Nevada State Prison Preservation Society (NSPPS) Volunteer Spotlight: Glen Whorton
Guardian of History & Voice for the Future
“The history here – you just can’t make it up.” – Glen Whorton
From Service to Society
Glen Whorton’s connection to the Nevada State Prison spans more than five decades – first as a corrections officer, then as the Director of the entire Nevada Department of Corrections, and today as one of the founding pillars of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society (NSPPS).
A Nevada resident since 1959, Glen was educated at schools in Sparks and at the University of Nevada, where he earned an undergraduate degree in History. After serving as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, he returned home looking for work. A chance encounter with a lieutenant named Howard Spreeman outside a civil service exam room changed everything.
“He said, ‘If you want a job, I’ll hire you right now as a guard.’ I was getting desperate. I said “okay,” Glen recalls with a laugh. “He said, ‘you start this afternoon’. I said, ‘Can I have a day?”
That afternoon in 1973 launched a 32-year career in Nevada corrections.
Rising Through the Ranks
Glen began as a Correctional Officer Trainee at the Nevada State Prison and quickly distinguished himself. He earned his master’s degree in criminal justice administration from the University of South Carolina and worked at facilities across the state – from the Southern Nevada Correctional Center to the Northern Nevada Correctional Center.
His analytical skills led him into classification and research, where he served as the Classification Approval Authority for the entire state, overseeing minimum custody designations, community trustee assignments, inter-facility transfers, and population projections. He later became Chief of the Division of Offender Management and ultimately served six years as Deputy Director of Operations before retiring. Briefly.
Shortly after retirement the position of Director of the Nevada Department of Corrections opened up and the governor’s office called Glen back. He accepted the position, returned as Director, and oversaw the entire state prison system.
In parallel with his corrections career, Glen also taught at community colleges across Nevada and, after his eventual retirement, served as both an Ombudsman for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office and a Parole Hearing Representative for the Parole Board.
Founding the Society
Nevada State Prison was officially decommissioned in Spring 2012, but its historical significance remained.
Glen learned that a group was organizing to preserve the historic Nevada State Prison, so he showed up to the first meeting held at the Carson City Sheriff’s Office in July 2012. He was elected Vice President by acclamation.
Glen didn’t just join the effort; he helped build it from the ground up. He drafted the original Bill that went to the Nevada Legislature authorizing the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society as caretakers of the historic structure. He suggested the organization’s name. He proposed its logo. He personally paid the federal nonprofit filing fee.
“This was important to me. I wasn’t going to quit working. I was going to be doing something – and I thought this was it.”
Part of Glen’s motivation was personal. He had watched colleagues – men who poured themselves into their careers – retire and fade quickly. He was determined not to go that way. The NSPPS gave him a purpose that drew on everything he had built over a lifetime: history, public service, policy, and preservation.
A Passion for History
Glen’s undergraduate degree in History may have seemed impractical at the time, but at the NSPPS it has proven invaluable. Lately, Glen has served as NSPPS’ Vice President and Chairman of the History Committee. In this role he has become the Society’s institutional memory and its most dedicated storyteller.
He has delivered public lectures for the Carson City Historical Society on the Nevada State Prison’s past and future, and has provided numerous presentations throughout Northern Nevada, at locations including the Dangberg Ranch. Topics range from the somber: the history of Executions at NSP, to the more offbeat and lighthearted: the history of film production at the Prison – covering everything from John Ford’s 1921 silent film Desperate Trails to Tom Selleck’s 1989 thriller An Innocent Man and Bruce Dern’s 2019 drama The Mustang.
But it’s the individual stories – the strange, remarkable, and often unbelievable characters who passed through the prison’s gates – that light Glen up most. He speaks with infectious enthusiasm about figures like the con man George Meredith, who escaped custody, impersonated prison officials across the country, nearly purchased a yacht for “prison use” on Lake Tahoe, and eventually landed in federal prison as Al Capone’s cellmate.
“You can’t make it up,” he chuckles. “It’s just crazy.”
Preserving the Legacy
When asked what has been most fulfilling about his work with the NSPPS, Glen’s answer is clear: the fact that the prison is going to survive.
“The activity of this organization has raised the prison’s awareness in the community to the point that it’s not going to tumble down. It’s not going to go the way of the Virginia & Truckee,” he says. “It is going to survive.”
He is also working to ensure the Society’s own institutional knowledge survives – conducting oral history interviews, mentoring newer members, and documenting the artifacts in the NSPPS collection. He hopes to spend more time cataloguing those artifacts in collaboration with other volunteers, and dreams of a future where every item is properly documented and accessible to researchers.
His advice to the next generation of board members is characteristically direct: “Don’t grow old.” And then, more genuinely: “Stay engaged, because the history here demands it.”
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The Nevada State Prison Preservation Society extends heartfelt gratitude to Glen Whorton for his extraordinary contributions – as a founding member, lifetime member, Vice President, and tireless champion of the prison’s history. From the first board meeting in 2012 to today, Glen has been the heart of this organization.
Thank you, Glen, for being a guardian of history and a voice for the future.
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Our volunteers are the heartbeat of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society – committed to the preservation, restoration, and protection of the historic Nevada’s State Prison.
Interested in getting involved? Visit us at https://nevadastateprison.org/volunteer
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Neveda State Prison Preservation Society (NSPPS), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is committed to the preservation of the Nevada State Prison for the education of the States Citizens and visitors, regarding the role of the institution in the development of Nevada’s government, the architecture of Carson City, and the protection of Nevada communities. Learn more, at NevadaStatePrison.org.
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Image Notes:
1. Glen Whorton, 2012.
2. The Original NSPPS Board poses with Myron Carpenter (right) in 2013.
From left: Candace Duncan, Ronni Hanniman, Didi Chaney, Glen Whorton, Lee Radtk, Tom Porada, Myron Carpenter.
3. NSPPS Volunteers pose in 2025. From left: Glen Whorton, Ali Cadwell, Ashley Selbach, Dawn Wood, Susan Lowther, Julie Slocum, John Newman.
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