Riot In Cell Block 11 | 1954

Don Siegel's tough but rather crusading prison drama benefits enormously from being filmed in a real prison.

After scouting several California facilities including Alcatraz and San Quentin, the production team discovered that Folsom California State Prison, 300 Prison Road, Represa, had an entire, unused two-story wing.

There was resistance to allowing a film crew access but the movie’s Production Assistant was a young chap called Sam Peckinpah, whose family connections to the judicial system clinched the deal.

Another sticking point was actor Leo Gordon, who had served five years for armed robbery and spent part of that sentence in Folsom. Siegel needed to work hard to convince the Governor that Gordon was reformed.

The visually striking rough stone blocks of the walls are not the invention of a Production Designer. They’re solid enough. In fact, the prison’s location was chosen partly due to the unlimited amount of native granite available.

Folsom, approximately 20 miles northeast of the state capital of Sacramento, is the state's second-oldest prison, after San Quentin, having opened in 1880. One of the first maximum security prisons, Folsom was the first in the United States to have electricity and has witnessed the execution of 93 condemned prisoners.

The film has a parallel to real life. In 1937, Warden Clarence Larkin was stabbed during an escape attempt, though he died from his wounds.

In 1968, Johnny Cash famously gave two live performances at the prison, recorded and released as a live album titled … At Folsom Prison.

Folsom has also been seen in American Me, The Jericho Mile and part of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

For visitors, there’s a Folsom Prison Museum, located near the entrance and run by volunteers, containing documents and artefacts from Folsom’s long – and colourful – history.

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