After months of planning, the department officially opened its Museum of history on August 25, 1998. The collection includes a replica of the electric chair, a wide variety of make-shift weapons, a prison door, old uniforms, documents, and photographs that date back to the 19th century. On opening day, the department also premiered a new video, "Enduring Legacy, Farsighted Vision: The History of Corrections in Florida."

"There are stacks of photo albums, filled with old pictures of inmates at work and at play. They cut up sides of beef, make cigarettes, sew clothing, plow crops, make license plates, play ball, and play music. Most are unmarked. Among the most chilling: a handsome man sitting strapped into the electric chair gazing boldly at the camera. The story is that he was scheduled to be electrocuted then was freed. Before he left prison he asked his jailers to do him a favor: strap him in the chair and take a picture." Julie Hauserman, The St. Petersburg Times, August 26, 1998

The video, photos, documents, and exhibits take viewers back to 1868, the beginning of the Florida Prison System, which began 23 years after statehood. The haunting images captured the imagination of visiting dignitaries, staff, and journalists across the state. One could not come away from the display without the feeling that the field of corrections has vastly improved over time. The Miami Herald reported that the museum "pulled no punches on the dark tales of other eras:"

" You'd think that an organization that specializes in locks and keys would have no problems laying hands on its history. But Florida's prisons agency has had to go digging in old brick yards, rummaging through the attics of retired officers and sifting through fly-specked photos to reclaim its 130 year long past... baying bloodhounds, dog boys, the sweat box, the gallows brutal labor camps and regular whippings."

The bulk of the artifacts for the museum were "dug up" and collected by Joy Ailstock and Debbie Buchanan of Central Office with help from hundreds of staff members across the state as well as retirees from the department.

"It was an education to discover all these things," Buchanan said. "We found out that "dog boys" were inmates in charge of bloodhounds who tracked escapees, the sweat box is a very short outhouse-like shed, so small a man barely had enough room to sit. The box was used for solitary confinement," she said.

"I wish people would come and see some of these photographs, Buchanan added. "There is a photo of inmates herding a flock of turkeys! My favorites are the inmate drill team in the Tampa Gasparilla Day Parade, and one of inmates riding on a parade float," she laughed. "We sure don't do things like that anymore."

The 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke made the sweatbox famous. Miami Herald reporter Lori Rozsa located the original "Cool Hand Luke," Donn Pearce. Rozsa wrote:

"Donn Pearce has a unique view of chain gangs and Florida prison history. Pearce was a safecracker (not a very good one he admits) arrested for burglary in 1949 at age 21. He was convicted and sentenced to hard time, "back when hard time meant hard time," he says. Pearce, who served two years, later wrote a book about his experiences. Paul Newman starred in the movie version and the image of half naked men laboring hard in the searing heat to build a Florida highway defined the American notion of chain gangs."

In addition to the opening of the museum, the department premiered a new video on the history of corrections in Florida. (The video was produced by Donna Gabrielle.) Julie Hauserman of the St. Petersburg Times wrote:

"A historical video at the museum shows just how much prisons have changed. It looks at the ugly past of Florida crime and punishment from public hangings to the electric chair and the sweat box...There aren't any balls and chains or shackles at the museum yet, but there's a chilling display of confiscated homemade weapons: knives fashioned from disposable razors and ball-point pens, a shard of Plexiglas that a prisoner filed into a fearsome point."

Secretary Harry K. Singletary, Jr., took opening day as an opportunity to emphasize that, "This is the kind of environment our staff has to work in every day. It is a very tough environment."

Prior to 1913 authorities locked up lawbreakers in abandoned Civil War-era forts or county jails. There was also one more place for prisoners to go. Since Florida plantations had relied on slaves, the end of the Civil War created a labor shortage in Florida. So, the practice of human "lend-lease" was born: inmates were lent to plantations, phosphate mines and logging camps.

Lend-lease didn't end until 1923 when a North Dakota man, convicted of riding a train without a ticket, was unable to pay the $25 fine. He was sentenced to three months at the Putnam Lumber Company where he was beaten to death by overseers.

In 1923 Florida built its first state prison, Raiford State Penitentiary which came to be known as "the Rock."

Public hangings by counties were also abolished in 1923. That year the Florida Legislature ordered the state's prison systems to begin using electrocution for executions. A year later, Florida executed its first inmate in the electric chair. The chair, nicknamed Old Sparky, is an oak, three-legged chair built by inmates and is still in use today.

"This museum preserves a crucial record of our past," said Debbie Buchanan of the public information office. "No one who sees it can come away without an impression that the field of corrections has become more and more humane and professional," she said.