldest state prison.
The phone number listed on the museum’s website was not answered on Tuesday. The nonprofit did not immediately respond to email inquiries sent Tuesday to two addresses listed on its website.
