by Wesley Harris
Tucked away behind the Lincoln Parish Public Safety Complex is a small stucco-coated building reminiscent of the Alamo in Texas. But this is no historic tourist attraction although it does have its own history and it does pique the interest of those who catch a glimpse of it.
The public safety complex was built in 2014 on the former site of the “road camp,” the headquarters of the road department of the Lincoln Parish Police Jury for decades. Thus the name of the street out front—Road Camp Road.
But “road camp” was an euphemism for “parish prison.” Convicted prisoners who were serving their time locally stayed at the road camp and performed public work like repairing roads.
A temporary building constructed in the 1920s saw use to house the inmates sentenced to public work but it lacked sufficient security to deter escapes. Pre-trial prisoners were kept in the parish jail next to the courthouse.
A building sometimes called “The Alamo” because of its architecture was built in 1938 to replace the temporary structure. Its silhouette looks much like that symbol of Texas Independence in San Antonio. While in operation it was referred to as the “road camp” or “P Farm.”
In 1949, the parish courthouse in Ruston and the jail next door were demolished to build a new courthouse with the jail on the upper floor. Both the road camp prison and the courthouse jail, along with the Ruston city jail, were closed in 1983 when the Lincoln Parish Detention Center opened. The parish highway department is now located on California Plant Road.
The Alamo has sat empty ever since.
When the new public safety complex was constructed on the old road camp site, then-Sheriff Mike Stone ensured the 87-year-old prison building was preserved. The complex and the detention center across the street provide a massive contrast to the antiquated structure.
The interior of the Alamo is mostly concrete and steel. The dormitory-style housing contains fold-down metal bunks with thin mattresses for padding. By triple bunking, the dorm could hold 30 inmates. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter with a single bulb to illuminate the room.
None of the facilities found in the modern-day detention center were present at the road camp. No law library, no medical unit, no recreation yard. Of course, after a day with a pick or shovel, most inmates lacked interest in recreation.
A civilian cook prepared breakfast, usually bacon and eggs. Beef stew, ham and vegetables, or chicken were common one-dish meals for supper. The inmates took sack lunches out into the field. There were never any leftovers.
In the early days of the Alamo, guards used a prison wagon to carry sentenced inmates from the camp out into the parish to work on roads. The prison wagon is on display nearby. It was probably last used for that purpose in the 1930s or earlier.
Inside the public safety complex, to the right of the lobby, is a large meeting room with a fantastic mural of early Lincoln Parish scenes, another effort by Stone to preserve some of the parish’s history.
The Alamo sits empty, dusty and rusty, a reminder of another time.
