High Noon – History of the Nevada State Prison (Virtual Zoom)

High Noon
November 19, 2026
Noon

Register for this Lecture:

Title: History of the Nevada State Prison

Speaker: Glen Whorton, historian and board member of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society

Talk Summary: The Nevada State Prison is a hidden and underappreciated element of Nevada’s history. Glen Whorton’s talk about this 150-year-old institution will cover how the criminal and political history of the State and the prison are entwined:
• The political birthplace of the State of Nevada;
• Governors who became Wardens:
• State officials who became prisoners;
• The largest prison escape in U.S. history;
• The longest prison escape in U.S. history with a recapture, and the weird tale about how it occurred;
• Prisoners’ pickaxes and stone saws were fundamental to the construction of the State’s essential structures.

Glen Whorton, historian

Speaker Bio:

Glen Whorton is a graduate of Sparks High School, the University of Nevada. With a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina. He began working at the Nevada State Prison in 1973 as an Officer Trainee. He retired from the Department of Corrections in 2007 as the Director. In retirement he has been an ombudsman for the Attorney’s General Office, and a contract hearing officer for the Nevada Parole Board. He served in the Army as an aviator and was an instructor at both the Northern and Southern Nevada Community Colleges. He is a past president of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society.