After 135 years of floods, riots and escapes, Pennsylvania's oldest prison goes quiet

If The Wall could talk, what stories would it tell?

It would tell of an unsuccessful tunnel escape and, nearly a century later, one that succeeded. It would speak of riots and fires and offer the scorched beams in the auditorium as proof. It would speak of at least a half dozen floods, including one that sent 15 feet of water surging into cells in 1936.

The Wall would tell the stories of four corrections officers killed during its 135-year history: The stories of Deputy Warden John Pieper and Sgt. John T. Coax, killed in 1924, guard Cliff Grogan killed in 1965, and Capt. Walter Peterson, killed in 1973.

The Wall surrounding SCI Pittsburgh, the oldest prison in Pennsylvania, would tell a lot of stories.

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